Noob Question on Wiring

suseboy

1 µW
Joined
Dec 13, 2017
Messages
4
Location
Los Angeles
Hi All, apologies in advance for such a noob question.

I installed my first hub motor kit and everything worked fine for a couple weeks until the power from the 52V Shark battery kept cutting out. If I wiggled or pulled the wires, the power might temporarily return.

At first, I thought it was my poor soldering (this was the first time I ever soldered anything and it didn't look pretty), so I re-soldered the wires from both the controller and the battery to XT90 pigtails. Same result. It looked more and more like the connection of the wires to the battery board/mount was the culprit and pulling on the wires with the lights turned off confirm this as the connection sparks.

As a total noob, should I disconnect and try to solder the wires to the battery board/mount or take it to an electrician or handyman? Thanks.
 
Yeah you gotta resolder whatever they did on the pack.
Watch some Youtube video's on soldering, get 63/37 as it flows a bit better.
You want shiny concave shapes, you'll see on YT.
XT90 is a great connector, and you got the ones with pigtails so you just solder the crap outta both wires, then glob more on. But yeah you gotta open that pack up right to the battery cans/pouches themselves.

Any ole soldering iron will do 40W, 60W. Maybe you arent using the right solder. 60/40 works too. Use a lot electrical tape!
 
Okay, I went ahead and removed the loose positive wire on the battery board and re-soldered it onto the metal connector and the power has returned. Going to do a test run today. I guess time will tell how strong my solders are.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions and giving me the push to solder on.
 
While you have it open you should 100% check everything over, including the connection on the other side of the pack, just do a visual over everything.
 
suseboy said:
As a total noob, should I disconnect and try to solder the wires to the battery board/mount or take it to an electrician or handyman?
Just a note here -

Soldered connections are _terrible_ when it comes to resisting repeated flexing or vibration. If you soldered wires back on, make sure they are anchored in such a way that they are completely immobilized, or they will fail again quickly.
 
billvon said:
Soldered connections are _terrible_ when it comes to resisting repeated flexing or vibration. If you soldered wires back on, make sure they are anchored in such a way that they are completely immobilized, or they will fail again quickly.

I agree. My XT conectors keep breaking on me about 1-2x a year, due to viberations and moving etc.. I plan to switch to anderson conectors.
 
Shark pack, Hailong cases have suck connectors. Get updated versions from your dealer. Often the slots in th3 base get spread out and you get intermittent shorts, and sometimes a melt out.
 
tomjasz said:
Shark pack, Hailong cases have suck connectors. Get updated versions from your dealer. Often the slots in th3 base get spread out and you get intermittent shorts, and sometimes a melt out.

I had that problem with my Shark pack. Intermittent continuity and high resistance on the cradle contacts imitated a BMS or cell voltage problem. I sprung those suckers closed and the problem went away. But that's why I don't remove it more often than necessary-- I reckon the contacts get squished around mostly when sliding the battery on and off.
 
Chalo said:
tomjasz said:
Shark pack, Hailong cases have suck connectors. Get updated versions from your dealer. Often the slots in th3 base get spread out and you get intermittent shorts, and sometimes a melt out.

I had that problem with my Shark pack. Intermittent continuity and high resistance on the cradle contacts imitated a BMS or cell voltage problem. I sprung those suckers closed and the problem went away. But that's why I don't remove it more often than necessary-- I reckon the contacts get squished around mostly when sliding the battery on and off.
 

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What is that?
 
suseboy said:
At first, I thought it was my poor soldering (this was the first time I ever soldered anything and it didn't look pretty), so I re-soldered the wires from both the controller and the battery to XT90 pigtails. Same result. It looked more and more like the connection of the wires to the battery board/mount was the culprit and pulling on the wires with the lights turned off confirm this as the connection sparks.

Hope you weren't using Home Depot solder. I couldn't find my roll of solder (it's from the 1990's) so I ran out to Home Depot and bought some rosin core stuff. Man, it wasn't shiny and it didn't flow. I tried to do an XT60 and couldn't. Then I saw it's silver bearing solder .. melts around 220C. No good for my tools.
 
Where did you get those contacts? They look much better than the four prong teeth that come with the typical Hailong pack. Thanks.
 
suseboy said:
Where did you get those contacts? They look much better than the four prong teeth that come with the typical Hailong pack. Thanks.
You dealer should have access.
 
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