Which connectors for quick disconnect for front hub motor?

kiltedcelt

100 W
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My plan on my Yuba is to go tubeless with the wheels, but currently it's still running regular tubes in the 26x3.0 tires. The way the geared hub motor is wired, there is no way to remove the cable from the hub, which means you can't easily change flats or anything else, like truing the wheel or whatever. It occurred to me that the drip loop of the motor power supply would be a good place to install some connectors to allow the front wheel to be completely removed from the bike. Besides power, there's also Hall sensor leads coming out of the motor. What sort of connector would be the best to attach in-line along the fork blade that would allow me to split that cable to allow for complete wheel removal and would also be weatherproof? I saw the "Weatherpack" connectors in spinningmagnets' weatherproofing thread, but that would only seem to work for the power lead. I'd still have all of those "phone-wire-thin" Hall sensor leads to deal with as well. Is there a way to do this with something like weather protected Anderson power pole type connectors or something similar?

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Good Question. There is always the 9 pin barrel connector that is popular on so many commercial motors but I find them difficult at the best of times. At the worst of times they are darn near impossible.

I think two connectors might be a better approach: one for the power leads and another for the signal wires. I like the MT60 connectors for ower:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QRRPFGO
51F%2Bn9nDQ2L._SX450_.jpg


I have not yet found anything I am overjoyed with for the signal wires. I have tried some automotive connectors but they tend to by rather large. I have been considering waterproof RG45 connectors. They should have enough contacts and there are no alignment problems. There are also some water proof cable glands to use with them. I do not know if the wire size (22-26 awg) is large enough to accept the typical signal wires.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CUM39KO/
617sFcFfhgL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg

61U51WVcXcL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg
 
LewTwo - your reply got me brainstorming some more and I looked at those connectors on Amazon and some of "you might like these also" options. That led me to Grin for a look at anything they might have that I might've overlooked in the past. This might be an decent option, and probably no more bulky than a similar knot of weatherproof 5-pin and power lead connectors. The whole thing could be attached to the fork leg about halfway up and it would probably only stick out a little bit. Fairly protected from the elements and of course the connections could be filled with dielectric grease as an extra preventative measure.

http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-parts/connectors/conbox.html

conbox_open.jpg
 
LewTwo said:
I have not yet found anything I am overjoyed with for the signal wires.
Higo? Small enough to fit thru an axle nut, waterproof.
https://www.e-bike-technologies.de/index.php/en/connectors/higo

You can get them either with wire attached to the waterproof connector, or you can get just the connector for panel mount, which has a gasket, so it can be mounted to a waterproof panel or box.

Tehy come in up to at least six or seven pins, so you could use them not jsut for the halls, but also for temperature sensors or fan power or whatever. :)
 
amberwolf said:
LewTwo said:
I have not yet found anything I am overjoyed with for the signal wires.
Higo? Small enough to fit thru an axle nut, waterproof.
https://www.e-bike-technologies.de/index.php/en/connectors/higo

You can get them either with wire attached to the waterproof connector, or you can get just the connector for panel mount, which has a gasket, so it can be mounted to a waterproof panel or box.

Tehy come in up to at least six or seven pins, so you could use them not jsut for the halls, but also for temperature sensors or fan power or whatever. :)
I do not see much difference between those and the 9 pin barrel connectors. One of the advantages to a front hub is that one might not have the challenge of having to 'fit' through an axle nut. :)
 
kiltedcelt said:
LewTwo - your reply got me brainstorming some more and I looked at those connectors on Amazon and some of "you might like these also" options. That led me to Grin for a look at anything they might have that I might've overlooked in the past. This might be an decent option, and probably no more bulky than a similar knot of weatherproof 5-pin and power lead connectors. The whole thing could be attached to the fork leg about halfway up and it would probably only stick out a little bit. Fairly protected from the elements and of course the connections could be filled with dielectric grease as an extra preventative measure.
http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-parts/connectors/conbox.html
That is interesting. It is a shame they could not be bothered to include dimensions in the specifications.
 
Like amberwolf said, use a Higo connector like Bafang does, most ebike makers, and many Luna kits. The Higo 10 wire motor connector is $40 euro from that link. Shipping extra.

I've bought the 9 pin motor cables from China. Reasonable price, but shipping can be crazy. Elifebike will mail them, and I've bought two sets for under $40 shipped. At BMSBattery, they're crazy. You have to be ordering something else that's heavy. You can also buy an extension cable from Lunacycle (https://lunacycle.com/parts/hub-motor-parts/ebike-kit-extension-cable/) and cut it in half, but it will be short.

A spliced cable will fit thru the axle nut, but I worry about the solder joints breaking. On the one motor that I have spliced, I added plastic strips under the heat shrink for mechanical strength. In the future, I'd try liquid electrical tape underthe heat shrink.

The interior wires use the standard colors for phase and Hall wires. Splicing the three power wires is tedious.
 
