Electrical and Lighting Question - Specific to EV Global?

tmort

10 W
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
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83
I have a 36 volt EVG ebike. I bought it new. Not too long after I got it I modified the headlight housing so I could use an MR16 LED array to replace the halogen that came with it. Everything seemed to work fine.

I noticed last year that when I had my headlight on it would start flashing after awhile. I contacted where I got the LED array and they mentioned it likely means the LED array was going bad. I've replaced the array with another another one. It is also a different model. It still blinks. I know sometimes when this would happen it was quite hot so I thought that might have something to do with it as well, but, today I tested it and it still blinked and it wasn't very hot out.

I also attached a voltmeter in parallel while the light was attached and on. I could see the voltage go from 12V to zero. I also attached the voltmeter without the light attached and it stayed at a steady 12V. I imagine the load of the array is an issue, but, it used to work, so I'm thinking something in the power supply system of the ebike is at fault.

I obviously can't contact EVG on this, but, does anyone have any idea if there is some electrical component that may have gone bad that might be causing this and what it might be or other things to look at?

TIA
 
I think the controller is the power supply for the headlight and the 36 volt controllers I`ve seen are potted. So no access for repair.

Maybe you could wire in a 12 volt wall wart to supply the light. Maybe.
 
Thanks,

I happen to have a switching DCDC converter that can handle 36V and that has a 12 output.

I can open up the cover, but, it sounds like you have taken a pretty good look at these boards in the past anyway, do you know or happen to have any pictures, of what sort of connectors are used for the 36V supply to power supply for the headlights use or schematic diagrams? I guess I could pull directly from the supply from the battery to the board, but, I imagine it is not switched with the ignition switch.
 
It does sound like the built-in DC-DC is shutting off from overload (or overheating), then turning back on, repeatedly, causing the flashing.

If the 12v supply uses a regulator attached to a heatsink, it's possible that either the heatsink compound has dried out and left an air gap between the regulator and heatsink, or that the regulator has otherwise somehow become disconnected from it's heatsink, even just a little bit, or that the heatsink is somehow blocked from shedding heat (dirt, mud, corrosion, etc) into the airflow it should have.

I'd assume that it is attached to teh same triangular heatsink the controller FETs are, but I've never investigated that.



I don't recall what voltage it's for, but I have an EVG controller around here you can have for postage if that would help. I don't know it's condition, though, as it was sent to me in a box of stuff a few years ago.

but it's probably cheaper and easier to just use the external DC-DC. Assuming the key switches the 36v line, I'd just run a fused tap on the output from the keyswitch to power it, along with whatever ground wire is available up there.
 
Hmm--I did a bit of digging, and found this
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6938

That shows that when you did the conversion, you ended up having to use a 36v to 12v DC-DC converter originally, as your original headlight was apparently powered by 36v, not by 12v.

So the problem is likely with your add-on converter, and you can just replace it with your new one, and be done with the problem.

But it might also be that your existing converter just has the heat-shedding problem I mentioned in the previous post, and fixing that might stop the flashing.

Otherwise, just replace the old with the new, and then make sure the new one has plenty of airflow and/or heatsinking so it doesn't get damaged from heat over time.
 
Thanks to all for the replies. I'll look into things a little more later this week, It's getting dark and looks like rain.

On my bike the power to the headlights and tail lights both stock and now is 12V. I just happen to have the converter laying around.

I'll see if I can get a look at the heatsink and see what the siutation is with the regulator. If it is just a matter of adding some heat sink compound or tighening it down that would be great. If that doesn't solve the problem I'll tie in the converter with a fuse.
 
tmort said:
On my bike the power to the headlights and tail lights both stock and now is 12V.
Ah, so this is a different EVG than the one in your old thread linked above.
 
I stand corrected. I'm beginning to show my age and it is only going to get worse.

I did use a voltmeter recently to measure the voltage, but, the display had gotten wet and wasn't fully readable. I could see it went from a reading to zero, but, I guess I read what I thought it should read.

I'm beginning to remember now. Based on the date of the thread I think I didn't install the LED array on the EVG bike right away like I remembered. I was actually building a different bike and was going to use a 12V DCDC converter for that bike. The LED array would fit into an EVG headlight housing. The tail light was going to a 12V auto LED bulb in a Lucas motorcycle tail light housing. I guess I decided to try it on the EVG bike without checking the voltages first.

I imagine winter came after I made that last post and I forgot entirely for a number of years. I've had lots going on these last few years that pulled me away from various projects (the ebike of my making as well).

Actually the converter should fit right in the headlight housing. I'm using the original tail light with its LED arraw. I don't have to fish any wires or anything.

But yeah, it's only going to get worse. I hope I can get to it before I forget again.
 
I know exactly what you mean....what were we talking about? :oops:


At least it makes it easy in that you can just swap out the DC-DC, and make sure that there's enough heatsinking, so that if that's what caused the flashing problem this time, it wont' happen again. :)



If you want to see a lot of examples of forgotten upgrades/etc, poke around in my build threads, and see how many of my thoughts I actually ever got around to implementing. :lol:
 
Speaking of things never impemented, that reminds me of something I've been thinking about for awhile. I doubt I'll ever get to it plus I don't have the fabrication skills.

I'd often thought an electric trike sounded pretty interesting. It would have cargo space and some of that cargo space could hold a lot of batteries. Regular trikes of course are unstable. I know they have some motorcycles now that tilt and I see there are starting to be a few bicycle designs along these lines. I saw a youtube video of one that doesn't appear to ever have made it to the market and there is an open source recumbent style http://www.jetrike.com/.

I've never ridden any sort of recumbent bike, but, I do know they are hard to see in traffic, but, there may be some things to work with.

I also have a friend who is handicapped and tried a regular pedal trike. She found that it was unstable and she also had a big hill to go up on the way home and it was a heavy bike.

I again thought of the electric trike as a recumbent in this light. For someone like her this sort of thing besides being a fun way of getting around might qualify as a mobility device just like an electric wheelchair, etc. So if someone could develop something like this, that might be another market besides just the general public.

I did a little looking around and found there is at least one http://www.butchersandbicycles.com/

I suppose maybe there is a better place to post that, but, I thought I'd mention it.
 
Look at my SB Cruiser trike thread (Built of recycled materials).
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=67833

It's not unstable, mostly because it's long and weight is low and out to the sides at the rear. DDK here on ES has similarly-laid-out trikes that work as well.

I can make turns at 15-18mph or more, depending on the turn and the road conditions, and jinking at 20MPH to avoid debris or potholes doesn't cause problems.

Easy to see in traffic, especially at night. :)

And I can carry plenty of cargo--it's specifically designed to slide a large dog crate/kennel into the back of it to carry a St. Bernard. Here it's carrying several large bags of dog food and some medium sized ones as well:
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