First, I'm gonna just go ahead and say it.
There's a chain of events happens: First, people poke around, check prices, and read a bit--and they find out about the Cyclone.
After some consideration, some of these people buy these kits, and if they've the rudimentary skills, they piece it together.
The next thing that happens, is these fine folks realize--with maniacal grins stretching their faces taut during their first successful test-rides--that this kit is going to enable them to readily break legal boundaries.
Finally, that realization causes them to decide it's best to just "hide" and not gather a lot of attention to themselves. They've seen what happens to the dumb ones who post videos of insane behavior on YouTube, or Facebook, and they might prefer to stay "under the radar"... Because deep down, they know--after that thrilling test ride, that the Cyclone is just WAY TOO MUCH FUN to expect normal self-restraint.
I'll tell you what, I understand.
I'm sure as hell not gonna post any silly-ass videos of me doing crazy dangerous stupid things, but I am also not going to hide.
---------------------------------
This is not a disclaimer, but there are some things worth noting:
In case you haven't heard, the Cyclone is a very powerful motor. No matter which model you might choose, it will deliver much more power than any human being's legs ever could. Now, bicycle parts are made to withstand human leg forces, so if you want to push tremendously high amounts of force through those components, you'd better get the strongest components you can find. Oh, and all that extra force also means another thing: You will wear out parts, and things will require regular adjustment.
I'm an American, but I live in The Netherlands. Dutch people want to "set it and forget it" when it comes to their bikes (or e-bikes). In The Netherlands, bicycles are actually (for the majority of the population), their "daily commuters". In addition to that super-high usage, most Dutch people will never turn a single screw or bolt on their bikes, and most will never even so much as patch a tire. Most know how to use a bike pump to put air into their tires, but that's about as far into the realm of maintenance as they'll want to go.
In The Netherlands, people want solid, indestructible bikes that roll for two or three years without anything but the yearly visit to the bike mechanic for a "check-up" (and most Dutch cyclists skip that too). Dutch bikes are, for this reason, the most reliable bicycles you can buy, hands down (I say "Dutch bikes"-- but in reality it's the collection and assembly of components that gives the aforementioned reliability, and all the best bikes and most reliable bicycle components--including the ones carrying Dutch brand-names, are--just like the Cyclone kit--made over in Taiwan).
But whether Dutch or not, if you are the kind of person who feels that way about your bike--that it ought to be a "set it and forget it" device--then the Cyclone kit is probably not for you.
I think a fair comparison can be made to the older air-cooled VW's. If you can't handle dirty fingers, or performing some maintenance sometimes, you won't want one of those cars either. Another perhaps even more fair comparison? Harley Davidson motorcycles. Classic Harley owners all know, that you have to do some tinkering after pretty much every ride. Things need adjusting, things vibrate loose... The point I'm trying to make, is that you will need to accept this fact, if you wish to be a Harley owner, or an air-cooled VW owner; and you will need to accept this fact if you wish to be a Cyclone owner as well.
I say embrace it: The tinkering is the price you pay for being able to get that face-stretching grin--at a relatively tiny cost... right? ;-)
------------------------------------------
The madness all started with a (probably first production-year) Babboe brand, "Big" model bakfiets.
It was given to my family for free, from somebody else who'd gotten it for free, and who knows before that.
Before it's previous owner, someone had brush-painted flames on the side, like some old-fashioned derelict jalopy. The irony was not lost on me. Akin to lightning-bolts on a turtle; racing stripes on a snail.
The thing was in a dangerous state of disrepair when we got it, but free being a good price, I took the challenge to heart... Still, much had to be done.
I have replaced all three wheel hubs. In front, I've used Sturmey Archer XL-FDD hubs, and in the back, a Sturmey Archer XL-RD3, all three of which I've personally laced into Ryde Andra 40 rims; 20 inch on the front, and a 26 inch on the back.
I've got the 4000W Cyclone motor (currently I think only Cyclone-TW has it). It comes with a nice waterproof cable connection to the controller. This is the same waterproof connection used on their coaxial motors, and Paco told me in an email, that this will soon be Cyclone's standard motor control cable. It makes for a really nice cable connection, that'll handle all the weather, splashing, and probably even periodic immersion you could throw at it--especially if you supplement the connections and seals by using silicone grease.
