Power Loss on New eMotorcycle

@larsb Thanks for the suggestion. It would be nice to have that beer, but time will tell once I get inside that pack. Btw, I didn't post a video but if someone else is having a similar issue, would you mind posting the YouTube link so I can review?

larsb said:
I think i saw your video the other day. If the range is so extremely low and you get cutouts at full throttle then unbalanced battery is a strong candidate. Open the battery, measure voltage of each cell. If there’s a cell that stands out then

1) cell is damaged and needs replacement. You could measure the sag on this cell after balancing the pack and emptying it through riding. If it is lower than the rest of the pack after balancing and riding then probably you’d need a new pack (since finding the same cell type for replacement might be impossible)

2) cell is just out of balance but not damaged. Yey! Charge the cell to match the rest or discharge the rest to match the cell. Charge as normal. Have a beer and enjoy your new extended range!
 
That's another guy who got screwed by the same company I bought my bike from. Unfortunately, I bought mine before I saw his video otherwise I would have gone another route. He had a slightly different problem, but neither of us are happy customers. Sadly he is still dealing with the manufacturer's bs. Lessons learned. I'll get my issue solved with the kind help of you folks and some grit. Fingers crossed.

larsb said:
This one:
[youtube]j8CrBjZhFwA[/youtube]

https://youtu.be/j8CrBjZhFwA
 
If motor and controller is crap then you paid 1500 for a rolling chassi with brakes and wheels and some kind of suspension. Not so bad :wink:

new motor and controller can be cheap but batteries.. a 72v 80Ah quality battery would cost more than 1500 alone.

Finding spare parts will be an issue i guess?
 
Phoenix13 said:
I don't mind buying a new pack if that's the ultimate fix.

I think this is probably all you need to do. In your case, as opposed to the YouTube guy, it looks like the motor and controller are at least capable of propelling the bike to 50 mph, until the battery dies. I don't think you even have to open the battery pack to determine that it's crap, if that's all you paid for the bike. Replace the pack with quality cells and go have fun riding. :thumb: If you fry the controller or melt the motor using a good pack, then would be time to look for replacements.
 
I was able to remove the battery pack from the bike. It was not that easy and one cheap screw was stripped and extremely stubborn to remove.

After two days of disassembling the bike and battery cage this is what I pulled out. I haven't removed the cell blocks yet, just the box.

The label states it's a Lithium battery, not sure what type or if that's true. By looking at the packaging, I am not sure if this is a quality build or a hack job. It appears that they used packaging tape with cut sheets of plastic to hold the cells. You can see the red protection board on the side. At this point I can't identify any markings or manufacturer info on the board.

You can, however, see some markings on one of the exposed cells which may help some of you experts identify the type. Ultimately I will remove the block from the case and peel back the packaging to get to the cells for a clearer picture and run voltage tests.

Based on how it is packaged, what is the best way to remove the pack without damaging anything or myself? I have never removed a lithium pack before so if you could provide some handling advice that would be helpful.

I'll wait for a few replies before I remove the pack.
 

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It's a diy hack-type pack. A professional pack would have a frame with screw fixations and some cooling plates and such. Impossible to say so much more with only these pics. I'd guess a stack of LIPO cells is hiding beneath the plastic sheets.

I can't see the cell tabs or balancing wires, if you can get the BMS out then you can just disconnect the balance wire plug(s) from the BMS and measure the voltages on there.

If needed to get the cells out: Wear gloves and long sleeves :D
Disconnect the plus and minus cables, cover any exposed ends in electric tape and lift it out. It should come apart easily by the looks of it. If the cells are glued together then they can be separated if needed to replace a cell. Careful work with a spatula or nylon wire and WD-40 has worked for some, never tried it myself.
 
Construction looks pretty typical of cheap chinese 18650-cell packs. (or pouch cell packs, but what little I can see of the cell markings suggest it is a curved surface, so probably cheap unmatched 18650 cells).

Good OEM packs would likely look a bit different; you can look up the Zero motorcycle pack disassembly threads / pages / videos, and see how they made their various model-year packs, some of which are cylindrical cells, and some of which are pouch cells. There's other brands out there, too.

If it's really 80ah, then it would probably be 30-40 cells in parallel in each group, and then 72v would be 20 of those groups in series. So there should be around 500-800 cells total, if it's made of 18650s; depends on which specific cell they used.

