Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with EV Global ebikes. I have the owners manual and the dealers manual (that only really deals with assembly). I'm wondering if a schematic and service manual are available.
After a long winter I'm looking to get my ebike working again and am having difficulties.
I have a 36 Volt EV Global ebike. I also have a bad 24 Volt model that I can sometimes use for parts.
I charged up the battery and went to turn it on and I didn't get any of the diagnostic beeps or charge indicator lights to come on. The green charge light on the charger was on. I put the battery back on charge for several hours and again the same thing happened. Also there was no horn or lights.
I then took the battery inside and opened the case and measured the voltage. It was 40 Volts. There was a sticker on the battery indicating that the initial voltage was 49 I believe. I figured 40 Volts was more than the rating of 36 and should at least be good enough to get the lights or horn to work.
Last year towards the end of the season I was having problems with the on switch. It was very hard to turn, in fact I often had to use pliers to turn the switch. I thought the switch was probably bad. I opened up the right hand controller from my 24 Volt model and unsoldered the switch. I noticed that this one didn't turn well either so I used some contact cleaner on it and it worked fine.
Rather that use contact cleaner with the switch still on the 36 Volt model, I replaced the switch. After I did this I noticed that at least some of the charge indicator lights lit up briefly. This was without the batter pack attached. I figured there must be a capacitor somewhere. I thought I was making progress.
I then reattached the battery pack, the charge indicators turned on briefly and I heard a slight whine. Then the whine stopped and the lights went out. My horn and lights still didn't work.
Is this some electrical problem or maybe just a bad battery. It sat all winter.
I see you have a battery workaround, but, I also see the third battery sits on a rear rack. I have a rear rack, but, in addition to paniers which I use sometimes, I also have a bag on the top of the rack that I always use. I'd like to still use this bag.
Are there any of the 36 volt batteries available from you or elsewhere. Also, are you aware of any LiFePO4 battery/charger adaptations. If I have to spend a lot of money on a battery I might rather go that route.
Thanks for any help or advice you can give. All my local ebike dealers have gone out of business and I can't contact them.
I have had similar issues with my 24v model the last couple of years. When it first came my way, the local cycle shop had it for over 6 months, trying to replace some of the parts!!! they made it sound like it was like repairing the space shuttle or something. And as it was my first ebike I knew no better than to just wait.
your battery has probably gone. getting parts and tech support from anyone gets harder each passing year, I wouldn't bother.
In the end I got fed up with things going wrong and junked all the original electronics, and the batteries, just completely stripped the bike out and put in a crystalyte 36-48v brushed controller in the controller bay, with one of their thumb throttles. not exactly expensive.
The electronics and all the fancy controls is the weak part of the bike after all these years and of course the SLA batteries don't do the bike any justice at all, what a bunch of doodah the sla are compared to the potential of the motor and the frame. The motors are excellent the 36v especially will effortlessly out run any human powered bike you will be fortunate to find in your immediate vicinity. The frame is rock solid and design is cool without all the panniers and old fogey wheel guards etc. So strip it down, soup it up and sink some decent money into it I would!!
anyway if its any use for your plans -I went through quite a bit of process and mistakes but now have a 36v 13ah nimh pack from batteryspace in the existing battery bay - in a homemade protective casing and it never comes out the bay - you do not want to drop or damage this 17pound pack. plus 3 small nimh packs of same cells, connected in series for a total of 9.4v13ah cells all in the controller bay, (along with the crystalyte controller.) I got tired of batteries on a rear pannier so figured out how to hide extra ones from sight inside the frame. So 46v 13ah total with 4 of their smart chargers. the 24v motor handles it fine with a respectful attitude by one's throttle thumb, peaks at 950 watts and runs steady at 500w without getting hot, and now my next problem is the gearing and pedal cadence as the motor will zip up to 23mph very quickly and cruise up a hill at 20mph, but pedaling is somewhat roadrunner like over 18mph.
So the 36v motor will be awesome if you overvolt it to 42v or 48v, will take you over 25mph with v high torque more than you'd ever reasonably need or use.
a watts up meter to monitor everything is vital if you sink significant $ into batteries and want to get the most out of them.
Try yesa or ping for custom lifepo4 for the battery bay if you want those. Powerstream do top of the line 36v20ah that fits, but currently you will have to twist his arm and they are expensive. falcon ev do stuff but I find them totally mystifying generally. I toyed with getting lipo, you could get 48v to fit easy with those, but in the end I played it safe and went for the nimh and figure 500 cycles plus - as my battery pack give me 35 miles or more and high mph but I rarely go that distance/speed. batteryspace are also coming online with the lifepo4 packs that might be interesting later on. I'm sure there are other options too I'm not aware of. Good luck post what you decide to do I would be interested thanks!!
