I just recieved a new brushless motor kit from hightekbikes.com I will be doing a long term review of this motor kit on this forum, and in greater detail, on the endless sphere.
Unlike some of the ebay vendors, Terry at hightekbikes seems to know a bit about the thing he is selling which is a big plus! The kit itself looks to be very close to the same as the Wilderness Energy brushless kits, but there is a difference. Both use a motor from AOTEMA, but this one is definitely faster. On the WE kits sold last summer the brushed motor could do about 24mph on 36 volts, and the brushless ones about 19 mph. This brusheless motor will go about 24 mph at 36v with moderate pedaling and about 23mph no pedaling at all.
So this is, at least for me, a better kit than the one you can get from WE. This aotema kit hit ebay near the end of last year and was claimed to be faster, and to be the 2009 model from AOTEMA. Terry at hightekbikes.com is selling at a better price than ebay vendors, especially if you are an endless sphere member. The kit comes with motor, controller, throttle, rack, battery bag, spoke wrench, and some anderson connectors to use if you have those on your battery pack. Another plus for me is I don't have to buy sla batteries I don't want to get the motor kit. Lifepo4 is what you want.
My initial impressions are quite good. The buying experience was no problems and shipping time was about 10 days. Everything arrived in good condition but of course since it is an AOTEMA motor, the rim was not final trued and needed some time with the spoke wrench to straighen out. The motor is without halls, but can still start immediate if that is how you want to ride. It does growl a bit if you don't pedal or just push off to get the wheel to turn a few inches but once turning the wheel spins up nice, and once up to full speed is pretty silent. It also climbs hills quite nicely, and a 10% grade a full mile long is no problem for it. Some pedaling is needed of course on hills that steep, but you won't need the low gears at all.
I am running the motor on a pingbattery.com lifepo4 36volt 20 amp hour battery. Range is 23 miles at full throttle with some pedaling but not pedaling hard. Since it took an hour and a half to go 23 miles the c rate is well under 1 c. 1 c is drainig a 20 ah battery in one hour, and the number you need to be at or less to get the maximum lifespan out of a ping lifepo4 battery. Another way to think about it, is for a 20 ah battery 1c is a 20 amp drain rate. So this motor is using less than 20 amps on average. This test was done at 70 degrees F, so if it is colder where you are, range will be less in weather less than 50 degrees F.
Thanks for being the Guinea pig on this one :)
It sounds like a nice option when my Aotema BD36 magnets let loose!
Only 3 wires on a brushless?!
Sometimes these are called pedal first brushless, but with this controller, it will start itself, but it does it better if it is rolling. Near as I can tell it's the same as a WE kit, but the vendor seems like a knowledgeable and helpfull guy. Unlike some of the ebay dropshippers of the WE kits.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
IS this motor the new type of motor without all the problems associated with the hall effect one? Believed I read that the motors with hall effect devices are unreliable. What's the story on the Ampedbikes?
The aotema kits use a motor with no hall sensors. So far it seems very reliable, but I haven't been riding in the rain, and where I live, may never ride in the rain. Wet hall sensors, followed by melted halls, seem to be the main cause for problems with halls. Also the plain old bad conncections issue in the plugs and wiring. I don't know that I would call a motor with halls unreliable, but it is another thing that can fail. If you ride in rain all the time, a controller that does not use the hall sensors would be the way to go. People who ride in the rain all the time need a way to dry out the motor insides from time to time though, or they can rust out just from condensation inside.
It's not really a pedal first controller though, All it needs is to roll an inch forward as you hit the throttle to take off. It will actually start from a dead stop, but that way it sometimes will go bacwards a half inch, and then take off forward. It's pretty easy to just push forward as you ease on the throttle, and about the time your feet hit pedals, floor it and zoom away. I only downshift for a steep uphill start now. Some people report a lot of stuttering with pedal first controllers unless they are going 7-8 mph. I find this one only stutters if you push too much throttle for the speed you are going. So if it stutters, its your fault, you are stalling the motor. Backing off the throttle some is the cure. 640 miles on the motor now. The controller is a 36-48 v 20 amp. amps can spike as high as 50 on starts, but it cruises full speed on flat ground on much less than 20 amps of current.
As for amped bikes, they sell both front and rear versions of the 9 continents motor. It seems to be getting a lot of good reports too. There is a fast and a slow version of that motor, and I don't know if amped stocks both at all times. As a vendor, he is getting good reports too. I have never tried the 9 continents. Ebikes-ca sells it too but only the front hub version.
Depending on the bike it goes on, front hub can be fine, but my better bikes can't fit a hub between the tubes of the suspension forks. Bikes with cheap steel suspension forks, or no suspension can run the front hubs in most cases. One nice thing about front hub is the bike is well balanced, with the hub weight up front and the battery weight on a rear rack.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
Hey, Dogman, what's your opinion on the AmpedBike rear motor kit? I'm thinking about upgrading to a rear wheel kit
I haven't tried that one, but it gets good comments, and especially the vendor is a stand up guy. It's the nine continents motor, similar to that sold by ebikes-ca and Ebike kit. Only ampedbikes sells it in a rear hub at this time. From what I've read and heard, it has a larger diameter which may make it cool better, but that can be a problem with very small rims, and I'm told the large hub covers amplify the small noises it makes a bit more than the clyte or aotema motors. At one point, there was a fast and a slower version being sold. I'm not sure which is avaliable now. I was this close to trying one, as I chose a new motor this week. I ended up with a gearmotor from world wide electric bikes instead, and will be reviewing it on the endless sphere.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
Thanks for the info; I did some research on the motor and all reviews were good on it and the company/owner. I looked at the geared motor but prefer a rear motor due to front forks issue with the front hub motor and would just like to try a rear motor kit. Looking forward to you review if the geared motor kit.
Thanks again.
PS: The Wilderness 24BD is still running well with 1500 miles on it. I had to re-glue a magnet back in place. I ran it briefly at 42 volts and popped the magnet loose.