If its pouch cells, it's probably 4-8 cells in parallel in each group, and 20 of those groups in series. Also depends on which specific cell was used.


For disassembly...that depends on how far you want to go.

First, work only on a nonconductive surface. Wood, plastic, etc. Keep all metal tools, etc., away from the area you are working on the battery. No screws, etc., either. You only have to forget one piece of metal and set the unprotected ends of cells on it, or drop one metal tool onto it, to do some serious damage (to you, the tool / metal, and potentially the battery itself). ;)


To take the cell block/etc out of the box, it's probably as "simple" as turning the box upside down and slowly dumping the pack out by lifting the box. It may rquire reaching in with something and removing the black foam blocks from one or two sides first, but they are pronbably not glued in, so the pack is likely only held in there by friction.

To open the cell block itself, what I would do is use a plastic serrated knife to cut thru the packing tape for one side of the pack, preferably one that gives you access to cell ends, if you want to access the cells themselves, to see how they are interconnected, etc. Just use the knife on the outside of teh tape, and try not to insert it under teh casing plates, as there may be sense wires / etc in there. Alternately you can use a very sharp blade but being very careful to only touch it to the tape. Or you can just peel the tape off if you want to take all the plates off anyway.

But to do the testing suggested previously, you only need access to teh BMS, which is probably that block with the red heatsinks on it. You just need to be able to reach the plug that comes from it with a bunch of thin wires that go into the block of cells. With that plug, you cna check cell group voltages, probably with it still connected to the BMS, if the bakc of the connector isn't sealed.
 
Thank you for the details @larsb & @amberwolf. I will most likely take the pack apart tomorrow following your recommendations.

I am also looking for a recommendation on a controller that can support this 10kw Yuma motor with regen braking and the ability to capture performance analytics. I don't know much about the controller that came with this bike but if there is better controller for this type of application I'd be interested to know. Will the Phaserunner be a good choice?
https://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/phaserunner.html

Also, what do you think of this battery pack?
https://delongbattery.en.alibaba.com/product/60793212102-219268720/72v_100Ah_Lifepo4_electric_bicycle_battery.html?spm=a2700.icbuShop.41413.9.6d882a4bgFoFQi

Thank you gentleman!
 
Phoenix13 said:
Thank you for the details @larsb & @amberwolf. I will most likely take the pack apart tomorrow following your recommendations.

I am also looking for a recommendation on a controller that can support this 10kw Yuma motor with regen braking and the ability to capture performance analytics. I don't know much about the controller that came with this bike but if there is better controller for this type of application I'd be interested to know. Will the Phaserunner be a good choice?
https://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/phaserunner.html

Also, what do you think of this battery pack?
https://delongbattery.en.alibaba.com/product/60793212102-219268720/72v_100Ah_Lifepo4_electric_bicycle_battery.html?spm=a2700.icbuShop.41413.9.6d882a4bgFoFQi

Thank you gentleman!

don't buy the phaserunner, not enough amps. wait for the others to suggest what, but you might want to look up nucular controller on this site while waiting
 
The first thought into my head when I read the first post was "bad pack." Have you tried using Normal mode and not Sport? If that seems to solve the issue, then you have a weak pack. If it doesn't then the pack is defective.

I wasn't expecting to get Zero Motorcycle quality

And yet you did! I bought a 2015 SR Demo that was defective off the truck, and the dealer that sold me it as new knew so. Zero did nothing but refund some of the shipping charges. I sold that POS post haste. At least you only paid about 10% of what I did.
 
Phoenix13 said:
I am also looking for a recommendation on a controller that can support this 10kw Yuma motor with regen braking and the ability to capture performance analytics.
Depending on the data you're after, something as simple as the Cycle Analyst may work. YOu'd have to specify exactly which kinds of information you want.