LewTwo said:
I do not see much difference between those and the 9 pin barrel connectors.
There isn't a lot, other than that they are smaller with smaller pins, wires, etc. Suitable for small-signal stuff, but not phase wires.

They are waterproof, and relatively easy to pull apart (takes some force to break the seal, though) and push together.

The 9-pins are quite a lot larger, both in connector size and pin size (and current carrying ability).

It depends on your needs--if I was going for a waterproof connector for anything that didnt' carry power, I'd use the Higo type (even though I'd have to open up the hubmotor to solder the wires in there, to make it more waterproof, rather than splicing into the existing cabling).

If I had the money to do it, I'd redo a number of things on the SB Cruiser (and future projects) using Higo connectors for service points, including hall connectors for both motors and controllers, for quick swap outs in case of failures (right now everything is soldered rather than using any connectors, except for the main battery connectors which use Anderson SB50, and the charger points which use XLR and PP45 for Satiator compatibility).

If you don't need waterproof, there's a lot of possible connectors for signal wires, including micro-USB and various others from the computer/consumer-electronics industry.

If you need waterproof it gets a little harder to find small ones, and most I've run across are not inexpensive.

If you also need the phase wires to go in the same connector, then it gets harder to find ones (waterproof or not) that will be small and still carry a fair current properly, or that have enough large pins for the phases, and enough small ones for the halls/etc.


@docw009: regarding splicing, especialy of wires carrying any power, I recommend staggering the splices so they do not overlap. In addition to preventing shorts in case of splice-insulation failure, this also makes the splice point itself much smaller diameter.
 
I do stagger them. Keeps the diameter small and the splices don't touch if the heat shrink has a hole. The power wires are too big to twist, so I lay them side by side and wrap a strand of thin wire around before soldering. That makes it tedious. Got to find my fly tying rig.

Rather than splice cable on the controller side, I pull the three phase and Hall wires back inside the controller. and push the round cable inside. pNow the splicing is easy as each join is a simple wrap. The top comes off most controllers too. This is the KT36/48ZWSRD-SLSO2G adapter to round cable.

splice_1.jpg
 
docw009 said:
Rather than splice cable on the controller side, I pull the three phase and Hall wires back inside the controller. and push the round cable inside. Now the splicing is easy as each join is a simple wrap. The top comes off most controllers too.
That does make the cabling neat but the OP's question was regarding quick removal of the wheel. In this approach one also has to remove the controller and all the wires going to it.
 
When I don’t splice phase power wires I normally use 4mm gold Bullet RC connectors. Sometimes the red hard housings and sometimes a concoction of shrink wrap to insulate them - staggering also helps maintain a thinner exterior connector package too.

Hall Sensor wiring is usually something light gauge/flexible and since I have a bunch laying around I use RC Futaba/JR servo connectors. 2 connectors will handle the Hall sensors with temp signal and they fit through axle hardware. Thin road bike inner tube for a watertight seal if needed.
 
LewTwo said:
That does make the cabling neat but the OP's question was regarding quick removal of the wheel. In this approach one also has to remove the controller and all the wires going to it.
Not if I understand correctly; he's simply splicing in the 9-pin round-connector cable mentioned in his previous post, which would then allow quick and easy removal of the wheel.
 
The single wire coming out of my Mac motor carries the three large gauge wires (I think yellow, green, blue), and then a set of 5 tiny wires for the Hall sensors. I'm thinking at the least I'd need to splice all of those - so possibly something like the tri-plex connector first mentioned by LewTwo, and maybe one of these for the 5 pin:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/142260267637?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
s-l1600.png


Or, alternatively just calling up Grin and asking them to put everything pictured in that little box in one kit and send me a PayPal invoice.

Basically, I just want to cut in a few inches up from the fork dropout and install something that allows me to completely separate the cable coming from the motor so that the wheel can be completely removed from the bike if necessary for any reason.
 
I use 9-pin connectors which are good up to around 40 Amps.
The whole idea w/going tubeless is to be able to repair flats roadside w/out removing the wheel.
When I went tubeless a year ago, I added a sm. tire plug kit and CO2 inflator to my tool kit.
And in a perverse reversal of Murphy's Law, I haven't had a flat since.
 
For 20 amps ballpark I have come to love the Higo connector, which is on the E-Bike kit motors, and many others in recent years.

Where to locate it, not on the drip loop. Give yourself at least a few inches so you can do the loop, then have the higo connector, or whatever you choose, above that.

For bigger power, I've never had soaking wet phase connections fail me. But keeping them dry ish is still good. The halls another story, they do need to keep dry.

One thing I've done a lot, is learn to work on tires with just a few inches of the wire disconnected from the frame. Its awkward, but you get the hang of it. the other thing is you can use Velcro ties to attach that first foot or so of wire.

to true the wheel, I attach a couple zip ties to the frame, then cut them to the length that lets the tail become a truing gauge.
 
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