Is the sensor in my throttle busted?

[Endless squarer]

I had shorted out my last controller and obtained a new 48V 1500w sine wave controller. After connecting everything, the lcd worked fine however the motor would spin. I can spin the motor at a walking speed from my lcd and that worked fine however the throttle wasn't spinning. After close inspection I realised that the 3 throttle wires from the controller were in a different configuration to the 3 from the throttle. I had connected the speed sensor (white wire) to the negative terminal (black wire) but the positive terminal (red wire) was connected correctly.

I rewired the throttle wires but the throttle still does not work.

Is the problem in the throttle or is it in the controller? The controller seems to work fine however.

The controller also has a lot of extra cables which I do not have such as cruise control, pedal assist. Could this be the issue

 

[Pinesal]

If I remember right... there is a ground wire and two positive wires? It's like +5v and +0v. Or something along those lines.

Now you need to figure out which is ground on both. It's probably the middle one. Then connect the two positive cables to the throttle but be careful, it it's backwards the wheel will start spinning with no input (and stop when you pull the throttle).

I've just reciting from memory from when I changed my bike controller. So it's probably best to wait for a second opinion.

 

[Endless squarer]

Okay, thank you

 

[danielrlee]

On the controller side, the throttle wires are as follows:

Red - 5V
Black - Ground
White - Signal

I cannot see all the corresponding wires on the throttle side in the photos provided. What are the colours of the throttle side wires?

Also, do you own a multimeter? If so, this can likely be troubleshooted pretty easily.

 

[Endless squarer]

Yes I do have a multimeter
I have rewired the wires from the throttle (black red and white) so that they correspond properly, sorry I don't have a photo of the original configuration of the three wires.

 

[danielrlee]

Okay, it sounds like you do now have the throttle wired up correctly.

Carry out the tests as explained in the following link and let us know the results. Hopefully you can insert the multimeter probes beneath the shrink tube without having to remove it:

http://www.ebikes.ca/documents/ThrottleTesting.pdf

 

[Endless squarer]

I conducted the test, I have power to the throttle however the signal cable test is bouncing all over the place, regardless of whether the throttle is at full rotation or not.

 

[danielrlee]

Looks like a faulty throttle.

If you have the patience, your existing throttle can probably be repaired, but throttles are cheap and replacing with a new one will be easiest. I'd buy two so you have a spare.

 

[Ykick]

Looks like a faulty throttle.

If you have the patience, your existing throttle can probably be repaired, but throttles are cheap and replacing with a new one will be easiest. I'd buy two so you have a spare.

I agree, looks like a bad throttle. Cheap, adequate replacements can be found but they tend to not use standard color coding. Red wire is almost always +5 but I've got some good cheap eBay Hall throttles that use Green for signal and Yellow for ground. Tricky to figure that out but at least ground to signal doesn't hurt anything except no throttle signal.

 

[danielrlee]

Hmmmm.... all is not as it seems. I have just received the following PM from the OP:

I'm really hoping it's not a fault in the controller, however when I did get the controller, my LCD was not working originally and in trying to diagnose the problem, I connected my LCD to the old controller and the power cable to the new controller but left the throttle, hall wires and phase sensors and brakes connected to this new controller. When I turned on the power there was a *pop* and smoke came out from the wires end of the new controller. I later on realised that the reason the LCD was not turning on was because of an electric lock cable which I did not know about. However the controller still works fine and after bypassing the electric lock, the LCD works fine as well and I can even spin the motor at walking speed from the LCD. Could there still be a fault in the controller or is it more likely the throttle??

I can't get my head around what the OP is describing, but a smoking controller is not a good sign. Anybody else like to guess what has happened?....

EDIT: Endless squarer, occurrences like this are really frustrating. Didn't you think it would be a good idea to supply this information originally?

 

[Endless squarer]

I apologize for the lack of full sincerity, having just attained the new controller as a replacement for a shorted one, I did not want to face the consequences of being told that the controller was where the fault lay

 

[danielrlee]

I apologize for the lack of full sincerity, having just attained the new controller as a replacement for a shorted one, I did not want to face the consequences of being told that the controller was where the fault lay

The consequence could have been that you end up unnecessarily purchasing a new throttle, just to find that it didn't solve the problem, or even have the new throttle blown by a faulty controller.

This new information means that our troubleshooting attempts are now likely incorrect and you have possibly been given an incorrect diagnosis.

I cannot picture what has happened with your new controller. Hopefully somebody else will be able to pick up where I have left off.

 

[izeman]

I conducted the test, I have power to the throttle however the signal cable test is bouncing all over the place, regardless of whether the throttle is at full rotation or not.

it's really important that the wiring has to be correct before making the test. as mentioned before: wire colors are NOT standardized. for 90%+ it's black-GND, red-VCC/5V, and the third color with can be anything from green, to white, orange.. =output signal.
so if the throttle wires don't match the controller wires, i mean signal wise, NOT color wise, this will not produce correct results. so you need to be sure that you connect controller GND to throttle GND, controller VCC to throttle VCC and controller signal to throttle signal. otherwise you may only short the controller's VCC to zero, and it will not work.
the first step MUST be, that you can measure 5V between GND and VCC. if the throttle didn't pass that test, there is no reason to move on. you will not get meaningful results.
so my question: did you pass that test?

 

[Endless squarer]

Yes there was between 4-5V between ground and the red wire

 

[izeman]

Ok. So if you measure between GND and output you get fluctuating voltage?
What happens when you disconnect the controller's voltage input wire on the connector. So only GND and VCC go from controller to throttle and the 3rd wire is NOT connected. Then measure at the throttle side. This takes the controller completely out of the quotation. If the voltage still flickers then you can be 100% sure the throttle is broken.


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[Endless squarer]

So I'm disconnecting the output signal wire and leaving the 5v(red) and gnd(black) connected to the controller??

 

[izeman]

So I'm disconnecting the output signal wire and leaving the 5v(red) and gnd(black) connected to the controller??

exactly. my idea is: if the controller is broken, really strange things can happen. maybe something is shorted and outputs strange voltage on the throttle input line.
for the throttle to work you need to power it with GND and VCC. you may also use an external power supply to do this, and then measure voltage on the throttle output line.
in my case you use the controller for supplying voltage only. and if the throttle then still doesn't work you can be 100% sure that it's broken.
it also may be interesting to know the following test result: disconnect the throttle completely, and measure GND to THR on the controller side. i should show ZERO volt. if i does not -> broken controller.

ps: please refrain from sending your post's reply as PM as well. this makes communication more complicated. better to keep it in one place, and readable for everyone.

 

[Endless squarer]

The first test did not yield a fluctuating voltage (a constant 4.26) when the signal wire was disconnected.

The second test showed around 4v (measured between signal(white) and gnd(black) on controller side, the wires from throttle disconnected)

 

[izeman]

if you see a voltage above 0V on the throttle INPUT wire than something in your controller is imho broken.

 

[Endless squarer]

Okay so it's most likely the controller that's faulty??

Thanks very much for all your help