If you're after detailed motor behavior info, you might need a fairly high end controller, which will probably require expensive hardware to connect it to a computer and program it just so it can even spin the motor, and then you have to tune the controller to operate the motor correctly...this may take an expert in that particular controller to do. (sevcon, for example)

Will the Phaserunner be a good choice?
https://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/phaserunner.html
Not unless you're going to go bicycle (instead of motorcycle) with the system. ;) It's a decimal place or two too low a power level for what you're after. Since all the stuff I've used is at these lower power levels, I don't know what controller you *should* use, but I'd guess that the one you already have will work fine once it has a power source that can supply what it asks, and has a heatsink (with airflow past it) to get rid of the waste heat, and a proper mounting to the frame. ;)



Also, what do you think of this battery pack?
https://delongbattery.en.alibaba.com/product/60793212102-219268720/72v_100Ah_Lifepo4_electric_bicycle_battery.html?spm=a2700.icbuShop.41413.9.6d882a4bgFoFQi
I think it looks a lot like the one you already have, and is probably built the same way, with the same kind of stuff, and the same kind of performance (regardless of what the specs say--you can't trust any specs any of those sites give; they don't usually even say what cells are used or how they are connected, or how many there are, and when they do say what cells they typically list whatever the "best" cell is presently available, while not likely actually having those cells inside. )
 
Some users have gotten cells from: http://queenbattery.com.cn/

They have been genuine and they build packs (still possible to get ripped off, i cannot vouch for them myself since i never used their services.)

If you decide to ask for a qoute then please show answer here.
 
Decided to let the Satiator charge the cells before I break them out to test.
 

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So yeah, as the others pointed out, the problem comes from your battery.

Your controller is an APT72400, which is a very nice unit, APT being one of the best chinese brands actually.
It is rated at 150A battery and 400A/phase, which isn't bad but it is a tiny bit underpowered for this machine, still decent but could be better. I think an APT72600 would have been perfect.

Anyway, your controller asks for 150A from your battery, so that's about 2C. That's not a lot for each cell, perfectly within what any cell even the crappiest ones should be capable of. So I'm not sure that the problem comes from the cells themselves, provided none of them are defective in the first place. This pack should be able to handle that kind of power without any problem.
So, first, you'll have to check the voltages of each cell group.
It seems like you have some kind of smart BMS installed, it looks like those ones: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32889990764.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=494-037-6276&isdl=y&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&aff_platform=google&aff_short_key=UneMJZVf&&albagn=888888&albcp=6459788344&albag=76234907246&trgt=743612850874&crea=fr32889990764&netw=u&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiAr8bwBRD4ARIsAHa4YyIuCxQCP_Hdsvfu1OPrPv2V9gz01ZB_VNcpYsVKuy3tcMpgo5ZYPskaAuSIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

It looks like they are not easily programmable, I can't seem to find any mention of bluetooth so I guess there isn't otherwise they would probably try to advertise it. Maybe try to check whenever you are around your battery if there is some kind of BMS device you can detect with your phone or computer.

If not, I suggest you to invest a few buck into this BMS instead: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32826820690.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.2.1b017da2oqr2IM&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.146401.0&scm_id=1007.13339.146401.0&scm-url=1007.13339.146401.0&pvid=edf7311f-8cf7-475f-9ef8-1f2cfb553c0d

This BMS has a bluetooth app and a screen, it is very useful because it will give you the following information in real time:
-Each cell voltage
-Total power draw during discharge and power input during charge
-Amps draw
-Battery pack voltage
-Battery temperature (if you install the sensor)
-BMS temperatures
-Many other things like odometer or speed meter, which could be useful to use it as a dashboard for your bike later on.

Those information should help you to fully diagnose your battery status, so instead of investing in different tools and try doing some other stuff, I'd recommend you to just install this BS instead since it will do all of those things. And if it turns out your battery is toast, then you can just reuse it on whatever new battery you'll install later

The BMS is fully programmable with your phone (Not sure if it works on Iphones, but Android for sure). You can set up any limits, alarms, threesholds or whatever you want. It features all the necessary safety protections and it can handle a lot of current for the biggest versions (they say 300A but we tried it at 600A on a friends motorbike and it works just fine).

Honestly, that's probably the best ratio price/features for a BMS available now, so just go for it.

So far, the possible causes of your battery problems could be:
-Defective cell group
-Problem in the BMS wiring (some loose connection)
-Problem on the BMS configuration (they improperly set a voltage limit per cell too high, so the BMS thinks the battery is depleted)
-Overheating of the BMS (unlikely but possible)
-Overcurrent protection (unlikely too)

This new BMS will help you diagnose any of these causes.
Hope it helps!
 
Dui said:
So yeah, as the others pointed out, the problem comes from your battery.

Your controller is an APT72400, which is a very nice unit, APT being one of the best chinese brands actually.
It is rated at 150A battery and 400A/phase, which isn't bad but it is a tiny bit underpowered for this machine, still decent but could be better. I think an APT72600 would have been perfect.

