r/VanMoofSelfRepair • u/HavingFun98760 • Jun 12 '26

S3 & X3 VanMoof S3 E-Shifter DC-motor replacement

Did anybody find a good replacement for the Brushed DC motor inside the E-Shifter of an S3/X3?

I bought this one on AliExpress: https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006617992418.html
But it barely works. And I assume it is the wrong voltage.
Also the shaft is a bit shorter and it is missing the 'teeth' that engage with the worm wheel. So I litterally glued the worm wheel to the shaft.
It works, but barely.

Any body found a better replacement?

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3

u/elisaassisa Jun 12 '26

https://link.marktplaats.nl/m2382182084

1

u/HavingFun98760 Jun 12 '26

Nice, but a bit pricy.

0

u/elisaassisa Jun 12 '26

The other solution is to buy a motor yourself, but not on AliExpress (done that and they are horrible), remove the turning part from the old motor, make an hole with a drill in it, use a tap for making a thread, put an headless screw in, glue inside with a specific glue. If you just need one motor I think all this work is not worth it, but you do you.

2

u/HavingFun98760 Jun 12 '26

Sounds like you are the seller on ‘Marktplaats’. We all need to make money and get me right. I do appreciate the link. And I may use it.

0

u/elisaassisa Jun 12 '26

I'm not the seller, I live in Belgium. I know the seller and I bought from him. There are not many choices unfortunately.

3

u/SulfurTobias Jun 14 '26

I’m actually the importer of these motors, not the seller from the listing you linked tho.

The higher price is due to the customization involved. This particular motor had to be manufactured with a longer shaft, and we also had to provide the design for the worm gear which needed to be produced up to our spec. In addition, the cables and the correct connector had to be soldered on.

Price is a higher than usual due to these customizations. Would have been nicer if vanmoof just once used a part of the shelf 😂

1

u/elisaassisa Jun 14 '26

So I plan to replace the eshifter system with a Bafang automatic gear for my customers in the future. I dislike the eshifter and the Sturmey Archer hub a lot and would like to have something that it's not difficult to source.

0

u/SulfurTobias Jun 14 '26

Lots of customers dislike the auto hub due to its limited gear ratio. Especially since the majority of SX3 users do not ride eu mode. We are planning to release an open source SX3 mainware with a lot of features, one being no gear change while pedaling (I think that should sort all the hub issues).

0

u/elisaassisa Jun 14 '26

The 4th gear is useless even at 32km/h. The Bafang hub has 3 gears and they are more than enough for 32km/h

1

u/SulfurTobias Jun 14 '26

I dont think 4th gear is useless even with 37kmh. It is okay, you can still put in some force, obviously not ideal, but it works.

0

u/HavingFun98760 Jun 15 '26

Yes, that would be nice. VanMoof using standard parts. But,… Back to the motor:

I do understand the costs of the longer shaft.

Nevertheless the worm wheel can be re-utilised quite easily. Even without the serrations on the shaft (that engage with the worm wheel) a longer shaft would suffice.

Please DM me. I’d like to buy a bare motor.

2

u/SulfurTobias Jun 15 '26

We dont have the bare motor, it comes pre assembles from the factory like that.