CA3 to Phaserunner max distance? - I'm needing approx 90" (2400mm)
- Thread starter Papa
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I've got at least 10 feet of random unshielded wiring between my CA and the two phaserunners' throttle inputs (and a separate shunt that feeds them both) on SB Cruiser; it's been running fine with that for months (a year now? I don't recall when exactly I set that all up).
Part of the cable is the original CA cable to a JST, so however long that is from the CA down the tiller to the bundle of stuff hidden on the tiller under the wrap to a JST-extension that might hve come from ebikes.ca, then an extension from there down the tiller and into the "triangle" box below that that's a few feet long, then another several feet long made from some multiwire cable (possibly an old DB9 serial cable but I don't remember) I had laying around (several years ago when I first rewired the trike) with JSt on both ends, which runs down the frame to the rear of the trike underneath, splices into the external CA shunt wiring, then some other random wire from another JSt plugged into that that splits the signals out to the two controller's throttle inputs (this cable is also that old), then spliced onto those are cables to plug into the two different version PR's connectors.
(it's another of the many things I'd love to redo but never have time for since I have to use the trike all the time, and it would take days or more for all these "little" things).
So, if you use a shielded cable, especially one that uses twisted pairs (or separately shielded pairs) where one of each pair (other than the shunt) is ground, it's pretty likely to work over at least the distance I'm using it at. Old RS232 cables are relatively easy to find cheaply, and should have enough wire pairs for this, at least for the 25-pin-cable variety (even the 9pin versions might, as some of the good ones have more than 9 wires+shield, using wire pairs in there already). Not too difficult to make up a cable from that and test--personally I'd keep the DB-connector ends already on it and either make an adapter from that to the CA/PR, if the ones you ahve use JST, but if they have the WP connectors on them I'd get mating ones to splice into the serial cable directly (replacing the DBs)
There's no serial communications between them so no worries about data corruption/etc., but even if there were, I'm pretty sure my Grin-made USB-serial cable for the devices to program them with the laptop is at least 6feet long, and it's possible that it could work even longer than that (as long as it's not routed near the motor / phase cabling).
Part of the cable is the original CA cable to a JST, so however long that is from the CA down the tiller to the bundle of stuff hidden on the tiller under the wrap to a JST-extension that might hve come from ebikes.ca, then an extension from there down the tiller and into the "triangle" box below that that's a few feet long, then another several feet long made from some multiwire cable (possibly an old DB9 serial cable but I don't remember) I had laying around (several years ago when I first rewired the trike) with JSt on both ends, which runs down the frame to the rear of the trike underneath, splices into the external CA shunt wiring, then some other random wire from another JSt plugged into that that splits the signals out to the two controller's throttle inputs (this cable is also that old), then spliced onto those are cables to plug into the two different version PR's connectors.
(it's another of the many things I'd love to redo but never have time for since I have to use the trike all the time, and it would take days or more for all these "little" things).
So, if you use a shielded cable, especially one that uses twisted pairs (or separately shielded pairs) where one of each pair (other than the shunt) is ground, it's pretty likely to work over at least the distance I'm using it at. Old RS232 cables are relatively easy to find cheaply, and should have enough wire pairs for this, at least for the 25-pin-cable variety (even the 9pin versions might, as some of the good ones have more than 9 wires+shield, using wire pairs in there already). Not too difficult to make up a cable from that and test--personally I'd keep the DB-connector ends already on it and either make an adapter from that to the CA/PR, if the ones you ahve use JST, but if they have the WP connectors on them I'd get mating ones to splice into the serial cable directly (replacing the DBs)
There's no serial communications between them so no worries about data corruption/etc., but even if there were, I'm pretty sure my Grin-made USB-serial cable for the devices to program them with the laptop is at least 6feet long, and it's possible that it could work even longer than that (as long as it's not routed near the motor / phase cabling).
That's a relief... thank you AW.
I have the current version of both, the CA3-WP and the V6 PR.
Looks like 8 pin HiGo. I also have a Domino throttle, but probably need to swap the connector. I only need throttle, regen, and temp sensor.
Somewhere I have several lengths of rj45 ethernet cable. 24g wires are individually shielded. I also have DB9 printer cable.
I have the current version of both, the CA3-WP and the V6 PR.
Looks like 8 pin HiGo. I also have a Domino throttle, but probably need to swap the connector. I only need throttle, regen, and temp sensor.
Somewhere I have several lengths of rj45 ethernet cable. 24g wires are individually shielded. I also have DB9 printer cable.
Ethernet cable is often solid single conductor wire, which is more fragile in vibration environments. If yours is multistrand conductor, it is usable.
Otherwise the printer/serial cable is probably better suited wire to the application, as those are almost always multistrand (might be smaller gauge wire; some of the stuff I've had is 28g or maybe even thinner).
You'll have to test it out in your specific system / environment, but it should work ok--there's no significant current in there to drop voltage on a long cable, and there's no fast-switching signals to be altered by capacitance/resistance/inductance.
The two worst problems you could encounter are induced noise into the wires from any high-current wires nearby (phases, maybe battery if it's noisy), and the extra resistance of the long wire plus connections interfering with shunt resistance, requiring additional calibration of current readings.
Throttle and speedo signals should be ok. If you have a thermal sensor signal it should also be ok. (mine is by chance on a completely separate two wire cable that is a single run from the CA's temp input to the connector of the PRv6's temp output of the sensor from the motor on the right side; it was added later as a separate experiment (as many things on SBC have been) or else it'd be part of the same cable).
Otherwise the printer/serial cable is probably better suited wire to the application, as those are almost always multistrand (might be smaller gauge wire; some of the stuff I've had is 28g or maybe even thinner).
You'll have to test it out in your specific system / environment, but it should work ok--there's no significant current in there to drop voltage on a long cable, and there's no fast-switching signals to be altered by capacitance/resistance/inductance.
The two worst problems you could encounter are induced noise into the wires from any high-current wires nearby (phases, maybe battery if it's noisy), and the extra resistance of the long wire plus connections interfering with shunt resistance, requiring additional calibration of current readings.
Throttle and speedo signals should be ok. If you have a thermal sensor signal it should also be ok. (mine is by chance on a completely separate two wire cable that is a single run from the CA's temp input to the connector of the PRv6's temp output of the sensor from the motor on the right side; it was added later as a separate experiment (as many things on SBC have been) or else it'd be part of the same cable).