I'm mentioning it here, because this month (April 2018), according to Paco from Cylone-TW, they expect to be getting an order of one-meter-long waterproof-cable extension cords manufactured. I intend to buy one, as soon as they're available.
The good folks at Luna Cycle might want to get in line to order some too! All the recumbent bikes and trikes, pedicabs, cargo bikes and bakfieten (box bikes) which use Cyclone's newest generation of motors will all be able to use this to get their sensitive electronics and controllers out of the elements.
Because a bakfiets is wide, cars can tend to "crowd" me. So further modifications included "anti collision" lights... The back of each front wheel fender has a lamp on it now, and there's a headlight on the front side too. This illumination makes other folks in cars, or on bikes, give me about another foot and a half of room, which I really appreciate!
I've used all LED lights for the bakfiets, and none of them uses any batteries. All four of those "anti-collision" lights on the sides are powered by one of the front wheels' XL-FDD hub's dynamos. In addition, powered by the other front wheel's XL-FDD dynamo, I've got a headlight mounted higher up in the center panel, and a taillight for the luggage rack in the center behind me. The headlight has a daytime running light function, and the taillight has a brake-light function, that senses the wheel speed (dynamo speed), and when that speed drops suddenly (after a 1/2 second delay to prevent 'false activation"), the back light adds a brighter "pulse" to it's normal glow. (Busch and Moller Brake-Tech Plus series has this function). Back before I ever planned to "electrify" the bakfiets, I chose this system. But now, it's pretty handy. As a former aircraft mechanic, I can appreciate redundancy, and systems that continue to function in "emergencies"... Because these lights are powered by the wheel-hub generators, they will function flawlessly even if my assist system malfunctions, or my battery goes empty.
I've gone for Schwalbe Big Ben Plus tires on all three wheels. Low rolling resistance, but decent leak prevention, and long wear. Cargo bikes don't get suspension, and for the sake of handlebar-mounted cellphone safety, and stress to the wrists and forearms--the old Tioga Street Block tires on the front wheels had to go. I'll tell you though, until it was made electric, those were awesome! If I had one of those recumbent trikes, the Tioga Street Block would be my first choice. Wide, high-volume tires--(20in x 2.25in), so they won't sink when you try rolling through soft ground, but with a super-high thread-count, so you can also pump them up to a rock-hard 110 psi, offering pretty much zero rolling resistance. Lots of different "street and ramp" tires are awesome in this regard, but the Tioga Street Block tires were just too hard for the bumps once I added the Cyclone's speed to the equation--as you'll see later on.
Because this bakfiets began its service to me as my "kid hauler", and because even without assist, I tended to pedal it pretty hard, I felt "visibility" was super important. So, along with the lights, I installed one rectangular amber side reflector on each side panel near the front of the box, and two round white reflectors one on each side of the front panel. Between all the damn lights, the reflectors, and the flames--I'm pretty "visible". But of course visible is what you want, when you're driving something nobody expects to be going as fast as you are (and that counts for pedal-power too).
I've installed a metal pipe-fitting style bumper on it too. Looks intimidating. I like that too. Yes, sometimes I do wish I could hide--blend in... I admit it. But it ain't happening with this beast!
--------------------------------------------
When I first cobbled it together with the Cyclone for a test run...
Anybody ever see those old films from the Bonneville Salt Flats--where the crazy-ass guys back in the day were trying to set new land speed records? And when they crashed, it'd roll like eight-hundred-seventy-three-and-a-half times, leaving a trail of auto parts (and probably body parts) leading to the smoking hulk at the end of the dust-cloud... Anybody remember those films? Well-that's what played through my head, as I took her out for some testing.
I can honestly say I have no idea how fast it got up to. The Cyclone was willing to push me still faster, but I wasn't interested. If I were to float a guess, I'd say I probably reeled it in after topping well over fifty kilometers per hour, but it FELT more like about four hundred.
