1st Build & E-Bike rider-Magic Pie V5 (rear) -Bottle Batt. 52v*11.5ah-Huffy Parkside

[Tommycat]

52 volt 3 amp Luna Mini Charger... Part 1.

Just a few thoughts using my Mini Charger...

After doing a few 100 percent balancing charges as recommended at the start of my battery's life with no issues. I thought I might be spared the problem of the cycling charger. But no... after having discharged the battery below a level of about 50 vdc. I got the dreaded click off then on, over and over, with the fan cycling along with it. This a now a known issue. So with a few e-mails with Luna support, answering a few troubleshooting questions. They were good to sent me the fix. A coupler made out of pvc tubing with a couple of XT60 connectors on both ends. That easily mounts between the outlet XT60 connector coming from the charger. And the adapter that ends with the barrel connector that plugs into the battery. Checking for what might be inside, I did some resistance checks. And found some resistance between the positive connectors. Which didn't seem to make sense to me, as I didn't see a reduction in voltage while running. Yep, being a curious cat I had to take it apart. The answer is it's a NTC or negative temperature coefficient thermistor, NTC 2.5D-15 to be more precise. I speculate that it prevents excessive inrush current on start up that would trip the charger's safeties (causing cycling) by allowing a slower than OEM current start-up. ( I think) Feeling that I didn't need an extra connector inline, I decided to go ahead and mount it inside the chargers case in series with the positive charging output wire.

There, out of sight safe and secure, and working perfectly. And two free connectors for my effort. :-)

[Tommycat]

52 volt 3 amp Luna Mini Charger... Part 2.

I like this charger. Of course it's the only one I've ever had. :-) The choice a charging percentages is great. Has enough amperage output to charge in a decent amount of time, and in a non-abusive way. (slow and sure...easy on the battery cells)

But after doing a few charges, and being the curious cat that I am. It's obvious I should have gotten the advanced charger with the digital read out display. As I like to see how the charge is progressing, and how far too go...

Which brings me to the reason for this post! Adding an Inline Voltage/Amperage Meter!

After finding a suitable display... 100 vdc at up to 10 amps. as seen here. Got right to work...

Wasn't too keen on the need for a battery, or other power source for meter operation to start with. ( 30vdc or less) But using a 9 volt battery was simple, and doesn't skew the amperage draw output reading of the charger when in use.

So started by gathering a few parts.

Reusing an old test box no longer used, hence the holes. Settled on a final lay-out and using a 6 amp double pole, double throw switch instead of the one in the first picture. I used one side to switch the 9 volt battery power to the meter. And the other side to switch the positive side of the charger input. A bonus being that there will be no arcing at the barrel charging port of the battery! Still, always plug your charger into the wall outlet first to charge it's capacitors!

Quick test to make sure it works!

The battery goes where???

Had to add a bezel to hide some holes, offset for battery, and add thickness for proper meter mounting... whew.

REFUELING THE ROCKET! :-)

[Tommycat]

About time to get to the elephant in the room! After installation of the Pie and removal of the back wheel a few times for issues and maintenance. What you read on the forums about a rear hub being a pain with the wiring harness that gets in the way is true. :-/ All along I knew this was going to have to be addressed, but it took me awhile to come up with an acceptable solution. So here is mine.

In my mind I wanted something like a pig tail coming out of the motor. So the wheel can be easily removed and worked on, without a lot of wiring harness hassle It was the connector(s) that was holding me back. I knew I wanted to separate the high voltage battery input wires, the heavy 14 ga. Red and Black ones, from the lower small ga. control wiring. Using a XT60 for that connection, but what to do for the eight control wires? It had to connect 8 wires securely and be as water/dirt tight as possible. After an extensive search and looking at a variety of connectors, I think that this mod will work well.

Hate to admit it, :-P but Bafang to the rescue. Or more precisely their 24 inch motor extension cable. See it HERE..
As I needed about 20 inches of ground to cover between the motor and where I wanted to hide the 5 cable wiring harness connector and the rest of the harness in my make-up box this just worked.

Wiring run that is about to change...

This is what had to happen every time I wanted to remove the wheel. :-(

Cutting the OEM harness, it only hurts for a second.

Cut and paste... cutting.

And pasting using good solder connections, multiple layers of heat shrink, and silicone caulk. As luck would have it the control wire coloring matched up perfectly! Red to Red, White to White... Etc.

Final pigtail at the hub...

New motor to harness connection...

Keeping cables away from hub...

Final installation...

]

One of these days I'm going to figure out how to get rid of the black harness holding tape. Just haven't found the right look yet.

[Tommycat]

Hummm finding the right look. So far I've got... taping wires to the frame with black tape. Running cables in flexible plastic tubing. And running wiring inside the actual bike frame.

Time to take a look at some thing else. Staying on the safe side I decided not to drill large holes in the back seat stay for the cable connector. So decided to try a plastic cable or cord channel mounted parallel with the frame.

Measured where it was going, tried a few angle cuts, and painted the final prototype.

Ran 3 wiring cables that I had in the area. And secured it to the frame with my favorite go to trial, able to remove if necessary, hot glue.

Final look at the bottom side...

Topside...

