Metal Man

I now have over 23,000 miles on the Big Dummy. Most of that was with the E Plus system, but it now has a Bafang mid drive which works pretty good. Wow, almost 100,000 views on this thread though.

kauaikit

Hey Firedog.....I'm now only getting around 1 1/2 miles on the original E+ battery hub on the bike I purchased on eBay and also using your charger that you sold them. I swapped this battery & rear rub to my other E+ (DOA) which is on the Montague Paratrooper frame. And yep, it's time for the conversion to lithium! :-)

You mentioned above "but I may sell it", was that the complete eBike bike or just the battery? What frame is your E+ on?

I'm located 7 miles East of the L.A. Fairgrounds in Montclair (91763).

Thanks.

Kit

Firedog91902

Kit,

I plan to sell my complete bike with 36V21ah lithium battery

I'd be happy to convert your Eplus to Lithium or give you instructions to do it yourself. i'm in Bonita 91902 near San Diego, but currently on 2 month RV/ebike trip across US and Canada. In Saint John, NB the last few days. Should be home end of Sept. Contact me then if still interested. I give you a detailed quote.

I use and sell 18v10.5ah tool Batteries (Makita mount) for lots of reasons; mainly low cost ($80 ea). 2 in series give 36v and more ah than the original NiMH front hub battery. If you'd rather, any 36v ebike battery capable of 30A continuous will work as long as you can figure out a mount.

Jmac513

If you pass by NYC let me know I just bought what looks to be a brand new Eplus in sleep mode. Want to upgrade to lithium and get it going I’d be happy to pay you.

kauaikit

Ok....FYI, I've got 12 of the original Wavecrest Labs Tidalforce ebikes and have converted most to 26" disc front wheel w/Avid BB-7 calipers, installed B battery jumper, updated w/lithium, and have too figured out battery locations on the different frames. :-)

Thank you.

Kit

Jmac513

Do you have a link to these batteries? I’d like to pick some up.

topspeedster

That's a lot of miles!

powell

hi all.
I am just reporting on my EPLUS.
I have reached over 34, 000 kilometers on my EPLUS.
again
my EPLUS had not been without problems.
I think the biggest was display/controller.
I rebuilt it twice.
second time I used quality water-proof tactile switches with wonderful click action, you can hear it.
no more pressing POWER ON switch 2-3 times to power my EPLUS.
many would blame EPLUS electronics for this or say that "my EPLUS died"

Jeepin_Dave

I've been looking for a solution to getting a new battery for my EPlus for quite a few years, after the local dealer made a couple of attempts to replace the cells, but could not get a resulting build to fit into the front hub. After reading all of these postings, I am glad to see there are those out there that can and do keep them running, but most of this is a bit more than I feel comfortable doing.

And since I saw that at times, people are looking to buy entire bikes and/or parts, I think I will be selling my EPlus, along with the additional parts that I acquired from the local dealer when they decided to exit the e-bike market (a few chargers, an extra front wheel, etc.) I will have to go gather it all up and take some photos, and hopefully it can benefit someone as well as free up some space in my garage. I did see the bike power up when they connected the new battery pack they soldered up was connected, but since it would not fit into the hub, it was disassembled, though I do have all of the parts, including the cells they used (not sure how good those are, but I have no use for them).

powell

Jeepin,
what software version is loaded on your Eplus?
is it 750W version?

powell

It is winter time here in Western Canada.
I want to introduce you to my EPLUS winter ebike.
I have ridden 6425 kilometers since installing EPLUS drive on this frame.
6425 kms of harsh winter riding, some days 20 C below zero, salt , gravel, ice.


my winter EPLUS

wrandyr

How do you keep it so clean?

powell

simply
I washed it before taking pictures,
usually is covered in whitish salty deposit,
all possible hardware on this bike like - screws, nuts, brackets , etc, are stainless , copper or aluminium...
EPLUS electronics work 20C below zero, no problems.

powell

big black box is a battery - Nissan Leaf 11S cells LG Chem, of course from written off Nissan, you cannot buy brand new cells .
small black box below are EPLUS battery electronics.

Firedog91902

[QUOTE=powell;20748136]Easter

"first you have to try to slide this collar out which blocks access to retaining snap ring.

rest is easy."


