mwkeefer
1 MW
[Hall Throttle Failure]
Hello all,
I'm sure this exists elsewhere (doesn't everything now) but last night I noticed my trailer hitch on a Dahon Jack (FWD geared hub 18S) was causing the rear wheel to move in it's mount (it's the receiver type hitch which wedges between the QR skewer for the rear wheel) thus royally screwing up my rear V brakes.
Needless to say - I did what any of us may, flipped the bike upside down and adjusted the tension on the rear skewer, reseated the axle and flipped it right side up.
Came out of the store and ... OH NO now my bike won't work!
As many would (who have had the experience)... I started checking wires, flipped the power off on the controller (I have a switch installed) and disconnected the pack... when reconnecting the pack I could see/hear the mildest of spark (caps are precharged so spark is minimal) so power was coming in... checked handlebar bag (installed on a front rack) battery pack for disconnection or somthing... all was good (darn near 9AH remaining)...
Next I pulled and reconnected the throttle - no good. Begin process again starting this time with sniffing the controller - whew no stink of burnt anything (worried somthing could have fallen loose when flipped upside down - the one test I never though of trying before hitting the road on the new build)!
The following time I connected the throttle (this was by accident) I must have connected it so only the VCC 5v and Return wires were connected to the throttle and the front wheel began to hum and nearly ripped the bike from my hands. Hmmm.
Powered down the controller and opened the throttle guard (screw panel) to find one of the hall sensor wires had come undone - directly at the base of the sensor. Normally breaking down outside a radioshack is a good thing - sadly they dont' even know what a hall sensor is (tried to send me to the pharmacy for throat lozenges) but not with this issue... I thought quickly of doing some form of 5K pot just to adjust return voltage, then it dawned on me ... I ripped the wiring off the hall which was damaged anyway... seperated and stripped (yep with my teeth) the RED and GREEN (your results may vary but it will almost always be the RED and the non-black line for return) and after remembering to flip the controller back on and lift the front wheel, touching them together (the Green and Red) made the wheel spin up to full speed.
Now being close to RS came in handy, I could have just taped down the red wire to my handlegrip and physically held the green to it - would have even been sort of a dead mans switch but not much for control or stopping - I ran in and grabbed some momentary switches, quickly tape wrapped a switch to my bars between my thumb throttle and my hand grip and wired it up to the RED and GREEN wires.
Started off pedaling into 2nd then push the button and whalla... pulse and go with NO other option but it got me home!
Normally I would have taken it as a challenge, grabbed some bits and parts from Radio Shack and created my own POT based throttle to take the 5v input and return appprox 0v to 4.7 (wouldn't be fully possible but maybe 4.4v if done right) but as luck would have it my ex was having her car repaired and called me just as I was noticing the issue (about 4:30pm yesterday) asking if I could retrieve both kids from daycare (by 5:30pm) so elegance was not an option (neither was pedaling 7mi back home in under 40min, then fetching the kids 20min)!
I've got some pics I'll post later when I can re-rez them, I have a few other "gotcha" situations I've had to "rig" some in the field hack for and I will post those too... I'm sure others out here have similar experiences we can all learn some basic Emergency eBike Triage from?
Hope it helps!
-Mike
Hello all,
I'm sure this exists elsewhere (doesn't everything now) but last night I noticed my trailer hitch on a Dahon Jack (FWD geared hub 18S) was causing the rear wheel to move in it's mount (it's the receiver type hitch which wedges between the QR skewer for the rear wheel) thus royally screwing up my rear V brakes.
Needless to say - I did what any of us may, flipped the bike upside down and adjusted the tension on the rear skewer, reseated the axle and flipped it right side up.
Came out of the store and ... OH NO now my bike won't work!
As many would (who have had the experience)... I started checking wires, flipped the power off on the controller (I have a switch installed) and disconnected the pack... when reconnecting the pack I could see/hear the mildest of spark (caps are precharged so spark is minimal) so power was coming in... checked handlebar bag (installed on a front rack) battery pack for disconnection or somthing... all was good (darn near 9AH remaining)...
Next I pulled and reconnected the throttle - no good. Begin process again starting this time with sniffing the controller - whew no stink of burnt anything (worried somthing could have fallen loose when flipped upside down - the one test I never though of trying before hitting the road on the new build)!
The following time I connected the throttle (this was by accident) I must have connected it so only the VCC 5v and Return wires were connected to the throttle and the front wheel began to hum and nearly ripped the bike from my hands. Hmmm.
Powered down the controller and opened the throttle guard (screw panel) to find one of the hall sensor wires had come undone - directly at the base of the sensor. Normally breaking down outside a radioshack is a good thing - sadly they dont' even know what a hall sensor is (tried to send me to the pharmacy for throat lozenges) but not with this issue... I thought quickly of doing some form of 5K pot just to adjust return voltage, then it dawned on me ... I ripped the wiring off the hall which was damaged anyway... seperated and stripped (yep with my teeth) the RED and GREEN (your results may vary but it will almost always be the RED and the non-black line for return) and after remembering to flip the controller back on and lift the front wheel, touching them together (the Green and Red) made the wheel spin up to full speed.
Now being close to RS came in handy, I could have just taped down the red wire to my handlegrip and physically held the green to it - would have even been sort of a dead mans switch but not much for control or stopping - I ran in and grabbed some momentary switches, quickly tape wrapped a switch to my bars between my thumb throttle and my hand grip and wired it up to the RED and GREEN wires.
Started off pedaling into 2nd then push the button and whalla... pulse and go with NO other option but it got me home!
Normally I would have taken it as a challenge, grabbed some bits and parts from Radio Shack and created my own POT based throttle to take the 5v input and return appprox 0v to 4.7 (wouldn't be fully possible but maybe 4.4v if done right) but as luck would have it my ex was having her car repaired and called me just as I was noticing the issue (about 4:30pm yesterday) asking if I could retrieve both kids from daycare (by 5:30pm) so elegance was not an option (neither was pedaling 7mi back home in under 40min, then fetching the kids 20min)!
I've got some pics I'll post later when I can re-rez them, I have a few other "gotcha" situations I've had to "rig" some in the field hack for and I will post those too... I'm sure others out here have similar experiences we can all learn some basic Emergency eBike Triage from?
Hope it helps!
-Mike