Friend of mine picked this up, can it be given a throttle or can the PAS sensor be hacked to give autodrive?

[ziddan]

So a friend of mine picked up an Ebike a couple of days ago and has asked me if there is anything that can be done to let it go by motor alone.
I explained that it wont be very torquey as the motor is only 250w but he still wants to see what can be done and so do i.

Before i got a look at it i checked out some of what is around, it seems that in many cases a PAS setup is a magnetic sensor (reed switch?) that will detect if the crank is turning, and if so, drive the motor.

Hacks ive seen have been varied, like moving the PAS sensor from around the crank to one of the forks and putting magnets in the spokes to trigger it as the wheel turns, or mounting it in a different location and putting a magnet on a spring which will get to wiggling across the sensor with the motion of the bike, or even installing a blinker circuit with a controllable pulse rate instead of the PAS sensor, thereby making the motor power on without pedalling.

When i got to see it at work today i tried tapping the sensor with a magnet and that had no effect.

Does anyone here have any suggestions for what can be done to achieve pedalless power?

The bike in question:

PAS sensor ring pulled out about 1cm, squarey bit at the bottom with the cable going into it is likely the sensor:

PAS sensor cable connection as it did not power the motor at all when disconnected but the display still lit up:

Likely location of the controller, the batter goes in below the cargo rack, the box has prongs over which the batter slides to connect, the connector by the ziptie is the separated one in the previous pic:

Display:

 

[Chalo]

You can get what you want by substituting a cheap generic headless controller and the throttle of your choosing. But the components already on that bike are not designed to do what you want, and you are likely to waste more time than the problem is worth by trying to retrofit them.

If you're lucky, the controller is so generic that it supports a throttle, but to find out, you will have to look at it instead of looking at the box it's hidden in. It's doubtful that the manufacturer provided a capability they had no intention of using, so sell into a market that's not allowed to have that capability.

On the plus side, if you swap controllers, you can increase power to whatever the battery is rated to supply. The battery might say what that is somewhere on it, but again, you'll have to look at it.

If your friend wanted a scooter, why did he get an e-bike instead? Scooters exist, and they're not expensive or hard to find.

 

[docw009]

The bike works now, right? Don't fool around with the pedal assist. Instead, look the controller. I had a similar folder, and when I looked at the controller, there as a unused 3 pin plug. Plugged a throttle into it. It worked.

However, the bike's pedal assist was only one level, and it was only a 10A controller with no LCD. Didn't cost much to upgrade to a 20A controller with a display,

 

[ziddan]

If your friend wanted a scooter, why did he get an e-bike instead?

He got something quickly as he will be needing to use it tomorrow when he drops his car off to get worked on, that one was available for pickup at a store he passes every day on the way to work.

look the controller. I had a similar folder, and when I looked at the controller, there as a unused 3 pin plug. Plugged a throttle into it. It worked.

Will check how to open the controller box.

 

[gromike]

I put new controllers with twist throttles and 3 level PAS on 2 Huffy Oslo's, something like a 15a controller. As far as an ebike these bikes were garbage as sold. Also put an 11-32 rear cluster and new derailleur. They're really good efolders now.

 

[Chalo]

He got something quickly as he will be needing to use it tomorrow when he drops his car off to get worked on, that one was available for pickup at a store he passes every day on the way to work.

Seems like an easy coping strategy for him to turn his feet over for as long as the auto repair takes. You don't have to push the pedals, just turn them forward. I think if he can walk, and he can drive, he can turn the pedals over.

I put new controllers with twist throttles and 3 level PAS on 2 Huffy Oslo's, something like a 15a controller. As far as an ebike these bikes were garbage as sold. Also put an 11-32 rear cluster and new derailleur. They're really good efolders now.

View attachment 370288

The bike in the OP's post has a Shimano Nexus 3 internal gear hub, so however garbage the rest of it is, the pedal transmission is pretty nice. From the photo, the rest of it looks entry level but not wretched.

 

[amberwolf]

Does anyone here have any suggestions for what can be done to achieve pedalless power?

Use a 555 timer (a websearch will show you many websites with circuits to do this) or other device to create a pulse train that is the same as whatever the PAS sensor outputs as the magnet passes it. Connect the trigger to start the pulse traine to a "go button" on the handlebars. Connect hte output of the pulse train to the input on the controller the PAS sensor signal went to, instead of the PAS sensor.

Now you have a pedalless motor control, that just like the PAS uses the assist levels to vary it's behavior.

If you want an actual variable throttle you'll probably have to replace the controller and display (if you want one) with one that does that, preferably as a kit that includes all the stuff you want to change on there to be sure it works together.

 

[ziddan]

Had some spare time at work today and opened up the box housing the controller:

There is a spare connector but it has 4 wires, com port?

Wasnt able to read anything that was understandable to me where it plugs into the board:

Ring any bells for anyone?

 

[n00b]

I'd just change controller and throttle. Short the damn PAS.
Display, no display, whatever.
On/off & throttle. That's all you need.