Powell, I can't get that collar off! From the photos of the opened hub, it's not threaded or pinned. I soaked it in penetrating oil. I modified a 2 jaw gear puller to slip between the hub and the collar. Lots of force, even tried to heat the collar. Nothing works. Any ideas?


I've had another round of failures. This time the display goes just goes blank and all stops. It's intermittent. I've checked all the wiring and parts up to the motor hub. If it's not a bad wire going into the hub or to the controller, I'll try to use the motor with an external controller. When it worked with the E+ plus hardware it was a great but if I can't count on it to get me home, it's worthless.

powell

Firedog,
I remember the fight to open this snap ring, as far as I remember I managed to open snap ring without removing the collar,
display/controller gets 5V for powering its circuit board from battery electronics over comm cable.
you have to check continuity of all wires of this comm cable with ohmmeter , complete from pins inside display/ctr. to pins on processing /upper/ board of battery electronics while wobbling comm cable around.
you must open display/ctr.
BUT BEFORE THAT.
another possibility are tactile switches of display/ctr.. - I had exact failures.
oxidation builds up on switches contacts due to rain or washing, if you have such oxidation on POWER UP switch it shorts and acts as if you pushed it.

Motor has nothing to do with display/ctr. going blank.
why do you want it to open it?
with edrive like EPLUS you must have spare parts like display/ctr.
I have spare display/ctr. matched to motors for my winter and my summer EPLUS
Rick Ruggiero would be happy to sell parts to you.

Firedog91902

Powell, thanks for the quick response. I spent the day checking the display switches, connectors and wiring. The switches connect to the display board via a 6 conductor ribbon cable. The center 2 (#3 and #4 ) are both ground and connect to one side of all 4 switches. The other side of each switch is as follows: #1 up arrow; #2 on; #5 C button; #6 down arrow. All of my switches work very well tested at the end of the ribbon and on the board after the ribbon inserted into the connector. No corrosion or wear anywhere inside.

You are right. If I connect an external 5V to the display's red and black it lights up, tests all LCDs, then audible alarm until turned off. See the wiring connections below, the 5v display power comes from the battery charge boards. Only the black(ground) and the green wire connect directly to the battery charge boards. When the "on" is pressed Green connects to Black(ground) through 210 ohm resistance. The charge board senses the long push and sends 5V to turn on the display. The hub has no connection to this 5V line.

My problem has to be in the charge boards. I have 2 sets of upper and lower boards that have all worked before. I tried all combination and the bike usually works for a while, then the display goes blank and won't restart until I change boards or who knows what. I know it sounds like a loose connection, but I can't solve it.

On the off chance there is a broken or loose wire inside, I'd fix it and give it another go. Failing that, I would disconnect the controller, bring out the 5 hall and 3 phase wires and connect to a 40a Crystalyte controller. I got a bunch and they have been bullet proof. Regen braking, 3 power levels, 40step cruise control, direct connect CycleAnalyst or not, and higher voltage if I choose. If something does fry, I can change a $1 part inside the controller or hub pretty easily. Mainly... I could get rid of those damn battery charge boards which does nothing except keep the display happy, and maybe handle low volt cut off.

Even if I could get the snap ring out of it's groove, it would never go over the collar. Tried pushing the pushing the collar through the bearing, but it locks on the snap ring. I finally strip the treads on my 2 jaw (cheapo) puller. I'll have to give up; at least for now. I'll put another hub wheel on frame and new controller. It will be a nice ride and reliable. With 21ah at 36v or 54v it will have great speed and range.

powell

Firedog
of course you are aware of 10 min. timeout.
it might be even less with different software versions.

wrandyr

It seems like Ric may be cleaning out his garage:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/283831481366?ul_noapp=true

Firedog91902

Sometime ago I got rid of the front wheel and NiMH battery. I moved the battery circuit boards to a protective enclosure and connected LiCoMn tool batteries to provide 36V21AH. Those batteries are charged off the bike on Makita rapid charger. When it worked, it was an amazing ride, but it was plagued by seemingly random #1(display/battery) and #2(display/motor) errors. In trying to track down possible cable or display problems, the display stopped turning on at all. I gave up.

