Magic Pie V5 with Electra Townie

[Eric B]

I put my Electra Townie together with the Magic Pie 5, on November 2nd 20015 put 2800 miles on it with out any problems, Very happy with the bike, I ride primarily on the road full throttle 30 mph. The bike has great power and I very seldom crank the pedals.

I recently added the 2 home made battery packs

[Eric Luna]

wow 2800 miles...nice work :)

[Kauaikit]

Eric....I agree that the 14s battery arrangement is pretty much ideal for most ebikes. Have you tried a 15s battery source on these GM MP5 rear hubs, as I understand that they have 63v caps?

[Kauaikit]

Nice setup....I've got the now "old" GM MP4 setup (PAS & LED dash) on a couple of '00 EVG PE (Police Edition) ebikes and with the internal sinewave controller in the rear hub allowed me the room to retain the stock 36v controller that powers the front headlight, horn, and functional rear brake light by retaining too the stock left brake handle. The right rear brake level controlled the regen braking.

What is your battery voltage being used?

[Eric B]

I am using 58.5 volts and yes I understand that the controller should accept up to 63V on the MP5 and higher voltage is one of the things I wanted when I started building the battery packs, I put together a 15s 14p pack and charged it to 61.5 volts just to be sure not to exceed the 63 volt. Plugged it in and everything seemed fine but when I gave it throttle it would not engage power to the motor. So I did not play with it much. I plugged my 58.8 battery back in and it worked fine so I tried 61.5 volts again and nothing. At that point I decided that the actual 60 volts that are specified in the specs are the actual voltage the controller will accept. So I took 1s out of the pack and it worked fine.
Then I decided that more AH would allow it to hold the optimal voltage longer with a lesser voltage sag, giving me a nice performance with 14s packs.
Built t two 14s10p packs from recycled laptop batteries (Many Many hours of testing cells to get enough good ones to build the packs). Did not use a BMS and I only have a 6s balancing charger so I put two 5s and one 4s ( for total of 14)balancing cables on the packs for maintenance. I find that if I get a good balanced full charge to start out with that even if the pack goes 7 or 8 Mil Amps out of balance at discharge it will come back into balance when recharged. I have had satisfying LUCK with the battery builds.
1 pack test just over 19AH the other one test just under 18AH and I also have a 20AH that I purchased from LUNA Cycle that I run all in Parallel approx. 58 AH
It makes the over all weight of the bike 110 LBS and I weigh 185LBS, The MP5 does a great job with the weight averaging 44WH/Mile at full throttle 30.2 mph and about 29 WH/Mile at a lower 21or 22 mph riding in the moderate hills of Springfield MO. The 2 packs on the rear can easily be removed by 4 wing nuts to return the bike back to the original state for lighter weight on shorter rides.

[Eric B]

Correction I meant I am using 58.8 volts

[Eric B]

The below Warning note from Golden Motor on Magic Pie voltage.

When I tried over 60v open voltage the controller did not work. My 14s batteries work great at 58.8 volts

PLEASE NOTE: This motor is recommended to be run with a 24, 36 or 48 volt battery. You will need a USB cable to set the proper voltage. A fully charged 48 volt battery can read as high as 58 volt and the controller will still function up to 59.9 volts. If you attempt to run this motor with a battery over 48 volts you will burn the fets that are rated at 63 volts max. A fully charged 60 volt battery can read as high as 69 volts and will fry the controller as soon as you apply power. For a warranty controller replacement you must send it back to us for inspection. If the fets are burnt from over volting your warranty is void.

[Eric Luna]

Honestly i wrestled with the owner of golden pie many times trying to give me a higher amp controller. He would not budge. 30 amps was the absolute max. I think the motor can handle a lot more....even 40 amps should be no problem.

Our decision to make 52 volt batteries was to get maximum voltage out of the magic pie v5 motor which was our first kit purchase as a dealer. I tried to get him to lift the voltage limit but he would not budge on that issue either.

I always have loved the golden pie motor but hated that it had those chrome pieces on it....so i got them to make them for us in solid black but we had to order 120 pieces. Atleasat we got them to make one concession.

That was Luna Cycles first big purchase :)

[Louis]

Ok so I'm biased but I built one for a county commissioner and it is the nicest 27mph(48v) hub motor I've built up. I got over the built in controller fear with the BBS series. Not having to mess with an ugly tin box controller is a huge plus. And all black really improved the look! I used the amped bike torque arms for the first time and am now a huge fan of those too. Two for the price of a single grin. More good stuff. Makes support a joy.

[Ziflin]

I always have loved the golden pie motor but hated that it had those chrome pieces on it....so i got them to make them for us in solid black but we had to order 120 pieces.

^^^ That was one of the reasons I ordered mine from y'all! I really like that change they made for you!

[Ziflin]

Oh, Eric B - What kind of seat do you have on your bike and do you like it? I have to find something more comfortable than the stock seat on mine.

[Gopi Swargam]

The magic pie is a great motor. Though not efficient as a mid drive but what makes it stand out among the other hub motors are it's reliability ( major disadvantage with geared hub motors ) and how silent the motor is with a sine wave controller. The version 5 also gets an option to make our phone as a display for the readouts and that is very cool. Writing this made me realize that it is one of the cheapest quality motors in the market. If at all it could weigh a couple of pounds less, then it would be awesome!!

[Eric B]

Ziflin I just have the stock seat that came when I purchased the Electra Townie. The seat manufacture it looks like is VECO. But yes I like the seat and it is comfortable. I ride a lot of miles and I am very satisfied with the Electra bike and seat

[OptimusPrime]

2800 miles that is great! Have you had any flats? I imagine out in the boonies a flat would be a major pain in the neck.

[Eric B]

I have had a flat. I carry a tire patch kit and I patched the tire with out having to take the wheel off of the bike. Just use the tire removal tools to take one side of tire from rim and patch put the one side of tire back on rim and pump up good to go. I got around 2100 miles out of the stock tires that cam on the Electra when I purchased the bike. I now have a set of Kenda K838 Slick Wire Bead Bicycle Tire, Blackwall, 26-Inch x 1.95-Inch on it and they seem to be holding up well. I use a thick heavy duty tube and also have thorn buster tire linings installed. I have had good luck with all