Vote which motor has more power! (Answered)

[Altema]

Below is a photo of two motors, and I want you to vote for the one I should use in my RadMini.

Left motor or right motor?

[JimInPT]

Well, the obvious choice from videos online purporting to differentiate 500w from 750w Bafang motors would be the left one.  But I'm thinking your right-hand motor is a Rad-installed stock motor and didn't you just post on the other thread that it's based on a Bafang 500w but is custom-wound and can handle up to 1,640w reliably?

So I'm going with the one on the right.

I wouldn't mind putting some more oomff into my MiniST next spring when it goes off-warranty and I'm hoping by then to have a parts list that would work with minimum parts changes and high expected reliability.  Ideally it'd be cool to find a controller than can be swapped in without changing the stock motor (assuming you're right about the winding), wiring and display to supply up to maybe 1000w intermittently instead of stock 750 (according to the display).

Am I dreaming too far?

[Altema]

Well, the obvious choice from videos online purporting to differentiate 500w from 750w Bafang motors would be the left one.  But I'm thinking your right-hand motor is a Rad-installed stock motor and didn't you just post on the other thread that it's based on a Bafang 500w but is custom-wound and can handle up to 1,640w reliably?

So I'm going with the one on the right.

I wouldn't mind putting some more oomff into my MiniST next spring when it goes off-warranty and I'm hoping by then to have a parts list that would work with minimum parts changes and high expected reliability.  Ideally it'd be cool to find a controller than can be swapped in without changing the stock motor (assuming you're right about the winding), wiring and display to supply up to maybe 1000w intermittently instead of stock 750 (according to the display).

Am I dreaming too far?

No, you're not dreaming too far 😁. The 35 amp controller makes for a nice upgrade with the stock motor, and will give you excellent acceleration and hill climbing. I ran mine at 1600 watts for 400 miles, trying to burn the stock motor out on purpose, and could not. The setup was dead reliable and I took it on out-of state group rides. Only issue I had was the KT display for the 35 amp controller: It was flakey when coasting. Oh, don't go for the similar 22 amp controller. It has fewer output transistors and is less efficient. I'll answer which motor in a day or so, to give others a chance to guess.

[JimInPT]

The 35 amp controller makes for a nice upgrade with the stock motor, and will give you excellent acceleration and hill climbing. I ran mine at 1600 watts for 400 miles, trying to burn the stock motor out on purpose, and could not.

Thanks; that's great news.  Since you didn't mention it, I assume you retained the stock wiring and it handled the extra current ok?

I can't remember which model you upgraded, and wondering about squeezing an upgrade controller into the MiniST2 frame in the stock location.

[Ryan]

I think this a trick question so the smaller looking one 

[Altema]

The 35 amp controller makes for a nice upgrade with the stock motor, and will give you excellent acceleration and hill climbing. I ran mine at 1600 watts for 400 miles, trying to burn the stock motor out on purpose, and could not.

Thanks; that's great news.  Since you didn't mention it, I assume you retained the stock wiring and it handled the extra current ok?

I can't remember which model you upgraded, and wondering about squeezing an upgrade controller into the MiniST2 frame in the stock location.

Yes, I used the stock wiring and it was fine. Even after riding on sand dunes at full throttle, the wiring stayed cool.
My bike is a 2020 RadMini 4 with the aftermarket controller in the stock location.

[Altema]

Both JimInPT and Ryan got it right. The higher powered motor is the one on the right.

The one on the left is a 750w nominal, 1500w peak Bafang, and it's the typical "upgrade" motor sold by Bolton and other sources. It's a good motor, and the primary advantage is that it does NOT have the Rad motor's internal RPM limiter.

The one on the right is also a Bafang geared hub motor (G062.1000.D 06), but it is officially specified to run at 1000w nominal, 2000w peak.

Not pictured is the original Rad motor, which is closer in appearance to the 1000w Bafang on the right. There's been a lot of debate about the custom Rad motor, but regardless of opinion, the nominal rating of a motor is the amount of power it will handle at 100% duty cycle without exceeding thermal gain parameters, and the Rad motor does that at 750 watts.


(Note: got rid of the extra technical mumbo jumbo in this post, but if anyone wants details, let me know!)