Thanks for the reply. Someone else advised me to use a Crystalite controller. I was thinking in terms of savaging my parts and putting them all on an alloy frame to reduce weight, but, I didn't care for any battery compartments that I have seen and I don't think I could make anything very good. The EV Global does have a compartment to stow the batteries and electronics.
Is there any sort of 12V or 5V out on the controller to power the lights and horn. I like having both of them. I could split off of the power pack and use a voltage regulator but it would be much cleaner if the controller had some power connections.
I was sort of thinking of Lithium batteries, but, I have looked around a little and I think the prices are too high for me at this time. I'll look into Nickel Metal Hydride. Can you recommend any sources for these?
Thanks
Here is another idea which I have not had the opportunity to test at this time, but I thought I'd share my idea. I have found several small motorcycle saddlebags which sould work to carry batteries. Here is a picture of one such set.
Grandpa Chas S.
I got the 36v 13ah nimh pack from batteryspace.com - one of the main reasons I did was because the pack size fit the bay just right and the company itself seems pretty solid. I couldn't find any other battery provider offering a pack with similar dimensions...like ebikes.ca who are highly rated in the forums but I don't see a convenient size there for the evg bikes we have.
perhaps another forum member could advise.
yes i thought I would miss the horn and the lights. but just put a much more friendly sounding manual bell on the bars which is much better for alerting pedestrians, and bought 2 of the 76led lights off of ebay for the front and I use 3 of the mars rear lights - kept it real simple. maybe there is a brush controller with the connections you need I'm not sure.
I solved my problem for the time being anyhow. I just had to clean the contacts on the battery housing and the bike. They corroded over the winter.
It was a good exercise though. When the time comes I think I'll get an alloy mountain bike frame, mount the ebike wheels, motor, derailer, seat, etc on it. I'll get a full triangle pack made.
The battery pack will go on the bottom to keep the center of gravity low. I'll have dividers attached with velcro to make compartments for the charger and controller (or I'll mount it on the seat post) and make a pig tail with some regulated 36V for the tailight array, 12V for the headlight and a bell.
Of course I don't know how I'm going to pay for it though, but, at least I don't have to do it all at once.
Ian
A wonderful post. I also have an ebike with the 24 V motor. No problems except it needs batteries. This is a 1999 model with less than 200 miles on it I'd guess. I checked the batteries you recommended and it sounds like you put almost $800 worth of NiMH batteries in your ebike. Plus the controller for $100, plus the charger(s). So, that is over $1000 total? Did I miss anything? Seems pretty steep to me.
The regular 12V 12AH are $30-$50 each. That means $90-150 for 36V 12AH. It is really hard for me to justify the cost difference. Enlighten me please.
115% home PV, eGO scooter w/ PV charge, EVG eBike
Considering 4 wheel EV purchase or conversion of Spitfire
As we finally can witness true movement in the technology, and get to our next level away from oil etc, its' just a question of number crunching plus your "i'm getting tired of these sla batts" quotiont.
yep it has run quite a bit over $1,000: plus new tires, lights, saddle, dropped batteries, overdischarged sla's. But you could get away with decent batteries for quite a bit less than $800. , see the latest thread "reviving and upgrading leiacocca bike". I just love e-biking and making improvements over time so as of this moment, I have progressed in a couple years from 24v sla to 36v sla to 36v nimh to 46nimh, it is just human nature.
I did the 36v sla for quite some time and it was cool but suddenly felt like it was a total waste of money, if that makes any sense, and I got frustrated with the performance of em. overuse them, forget to charge them, overheat them etc.....bi-cycle life could be not much at all. And so clunky we have got to move this thing forwards was my thinking, there are battery designs and power sources way beyond even the lifopo and maybe because we are too closed minded ourselves or accepting of inertia, it doesnt make its way to the public domain. I mean you must realize there is battery designs and technologies that are quantum ahead of what we got now, can you imagine a 25mph bike with a 500 mile range super-light fully self-regulating and safe, and fully recharge in a matter of minutes, and 100% recyclable?. so ok you don't know how its going to go, but you buy whatever you can to help the process move, transition is quite simple in that regard. Hummer or prius, what's it gonna be, if you have a hummer and think you're it, you are just not getting it.
