FlatSix911

Looks like Surly finally got around to make a real Cargo Ebike... https://electrek.co/2019/02/22/surly...ycle-big-easy/

Easter3

Nope, haven't given up. Just working on a few things at once. Had the bike back to original and working for a quick ride, then batteries suddenly showed dead. We were still in the testing phase, and weren't too far from home, so we walked it back (uphill) and went to the analysis and research phase. The info from Firedog91902 was really helpful. Found another small board that apparently failed in one of the battery packs. Changing that one out today, and since the weather is not wet (unusual these days in L.A.) we should be able to test again soon. It felt GREAT while it ran!!! Still moving towards Lithium....especially after walking the NiMH uphill! Will keep you posted.

powell

Easter
happy that you did not give up - one more EPLUS user.
Pity I am in Canada, Alberta so far away.
when you said "batteries suddenly showed dead...." what was display showing ?
normally before EPLUS shut down because battery near dead will give blinking warning , no sudden shut off just like that.
so first:
last bar blinks, next all battery symbol blinks
is it what you had? - this is what is normal.
it is highly unlikely electronics, whatever electronics would fail just like that during ride on DRY day,
cables , wires, connectors yes, but not electronics.

Easter3

That's pretty much what happened. After about 5-10 minutes riding, battery symbol flashed and then everything flashed once, and then shut off. I thought I was seeing things, so I attempted to re-start it, but all showed dead. When we plugged into charger, it would no longer charge, even after 3 days. Dismantled hub again, and found the burnt part of one of the battery pack boards. Switched everything out, and now charging again. We'll see what happens.

powell

Easter
by any chance any pictures of that burnt board?

wrandyr

A bike has turned up on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273784428316?ul_noapp=true

2old

Looks like a pawn shop. Surprisingly, I was in Temecula yesterday after a really nice 21 mile ride with my wife around a lake in Hemet. Lots of flowers.

powell

Andy
nice find, thanks.
Andy,
did you noticed? all stickers removed from sides of hubs, weird, why would they do it?
, but looks like serial number sticker is still there on the motor.

wrandyr

I took mine off so the bike would be less conspicuous when I had to leave it parked in a public place.

powell

Except in their case they want to sell
they better have some documentation with serial number matching sticker between spokes
Otherwise what EPLUS model is it??
I cannot imagine buying this with no documents

2old

If you mean the one for sale, it looks like a pawn shop; guess what documentation they have? Not to argue, but the employees there don't know E+ from a hole in the ground. Be interesting to see the sale price. Any challenge locating a charger?

wrandyr

I have a charger that powell identified which will charge the battery, but I doubt that it does any of the "balancing" stuff that the factory charger claims to do.

The funny thing about the eBay bike is that they claim it works well, which means it hasn't been years without a charger. But, they got no bids, so we'll have to see if they relist.

I guess it could be stolen, too.

wrandyr

They relisted at a lower price:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/E-PLUS-elec...frcectupt=true

powell

Andy,
price and all does not matter ,
charger doesn't matter
I don't know what EPLUS is it **********
in USA Electric Motion System sold 750W and 1000W Epluses.
sticker between spokes on motor shows software version loaded and below that number of units manufactured with that software loaded .

Metal Man

I would have to check my box of Eplus leftovers, but I should have at least one charger.

wrandyr

I asked them which model it was, and what the mileage was. This is what they said:
"Hi not sure of the millage since the battery ran out when we were driving it and its on the display.... as far as the wattage not sure do you know how to find out?"

Aside from the motor branding, and running it up to a speed greater than 20MPH, I don't know how you would be able to discern the wattage.

wrandyr

I'm always on the lookout for chargers. Of the three I have, only one actually works, and even then it works right only about 75% of the time.

powell

Charging NMH chemistry cells is one of the most challanging , challange is where to terminate charge.
Delta temperture - rise in cell temperature over given period of time period is a factor,
Anyway the charger I used Powersteam brand is real stuff, this company sells proven, relable chargers , sure they know what are they doing.
Powerstream charger will not damage cells for sure.
This Powerstream charger has equalization period and balancing stage,
but the most important : delta temp/delta time is accurate enough in my Powerstream charger - I checked this on Eplus cells.

Measter3

I will send you a pic of the board.
Jan had me abandon the NiMH repair. It has take forever but we tried to replicate the set up of Firedog's Lithium bike. I used the Sens boards and control from our bike and connected directly to the Lithium battery pack we created. When I worked with Wrandyr many months ago he helped me pull apart one of my hubs so I used those boards to connect my system. I was able to get my system to power up but there was a short somewhere that I could not identify. I found when I used a another bundle of sense boards(2nd hub i had where i removed the batteries, leaving the spindle and boards attached) I was able to get a perfect running bike. The problem is that I haven't been able to disassemble the 2nd spindle and use those boards because I don't know how to pull the RS485 cable through the spindle without destroying it. Once I figure this out I will have a successful conversion.

powell

Easter
it not possible to pull RS485 communication cable throgh centre battery hub.
must be cut and pulled and patched again
Can you show pcture of burned , damaged board?
which component you said "burned" ??

Easter3

This info was priceless in making my conversion from NiMH to Lithium. When we tried to resurect my wifes E3 with the help of wrandyr and Firedog, I had moderate success. wrandyr helped me identify some workable batteries that got the bike running for a short test run. The sense boards kept burning out(I owe you a pic). Jan insisted in going directly to a Lithium conversion instead of diagnosing the failure cause. Firedog showed us his process to set-up for a Lithium conversion. . I tried to emulate his set up on his bikes with our E3. He basically didn’t use the control module and display.
I used the Sens boards and control from our bike and connected directly to the Lithium battery pack we created. When I worked with Wrandyr many months ago he helped me pull apart one of my hubs so I used those boards to connect my system.



I was able to get my system to power up but there was a short somewhere that I could not identify. I found when I used a another bundle of sense boards(2nd hub i had where i removed the batteries, leaving the spindle and boards attached) I was able to get a perfect running bike.

The problem is that I haven't been able to disassemble the 2nd spindle and use those boards in my set-up because I don't know how to pull the RS485 cable through the spindle without destroying it. Once I figure this out I will have a successful conversion.
I want to disassemble this spindle and use these working parts but I cant figure out how to remove the RS485 cable without cutting it. I am not sure if I should then where do I find the connector and the skill to reconnect it.

Easter3

Once I am connected I can connect my Li batteries and disk on our mounting board.
​​​​​

wrandyr

I think I would try to disassemble the RS485 connector on the inside of the hub. A lot of the time the pins are extractable if you can figure out how to move the little barb that holds them in.

wrandyr

Monte, it looks like you are using tool batteries like Firedog. What are you using for connectors at each battery?

wrandyr

I have been looking into rebuilding the NiMH battery (call me a Luddite). It is challenging because of the way the battery modules are assembled. There is no room for any kind of mechanical connector, so you have to weld tabs between each cell. E+ used very thick tabs, presumably because with all the cells wired in series, the full current has to go through each tab. I have not been able to find an affordable welder rated to weld through .5mm nickel, although there is one available as a kit that comes close. I have inquired at a few custom battery companies, but none were interested in taking it on. One referred me to Batteries Plus, which is a franchise operation. I couldn't get an answer at all from the store closest to me. They are supposed to have welders in their stores, but I doubt that they would have one that would be adequate. So, even though the cells themselves are still available, it looks like a dead end.