Now, that's the part I described in the opening; where most decide--on less terrifying configurations--that it's simply TOO MUCH FUN to go sixty miles per hour, or wherever it is their new Cyclone Super-Bike finally tops out at... They don't wanna contain themselves--hell, they CAN'T!--so, they hide from us, and they hide from the police, and we never hear from them here on the forums again!
Or, maybe they die on their test-runs, and that's why we never hear from them again!
Me? So as to avoid a fatal outcome, I went right to work; opened up the Cyclone Controller's Bluetooth App--and started adjusting the settings!
In order to make the thing handle reasonably, I've dialed it back a long way. However, if I've got a heavy load to haul, I can simply adjust a couple settings in the BT Controller's app, and immediately I can have all the "extra reserves" I like!
I will continue to experiment with power settings and gearing combinations, and if I find the "perfect balance" I'll post that here too one day.
For now, I've got it set to top out at 40 kilometers per hour. Despite my earlier trepidation as expressed in my introduction post, I've found it's still controllable at that speed, but it's a severely intense driving experience. At that speed, I'm pulling a pretty constant 20 amps, and my battery's app estimates that my plywood brick-wall can push against that self-generated 40 KPH headwind for about 75 kilometers. My normal "commuting" speed, is about 27 kilometers per hour. At that speed, depending on the wind, I'm pulling a little under, or a little over 10 amps, and my range is estimated at a more reasonable 165 kilometers. If I dial it back down to a more average bicycle-commuting-speed of about 16 KPH, which is a "comfortable" speed for most of the bicyclists who are actually "pedaling"--then I'm using between 2 and 4 amps (as I go up and down little inclines or the like), and my estimated range leaps to 235 kilometers--and will be probably much greater, were I to be actually pedaling along!
I put those numbers there for sake of reference. Other folks' performance will vary. But I'm beating the pants off the electric "Ebretti" scooter--for example--in terms of performance when it comes to speed, capacity and range; and I'm doing so for a fraction of the cost.
I chose for a 16s 3p LiFePo4 battery, 48V, 60Ah. It came with a cool bluetooth Android-app BMS, that lets you monitor all kinds of stuff, lock it, turn the discharge on or off, etc. with your connected device. Right on my phone, I get my current speed, battery status, range and current load. No separate dashboard needed! The battery is made up of sixteen bundles of three each 3.2V 20AH LiFePo4 pouch cells. The cells' tabs are connected with stainless steel screws and nuts, and then each group of cells is connected together via flexible nickel-plated copper jumper strips, insulated from one another, protected and cushioned with rolled up strips of cardboard. Each bundle of three also has a separate wire which goes to the BMS for voltage monitoring and cell balancing. The BMS also has four separate temperature probes, which can be placed in the battery at intervals. The battery assembly is then wrapped in a layer of duct tape, followed by a layer of cardboard, and still more duct tape, so that only the wires emerging to the BMS can be seen. The Bluetooth BMS itself is "Olive Leaf" brand. They've a wide array, including waterproof BMS's available. Along with a voltage display, and charging port, the BMS was mounted tidily in a flat plastic case, which sits atop the battery.
The battery's brand-name was CODD Power, the seller was Battery Sir, from AliExpress.
How do I know how it was put together? Oh, that brings me to the next part of the tale...
---------------------------------------------------------
Bump in the road.
Bump shook my cell phone holder too hard. Bump broke the cell phone holder. Bump broke and launched the portion of the cell phone holder and the cell phone itself skyward, leaving the other snapped-off portion of the cell phone holder on the handlebars. Nasty bump. Cell phone lands in the middle of the road. I stop the bakfiets, leap off to get the phone. As I move just beyond range, the bakfiets rolls over an embankment and into a water-filled ditch.
It all got wet. Motor wet. Controller wet. Battery wet. BMS wet. My tools, my multimeter, lots of stuff got wet. It all got wet. And then I got wet trying to get it all out (with some kind folks' help).
I had to pedal it back home without any assist. Not the end of the world but not a good day.
So, I got home, opened stuff up. Water pours out of the controller box. Water pours out of the BMS box.
