MAC motor worries

D

drummerian

100 W
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
Messages
119
Location
Leamington Spa, UK
Hi all,

So I received my MAC motor a few weeks ago from cellman @em3ev. What can I say, great service, great packaging!

Anyway I took the bike out for a very quick spin (up and down the road) a couple of weekends ago and was impressed, speed and torque all good.

I tried again today and have had some problems. I went for a short (50yards) blast and then came back. When i got on the throttle again the motor clunks me along and now it doesn't even engage the wheel at all. I imagine this is a faulty clutch to blame? I hadn't been treating the motor badly or anything (no extreme acceleration) and I imagine it has less than 0.5miles under it's belt so far! The controller is programmed as it came.

I will upload a video as soon as possible.

Please can anyone confirm this? The motor performs as shown in the video and very ocassionally will get a tiny burst of power forward but then spins again :(

Thanks all
Ian
 
Is this a known issue?! I knew they failed after a while if you are drawing silly power through them but i'm only at 15s! High power controller but not exactly nailing it at all :/

And less than a mile on the motor!
 
I've ran more power than that though my MAC, which has a weaker clutch.

Check your hall and phase wires for looseness - particularly the halls.. then check the throttle wires.
 
Oh, that's different..

Is there any chance that you dropped off a heavy curb or hit anything hard with the rear wheel?
 
Nope, literally was working fine, then i stopped to just check something on the trike and it wouldn't pull away again! I assume halls must be ok because you can clearly hear the motor spinning?
 
Yes, i would think that the halls are ok.
Just test the wiring to see if anything is loose. After that, i would suspect the clutch secondly.

It is a freak occurrence to have a clutch fail so fast. I have a 3 year old clutch that has seen tons and tons of abuse. Rule other things out first and then contact cell_man aka em3ev for a replacement.

The clutch is pretty easy to replace. Yours will be on the disc brake side of the hub, and the instructions are similar enough to this:

[youtube]Jg4zOmHTdW4[/youtube]
 
The vid sure sounds like the motor is turning and there is some slippage inside the motor.

If you lift the rear tire off the ground and hit the throttle will the wheel move?

Clutches can fail but also the press fit parts might come loose.
 
Okay, now that i hear the motor in the video, i'm not thinking clutch.
That is not a normal motor sound for the MAC.

That sounds more like you have a phase or hall problem.

[youtube]JM_rX-toEI4[/youtube]

^-- it should sound like this when the motor is spinning, whether the clutch is engaged or not. You can hear the motor tone starting at about 0:45.
 
Yeah, I had a similar problem/noise when I blew a hall sensor. Yours being so new and unabused, I would definitely check that the pins in the hall connector haven't backed out of the casing. Also, I found that mine was shipped with non original Anderson's for the phase connectors, which kept giving me problems until I replaced them with the real McCoy. Paul might ship recent kits with originals, as I can imagine many owners had problems with the connectors melting. Paul still rocks :wink:
 
This could be loose hall wires.
However it also sounds like a sheared key between the clutch and axle. I have had this happen a few times.
Just pull off the brake side cover and have a look.
Good luck.
Matt.
 
1000w said:
This could be loose hall wires.
However it also sounds like a sheared key between the clutch and axle. I have had this happen a few times.
Just pull off the brake side cover and have a look.
Good luck.
Matt.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Surely if it were sheared the motor wouldn't pulse forwards occasional?

Will have a look at the halls tonight :)
 
neptronix said:
Yes, i would think that the halls are ok.
Just test the wiring to see if anything is loose. After that, i would suspect the clutch secondly.

It is a freak occurrence to have a clutch fail so fast. I have a 3 year old clutch that has seen tons and tons of abuse. Rule other things out first and then contact cell_man aka em3ev for a replacement.

The clutch is pretty easy to replace. Yours will be on the disc brake side of the hub, and the instructions are similar enough to this:

[youtube]Jg4zOmHTdW4[/youtube]
Click to expand...

can this be done whilst it is built in to a wheel?
 
Had a quick play around and checked my phase plugs.

I have noticed that if i elevate the wheel off the floor and apply throttle the motor spins as normal, but then stops applying power and slows down. Releasing and applying the throttle again cures this but then has the same effect....any ideas?

thjanks all
 
Clutch replaced (i brought a spare when i first purchased from cellman)

'Old' (.5 miles MAX) clutch is locked shut.

Motor back in. SAME SYMPTOMS! This must we a hall/phase issue though I saw now problems with my wiring?

Please help :)
 
Yeeahh... it shouldn't be spinning with the same resistance both ways. If you spin the motor backwards with your hand, it should have super heavy resistance ( clutch is engaged when moving backwards ) . When you spin it forwards with your hand, it should be almost as free as a bicycle's freewheel ( clutch should not be engaged ).
 
early in this thread, i told you to check the wires for continuity and looseness, have you done that yet? ;)
 
Thanks for the advice nepotronix.

Will go check now. Where do you usually check the continuity from/to? Just either side of the plugs? or do you manage to probe the wires inside the motor?

Thanks again
ian
 
Well i'm just thinking that a sensor wire or phase wire might be loose.
These connections are crimped and the wire can be tugged out of the pin.

One of the controllers i got from cell_man had the yellow hall wire pull out within the first 50 miles - left me stranded for a moment there.
 
Will take a look, all look well though.

Only slight weird this is the wiring on the motor (6pins populated) doesn't quite match the wiring on the controller (5 pins). I assume this is because of the added temperature sensor. Weirdly the colours don't quite match up, but since this hasn't changed since i first used the motor successfully I doubt this is a problem.
 
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