Anyway, your controller asks for 150A from your battery, so that's about 2C. That's not a lot for each cell, perfectly within what any cell even the crappiest ones should be capable of. So I'm not sure that the problem comes from the cells themselves, provided none of them are defective in the first place. This pack should be able to handle that kind of power without any problem. So, first, you'll have to check the voltages of each cell group.

I haven't been able to find software to check the configuration of the APT72400 controller. The manufacture of the bike stated the software is in Chinese and that they don't provide it to buyers. I did some searching on the Internet but haven't downloaded software just yet.

Dui said:
It seems like you have some kind of smart BMS installed, it looks like those ones: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32889990764.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=494-037-6276&isdl=y&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&aff_platform=google&aff_short_key=UneMJZVf&&albagn=888888&albcp=6459788344&albag=76234907246&trgt=743612850874&crea=fr32889990764&netw=u&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiAr8bwBRD4ARIsAHa4YyIuCxQCP_Hdsvfu1OPrPv2V9gz01ZB_VNcpYsVKuy3tcMpgo5ZYPskaAuSIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

It looks like they are not easily programmable, I can't seem to find any mention of bluetooth so I guess there isn't otherwise they would probably try to advertise it. Maybe try to check whenever you are around your battery if there is some kind of BMS device you can detect with your phone or computer.

Unfortunately, the protection board is not Bluetooth and my guess is it's not strong enough for the power the controller wants to send it. What do you think about this 400a BMS. The Ant BMS is what others have recommended as a replacement as well.
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32997552090.html?spm=a2g0s.imconversation.0.0.57f83e5fxivuCN

Dui said:
If not, I suggest you to invest a few buck into this BMS instead: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32826820690.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.2.1b017da2oqr2IM&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.146401.0&scm_id=1007.13339.146401.0&scm-url=1007.13339.146401.0&pvid=edf7311f-8cf7-475f-9ef8-1f2cfb553c0d

This BMS has a bluetooth app and a screen, it is very useful because it will give you the following information in real time:
-Each cell voltage
-Total power draw during discharge and power input during charge
-Amps draw
-Battery pack voltage
-Battery temperature (if you install the sensor)
-BMS temperatures
-Many other things like odometer or speed meter, which could be useful to use it as a dashboard for your bike later on.

Those information should help you to fully diagnose your battery status, so instead of investing in different tools and try doing some other stuff, I'd recommend you to just install this BS instead since it will do all of those things. And if it turns out your battery is toast, then you can just reuse it on whatever new battery you'll install later

The BMS is fully programmable with your phone (Not sure if it works on Iphones, but Android for sure). You can set up any limits, alarms, threesholds or whatever you want. It features all the necessary safety protections and it can handle a lot of current for the biggest versions (they say 300A but we tried it at 600A on a friends motorbike and it works just fine).

Honestly, that's probably the best ratio price/features for a BMS available now, so just go for it.

Do you think the 400a will be a better choice than the 300a?

Dui said:
So far, the possible causes of your battery problems could be:
-Defective cell group
-Problem in the BMS wiring (some loose connection)
-Problem on the BMS configuration (they improperly set a voltage limit per cell too high, so the BMS thinks the battery is depleted)
-Overheating of the BMS (unlikely but possible)
-Overcurrent protection (unlikely too)

This new BMS will help you diagnose any of these causes.
Hope it helps!

The new BMS should help and with this APP should provide the details you listed above.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vortecks.vbms&showAllReviews=true

If you have a recommendation for the controller software that would be helpful.

Thanks for your insight.

-Brian
 
Phoenix13 said:
Do you think the 400a will be a better choice than the 300a?

I don't think it will matter all that much in your case since your controller is rated at 150A battery. So unless you change for some beefier controller later 300A will be more than you'll ever need.
But if the price difference is not too high, then yeah, go for 400A, it's probably overkill but it can't hurt.


Phoenix13 said:
If you have a recommendation for the controller software that would be helpful.

I never actually owned an APT controller so I don't have the app to tweak the firmware. I do however have a friend who works for them so I'll try to ask him for you. APT is a very good brand but they are not very oriented to the DIYers, what they do is sell their controllers to vehicles manufacturers and prepare the settings for them, specifically tuning it up so it matches whatever their customers want. They don't deal with end users.
 