In the end, the controller doesn't seem to be fried, and the battery is okay. (unwrapped it, dried it out, no problems). I think the throttle might be shot, so I've ordered another. But that cool Bluetooth BMS definitely bit the dust. However, a replacement (from AliExpress) will only be fifty bucks shipped, so that's not so bad. I just wanted a pretty-much plug-and-play (with a little bit of soldering) replacement for what I had, though I did consider some other available BMS versions. Just some soldering to do for the heavy-current wires, then I just plug in the monitoring wires, and the temperature probes, and I'm hoping I'll be good to go.
To try to do some testing, and see what else did or didn't survive, I used the charger to power up the motor and controller and the motor still works too, though the throttle seems twitchy now.
And that's where I sit now. Waiting for parts again, and yeah. Time enough to offer up an update my project here.
A monument to my own madness, perhaps.
But I'll tell you what--following a roughly ten-minute dunk in black Dutch ditch water--that's not so bad an outcome as it might have been!
------------------------------------------
I'm not done tinkering. I'm not sure any of us ever truly will be!
I fantasize about plopping the controller into a Pelican case along with the battery, leaving a nice cannon-plug to go to the as-yet-to-be made nice and tidy "wiring harness" I'd like to set up for the external controls (PAS, throttle, power switch, and brake cut-off switches). ~The case could have a place on the outside to plug in the wire to the motor, a place to plug in that fantasy "control harness", and a place to plug in the charger. If I set that up well enough, it could still be made weatherproof; yet also give me the option to unplug and lift out my whole power and control system. I think I'd like to be able to take it into someplace for charging, or for theft prevention. Sometimes, I may have to leave the bike parked outside, and if the ambient temperature is too cold for charging, I'll have to have a removable battery. Further fantasies have included converting the two front wheels to use hub motors also, for all-wheel drive; and potentially even rigging up some controls so I can drive the thing from inside the box which I probably won't do, but which would really turn some heads!
Anyways...
Until next time, take care... Of yourselves, your machines, and one another!
Tklop
There's a chain of events happens: First, people poke around, check prices, and read a bit--and they find out about the Cyclone.
After some consideration, some of these people buy these kits, and if they've the rudimentary skills, they piece it together.
The next thing that happens, is these fine folks realize--with maniacal grins stretching their faces taut during their first successful test-rides--that this kit is going to enable them to readily break legal boundaries.
Finally, that realization causes them to decide it's best to just "hide" and not gather a lot of attention to themselves. They've seen what happens to the dumb ones who post videos of insane behavior on YouTube, or Facebook, and they might prefer to stay "under the radar"... Because deep down, they know--after that thrilling test ride, that the Cyclone is just WAY TOO MUCH FUN to expect normal self-restraint.
I'll tell you what, I understand.
I'm sure as hell not gonna post any silly-ass videos of me doing crazy dangerous stupid things, but I am also not going to hide.
---------------------------------
This is not a disclaimer, but there are some things worth noting:
In case you haven't heard, the Cyclone is a very powerful motor. No matter which model you might choose, it will deliver much more power than any human being's legs ever could. Now, bicycle parts are made to withstand human leg forces, so if you want to push tremendously high amounts of force through those components, you'd better get the strongest components you can find. Oh, and all that extra force also means another thing: You will wear out parts, and things will require regular adjustment.
I'm an American, but I live in The Netherlands. Dutch people want to "set it and forget it" when it comes to their bikes (or e-bikes). In The Netherlands, bicycles are actually (for the majority of the population), their "daily commuters". In addition to that super-high usage, most Dutch people will never turn a single screw or bolt on their bikes, and most will never even so much as patch a tire. Most know how to use a bike pump to put air into their tires, but that's about as far into the realm of maintenance as they'll want to go.
In The Netherlands, people want solid, indestructible bikes that roll for two or three years without anything but the yearly visit to the bike mechanic for a "check-up" (and most Dutch cyclists skip that too). Dutch bikes are, for this reason, the most reliable bicycles you can buy, hands down (I say "Dutch bikes"-- but in reality it's the collection and assembly of components that gives the aforementioned reliability, and all the best bikes and most reliable bicycle components--including the ones carrying Dutch brand-names, are--just like the Cyclone kit--made over in Taiwan).
