eLife Ranger motor fun

fig 1.1

I decided to treat myself to an eBike to commute to work which was a mistake.

After weeks of procrastinating I bought a very cheap new eLife Ranger hybrid for a number of meritous reasons. I may jot down a quick review of it later on as there really isn't much online about these bikes which is a shame as they are a tidy design at a sensible price point even at full price.

After getting the thing home, I decided to take it down to the shops to drop some parcels off. I wanted to see what it was all about!
Sadly it was clearly not working right. Although there was something there, it really wasn't doing much assisting, so I returned a bit pissed off.

Reserch time

What ensued was a night of research to figure out what was going on, but more importantly; what on earth I had just bought!

eLife appear to be a brand to sell ebikes through ideal world amongst other sources to clear stock. They predominantly sell folding city bikes but this Ranger 950 has been for sale during 2020 in the orange and a grey green option seen mostly in the video above. That is where it all goes a bit cold sadly. Very few reviews are out there, mostly they are copies of one another. 

I can see why the cycling community hasn't got very excited about a sold on TV bike. most people in the ebike scene either want a city folding bike or a monster with a 2000W motor to tear up tracks.

Looking into that motor

Running the bike around on any power setting didn't really do much to show what the bike was or was not doing. The bike was new to me and I really didn't know what to expect. I had ridden an old derestricted electric bike in the past which had more go than this. At some point I remembered that this bike has a walking mode which I tried and was greeted with the racket you can hear in the short video below.

Something was not right here, sounding like the geared hub motor was eating itself.
A few back and forth messages to the seller didn't give me much to go on so I decided to look into the hub a bit more.

The rear hub motor on this bike appears to be from Aikema although I am still not 100% what model it is as the wiring comes out of the hub side and not through the spindle like all of their example images on their website. I got this from the part number on the hub which lead me to Fission cycles US who seem to sell a very similar bike in the States. In one of their images you can see they still have the hub ladled up.

Either way it is an AC 36v 250w geared hub motor with a free wheel sprocket rather than a built in hub sprag clutch. It is a pretty simple design; with a high speed motor driving a sun and planet arrangement of gears which reduce the motors speed to then drive the wheel through the hub.
Judging by the clattering noise the motor was making I was under the impression that there was a serious issue with the planet gears inside the hub, so best take a look at that then.

I got the wheel off with a bit of argument but quickly realised I wasn't going to be able to get the free wheel off without a specialist tool.
With nowhere to go my attention went wondering how I was going to return this thing as I really didn't need this kind of hassle from a new bike. I reassembled the bike but in doing so I noticed the centre bent pin on the motor loom which I straightened before continuing reassembly. The plug would not fully close but it was firm and that's the best I could get out of it.

Not expecting much I tried the motor again and with a graunchy start it did in fact kick in running as it should. A test ride gave drive at all prescribed power levels too.

This was good news that the bike was working but I was left a bit confused as to why it now worked?
A bit more research later and I had the answer, it was that plug after all. the large pins are the three phases and the three smaller pins are the HAL effect wires. these are essentially sensing wires which help the motors controller know what phase the rotor and stator are in. The bent pin was clearly not connected properly and as such the chattering noise I had heard before was caused by a very confused motor controller not knowing what was going on inside the motor.

A longer test ride the following day went mostly well with a drop out on the return leg and a perceived drop in power after this.

I decided to see if I could better connect that (shit) 6 pin motor plug. I disassembled it (took all of these lovely photographs just for you) and manipulated the pins till they would go into their respective holes properly so the plug could be connected fully.

Hopefully this is that last I hear of this issue. If it comes back I will chop this 6 pin motor plug off and use an automotive connector.



Comments

  1. Unknown30 November 2021 at 17:15

    Does this bike run a bmx chain?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gavin6 April 2022 at 03:49

      Its a fixed gear so will be the same design but I don't know the PCL of the chain and I don't know if all BMX's are the same. chain length will be different for sure.

      Delete

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