WTB...bbos2

[Kaldeem]

So I'm interested in purchasing a 8fun mid-drive kit, but i haven't been able to find a reliable vendor for the system. So i was wondering where the people in this forum were getting their kits and batteries from.

 

[Gus]

I got mine from em3ev. You'll pay more but the shipping was super fast, the battery is top notch, and they actually have really good customer support that speaks english.

I tried several times to go the Aliexpress route and the canned broken English responses to everything was horrible and some of stories about crappy battery vendors was scary.

I think getting the actual Bafang kit from Alibaba or Aliexpress is pretty safe but be careful with the battery. Buy from a reliable source and expect to pay a lot for shipping if you want it anytime soon.

 

[Kaldeem]

Thanks Gus, I was searching some bike shops but none of them mentioned the battery so I was hesitant. Since I gave my road bike to my kid, I'm looking for a another bike that I can fix up and eventually put the Bafang on.

 

[Kaldeem]

Hey Gus, what battery option did you chose? I'm thinking about the 50V, but there are some odd options with the selection and pricing like the 12.3 ah... and the 25 R cells are better I was reading but not fully understanding.

 

[Aushiker]

Another vote for Paul at http://www.em3ev.com/. Paul is in fact a Pom so English is his native language I would also consider getting the battery from Paul as well. They seem to be qood quality batteries. I am happy with my kit which I got from Paul and fitted to my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT.

Andrew

 

[Gus]

I went with the 48v 11ah 29E cells paired with a 750w Bafang. I wanted range over power in my budgeted amount.

The settings with your controller are really going to drive what battery you'll need. My settings keep the current draw pretty low, and I'm only running at 350w most of the time. This works well to maintain 22 mph but it falls apart in a headwind.

If i get stuck in a strong headwind, I have the throttle set up to give 100% in all PAS modes. This gets me the full 750w and the thing hauls at 22-23 in the strongest headwinds. Headwinds that would bring my Stromer to its knees. This battery is not a good choice for this all the time though. I would go with 25r or 20r cells if you think you need this type of power all the time.

What barrery you'll need will depend a lot on your application and your programmed settings.

 

[Gus]

Another vote for Paul at http://www.em3ev.com/. Paul is in fact a Pom so English is his native language I would also consider getting the battery from Paul as well. They seem to be qood quality batteries. I am happy with my kit which I got from Paul and fitted to my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT.

Andrew

Agreed. Paul is also a great resource to ask questions before you purchase. He may not reply the fastest, but he always replys with a well explained answer.

 

[calvin]

I went with the 48v 11ah 29E cells paired with a 750w Bafang. I wanted range over power in my budgeted amount.

The settings with your controller are really going to drive what battery you'll need. My settings keep the current draw pretty low, and I'm only running at 350w most of the time. This works well to maintain 22 mph but it falls apart in a headwind.

If i get stuck in a strong headwind, I have the throttle set up to give 100% in all PAS modes. This gets me the full 750w and the thing hauls at 22-23 in the strongest headwinds. Headwinds that would bring my Stromer to its knees. This battery is not a good choice for this all the time though. I would go with 25r or 20r cells if you think you need this type of power all the time.

What barrery you'll need will depend a lot on your application and your programmed settings.

I bookmarked his site. I've been thinking about that 750 watt Bafang. Looks like good choice. How is the acceleration? Can you keep up with traffic when the light turns green?

 

[Gus]

I bookmarked his site. I've been thinking about that 750 watt Bafang. Looks like good choice. How is the acceleration? Can you keep up with traffic when the light turns green?

If you use the throttle, yes. You'll probably beat most traffic across the intersection.

In normal PAS mode, the controller brings the power on more slowly. Acceleration is really good (again, depends on your programmed settings) but shifting with this much power/acceleration sucks. There are several ways to improve shifting like pedaling backwards, stop pedaling, or tapping the brake lever but all of them still suck and don't feel natural to me. Even after more than a month riding it, I still dislike the shifting. It's not a deal breaker, its just the biggest negative of the system. The 2nd biggest negative is that it's not torque sensing.

I still prefer my Stromer for fast acceleration off the line and accelerating up to 20mph but the Bafang is working out perfectly for what I bought it for -> a winter commuter that is going to get the crap beat out of it until Spring.