But whether Dutch or not, if you are the kind of person who feels that way about your bike--that it ought to be a "set it and forget it" device--then the Cyclone kit is probably not for you.
I think a fair comparison can be made to the older air-cooled VW's. If you can't handle dirty fingers, or performing some maintenance sometimes, you won't want one of those cars either. Another perhaps even more fair comparison? Harley Davidson motorcycles. Classic Harley owners all know, that you have to do some tinkering after pretty much every ride. Things need adjusting, things vibrate loose... The point I'm trying to make, is that you will need to accept this fact, if you wish to be a Harley owner, or an air-cooled VW owner; and you will need to accept this fact if you wish to be a Cyclone owner as well.
I say embrace it: The tinkering is the price you pay for being able to get that face-stretching grin--at a relatively tiny cost... right? ;-)
------------------------------------------
The madness all started with a (probably first production-year) Babboe brand, "Big" model bakfiets.
It was given to my family for free, from somebody else who'd gotten it for free, and who knows before that.
Before it's previous owner, someone had brush-painted flames on the side, like some old-fashioned derelict jalopy. The irony was not lost on me. Akin to lightning-bolts on a turtle; racing stripes on a snail.
The thing was in a dangerous state of disrepair when we got it, but free being a good price, I took the challenge to heart... Still, much had to be done.
I have replaced all three wheel hubs. In front, I've used Sturmey Archer XL-FDD hubs, and in the back, a Sturmey Archer XL-RD3, all three of which I've personally laced into Ryde Andra 40 rims; 20 inch on the front, and a 26 inch on the back.
I've got the 4000W Cyclone motor (currently I think only Cyclone-TW has it). It comes with a nice waterproof cable connection to the controller. This is the same waterproof connection used on their coaxial motors, and Paco told me in an email, that this will soon be Cyclone's standard motor control cable. It makes for a really nice cable connection, that'll handle all the weather, splashing, and probably even periodic immersion you could throw at it--especially if you supplement the connections and seals by using silicone grease.
I'm mentioning it here, because this month (April 2018), according to Paco from Cylone-TW, they expect to be getting an order of one-meter-long waterproof-cable extension cords manufactured. I intend to buy one, as soon as they're available.
The good folks at Luna Cycle might want to get in line to order some too! All the recumbent bikes and trikes, pedicabs, cargo bikes and bakfieten (box bikes) which use Cyclone's newest generation of motors will all be able to use this to get their sensitive electronics and controllers out of the elements.
Because a bakfiets is wide, cars can tend to "crowd" me. So further modifications included "anti collision" lights... The back of each front wheel fender has a lamp on it now, and there's a headlight on the front side too. This illumination makes other folks in cars, or on bikes, give me about another foot and a half of room, which I really appreciate!
I've used all LED lights for the bakfiets, and none of them uses any batteries. All four of those "anti-collision" lights on the sides are powered by one of the front wheels' XL-FDD hub's dynamos. In addition, powered by the other front wheel's XL-FDD dynamo, I've got a headlight mounted higher up in the center panel, and a taillight for the luggage rack in the center behind me. The headlight has a daytime running light function, and the taillight has a brake-light function, that senses the wheel speed (dynamo speed), and when that speed drops suddenly (after a 1/2 second delay to prevent 'false activation"), the back light adds a brighter "pulse" to it's normal glow. (Busch and Moller Brake-Tech Plus series has this function). Back before I ever planned to "electrify" the bakfiets, I chose this system. But now, it's pretty handy. As a former aircraft mechanic, I can appreciate redundancy, and systems that continue to function in "emergencies"... Because these lights are powered by the wheel-hub generators, they will function flawlessly even if my assist system malfunctions, or my battery goes empty.
