C'lyte throttle stuck wide open---> cause?

Outside of the throttle assembly itself could a faulty motor controller cause a stuck wide open throttle. How likely would that be. I've got my system running for the e-Power Challenge. I had the velomobile up to 30mph and still accelerating slowly but ran out of street. Had to pull the emergency disconnect switch to shut the motor off. In my other thread I was having problems with my motor being jerky. This morning I put the batteries on the charger and rewired the battery pack with 10agw multi strand wire. Upon taking it for a test spin, I realized that the throttle wasn't regulating the motor. I have both another throttle and motor controller but would need to rewire some connections because mine aren't standard. So what's the likely hood of a motor controller causing a wide open throttle. Pretty small no?

Yes, pretty small, but not zero. A smashed throttle wire or defective throttle is more likely.

If it isn't the throttle, one of your fets may have fried. If so, the bad one is offering no resistance between the battery and the motor. Check for resistance between source and drain. If one is much lower than the others, it has to come out.

Dr. Shock said:

If it isn't the throttle, one of your fets may have fried. If so, the bad one is offering no resistance between the battery and the motor. Check for resistance between source and drain. If one is much lower than the others, it has to come out.

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that might be true for the brushed controllers. on the brushless controllers one phase would always be run and jam the motor preventing it from turning at all or it would turn very slowly and with a lot of jerking.

the hall throttles work by placing a stationary linear hall sensor in between two magnets that are connected to the twist part of the throttle. one is oriented so the "N" is facing the sensor and the other has the opposite "S" facing the sensor as you turn the throttle one magnet moves away from the sensor and the other moves closer to the sensor. the hall sensor measures the change in the magnetic field and produces a voltage proportional to the strength of the "S" magnetic field.

the magnets are just glued in place on a couple of occasions i have had one of the magents come loose and then the throttle was locked into the full ON or full OFF position. taking the throttle apart and glueing the little magnet back into place fixed the problem.

rick

I installed another throttle and the velomobile ran great with out a hiccup. Just got back from a 20mi ride and had plenty of juice left in the 48v AGM pack. When I get some open track time next weekend I'll be able to fully test the system. As it appears now I'll be able to run with the throttle at 100% the whole twenty mile race. It would have been nice to have a 405 or 404 in my 26" wheel for use on the Indy track but I gotta run with what I got. At least I'll be able to race

Thanks guys for going over the internal operations of the throttle system. I learned a lot and will attempt to repair my nonfunctional throttle down the road.

mi7d1 said:

It would have been nice to have a 405 or 404 in my 26" wheel .

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I have a 406 on a 20" wheel with 48volts of LIFEPO4 on my faired LWB bent bike, and max out at 43 km/h. I cannot see using a 404 would overcome the wind resistance or whatever is holding me back because the wheel spins freely at 49km/h(30MPH).

I doubt your velomobile would have the power to go much faster with just a 405 motor and the same battery, but I've been wrong before. The motors have diminishing torque as speed rises. So i've been told.
I realize the only way to know for sure is to test different motors on your rig. Just sayin.

recumbent said:

mi7d1 said:

It would have been nice to have a 405 or 404 in my 26" wheel .

Click to expand...

I have a 406 on a 20" wheel with 48volts of LIFEPO4 on my faired LWB bent bike, and max out at 43 km/h. I cannot see using a 404 would overcome the wind resistance or whatever is holding me back because the wheel spins freely at 49km/h(30MPH).

I doubt your velomobile would have the power to go much faster with just a 405 motor and the same battery, but I've been wrong before. The motors have diminishing torque as speed rises. So i've been told.
I realize the only way to know for sure is to test different motors on your rig. Just sayin.

Click to expand...

This is very interesting. Is you speed obtained on motor alone? According to the simulator you going a bit faster than should be. I wonder if this is due to your running of LiFePO4 batteries? The c'lyte simulator at http://www.ebikes.ca/simulator/ doesn't have a proper battery selection for you and I. I'm running the same motor (406) in a 559 wheel. The fastest I went today on motor alone was 29.5mph (46km/h). I had to slow down for a traffic light. Again according to the simulator I'm just over where I should be. Since the race track has no stop and only a 2' elevation gain in two miles, I believe in my velomobile, I could get a 404 to preform.

8) Wow, that is one cool machine.

Yes, the speed is obtained by motor alone, otherwise i would have said i was peddaling. I measured the circumference of the wheel (tire) and entered it into the Cycle analyst, and i only have 15 cells in my battery pack which reads 49.8 volts after the initial couple volts burns off in one minute it seems. But stays at 49.8 for an hour or so of riding with power only.
Maybe 42 km/h is more accurate last few days as my batteries might need ballancing, or my intermitant (cold solder joint) problem with my controler. I got a warranty coming in the mail. So for all i know I'll get even faster speed after new controler, wishfull thinking i know.
However, i have not checked my speedometer with a car yet to compare, but i will soon.
Good luck with your race.