gwhy

lifepo4 battery's ( with built in bms)( sla replacements ) are a straight swap for the original lead battery's and can use the same charger. Using Lipo will also involve a new charger and all the associated regime that comes with using lipo ( if no bms is installed ) . What ever chemistry you go for there will be a big improvement on run time over standard sla battery's.. you can put together a lifepo4 24v battery ( with bms ) together so much cheaper than the cost of the earthx batteries or any of the lifepo4 sla replacement batterys.

Can I ask why you prefer gas ? is it because it was so different to ride?

yes... Lots of 55w car bulbs

the battery that is 9v is boarder line and this is prob why the bike will not run or the charger will not charge the batterys. Get a 12 volt car headlight bulb ( approx 55w) and just put it across each battery and see if it lights , measuring with a meter is not conclusive. also measure the voltage out of the charger with a meter it should read the 43.2v.

a better question to ask as regards your run time is " my bike only has 'X' amount of run time, is this ok ? " It is a very hard question to answer as it has been said there are just to many variables and no two riders will have the same run time even on the same bike, even ambient temperature will effect run time.

I totally agree, there will always someone ready to put a spanner in the works but from my experiences over the last 4 years I have not any issues with riding where I like when I like. It makes a big difference if the bike can not be heard by passers-bys or local residents and if they cant see you then they don't even know you are there. it will be interesting to see what happens when Oset releases the 24.0 and Im sure that a full size bike will not be far behind it.

More riding areas have already opened up for electric only within the the uk so don't knock it , unfortunately not for trials but electric only mx , planning permission would not have been granted if the tracks were for gas bikes. I currently charge my battery's from solar and the weather we are having at the moment the battery's are fully charged in 3 hours so its a double bonus and yes when the sun goes in or its not about i use the grid. cost for my road bike works out around 2p a mile when charging off the grid Of coarse the electric comes from somewhere.. and its a argument that will go on and on but its all about cost , its so much cheaper to produce your own electric and cut out the middle man.. oil refineries who produce petrol or diesel can not function, produce or deliver with out electric

I am a big electric bike fan, and have a full size bike that I sometimes use. the cost of ownership is so much less than a normal gas bike, performance of a electric trials bike is just about as good as a gas bike for 95% of peoples ability, there is no noise so this open up more riding places. Battery tec is very good already and its only going to get better and cheaper. F1-e is in its infancy so give it a brake :-) just like the zero TT was only 5 years ago and the bikes in the zero TT have evolved over the last 5 years upto the point where they are not that far behind the gas versions now, The gas bikes took over 80 years to achieve this. Its not always fossil fuses that are used to produce electricity ,, a gas bike not only burns the fossil fuel, just think how much fossil fuel was use to produce / transport and deliver the fuel to the pump. Im no tree hugger but it just makes so much sense using electric and the advantages far out way the disadvantages . and believe it or not petrol is pretty dodgy and is a lot more harmful to your health and environment than modern battery tec . edit: its because its the way things are going and there is a demand for good electric off/on road bikes and upto now its been held back by the big manufactures and the only ones that are about, that are any good have been built in someones garden shed at great expense. The only way to get the prices down is completion and volume , and this is the same with anything.

Its not scaremongering when you are informing people of the facts . The use of any high density battery no matter what chemistry has risks, as with anything else, but some chemistry's are more problematic than others. If you are aware of the risks and take the necessary precautions in the care of the battery's then they should give trouble free service. What have the maker of these battery's told you that makes you so complacent about the safety of these battery's ?. perhaps you can share the information and that will help others ( myself included ) , Im guessing you know what chemistry is used in the cells ,the C rating , HV/LC cutoff ,balance current and max continuous current from the bms.

try 24v .. if it dont work then you need to get a 36v controller. there is no easy fix

anything upto 0.05v difference between the highest and lowest cell is ok, if you have differences bigger than this then the battery needs balancing.

I spent a long time developing a electronic clutch for my bikes and and now have it dialled in and it behaves 100% as a mechanical clutch does. There is no need to have a flywheel as long as the controller is set up correctly ( and the electronics :-) ) but one thing I would say is like someone has said previously without the feed back from the noise of the engine it can make it a bit tricky to get used to, you could resort in a visual indicator for throttle position and that helps but also take a lot of getting used to.

for anyone wanting a cheap magnetic lanyard why not use one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-Recessed-Magnetic-Theftproof-Window-Door-Contacts-Alarm-Security-Switch-Home-/371200205514?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item566d41a2ca you need to mount it some how, can be in the tank cover ( maybe ) glue a penny to the top so the magnet sticks to it then you are good to go or not go :-) I have not tried this myself so may not be suitable .. but just a thought as its cheap enough and can switch .5A edit: maybe this format would be better for mounting on the handle bars..