I've gone for Schwalbe Big Ben Plus tires on all three wheels. Low rolling resistance, but decent leak prevention, and long wear. Cargo bikes don't get suspension, and for the sake of handlebar-mounted cellphone safety, and stress to the wrists and forearms--the old Tioga Street Block tires on the front wheels had to go. I'll tell you though, until it was made electric, those were awesome! If I had one of those recumbent trikes, the Tioga Street Block would be my first choice. Wide, high-volume tires--(20in x 2.25in), so they won't sink when you try rolling through soft ground, but with a super-high thread-count, so you can also pump them up to a rock-hard 110 psi, offering pretty much zero rolling resistance. Lots of different "street and ramp" tires are awesome in this regard, but the Tioga Street Block tires were just too hard for the bumps once I added the Cyclone's speed to the equation--as you'll see later on.
Because this bakfiets began its service to me as my "kid hauler", and because even without assist, I tended to pedal it pretty hard, I felt "visibility" was super important. So, along with the lights, I installed one rectangular amber side reflector on each side panel near the front of the box, and two round white reflectors one on each side of the front panel. Between all the damn lights, the reflectors, and the flames--I'm pretty "visible". But of course visible is what you want, when you're driving something nobody expects to be going as fast as you are (and that counts for pedal-power too).
I've installed a metal pipe-fitting style bumper on it too. Looks intimidating. I like that too. Yes, sometimes I do wish I could hide--blend in... I admit it. But it ain't happening with this beast!
--------------------------------------------
When I first cobbled it together with the Cyclone for a test run...
Anybody ever see those old films from the Bonneville Salt Flats--where the crazy-ass guys back in the day were trying to set new land speed records? And when they crashed, it'd roll like eight-hundred-seventy-three-and-a-half times, leaving a trail of auto parts (and probably body parts) leading to the smoking hulk at the end of the dust-cloud... Anybody remember those films? Well-that's what played through my head, as I took her out for some testing.
I can honestly say I have no idea how fast it got up to. The Cyclone was willing to push me still faster, but I wasn't interested. If I were to float a guess, I'd say I probably reeled it in after topping well over fifty kilometers per hour, but it FELT more like about four hundred.
Now, that's the part I described in the opening; where most decide--on less terrifying configurations--that it's simply TOO MUCH FUN to go sixty miles per hour, or wherever it is their new Cyclone Super-Bike finally tops out at... They don't wanna contain themselves--hell, they CAN'T!--so, they hide from us, and they hide from the police, and we never hear from them here on the forums again!
Or, maybe they die on their test-runs, and that's why we never hear from them again!
Me? So as to avoid a fatal outcome, I went right to work; opened up the Cyclone Controller's Bluetooth App--and started adjusting the settings!
In order to make the thing handle reasonably, I've dialed it back a long way. However, if I've got a heavy load to haul, I can simply adjust a couple settings in the BT Controller's app, and immediately I can have all the "extra reserves" I like!
I will continue to experiment with power settings and gearing combinations, and if I find the "perfect balance" I'll post that here too one day.
For now, I've got it set to top out at 40 kilometers per hour. Despite my earlier trepidation as expressed in my introduction post, I've found it's still controllable at that speed, but it's a severely intense driving experience. At that speed, I'm pulling a pretty constant 20 amps, and my battery's app estimates that my plywood brick-wall can push against that self-generated 40 KPH headwind for about 75 kilometers. My normal "commuting" speed, is about 27 kilometers per hour. At that speed, depending on the wind, I'm pulling a little under, or a little over 10 amps, and my range is estimated at a more reasonable 165 kilometers. If I dial it back down to a more average bicycle-commuting-speed of about 16 KPH, which is a "comfortable" speed for most of the bicyclists who are actually "pedaling"--then I'm using between 2 and 4 amps (as I go up and down little inclines or the like), and my estimated range leaps to 235 kilometers--and will be probably much greater, were I to be actually pedaling along!
I put those numbers there for sake of reference. Other folks' performance will vary. But I'm beating the pants off the electric "Ebretti" scooter--for example--in terms of performance when it comes to speed, capacity and range; and I'm doing so for a fraction of the cost.