[Tommycat]

It's time to technically call this build completed! Sure, there is always some kind of tweak or upgrade that one would like to do. (And might be added in the future) But this bike is fully functional and a pleasure to ride. So at one year... :-O It's time to pull the protective cover off the display!

Time to enjoy it before the cold temps come...

[Churnmaster]

Which displays are compatible with the magic pie 5 ? also what cable can be used as an extension on a tandem to the display/ throttle ?...BTW sweet rig you built !

[Tommycat]

Thank you for the kind words... My thoughts on your questions can be seen in the Magic Pie section here...

https://electricbike.com/forum/forum/kits/golden-motor-magic-pie/79793-displays-that-are-compatable-with-the-magic-pie-v5-and-possible-cable-extensions

[Tommycat]

Kickstand Replacement Upgrade...


Reaching out to the forum...

https://electricbike.com/forum/forum...tand-or-better


My Huffy old style single leg kickstand is simply not up to the task of reliably keeping my heavy Ebike standing upright. The small footprint digs and sinks into anything except concrete. And the housing is easily bent allowing precarious angles closer to disaster. So before that happens, does anyone have an end user recommendation for a good replacement?


And came up with this solution.

A BV Adjustable Double Side Kickstand...


Here is the original stand in operation.

The lean may not look like to much here. But as heavy as the bike is, a few inches makes a tippy difference.

So on to the replacement... As usual, totally underwhelming packaging with no instructions. But the parts were all there.

The alignment seemed a little excessively staggered on first inspection. But we'll see.

One bolt for easy removal, and a comparison shot between the old and new.

And now for the most astonishing thing! The new mounting bracket fit perfectly in the bikes existing bracket. What are the odds?

And now for the results.

Ahhhhhhh, that's more like it!

In conclusion.

The new kickstand is a great improvement on the old weak one. The heftier aluminum arms and pivot bracket seem up to the task. The automatic mechanical action to deploy and retract is simple and straight forward. It does require a bit of a lift up on the bike. The offset of the legs mentioned earlier helps to allow access to push on the outer leg which is the main one. The staggered position of the legs when down are not bothersome. My biggest gripe is that the balance point allows the back wheel with the heavy motor hub to sit on the ground. I was hoping to have it be elevated for easy testing and maintenence.

Looks like I'll have to add a front wheel Pie for balance! ;-)

[Tommycat]

52 volt 3 amp Luna Mini Charger... Part 3 Refueling the "Rocket".


I was always curious about how my charger "actually" charged and terminated the charge on my 52 volt Li-Ion 11.5 AH battery. It differs a bit from the impression I got from the simulated charge example as shown on the mini charger's Knowledge Base adjustment thread seen here...

https://electricbike.com/forum/forum...i-and-advanced

Mine takes a head start in amperage reduction before it hits the voltage setpoint. Which looks like how it's described in the video...which makes sound sense to me. A nice soft landing to the charge point.


Anyway, if your interested have a look at this time lapse video of about the last two volts to full charge. With the charger set to 58.91 volts @ .16A cut-off point. Less than 2 minutes long.

[2speedBBS02]

My thumb gets tired. Old hands. My motorcycles all have twist. Just sayin'

[2speedBBS02]

Want to say how nice your work is. Apply for patient before Huffy rips you off. This work is very high end. Production quality. Most details worked out. You could easily market except for lawyers.

[Tommycat]

Thank you for your very kind words! No plans to mass produce. ;-) but haven't yet decided on my next project... Did you catch my throttle solution in
POST #39? Cheers. T.C.

[2speedBBS02]

I must be asleep. The cut then reattached throttle handle look essentially
the same. Try as I might I do not see any "tabs". What then am I missing? Throttle use and brake use do have some issues however not insurmountable. It is possible to drop a bike just so while holding the right handle bar end and in the loss of balance to twist the throttle to the on position.
My E-Bike builds are Mid-drive set ups. The BBS02 has a throttle but is used primarily as a power app to move quickly to a better position.

[Tommycat]

I must be asleep. Try as I might I do not see any "tabs". What then am I missing?

Used internally in the throttle assembly to hold it together as discussed here... POST #28.

and a bit here... Bottom of POST #2

With the full throttle cut in half, you have direct access to the tab tips instead of having to disengage them from inside the tube hole. (kind of like the thumb throttle disassembly shown in posted thread 2 above)




Seems like the BBSxx mid-drives have a few issues with proper throttle control. IE: Firmware bugs, programming requirements, ETC. Hope yours is working well. I use throttle exclusively... no PAS.

[Robert07]

If you owned a Huffy, Do you know how much is a huffy bike worth?? Most collectors today are on the hunt for Huffy bikes, introduced from the 1960s to the 1980s. You should look for vintage Huffy bicycles with an antique stamp with large block letters for their true value. Huffy bikes released in the 1990s can cost as little as $300 or less. Other classic Huffy bikes, like the Huffy radio bike from 1955, can come with an incredible price tag.

[Tommycat]

ahhhhhhh, to have some of the stuff we had in our youth in mint condition. ;-)

[Tommycat]

Sharp eyes might have noticed the change in seat color a while back. I just wasn't getting comfortable support from the smaller seat even though well padded. So found the solution in an exercise bike seat. Nice wide area but it didn't have any spring suspension. So, I made up a metal plate adapter to go from a cannibalized regular bicycle seat to the repurposed brown one.






I like it better.