Updates:

The manufacturer indicated the BMS has 150a continuous. I charged the pack and balanced the cells. I installed a proper heatsink under the controller and secured it to the frame properly. I added two cooling fans that blow directly on the controller at both ends.

It has been cold and snowy in Michigan this past weekend so I haven't been able to test ride for results. As soon as the weather breaks I'll post results.
 

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Any luck on the APT software @Dui? It would be awesome to dive into the APT configurations.

Dui said:
I never actually owned an APT controller so I don't have the app to tweak the firmware. I do however have a friend who works for them so I'll try to ask him for you. APT is a very good brand but they are not very oriented to the DIYers, what they do is sell their controllers to vehicles manufacturers and prepare the settings for them, specifically tuning it up so it matches whatever their customers want. They don't deal with end users.
 
I used the Cycle Satiator to charge the cells. If the problem persists once I road test then I'll pull it out again and test each one.

larsb said:
Looks like good updates but how was the battery condition?
What was the voltage of each cell / how low was the worst?
 
Phoenix13 said:
Any luck on the APT software @Dui? It would be awesome to dive into the APT configurations.

Sorry I totally forgot. I asked him right now so I'll tell you once I get the reply.

Sorry to say that, but fans you installed won't serve much purpose. The orange part of the cover isn't the one you want to cool down, the Mosfets are attached on the aluminum plate on the bottom, it's this part you want to cool.
The fans will just waste power (not a lot, but still) and be noisy, doesn't worth it. If your controller gets hot, go for watercooling, you can find some watercooling plates specially designed for this controller, you'll just need a computer radiator and a computer pump, those things are cheap and will be really effective. :)
But I doubt you'll really need to cool it down, as long as the bottom plate gets decent air flow, so you probably don't need to bother will all that stuff just yet.

Did you crashed it already or was the throttle bent this way from the factory?
If it's the latter, then you can unscrew the light signal switch housing and the brake lever a little and push them towards the inside. Then you'll have more room to push the throttle inwards too, which should make the ends going straight. I think it's not fully pushed on the handlebar tube.

Oh, also I can see on the pictures that the hall sensors wires are really quite stretched. You really want to have another look at that and give those wires some slack, they are thin and easy to break, and your bike won't be working anymore if this happens (well until you fix it of course, it's not permanent damage but still annoying if this happens in the middle of the road). You probably don't want that ;)
 
Phoenix13 said:
I used the Cycle Satiator to charge the cells. If the problem persists once I road test then I'll pull it out again and test each one.

An example:
if 80 ah battery group has 0.3V unbalance and 100mA balancing current then it’d take something like 0.3/1.5*80/0.1 hours to balance it, thats 160 hours.

I’d guess it won’t be enough to only charge it for a long time, needs to be looooong or separate group manual balancing.
 
Dui said:
Sorry I totally forgot. I asked him right now so I'll tell you once I get the reply.
Okay. Thanks.

Dui said:
Sorry to say that, but fans you installed won't serve much purpose. The orange part of the cover isn't the one you want to cool down, the Mosfets are attached on the aluminum plate on the bottom, it's this part you want to cool.
The fans will just waste power (not a lot, but still) and be noisy, doesn't worth it. If your controller gets hot, go for watercooling, you can find some watercooling plates specially designed for this controller, you'll just need a computer radiator and a computer pump, those things are cheap and will be really effective. :)
But I doubt you'll really need to cool it down, as long as the bottom plate gets decent air flow, so you probably don't need to bother will all that stuff just yet.

The fans push a significant amount of cooling and they are dead silent. I'll monitor the setup and if they ultimately don't provide value I can try water cooling.

Dui said:
Did you crashed it already or was the throttle bent this way from the factory?
If it's the latter, then you can unscrew the light signal switch housing and the brake lever a little and push them towards the inside. Then you'll have more room to push the throttle inwards too, which should make the ends going straight. I think it's not fully pushed on the handlebar tube.

The bike was damaged during shipping on that side. There are some faring cracks as well.

Dui said:
Oh, also I can see on the pictures that the hall sensors wires are really quite stretched. You really want to have another look at that and give those wires some slack, they are thin and easy to break, and your bike won't be working anymore if this happens (well until you fix it of course, it's not permanent damage but still annoying if this happens in the middle of the road). You probably don't want that ;)

Good eye. I did take care of that after the photo was snapped. It's in good shape now.
 
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