I chose for a 16s 3p LiFePo4 battery, 48V, 60Ah. It came with a cool bluetooth Android-app BMS, that lets you monitor all kinds of stuff, lock it, turn the discharge on or off, etc. with your connected device. Right on my phone, I get my current speed, battery status, range and current load. No separate dashboard needed! The battery is made up of sixteen bundles of three each 3.2V 20AH LiFePo4 pouch cells. The cells' tabs are connected with stainless steel screws and nuts, and then each group of cells is connected together via flexible nickel-plated copper jumper strips, insulated from one another, protected and cushioned with rolled up strips of cardboard. Each bundle of three also has a separate wire which goes to the BMS for voltage monitoring and cell balancing. The BMS also has four separate temperature probes, which can be placed in the battery at intervals. The battery assembly is then wrapped in a layer of duct tape, followed by a layer of cardboard, and still more duct tape, so that only the wires emerging to the BMS can be seen. The Bluetooth BMS itself is "Olive Leaf" brand. They've a wide array, including waterproof BMS's available. Along with a voltage display, and charging port, the BMS was mounted tidily in a flat plastic case, which sits atop the battery.
The battery's brand-name was CODD Power, the seller was Battery Sir, from AliExpress.
How do I know how it was put together? Oh, that brings me to the next part of the tale...
---------------------------------------------------------
Bump in the road.
Bump shook my cell phone holder too hard. Bump broke the cell phone holder. Bump broke and launched the portion of the cell phone holder and the cell phone itself skyward, leaving the other snapped-off portion of the cell phone holder on the handlebars. Nasty bump. Cell phone lands in the middle of the road. I stop the bakfiets, leap off to get the phone. As I move just beyond range, the bakfiets rolls over an embankment and into a water-filled ditch.
It all got wet. Motor wet. Controller wet. Battery wet. BMS wet. My tools, my multimeter, lots of stuff got wet. It all got wet. And then I got wet trying to get it all out (with some kind folks' help).
I had to pedal it back home without any assist. Not the end of the world but not a good day.
So, I got home, opened stuff up. Water pours out of the controller box. Water pours out of the BMS box.
In the end, the controller doesn't seem to be fried, and the battery is okay. (unwrapped it, dried it out, no problems). I think the throttle might be shot, so I've ordered another. But that cool Bluetooth BMS definitely bit the dust. However, a replacement (from AliExpress) will only be fifty bucks shipped, so that's not so bad. I just wanted a pretty-much plug-and-play (with a little bit of soldering) replacement for what I had, though I did consider some other available BMS versions. Just some soldering to do for the heavy-current wires, then I just plug in the monitoring wires, and the temperature probes, and I'm hoping I'll be good to go.
To try to do some testing, and see what else did or didn't survive, I used the charger to power up the motor and controller and the motor still works too, though the throttle seems twitchy now.
And that's where I sit now. Waiting for parts again, and yeah. Time enough to offer up an update my project here.
A monument to my own madness, perhaps.
But I'll tell you what--following a roughly ten-minute dunk in black Dutch ditch water--that's not so bad an outcome as it might have been!
------------------------------------------
I'm not done tinkering. I'm not sure any of us ever truly will be!
I fantasize about plopping the controller into a Pelican case along with the battery, leaving a nice cannon-plug to go to the as-yet-to-be made nice and tidy "wiring harness" I'd like to set up for the external controls (PAS, throttle, power switch, and brake cut-off switches). ~The case could have a place on the outside to plug in the wire to the motor, a place to plug in that fantasy "control harness", and a place to plug in the charger. If I set that up well enough, it could still be made weatherproof; yet also give me the option to unplug and lift out my whole power and control system. I think I'd like to be able to take it into someplace for charging, or for theft prevention. Sometimes, I may have to leave the bike parked outside, and if the ambient temperature is too cold for charging, I'll have to have a removable battery. Further fantasies have included converting the two front wheels to use hub motors also, for all-wheel drive; and potentially even rigging up some controls so I can drive the thing from inside the box which I probably won't do, but which would really turn some heads!
Anyways...
Until next time, take care... Of yourselves, your machines, and one another!
Tklop
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