The first thing I recommend is going to this thread
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66302
and copying the questions there to the thread we're in now, and put your answers with them. Then also put the specs (and pics you've taken if possible, and links to the pages they were bought from, if possible) of all the stuff you have, battery, motors, controllers, bike, etc., so that we can help you make sure what you have will do what you want.
Ryanisfree said:
I got small hub motors which I assumed were all geared drive units but in the literature it states they are direct drive
Easy to test. If they have more resistance rolling backwards than forwards, they're geared hubs. Otherwise, tehy're DD.
so I bought the ca3-dp without the Speedo sensor. When everything was connected the CA had no way of detecting speed as the CA is plugged into a shunt adapter. Can I connect a hall signal to the CA so it can detect speed or do I have to modify my CA with a speed sensor in order to get speed readings?
It's simpler to just buy the speedo sensor, and wire it to the shunt plug on teh speedo wires.
But if you prefer, you can tap into a hall by wiring one of the motor hall signals (doesn't matter which one) both to it's controller plug and to the CA's speed sensor wire on the shunt plug.
However, you'll need to know the number of magnetic poles the motor has, which if the manufacturer/seller doesn't specify can be determined experimentally (I think the ebikes.ca site has info on that in the troubleshooting section if it's not in the CA manual or Teklektik's UUG) or by opening up the motor. Then put this into the #poles field in the CA menu (if you use a speedo sensor and magnet on a wheel, you just leave that at 1).
I was hoping to use the generic controllers supplied with the motors but the CA does not power up the controllers. Do I have to fit both led power panels for both controllers to power up or can I modify the system so that the controllers power up without the need for the 2 extra displays?
Not sure if you really mean LED, or if you mean LCD. If LED, they're probably easy to bypass. If LCD, you may require them to change settings at every power on.
There's usually a wire pair you can short on the controller's LED/LCD cable, but controllers that come with their own LCDs may have default settings at power on that always result in the lowest power mode (my Fusin is like that, which I think is a Li Shui / Kingmeter combo). Without the LCD and buttons to set the controller every time it's powered on, it always comes up at PAS1 level, and doesnt' have any options for me to pre-set it to anything else.
Depending on who made yours, there may be ways to do that; there's a lot of controller threads around here for those with info, some of which are in the search below (not all are relevant).
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=lcd&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
Also, depending on which controller it is, some ES members are presently writing replacement firmware for them, that when it's done you'd be able to flash to yours in place of the original, and use the functions that they've come up with, which may include a way to run them "headless" (without the LCD).
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=87870
I have fitted a brake sensor for cut off but can this be used for regen?
It's just a switch. You can connect it to the CA and the CA can use it as a brake input.
What happens after that entirely depends on your controllers.
If it's a CAv3, I highly recommend reading and following the entire step-by-step setup guide by Teklektik, found on the CA page of http://ebikes.ca , called the UUG or Unofficial Users Guide.
If you don't go thru all the steps of wiring and configuring everything, and you are using it to control the controllers, it may not behave as you expect (or do anything at all).
My controllers are not regen compatible so can the CA utilize this feature or do I need to replace my controllers for regen?
What the CA does is monitor the voltage of the battery it's attached to, and the current flowing thru the shunt it's attached to, and display those values on screen, and track those over time.
If you have a throttle and/or brake switch plugged into it's inputs, and/or torque sensor, cadence sensor, temperature sensor, auxiliary potentiometer or switch, etc., AND you have the throttle output and/or brake output connected to the controller(s), AND you have setup the relevant pages in the CA menus, then it can ALSO use the throttle/brake outputs to the controller to "tell" the controllers whether to speed up or slow down or activate their braking functions (whatever those are), based on any or all of those inputs' limits that you have configured in the CA (see Teklektik's UUG for how to do all that, step by step).
The CA doesn't do any particular form of braking--that's entirely up to your controller (and motor type), and how you have teh CA hooked to the controller and how it's setup.
Controllers can have at least three common kinds of braking--none, where they just shut power off to the motor; Regen, where they turn the motor into a generator (effect varies depending on battery charge, voltage, speed, etc); EABS (has several other names too), where it actively applies power to the motor against the direction of rotation to force it to come to a stop.
If I need to replace the controllers am I best to get 1 powerful one rather than 2 small ones?
If you get only one, you can only use one motor. Brushless motors require one controller per motor.
FWIW, the picture you attached of your existing controller shows it is a 36v 250w controller. I suspect that won't operate as expected with your higher voltage battery pack, though it might depending on how it's made inside.
