B
Blaze
Guest
Does anybody here have the electric hub kit installed? I bought an electric hub kit from Spookytooth. It's the same type of hub I have seen from companies like Crystalite and Wilderness Energy.
Mine is the 48v 600w brushless motor. The performance specs as advertised are 24mph with a 20 mile range when using 20Ah Sealed Lead-Acid batteries. The range is right where it should be, with the batteries taking me 21 miles without pedaling, even when starting and stopping a lot. The speed, however is only about 17 miles per hour. I was wondering if anybody else had built one of these and gotten it to go any faster. I weigh about 185 pounds, so we can factor that in. I saw one place selling motors saying that they were advertising top speed based on a 140 pound rider.
One thing I am going to try is soldering the main power wires. Just the heavy wires carrying all the amps. That might help, 'cuz the connectors look pretty cheap and they look like they could be a source of high resistance. It seems odd to use such heavy gauge wire and cheap crappy connectors. It could be a voltage bottleneck.
That said, the bike is still pretty fun to ride. This kit makes almost no noise at all and it climbs medium sized hills pretty good.
***** A note on the battery Amp/hour ratings *****
Many makers of quality SLAs (sealed lead acid batteries) will build a good battery, then rate it 15% lower than what it is actually capable of, just so the customers still get the full rated power even after the battery starts to age a bit. This means a good brand like Panasonic or Yuasa will build a battery and label it as a 17Ah battery, even though it really runs at 19-20Ah. Since the good 17Ah batteries really hold nearly 20Ah, the Chinese battery companies have taken to labeling all of their 17Ah batteries as 20Ah, when the real rating might be lower. The basic idea here is that a cheap 20Ah battery has the same or even less power than a good quality 17Ah battery. Don't pass up a good deal on a quality 17Ah battery because you are holding out for a 20Ah battery. The 17Ah battery will be better if it is a reputable brand.
Mine is the 48v 600w brushless motor. The performance specs as advertised are 24mph with a 20 mile range when using 20Ah Sealed Lead-Acid batteries. The range is right where it should be, with the batteries taking me 21 miles without pedaling, even when starting and stopping a lot. The speed, however is only about 17 miles per hour. I was wondering if anybody else had built one of these and gotten it to go any faster. I weigh about 185 pounds, so we can factor that in. I saw one place selling motors saying that they were advertising top speed based on a 140 pound rider.
One thing I am going to try is soldering the main power wires. Just the heavy wires carrying all the amps. That might help, 'cuz the connectors look pretty cheap and they look like they could be a source of high resistance. It seems odd to use such heavy gauge wire and cheap crappy connectors. It could be a voltage bottleneck.
That said, the bike is still pretty fun to ride. This kit makes almost no noise at all and it climbs medium sized hills pretty good.
***** A note on the battery Amp/hour ratings *****
Many makers of quality SLAs (sealed lead acid batteries) will build a good battery, then rate it 15% lower than what it is actually capable of, just so the customers still get the full rated power even after the battery starts to age a bit. This means a good brand like Panasonic or Yuasa will build a battery and label it as a 17Ah battery, even though it really runs at 19-20Ah. Since the good 17Ah batteries really hold nearly 20Ah, the Chinese battery companies have taken to labeling all of their 17Ah batteries as 20Ah, when the real rating might be lower. The basic idea here is that a cheap 20Ah battery has the same or even less power than a good quality 17Ah battery. Don't pass up a good deal on a quality 17Ah battery because you are holding out for a 20Ah battery. The 17Ah battery will be better if it is a reputable brand.
