WE BL-36 Dead on arrivals

mrgarci1

100 W
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
239
So I bought a BL-36 kit from a guy named Dale in Seal Beach, CA. Found him on eBay, he's been amazing as far as customer support goes. I mounted that first kit on a cheapo mountain bike, loved the motor, but didn't like the bike, so I sold the whole thing on Craigslist and bought a beach cruiser and a second kit from the same vendor. That one lasted about a week and then ground to a halt one day while riding. Under power it just locks into place instead of spinning along like normal. I tested the motor by connecting just one battery, and same thing - just locks up. Dale told me it was a defective motor and shipped me another one before I even sent him the defective one back, which I was pleasantly surprised about. However, that one was dead right out of the box. He sent another one, and THAT one was dead out of the box. I now have 3 dead BL-36 motors in my house and I'm starting to think that I'm doing something wrong. However, all I've done is take the motor out of the box, mount it in the fork (not even taking the time to put a tire on) and connect a single battery as a test. This results in nothing but a slight jerk (not me, the motor :) ) and an electrical hum - no rotation. Any ideas why this may be happening to me? Anyone have similar experiences with DOA BL-36s?
 
Well, brushless motors need a controller to work, so it's normal they do as you describe when plugged straight to a battery. Especially after 3 motors, I'd guess it's your controller/ebrakes/throttle or battery that got unhappy.
 
I know that a brushless motor requires a controller, I simply was testing the motors by connecting them directly to a battery per the troubleshooting instructions on the Wilderness Energy website and as recieved via email from Dale, my vendor.

I have tried all these motors with the controller that ships with the BL-36 kit. When I connect them to the controller, the red (power) light comes on and stays on, and the green (status) light blinks regularly, as it should (according to the documentation that is both online and which I rec'd with the kit). I basically get the same results whether I use the controller and throttle or just connect a battery directly. So either my vendor is giving me bad troubleshooting info (i.e. giving me info about a brushed motor), the motor(s) is (are) dead, or the controller is bad. However, I'd expect to see SOME kind of indication on the controller if that was the problem. The throttle lights and works just like expected. There are no e-brakes on my rig (yet).
 
You're getting troubleshooting info for the BD-36. Hooking up a battery straight to the phase wires doesn't really tell you anything, and can fry the windings if done for too long.

Sounds like a bad controller. BTW, is the the sensorless controller (three fat wires to the motor) or a sensored one (three fat wires and five skinny ones)?
 
I guess it's sensorless, as it only has 3 fat wires coming from the motor (or at least the connector has 3 contacts). I initially thought that the problem was the Hall sensors, but I guess that it must be the controller. It seems my vendor doesn't really know what he's talking about with troubleshooting, as he just now (after shipping me 3 motors) told me that the "1-battery" test won't work on a brushless motor. I hope I haven't fried any of these bad boys trying to "test" them. The thing is, the controller lights are showing just like they normally do - is this consistent with a bad controller?
 
Well I have to say, my vendor is pretty amazing. If anyone is considering a WE kit, Dalesbest04 *at* aol.com (also on ebay Dalesbest i think) will hook it up with the best customer service you could possibly imagine. You can consider me a reference, even with the problems I've had. He matched the lowest price I could find on ebay, then when I bought a second kit (the one i've been having trouble with) from him, he matched an even LOWER price that I found on ebay. Since then, he's sent me 2 replacement motors BEFORE I even sent the defective one back!! And just now, he told me he's shipping a new controller (I told him that was the problem, and he said he's shipping it in the morning). I would have been waiting weeks and paid lots of cash in shipping to figure this thing out, but he's been really great about not screwing me :lol:

So we'll wait a few days, and see if the new controller works. Hope so!
 
He seems to be trying pretty hard on customer service. He's pinging the customer sevice so he can justin the market. Smart man, he'll learn the tech pretty quick. Lausy service doesn't get you much here.
 
Hi, have you done all your tests with just one battery? Or have you tried again at 36v?

I tried hooking mine up with 2 batts just to see how it would run at 24v. It did not turn at all. I think (but am not sure) that the controller has a low voltage cutoff. That would make sense -- if it's designed for 36v, if it ever sees 24v in normal service, something would be very wrong.

But great story about your vendor. Sounds like he is trying very hard to to the right thing. I like that.
 
I had the same thing happen to my BL-36. I went for the maiden voyage, had a giant E grin going down this hill with all the extra momentum (i.e. LEAD), and turned around at the bottom to go back up and nothing. :evil: So I pedaled the behemoth back home, looked it over and found out I had a loose battery connection inside the trunk mount pack, if only I had thought of that at the bottom of the hill!! :oops: What you are describing happened to me after I dropped the pack too, the motor would react, but then didn't turn. I had another loose wire in the pack, I would also go through and crimp the connector at the battery tab. So I would check all your wires and connectors.
I agree with you about the customer service at Wilderness Energy, it is top notch.
 
I got so tired of fighting those loose connectors on the WE battery pack that I just soldered them on. I found that if you tin the battery terminals (coat them with solder) first you can just slide the connector onto the terminal while the solder is molten and it will stick. This way you can solder them on without having to remove the insulated cover from the spade connectors.It's not a proper solder joint but it doesn't have to be. You just need to keep the connectors from working their way off the battery terminals. I've not had any problems with these connectors since I soldered them on.
 
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