I have a magnetic lanyard on all my bikes so when I get off the bike the lanyard comes with me.. and this disables the bike.. I have also got in the habit of also pulling the lanyard if I am ever talking to someone about my bikes as people just feel the urge to say things like "so this is the throttle" and then go to give it a twist

I always unplug the batterys from the bike when not in use so the voltmeter is permanently wired into the bikes wiring and comes on when the battery is plugged in.. I also never charge my battery's while they are still on my bikes .. as it much easier to put the batterys in a fire safe place when charging rather than having to put the complete bike in a fire safe place.

I use a small volt meter to meter the total voltage of the pack that is wired into the main bike wiring on my bikes, and as long as you disciplined enough to stop riding at the conservative lvc then there should be no problem... I always balance charge my battery's every charge as this prevents the battery's being over charged if you have a couple of rough cells in your total pack. also the charger will prevent the battery being charged if any of the cells are below the safe level. a conservative lvc would be 3.4v per cell as the cells don't always discharge at the same rates. Yes you can add battery's in series as long as they are the same capacity. The volt meter you linked to only reads upto 30V and 30A which is not enough.. I use these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/led-Voltmeter-Battery-Panel-Meter-Car-Motor-Waterproof-15-120V-dc-/251611817412?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a953ba5c4 for my bikes they are small, cheap and water proof..

what panic myths are these do you have links to the posts that these are mentioned? or are you referring to me ? is this link correct as it don't work www.2machsmotorcycles.co.uk

the motor should be fine as long as the controller can handle the voltage.. you may want to gear down the bike a little and turn down the current on the controller to tune the the bike for your needs and to keep the motor in the sweet spot. before buying this battery ask what is the max current the bms can supply as it need to be at least 40A constant for the smaller osets.

look on the bright side .. the controller needs a load on them to work ( not sure about the relay ,, i will check and report back ) so its possible that you controller is ok... so it sounds like th emotor has gone open circuit .. and maybe its just the brushes ( motors very rarely open circuit ) , or is that wishfull thinking... Edit: Just tested a 20" controller ( one with the 3 pots but is prob the same as the 2 pot controller ) the relay do not switch if there is no motor/load on the motor wires.. so your controller is prob ok and its the motor at fault... and my bet its the brushes.

yes it sounds like the lv supply in the controller has gone .. and if this is the case a new controller will be required. Yes see what Oset say they may be able to shed some more light on it. see how you get on.

with the key switch on i.e power down the yel and gray .. do you have 5v on the red and black wires that go to the speed pot or the thottle pot, if you dont then it looks like the controller is at fault.. when you directly powered the relay did you see if the bike then worked ?

yes lifepo is a little more expensive but... may work out cheaper in the long run.. for a 8s2p (24v nominal) and 28.8 hot 8.5ah lifepo will work out around £120 and for a 6s (22.2v nominal) and 25.2 hot 10ah lipo will work out around £95 http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__14074__ZIPPY_Flightmax_8400mAh_4S2P_30C_LiFePo4_Pack.html http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__9518__Turnigy_5000mAh_6S_30C_Lipo_Pack.html the chargers are the same to charge either type of battery so that will be a fixed cost yes as long as the batterys are all the same capacity and voltage then you can use a parallel board. if you P'ed 2x6s 5000mah packs then with that charger it will take approx a 1 hour charge (the charger will charge a 6s pack with a max of 10A ) so if it was a 20ah pack it will take approx 2 hours. but I would recommend only charging at a 5A rate max. ( charge times will take longer if balance charging ) yes your ATX psu should be fine powering that charger at its full capacity .. but remember that atx psu are not rated for continuous max output .. so again another reason to only charge at a max of 5A

what do you get if you disconnect both wires that go to the relay ( the thin wires ) and connect your volt meter to those thin wires.. do you get voltage.. do the relay click if you supply 48v directly to the relay coil from the battery ? if you post up a picture of the relay i will point out the coil connections for you.

when you tested the voltage to the relay did you measure the voltage across the relay coil ? or did you use the common ( black lead of the meter ) connected to the neg at the battery ?

the 10s charger will be ok for any voltage upto 42v for lipo or 24v lifepo4.. you will need to have a variable voltage psu to test the hvc of the controllers .. I think if I were in your position I would opt for the 8s lifepo4 and the 10s charger this will work with the exsiting controller and may be enough of a performance boost but if you are still want higher performance then you can upgrade the controller and just buy another 4s lifepo4 to make the voltage upto 36v and a additional 6s 50w controller.