E-Fun or Xtreme XM-3100 Controller info

[Scootiggy]

Hi All,

I am the proud owner of an XM-3100 from 2011 which has been converted (by a previous, unknown owner) to Thunder Sky Winston LiFePO4 (19 cells, 40Ah).

The machine is great for my needs, but as I live in the mountains the brakes get very hot when going downhill. I would therefore like to add e-braking, if possible with regen.

Does anyone have any info on the controllers used in these? There are some extra wires in the loom under the front cowling, but I'd rather not blow anything up.

Thanks!

 

[ridethelightning]

Efun xtreme has different motor types depending on how old the model is. if its 6 phase(6 phase wires)
you can use 2 3 phase controllers with regen in this case. pics would help id the motor.

 

[Scootiggy]

Thanks very much @ridethelightning,

I've attached some pics of the motor and controller. Apart from the 2 battery cables and the field and Hall cable to the motor, I identified 3 connections to the controller:

1) 2-pole, purple/orange: +12V supply from DC-DC converter
2) 3-pole, red/black/white: +supply, GND and signal (throttle)
3) 4-pole, red/black/yellow/purple: ??? yellow and purple go to the dash, but don't appear to be connected there, black and red are not connected to anything.

 

[Scootiggy]

I managed to pry back the heatshrink sleeving where the wires go into the motor axle. Looks like it is a 6-phase motor. Wires are conveniently colour coded - 2 white, the other 10 or so black...

 

[ridethelightning]

congrats! you got yourself a serious 6phase motor reported to be one of the best quality ever made. that thing runs at high redundancy in the stock bikes, they are very efficient and capable of crazy amounts of power. one of the "hubmonster motors"

you can run 2 x 3 phase controllers with regen(variable is always best) like adaptto or nucular etc. you just need to isolate which set of halls corresponds to its set of phases, and run both controllers on a single throttle with doubled up wires.

essentially thats all the stock controller is, just not that flash.

you can also just use a single 3 phase controller, but obviously not optimal.

there is still info about that motor model on a thread called "hubmonster teardown" but sadly the pics are no longer visible, got deleted.

on a side note, for regen and higher power, you will need to upgrade the torque management system at the axle for regen to stop the axle and dropouts being damaged. see picks at the end of hubmonster teardown thread.

 

[Scootiggy]

Thank you, I looked at the hubmonster thread - that is very exciting!

One question - how do you control the variable regen? Is there a "double-action" twist grip that accelerates in one direction, and reverses the current flow in the other (I guess like the Vectrix VX-1, although I am only guessing from their description)?

Happy electrons for Down Under!

 

[Scootiggy]

So, I decided to break the seal and look inside the stock controller. Based on what I've read here and on visforvolts, I was expecting to see two identical controller boards in the housing. Instead, this is what I saw:





Lots and lots of MOSFETS (24, I think) in two rows, a decent-looking PCB, some kind of thermal detector on the heatsink, good assembly and the reference "YMD-DDMTC-65A", datecode April 2010. So it seems that it's a custom 6-phase 65A controller. If anyone knows what this is (and even whether it has regen capabilities), I'd be very grateful.

 

[ridethelightning]

variable regen is usually activated with a thumb throttle, at least that's what i use for my adaptto controllers. id say the others work the same, basically a variable signal wire, gnd ,+5v kinda deal.

 

[Scootiggy]

So I decided to take everything apart and have a good look. Attached are my findings in a pdf. I added 5 extra wires to the controller, which give me the option of:

1) Driving the motor in reverse using a pushbutton (the scooter is very heavy to manoeuvre, especially on slopes).

2) Switching between speed modes using input "SD" - not quite sure how to use this yet, but it will be useful to swith it to legal mode for the technical inspection...

3) Electronic braking with regen - it turns out that grounding the EBK input switches on electronic braking and regen, but at maximum. The first time I used it whilst going downhill, I almost flew off because the braking came on so abruptly. Surely there is a way to vary the braking force - but how? I can see from my ammeter that above a certan speed, current is flowing back into the cells. If the floating state were 0V, I could imagine applying a 0-5V signal to vary the braking force - but it is floating at nearly +5V, so a "normal" 0-5V throttle or other switch would give maximum braking when not twisted..? Confusing...

Thanks for your thoughts
Ilya

 

[Scootiggy]

And here are some more photos of the controller board, in case anyone needs them. They are two identical controllers after all, just mounted on the same PCB...

 

[Scootiggy]

I tried using a pot between the EBK line and ground, was able to vary the voltage on the input, but below a certain threshold voltage the regen brake just slams on fully - no way to vary the braking force.

<stumped>

 

[ridethelightning]

yeah variable regen is quite uncommon in older controllers i think. its one of the features i could not do without.