I decided to take one more try. Fortunately, I had a 2nd top battery circuit board. That board fixed the display not turning on. I rebuilt the housing for the battery board so no connection could possibly loosen and nothing physically touching any part of the boards, except the mount screws. I replace the cables between the display, motor and battery boards with a better shielded cable.

I don't want to jinks it, but it seems to be fixed.

A couple of things unique to using batteries not charged through E+'s charge board circuit. The replacement upper charge board came from a bike that had the NiMH batteries charged normally. I showed 80% SOC and 4 bars, even though the batteries mounted were full at 41 volts. After about 8 miles, no bars even though the 21AH battery had discharged less than 25%. On subsequent rides, still no bars. Apparently, the E+ gets it's battery capacity data from the actually AH used to charge the battery. So if the battery is not charged through the battery boards the battery state of charge display doesn't work. Fortunately everything else works and a simple watt meter is a good substitute.

One other issue that may or may not prove to be a problem. In the original E+ design, the battery board always had voltage (battery connected). With my system, the battery is removed for charging and off the bike until it is next used. I seems to me the delay between the display lighting and power to the wheel is longer than I remember with the front hub battery. I have also had at least 1 start up error but unplugging and re-inserting the com cable on the display fixes that the first time.

Powell I haven't heard about that. Is it a delay after LVC or temp problem or something else?

powell

Firedog,
sorry for late answer I was away.
As you can see from my Lithium conversion schematics I charge completely outside EPLUS drive.
This is my understanding that State of Charge SOC display bars are displayed based on Columb count by measuring charge going into original NMH battery and discharge Columb count.
When I was doing conversion I was very afraid that I would discharge my Lithium batt and finally I would get cut off.
Instead I am getting blinking one bar on both of my EPLUSEs.
As I guess power cut off is based on Columb discharge count AND voltage. So high voltage of our Lithium packs even after many kilometers keeps system from shutting down.
I also noticed that I have to wait longer for display to lit up after I connect Lithium to lower power board.
On every EPLUS display/controller sends enquiry also call handshake to both: battery upper board and to motor electronics, only motor electronics are ID to this particular disp/ctr. battery upper board is not ID.
in your case - for some reason your upper board did not respond to handshake.
why
there are many reasons for that - short on board, PIC chip lost power/5V/ , RS 485 comm. could not be executed , etc.
10 min time out - when no buttons or throttle use for 10 min.

JLV@ 

[QUOTE=powell;13661371]MetalMan.
Good to hear from you again.
I read your post just hours before year 2011 ends.
All the best in 2012 for you and all others who are reading this thread.
I presume there are couple of months of winter where you live?
I specifically bought E+ for summer/spring/fall riding.
My winter ride is trustfull and reliable Tidal Force which is a legend for a reason - USA quality.
I still have less than 1000miles on my E+, but with 1200 km not far from 1600km=1000miles.
In contrast to my Tidal Force ,
E+ is an ebike of one trip a day, one-trip-a-day ebike, because radiculously long charging times of front hub battery.
My TF battery can be fully easly charged in one hour with min. balancing or 1,5hours with full balancing- that's from 7-8 Ah discharge!!
It is known E+ can be powered on any 36V battery if communication with front hub is maintained.
That is only start , series of experiments is required to determine farther how to get rid of front hub battery for good if at all.
And this must be well thought out.

JLV@ 

[QUOTE=JLV@;21461215]I don't know if my message is being done correctly. I am new to posting. I'm hoping you can help me. I have an E+ bike and I rebuilt the battery pack. I'm getting 41 volts after charge but when I turn bike on I get an error code #1 and the control doesn't function. The screen toggles between A & B battery and then it
locks up. Do you know what that means and if it can be fixed? Should I get a lithium battery pack and bypass the front PCBoards altogether? After reading your post it appears you know a lot about the e+ bikes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

JLV@ 

I have an E+ 1000 watt with PCBs problems. Can anyone help? I rebuilt the battery sys and I think I shorted out one or maybe two of the front hub boards. Does anyone know where I can get replacement boards. When I turn on the display controller it toggles between A & B batt, then locks up. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Should I trash the front hub components and go to lithium with ems and if I do that will the rear hub run on lithium?

powell

I will answer on weekend
Saturday?
right now very busy.
for now:
you must follow my schematics.