Kelly

Youa sked and I will tell you about electric bike stuff actually been needing a good reason to set up an electic page on www.instinctualism.org and the letter blog always workd for me … stream of C writing no spell check or edit  )

So about a year ago I bought a kit thru Linda the owner of the electric bike and scooter shop here in PSL  a real people retailer with on line access    http://electricbikeshoponline.com/      …. My reason was to outfit a bike to run certain route work off of ( window washing ) and be able to charge them off of my PV;s so I had a solar powered transport devise .  Predeco MADE IN AMERICA  affordable electric bikes had a nice 24v 200 wat pedal assit kit with Li.battery for 700 or so after tax.  Front wheel drive …. But it came with matching rear spocketed back wheel…

Prodeco’s main biz. Is in their FOLDING bikes not kits as much . great looking stuff .

I dig it … it made riding bikes fun again , it was like getting  paid to go on a bike ride and see friends , listen to music , whistle and provide service be outdoors and they even give me MONEY , too!!!! Bonus what agreat world !   I had changed over my old trek bike later bought 2 extra batterys and was doing 50 mile days regulry like about 12 daysa a month …. Got rained of course I just hid out with the HARLEY RIDERS  under what ever till it got pleasant to ride angina.

Pedal assit the 200 watt motor really should be used after you get ithe bike rolling and it then takes you up to about 12 mph where you then can add the etra mph’s pedaling in high gear …. You can see the effect and the power guage on the throttle …… when doing the hills or in heavy head head winds you  have to gear down and pedal assit , but any ways it takes the edge off of bike riding no matter what …. It is fun again not work  to ride a 20 mile stretch pedal assit is a pleasure .

Now the reason why I just bought another kit …. 

Then bummer happened about 6 weeks ago my bike broke , sadness , gloom ,,, knashing of teeth ..etc. I contacted the manufacturer and they sounded like they would be on the ball send right out the most probable fix it parts …….. controller and throttle ( 6 weeks later LINDA the real people got the parts for me )

But on to understanding abit more about electric bikes ,,, brushless techno ….. which sounds like it should last almost Infinitly long EXCEPT ( the profitable weak link )  the HALL FIELD  controller , a geek friend of mine who I asked to sse if he could locate this exact 8 pin 200 wat 24v controller for some help first he took apart the controller for his interest ,,, ahh he says … it is a HEAT SINK ,,, the fins are not long enough and you riding 50 mile days in 100 degree summer afternnons burnt something out ,,,, he looked at the compartment for the controller and recommends ,,,, I place a 10 cf computer fan in there …. ( now to find a 10 cf 24v fan , that tiney fan only takesa about 1 watt ) .. it is the same problem he finds all the time cooling cooling cooling , keep it cool and the controller would probably LAST ANS LAST AND LAST .

The Prodeco made in America well means made in America of components purchased from where ever …… the hub motor the controller throlle ..well everything in the kit is really from china ( I rmember seeing a pix of the hub motor on a from china direct site )

My new kit is again another 24 v , but this time 500 watt , I am sticking right now with 24 volt because just before my bike broke I had ordered a 24 v 30 watt PV panel from UL-Solar ( 2 to 3 bucks per watt pricing on small panels free shipping if you got a better source would love to here about it . http://www.ul-solar.com/Default.asp  ) …. The 29 charging volts should spark up the sytem give it that fresh battery feel while running and charge me a bit while I am at a job site , the 30 watt panels fits just over my 18 inch bucket .

The new kit looks very nice , I like the brake discoonect feature , the tire is quality all in all looking as good as the prodeco kit less the Li battery and the rear wheel and $ 500 … of my money …. On the new kit I am gonna try 4 12v sealed 20 amp tractor batterys wired to 24v …. They cost about about 25 bucks each at wally world .

Ok understanding volts amps watts …. As it comes to bikes ,,,, higher volts means you get faster revolutions  more speed ,, higher amps you get more torque ,,, hils and mountains ( here I have 4 causeways and beach front heads winds the rest of FLA is flat )   the US market for bike not scooter but electric bike is to speed limit them to under 20 mph ….. volts X amps = watts will help you decide on your needs … got lots of hills? 20 knott winds onver flat lands ?  you need amps ….

Well my next step is to get direct shipped from china , one of the 48v . 1000 watt kits , and put that on a 3 wheeled bike that should get me 50KPH  ( or the illegal speed of 30 mph  for a bike not scooter in the USA  ) , one that has a retirement canopy .. take off the canopy put on 2 , 85 watt 12v. and another 85 as like a trunk lid over the larege rear basket , run that thru a tractor battery to a 300 watt inverter to get the 100v to plug the charger into  ( the kits come with 24 V or 36 Volt or 48V chargers since your permenat battery pack is wired 24, 36, or 48 , most probably from 12 v batterys

The Prodeco 24 Li battery is a 24v abattery and and stupid small lite and EXPENSIVE .

Ok , well Kelly I hope that helped a bit ….. I would post a photo of my bike but the only foto I got is on my Droid and I have not taken the time to learn how to get it from there to cyberland yet …

Is your interest in electric bikes GREEN BASED ? 

FYI    ..the world has had for 10 years now ..the 1 liter car ,  261 mph  gas or desiel or electric hybrid .  designed by Germanys …. VW …. driven by there CEO to a stock holdrs meeting a DECADE ago then shelved ,,,, to high tech they said ,,, the Titanium magnesium , alumiun oxides cermacis , the graphite carbon boron fibers ETC … all stuff you could bay in a $ 20 fishing pole way back in the 70;s ……

So we now get over priced fan motors and controllers designed to fail …… but atleast we do get to play around with that ….

Thanks for the interest …… Phil

Here is a link to a parts site ,,,, seems to lean toward the inventive types ( oops I have lost that link it you are still interested I will research it again )

Ps. Let Owen know , since I would have to be using so much ready mix for the foundations colums and tie beams plus stabilizing the Fla.sand (which has no natural clays ) sand bags with probably a 10% Portland then again , so over the weekend I built two sets of my forms for ready mix  monolithic construction  totall of 16 lin ft. sat them up straped and ready for a pour as an example …  and had a  construction friend over to inspect them …. He still is clueless about earth tieing a home or therm mass ,,,he kept talking about having the example foundation pour  in the ground and I kept telling him about the idea of earth berming …. The whole house is under ground yet over road crown .  … he says my design is way over kill and I should have Pete go over it first ,,, but I am like , the over kill really only cost about 500 extra for the whole structure  , with in OGITOP conepts …. and Pete needs to see ,, what I want done after it is done and then  … be the CRITIC … and  he finally convinced me to to up to 2x8 …on my desired  12 oc over the 14 ft span …… he was like Phil it is like 3 bucks more and 10 lbs per piece of wood  … give it up grass / weeds will grow and become heavier than you factor for.in years to come ( I still think the 12inch on 16 ft slope will erode plant matter build up )