wiring SNAFU (or short between the earlobes)?

mammonista

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May 27, 2018
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So I'm electrifying this Sun EZ3 recumbent trike for an older gentleman who can no longer drive a car.

I mounted an inexpensive (ebay sourced) 48v/750watt, brushless, gear reduction motor on the rear driving the rear driveshaft via a freewheel sprocket...

I did roughly the same thing a few years ago when I built my 'Kyoto Cruiser' side-by-side tandem and electrified it.


So I mounted the 48v/750watt controller that came with the new motor on the main frame spar above the bottom bracket.


Hooked up the big three blue, yellow, green, wires that run from the controller to the motor. No problem. Hooked up the black wire from the battery to the controller. No problem. Touched the red (hot) wire from the battery to the controller connection and a big spark. Oops? As I didn't have the documentation for the motor/controller at the time I couldn't connect anything else. Now I do have the documentation and have hooked up what I can, but have nothing. Did I screw up? Or are the highlighted portions of the wiring, which has yet to be connected, defeating power output to the motor?

AS USUAL ANY HELP APPRECIATED!
 
So the whole issue was the wire labeled 'e-lock'. It needed to have power to it. As soon as I did everything worked fine. In fact the motor puts out sooooo much torque as to flex the mounts under almost any acceleration. So now I'll need to weld in some additional braces to keep that from happening. Then all will be good.
 
Both of my basic motor controllers spark when first connected to the battery. It's just inrush current to fill up the capacitors inside the controller. XT90 anti-spark connectors have a resistor built in to slowly charge the capacitors at first, and then make sure the connector is fully engaged to bypass the resistor.
 
Yeah, the spark is normal, as I'm sure you knew. But it sure got you going when the controller would not run. :mrgreen:

That e lock wire is usually there, but its a smaller red wire, often on the same plug. That orange wire would have fooled me too.
 
So final note on this story...
Finally got everything working fine. Built a custom wiring box with keyed power switch and hi/low switch.
Sold the trike to an older guy who can no longer drive. He loves it. Riding a couple of times a day, everyday for the past three weeks!
 
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