SPEED
Please note when modifying an ebike or building your own, these are the two main points to remember:
HIGHER VOLTS = HIGHER SPEED
HIGHER AMPS = QUICKER ACCELERATION
So if an ebike was a person -its controller would be its brain, its motor would be its legs and the battery is like its health/physical capability.
You legs will do whatever your brain tells them to do, but your legs will never do more than what you are physically capable of.
Very often people mistake the controller being the resitriction in their system and its actually the battery ultimately as the controller is most likely using it to its full potential.
MOTORS
Quite often people try to increase performance by upgrading the motor to a higher watt rated one. This is all well and good however should the new motor not recieve anymore power than the old one, well, its going to perform just the same. The higher watt rating on the motor idicates where its most efficienct state of use is, ensuring its not going to overheat and degrade. You can for instance put a 500w motor on a 5000w controller....its just not going to last long....and might catch fire.
CONTROLLERS
Squarewave vs Sinewave
These terms quite ofter get overlooked however have a big difference on how the controllers deliver power to your motor and therefore to the ground.
Specifically its the shape of the waveform produced by the controller.
A squarewave controller sends a blunt on and off style signal meaning they sound a little rougher than you may expect; almost like a buzzing sound from the motor. They are cheap to produce as they are quite simple compared to other controllers, great for learning on.
Sinewave controllers send a signal that ramps in the power increasingly to its peak and then back down progressively with each wave. This means you dont have the hard switching of power and therefore makes the ebike almost silent. Their complexity does mean they are more expensive, however like with most things you get what you pay for at the end of the day.
BOTTOM LINE
So the line "Time spent in reconnaissance is rarely wasted" really does apply with DIY ebikes; but ensuring you have the right parts to work together is what we are here to for.
We hate the stories we hear of people being misled and given false expecations so we do our upmost to ensure you are satisfied with a smile from ear to ear.
If you have any questions please ask away :)