350w geared e-bikekit motor - not working...

[RVD]

Hi Everyone,

This has to be my most frustrating build ever. It's still kind of fun in a somewhat sick way though. i have been at it all weekend so i am about at wit's end.

Anyway, I am working on a build using a 350 watt geared rear hub motor from e-bikekit.

I am using the lyen 9 fet sensored controller.

i have tested the controller and i am pretty sure that the controller is fine. i tested it with another bike that has the e-bikekit direct drive rear hub motor.

the problem is that when i connect everything....nothing happens.

1) when i apply throttle, sometimes it gives a slight grunt like it wants to do something but then just stops. this happens for about 1 second. after that...nothing.

2) i thought it might be the hall wires so i tried hooking everything up to my 12 fet lyen sensorless controller. when i apply throttle, i hear what sounds like a soft whirring noise but the wheel doesn't actually turn.

3) i have a lyen throttle/hall/phase tester. i believe that it indicates that the phase wires are good. hall connector shows something odd in the controller (G/B both on when you turn on the tester, B stays on the whole time when turning the wheel while Y/G blink as expected. hall angle light blinks on/off too).

4) i was having some throttle issues so i thought maybe this controller was frying throttles but it's not. i tested it on another bike and have since ruled that out.

any other tips or advice to get this bike up and running?

this is my 4th build and it's been a bit of a pain.

 

[Russell]

2) i thought it might be the hall wires so i tried hooking everything up to my 12 fet lyen sensorless controller. when i apply throttle, i hear what sounds like a soft whirring noise but the wheel doesn't actually turn.

.

It's nice that you have the sensorless controller to try. The whirring sound is probably the motor turning backwards so try a different combination of the phase wires to get the motor to turn forward to engage the clutch.

-R

 

[miro13car]

kit comes without diagram?????

 

[neptronix]

if you have a used one.. i'd imagine that you got dead gears / clutch if it's whirring but not turning.

 

[RVD]

from my message with lyen, i'm leaning towards a bad sensor.

he said that the sensorless controller isn't meant to be used with a geared motor (unless it's specifically a geared sensorless motor). so that whirring sound is normal.

the tester is showing a bad B hall sensor so that's probably it.

i'll talk to jason over at e-bikekit for some advice.

 

[dogman dan]

Assuming you have the color combos right, I'd say bad sensor.

 

[Russell]

he said that the sensorless controller isn't meant to be used with a geared motor (unless it's specifically a geared sensorless motor). so that whirring sound is normal.

No a "whirring" sound is not normal, it means the phase wires are not in the right sequence and the motor is turning backwards. The wheel does not move because the clutch does not engage when the motor is running backwards. While some sensorless contollers work better than others with geared motors pretty much any of them should work when the motor is unload with the wheel off the ground especially if you go very easy on the throttle. When sensorless controllers are phased correctly they will move the wheel in the correct direction however they can give a "hammering" sound and be quite jerky if they aren't specifically designed for geared motors.

Anyway I agree the motor probably has a hall sensor problem (been there) so I suppose it's a moot point :|

-R

 

[RVD]

Ok thanks guys.

I will say that Jason over at e-bikekit has some awesome service. I emailed him to let him know. I also have been screwing around a bit with this build by doing stuff that I shouldn't have done like turn the wheel backwards while installing it. I told him that chances are high that I probably screwed this up so I was willing to pay to send the wheel back for repair. He was always very prompt in his responses to my questions, etc. as I screwed up this build.

He refused to make me pay and shipped out a whole new wheel instead. I will be sending him back my faulty wheel (whether something with the phase wires or hall wires).

I will update when I get the new wheel. My understanding is that with this wheel, once you start moving with it, everything sort of settles in so moving the wheel backwards probably screwed up the wiring inside.

Lyen's tester has also been a nice tool. My frustration with the tool was that the supplied battery was essentially crap. It didn't have enough juice to do anything so I thought the tester might have been faulty. After 2 days, I simply replaced the 9v battery and everything seems to work now.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Good to hear. Jason's a good guy, I've bought 3 motors him so far.

Another possable mode of failure. did you by chance add a disk brake to the motor? On my motor, I added an Avid disk and used the Avid screws. Unfortunatly, those were too long and go too deep inside the motor. they jamed up my clutch, although the wheel could still turn. I lucked out, changing the screws out for the ones provided with the motor and there was no perminate damage.

 

[RVD]

he said that the sensorless controller isn't meant to be used with a geared motor (unless it's specifically a geared sensorless motor). so that whirring sound is normal.

No a "whirring" sound is not normal, it means the phase wires are not in the right sequence and the motor is turning backwards. The wheel does not move because the clutch does not engage when the motor is running backwards. While some sensorless contollers work better than others with geared motors pretty much any of them should work when the motor is unload with the wheel off the ground especially if you go very easy on the throttle. When sensorless controllers are phased correctly they will move the wheel in the correct direction however they can give a "hammering" sound and be quite jerky if they aren't specifically designed for geared motors.

Anyway I agree the motor probably has a hall sensor problem (been there) so I suppose it's a moot point :|

-R

btw you were right on this. i just ran another test today with the sensorless controller and after a little bit of playing around with the phase wires, i was able to get the motor to work. so before, the phase wires were not in the right sequence.

however, i am pretty sure that it is a hall sensor problem since i then tried my sensored controller again and it still didn't work.

i will await my new motor from jason and take it from there. thanks for the help.