 

[Kaldeem]

the latest news on the em3ev says to not mess with the programming because if u do it wrong the controller can die and that's not under warranty? How hard exactly is to to reprogram the controller with a setting similar to what you have set up, Gus, because from what you said it sounds like your set up is pretty good with longevity and power consumption but then u can use the throttle when u need extra power.

 

[George S.]

If you use the throttle, yes. You'll probably beat most traffic across the intersection.

In normal PAS mode, the controller brings the power on more slowly. Acceleration is really good (again, depends on your programmed settings) but shifting with this much power/acceleration sucks. There are several ways to improve shifting like pedaling backwards, stop pedaling, or tapping the brake lever but all of them still suck and don't feel natural to me. Even after more than a month riding it, I still dislike the shifting. It's not a deal breaker, its just the biggest negative of the system. The 2nd biggest negative is that it's not torque sensing.

I still prefer my Stromer for fast acceleration off the line and accelerating up to 20mph but the Bafang is working out perfectly for what I bought it for -> a winter commuter that is going to get the crap beat out of it until Spring.

I think Evolo uses a cheaper mid drive, which is not that smooth on the shifting, from the reviews. They also offer the Nuvinci hub, the CVT, which smooths things out.

This 8Fun 500W hasn't been around that long. The company is big enough to keep working out the kinks.

 

[flymeaway]

the latest news on the em3ev says to not mess with the programming because if u do it wrong the controller can die and that's not under warranty?

I have a lot of miles on my 36V 500W BBS02. Not sure what they mean by "reprogramming", but I've changed the number of PAS levels from three to five and top speed from 32KPH upto 45KPH with the appropriate 700c wheel size selected. My experience with the unit; if you are trying to drive it at highest output but not synching the wheel RPM with the motor RPM, the motor will get hot. I learned early to select a gear ratio that keeps the pedal cadence high(er) when going slowly up a steep grade. On the flat at top end speed it's not as much a problem. But high load at slower speeds over works the motor, particularly if you are moving slowly in the wrong gear.

 

[Aushiker]

I have a lot of miles on my 36V 500W BBS02. Not sure what they mean by "reprogramming", but I've changed the number of PAS levels from three to five and top speed from 32KPH upto 45KPH with the appropriate 700c wheel size selected.

Here you go ... 29 pages and counting on programming BBS controllers.

Andrew

 

[flymeaway]

Here you go ... 29 pages and counting on programming BBS controllers.

Andrew

Thanks. I don't have any issues with the two mid-drive units I installed. But I certainly understand why some people want to see what parameters they can change for better performance and I also understand why the alterations would void the warranty.

Court J

 

[Gus]

the latest news on the em3ev says to not mess with the programming because if u do it wrong the controller can die and that's not under warranty? How hard exactly is to to reprogram the controller with a setting similar to what you have set up, Gus, because from what you said it sounds like your set up is pretty good with longevity and power consumption but then u can use the throttle when u need extra power.

Em3ev's standard programming is actually pretty good. It strikes a good balance between range and power. I bought the cable to reprogram the controller from eBay and only changed one thing, which was level 9 is 100% motor power. This is only used in situations where I have to fight a constant headwind for a really long distance and dont want to hold the throttle the entire time to keep maximum power at the motor. In these situations, it will only do 20 mph and that's with all 750w at the motor + me pedaling.

Lectriccycles programs all their controllers at 100% motor power. This is great for maximum power but will probably fail the motor faster and you will also find yourself changing the power levels constantly to find the sweet spot for the current conditions.

If you want to go fast, like 28+ mph, most of the time or have a lot of hills the 750w version should do the job no problem., even with the default settings.

 

[flymeaway]

Thanks for the input. I put the 48V 750W BBS02 on my MT1000 conversion. I set the PAS to 5 and with the stock program the motor does a great job. Makes the tandem act like an entirely different bike. The only adjustment I had to make was learning to not use higher output settings until the bike was moving along at a pretty good speed. Don't know for sure but the motor would cut out then back in, in rapid succession. I suspect that it is probably the controller dropping the output as it exceeds the amperage limit, then coming back on as the amperage drops. Even with what abuse I've dished out, the motor hasn't hiccuped, just keeps operating fine.

Court J