Finally some news to post.
I shattered my elbow and that set me back a bit. Plus I just moved before that so I lost a month.
Good news is everything is good to go.
I have hooked up the Tronic 250R VESC paired with the Bafang RM G062-1000W hub motor.
I must say the result has very much impressed me. It turned out better than I expected.
First off I have run 8GA Silicon Wire for my Battery Leads and My Phase Leads.
The Bafang 1000W has the L1019 Cable for phase leads stock.
What I did was cut the L1019 a couple inches before it enters the motor and I cut the Yellow Green and Blue Phase wires A inch before the plug. I directly soldered the L1019 phase leads entering the motor to the 8 GA lead. At the controller side of things the Phase leads on the Board are 10GA Silicon. They are only about 3 inches long. I made connection to the 8GA Leads using a QS8 Connector. The Battery also uses a QS8 Connector. The QS8 Connectors are rated for 600A Burst.
The 8GA Phase Leads help to keep the motor a cooler. The L1019 wires entering the motor are very short. Only a few inches, so there is not a lot of resistance there. The 8GA Cable can soak up a lot more heat out of the windings. Plus the 8GA wire can pull wayy wayy more amps without heating up at all.
I vented both sides of the motor case. I drilled 5/8 diameter holes in between each web. I think holes around the outside of the inner motor case would help also. The round part inside of the wheel is what I'm talking about. So basically the rotor would be vented. That portion of the motor case is much hotter than the sides of my vented case are. Although I have not even come close to overheating the motor yet.
I ordered a temperature sensor to go in the motor windings so I can monitor the Motor Temps before I really crank up the juice. Thus Far I'm only running about 75 Phase Amps. The Tronic 250R can push 250 Phase Amps so I'm barely using it. I mounted the board against the wall of the square aluminum frame where the stock battery would be. Effectively this makes my whole bike frame the Heat Sink so my Mofsets (Controller) is only getting a couple degrees above ambient temperature. With the amount of cooling I have I could push the phase amps up to 300.
I pulled the clutch out of the motor and welded it to make it direct drive. This is the only way I can use Regen Braking which will be very helpful. I don't pedal and I don't plan on pedaling so Extra drag is not a issue. And the 10% gain in battery using regen will help.
I'm thinking about putting a small 500W hub motor in the front wheel just to have a backup. I have more than enough power now with the G062 so I would only run it as a backup.
All and all I am happy even where the bike is now. I may just leave it where it's at. This will not stress anything and it will last forever. So here is the performance at my current settings.
Main VESC Settings ( with 24AH 48V UPP Shark Battery LG CELLS)
Field Weakening 125 A
Max Motor Amps 55 A
Min Current 5 A
40 MPH Top speed going down hill.
35 MPH / 36 MPH on flat ground.
30 MPH / 32 MPH Up even very steep hills.
The bike accelerates very quickly. From 0 to 28 in a few seconds. I would say at full throttle it pulls harder than necessary. I like to ease on the throttle and get moving about 10 / 15 MPH then Hit full throttle. Again only takes a few seconds to hit 28. In the city I leave the cars in the dust. I accelerate faster than most people on average. For me the bike is plenty fast enough now.
I have had the Max Motor Amps up to about 125A. The higher you put the amps the faster the bike accelerates. As far as top speed it just cannot go faster than 40 MPH with a 48V Battery. Still very impressive considering that with a 48V battery and any normal controller up to about 30 amps can only go 27 to 28 MPH. This is just the speed where the voltage created by spinning the motor is higher than the voltage of the battery. That's the limit. (Motor V > Batt V).
Controllers like the VESC and Grin Phaserunner use Field Weakening to overcome this limit. But still it has a limit.
What I notice is that even though my settings are a bit lower than what I could Push my acceleration is more than good and my top speed is at max 40 MPH. And it gets to top speed quickly. Not a city block or 2, more like a few hundred feet. Watching my wattage reading I push a little over 2000 Watts Set like this my battery holds up pretty good. I have to test exactly how many miles my range is but I believe it's around maybe 35 Miles at full throttle.
At one time I had the amps really up and I drained the battery in about 20 miles. So increasing the amps kills the battery a ton faster but the top Speed stays the same. And It pulls ridiculously hard.
So what's next?
Well I am going to continue to test various settings. I want to monitor Range and Motor Temps. I will find the max possible setting for 48V.
I plan to buy a 72V battery. (84V Actual) This will almost double the wattage. Close to 4000W @ 84V @ 55A Max Motor Current.
I am more than sure even with the settings I have now. (LOW 55A ) That I will have a top speed over 50 MPH. and that if you accidentally hit full throttle from a start it'll darn near pull you off the bike.
At the point of putting on the 72V battery the keys will definitely need replaced with stronger keys and upgraded gears might be necessary.
A torque arm is needed to so I am going to machine and install one on each side.
In the end I don't think liquid cooling is required. I want to try to make a fan blade that mounts to the back of the rotor to pump air through the motor. It looks like there will be enough space back there. It can fit behind the Big Ring Gear in the wheel half of the case.
All and all I would recommend to anyone needing or wanting to buy a controller to buy a VESC based device. You will not be disappointed. They have cheap models like this that can do the job just fine.
As I just started testing I will be back to post more results.