So anyways asides from the enlightening aspect, of a forum like this where all these opinions and thoughts bounce off each other but at least most of them are trying to manifest the potential, say you are careful but you maximize their capacity most rides... not riding like a wuss and doing a decent distance...you get 100 to 150 cycles? these battery design is for starting engines not running them. and you spend $150 on 3 bricks "decent quality" ones as if there is such a thing except for the firefly ones.
say you stick in a 36v 10ah nimh pack in instead. you save 15 pounds weight or more. cost is $400 from anywhere. use it up to 7ah which would be your max with the sla. you could get over 500 cycles? Look at the prius (we have one) they are having to work a 10 year span with thousands of cycles and its only nimh in there, its just shallow cycles like the satellites. so that's why I upped to 46v, it cost but I only go 50% capacity for 90% of my rides and even when it hits 80% of its rated capacity after 500 or more cycles, I could still use it for a while no problems.
same goes for the lifepo which will be a good notch above the nimh the way it is looking to me, it is just early days but batteryspace are already putting out the lifepo packs, I'm no emissary of theirs but its just good to have a solid supplier/manufacturor based in your home country is all
Ian
Many thanks. This appears to be an evolutionary thing and I'm in the crawling stage while you are out pole vaulting. Another thing is that I'm older than dirt and live on a steep hill. Going home is uphill. The question is, how much will I really use the ebike?
For the moment I'm going with the 36V SLA for the 24V motor with the existing control system.
I bought my SLA 12V, 12 AH batteries here for a great price. http://www.batteriesasap.com/658.html They should arrive in the next 4 days. I'll read up to see what mods I need to make to avoid burning up the lights and horn. Also think I'll add more vent holes in the front and add some forced cooling for the controller just in case there is more heat.
Many thanks for leading the way.
Mauibuck
115% home PV, eGO scooter w/ PV charge, EVG eBike
Considering 4 wheel EV purchase or conversion of Spitfire
I have located the service manual. Let me know how I can post it for everyone.
Absolutely
Go for it
How wonderful
Yes Please, with cream and sugar on it.
As to how, I would guess scan it and then send it to chas_stevenson [at] yahoo.com as explained under the "EV DOWNLOAD LIBRARY" in the link to the right of every V=V page. Or email Chas and ask him. He will probably have preferences on how you set up your scanner resolution.
Mauibuck
115% home PV, eGO scooter w/ PV charge, EVG eBike
Considering 4 wheel EV purchase or conversion of Spitfire
If you are scanning the document set the scanner to at least 300 dpi. Then email me the document or if you save the pages as individual graphis use the .bmp file type and send them to me. I have the ability to convert the graphics to a complete manual in PDF format.
Thanks
Grandpa Chas S.
chas_stevenson [at] yahoo.com
The manuals are in the download library now. Enjoy your ebike.
SPECTACULAR
Many thanks for making a rare and valuable resource available to all of us. Those two 57 page Service Manuals are wonderful for deep trouble shooting and understanding all the what and hows of the ebike.
Mauibuck
115% home PV, eGO scooter w/ PV charge, EVG eBike
Considering 4 wheel EV purchase or conversion of Spitfire
Wow - I'm so excited to find an active community of EV Global eBike users. I recently bought a 36V model used, and I'm pretty happy with it, but - like a lot of you - I'm trying to find a replacement battery. I'm not displeased with the power, but rather with the weight. At 20 lbs for the original SLA battery, spending $600 for a 17-lb NiMH battery doesn't seem like much of a deal.
Has anyone found a Lithium or other lightweight battery that's worked for their E-Bike?
I found the nimh pack's extra capacity more than make up for the 17 pounds weight. I was tempted by batteryspace li-poly, such a light weight, but in the end didn't want to have any safety concerns.
anyways it looks like ping lifepo4 might be worth considering, he told me he could make a 36v15ah to fit the bay of the evg bikes and they are getting good reviews by other forum members. price wise they look the most affordable.
what do you think of the 36v motor do you like it - I'm thinking of upgrading from the 24v hub I currently have, if I can find one.
What safety concerns are you referring to on the batteryspace li-poly? It seems like I've read something about them overheating? Is that it?
I like the 36V. I live in a pretty hilly area - not San Francisco hilly, but sure not flat - and it seems to handle them well, even though the pedal assist signal does start beeping by the top. I was pretty close to buying a 24V, but the owner told me he'd been somewhat frustrated with the power in his, and that he'd definitely go for the 36V given the opportunity. Thank goodness for honest people!
Do you have a web page for the Ping battery? When I search for it, all I find is more forums talking about the battery...
Thanks!
at the time I was investigating and asking people's advise, a year ago, it seemed like the li-poly's at least from batteryspace were still developing and refining. Safety issues are covered in great depth by other people. doesn't seem such an issue now as other chemistries are coming through that are inherently safer and more stable, but anyways I think i'd buy them now without too many worries if I wanted to go super lightweight, you could stick 48v 16ah lipoly in the evg bay weight would be cool, performance dramatic, cost would be mucho.
check out this link its interesting:
http://www.advancedbatteryprogress.com/
re ping I dont know if he has a website, you can find him in ebay and then email with questions. the 36v 15ah would work I think as you would pull maybe 25 peak amps on a hill with the 36v and average 10 to 15 amps which seems ok for pack. 48v would be ideal though the 36v motor can handle it no prob. yeah wish I had a 36v motor too maybe I will come across one.