Electric Questions

[JFleck]

Hey, what is the best electrick bike I can get for the money,
the most bang for the buck.
Should I get the batteries at an automotive store,
and Does spooky tooth have a good motor?
I have heared that it is best to buy batteries localy,
because of the shipping cost.

Hello,

I have only built one ebike so far and I got it from SpookyTooth.
It was the 48V model though. I think right now he only has the 36V
model, it would be worth while to wait for the 48V.
The price difference is like $20 I think and you get way more power.

The kit Spooky sells comes with battery racks and everything you need,
yes getting the batteries locally would be better but I have seen some
good deals on EBAY. Spooky has suggestions for Batteries on his site I
think.

The deal with the batteries you want to figue out is, how far you want to
drive versus how heavy you want your bike. For the 48V my buddy and
I figured that each Amp Hour (ah rating) equals about 1.2 mile range.
For example if you get 12V 12ah batteries you will have about
a 14.4 mile range. this is not exact but it is a good guess.

Remember that you will need 4 12V batteries for the 48V hub
or 3 12V batteries for the 36V hub, and also the amp hour ratings
don't add up like the volts, 12ah on four batteries is still 12ah.
The higher the ah rating the heavier the batteries will be . . . .


GOOD LUCK!!
Hope this info is helpful,

JaSoN

 

[Electricrider]

Electric motor question

Hi I am very happy with the Phoenix series by crystalyte. Several dealers sell them but I got mine at electricrider.com. They have very good support.

The motors come in 3 types racer cruiser and brute. The difference is speed and torque the racer has the best speed the brute has enough torque to launch itself into orbit and the cruiser is a balance between the two medium speed and torque.

If this is too much for you they sell a "sparrow" kit which is low speed 20mph and very low torque. Enough to get moving from a dead stop but not enough to handle hills.

as for the batteries I get mine at zbattery.com. They seem to have the best prices and the brand of choice is B&B battery I use 4 12V 12 Amp batteries in saddlebags 2 on each side and I have ridden full speed around town for up to 2 hours so far and still in the green on the power indicator.

You only want SLA's. They handle charging well and are completely sealed with no risk of leakage unlike car or small tractor batteries.

I stay away from generic brands because they are usually cheap chinese knockoffs that just don't last.

a 12 amp battery weighs in at 9 lbs so factor that in when you decide on a 36, 48 or 72 volt system as well as where you are going to place the battery pack as most racks can't support more than 25lbs.

about battery range. It differs with each ride. If you have a headwind that will decrease range, if you take a different road that has more or steeper hills that will decrease range, if you ride in the city that will decrease range because of the stopping for lights and traffic and the startup again drains a lot of power as opposed to country riding where you cruise along and hardly ever stop. this makes defining how far you can go nearly impossible to gauge but the folks at electric rider are working on a fuel gauge that relies on your packs voltage to determine how much ride you have left in your pack.

I have the phoenix cruiser and it gets me 25 mph due to balloon tires slowing me down a bit and it cost me about $1350 for the kit not counting the bike and I opted out of the cruise control because I drive in the city so I saved about $60 there.

Hope this helps

 

[wheelbender6]

The volts generally add speed, but not range. If you need to make 20mph all the time, wait for 48 volts. If 15mph is OK or if you are willing to do some pedalling to achieve 20mph, the 36 volt kit is OK.

 

[Ypedal]

Almost all 36v hub motor kits will run at 48v by simply adding another 12v battery ( only consideration is that the LVC " Low Voltage Cutoff " setting on the controller will not shut you down to save the battery if you run 48v, this is not a big deal as it's obvious when the battery is flat. ..

Do not make a habbit of running your battery packs completely empty, they last alot longer if you only discharge partially and charge fully every ride. Draining them empty kills them fast.

Get SLA batteries locally at a place that sells alot of them, you want fresh bricks and not something that has been sitting on a shelf for years.... is the guy behind the counter is nice enough, get him to whip out a volt meter and take 3 (36v) or 4 ( 48v ) that have the highest voltage and all match eachother ( like 12.8v + )

B&B is a good brand, but there are others that are ok, main thing, again, is to get fresh stock and don't drain them flat, and RECHARGE after every ride not letting them sit overnight drained is a must with SLA.