Ecolocycle controller info? Or best guesses?

It's unlikely to be a throttle issue--if it were, the throttle probably wouldn't work at all.

It's more likely to be a setting in the controller (regardless of what you set things to with the display) that is requiring detection of the PAS sensor rotating (in the correct direction), probably also requiring detection of the motor spinning (in the correct direction), to allow the throttle to work. WHen it doesn't get all the right conditions, it shuts down.

Walk mode works because that doesn't require any PAS input since you wouldn't have feet on pedals while walking the bike.


I'ts possible the controller setting for the PAS requirement can't be changed, even though it may show that it's changed in the LCD. There've been troubleshooting threads with various controllers that seemed to have this issue. (not really a problem while riding, but can be durign setup/testing).

But the PAS can be spoofed with a steady pulse train, like from a 555 timer (google will show you dozens of schematics/etc for those), that you can use a pushbutton to emulate so you don't have to use the PAS sensor, at least while testing. It just has to be a square wave at 0-5v at the frequency the PAS sensor puts out while cranks are turning. Probably a few Hz at most, maybe only 1.

Revisiting this older topic -

As it turns out, it seems to me that the replacement controller was simply defective or damaged. I never did get the throttle working properly with it (the throttle that was supplied with it, as well as another one that I tried with it) and the display panel still always errored out even when I was sure that I had the phase/hall combinations correct, and I did the recommended tests to ensure that the hall sensors were working properly.

I finally got another controller delivered from a different manufacturer (long wait) and after making a couple of adaptors and such to allow for the differences in connectors, both the display and throttle are working fine and the bike is road ready again as soon as the icy roads here in northern Ontario thaw some.

The funny thing about it is that - at least testing while it is stationary with the rear wheel lifted - the speed reading on the display is showing about the same as it was before I started this whole project. About 22km/h (roughly 13mp/h) which is rather deflating. I'm beginning to think that the bottleneck here is the hub motor itself, unless someone has any other ideas.

I am running a 36v battery. I am curious to know what difference upping that to 48v might make, but don't have the means to test that at the moment. I've thought about running an additional 12v battery in series temporarily just to satisfy my curiosity. There is no limiter on this controller, and while the bike has only 16" wheels, so did the one that was stolen and it certainly had a lot more speed to it than this one (and it is the same battery, as I had the battery on the charger when the other bike was stolen)

*shrug*

Thanks again Amberwolf for all the help you gave me through the process. I learned a lot that I will be able to apply to my new build. I've got a bunch of spare parts now, haha. I'll be sending ya a tip via Paypal!

Actually, I think I may try this with an additional 6v or 12v just to confirm my suspicion that things are locked in at 15mph.

First, if the motor spins the same speed offground as it does onground, at a full charge of the battery, at WOT, then there is a speed limiter in play, and the speed sensor is on the motor wheel.

If it is faster offground (especially if it's significantly faster), then there's probably no speed limiter, unless the speed sensor is on a different wheel than the motor wheel.


If the new controller from a different manufacturer, and the old ones all have the same speed out of the motor when unloaded, then while it's possible they all simply have speed limiters on them, it's more likely that at the battery voltage you've got, the motor itself simply can't spin any faster than that. Increasing the battery voltage would show this; you just have to be careful not to exceed the max voltage of the components (usually the big can capacitors and the FETs).


Remember that the higher the voltage, the faster the speed at WOT, but also the less "resolution" your throttle has: it goes to higher power at lower throttle amounts than before.

Also, the total power into the motor is higher at higher voltages (at WOT, anyway), by the ratio of the old voltage to the new one. If you had, say 360W with 36v, then you'd have 480W with 48v. If the phase currents to the motor are made high enough by this (different than battery current), the motor begins running out of it's efficient zone, and enough more of the power is wasted as heat to be a danger to the motor if you run it like that at WOT very long.

Probably the motor can easily handle the higher power, but it's something to keep in mind.