electric brake levers

[RVD]

How do electric brake levers work?

I have a lyen controller (12 fet) that has 2 wires for the brake lever. I used to have this installed so that when I pull on my rear brake lever with my right hand, this causes my motor to brake in addition to engaging my rear brakes. However, I recently changed out my rear brakes to hydraulic disc brakes so I put in a new rear brake lever.

I like the peace of mind of having a rear brake lever that will also help kill the engine. I also have an emergency kill switch. This stuff is important to me because I once had an incident when my throttle malfunctioned and went to WOT and wouldn't stop. Luckily I was not out on the street riding the bike at the time but instead I was at home and just getting on the bike when it happened. It was a scary few seconds as the bike went crazy and as the wheel started to move really fast, i somehow found my kill switch and pulled my emergency kill switch that killed the engine and stopped it. People here told me that if I was out on the street I would have probably instinctively engaged on my brakes that the electric brake would have stopped the motor as well. I have since replaced the throttle with a magura throttle.

I am thinking of just installing the same electric brake lever next to my new one. It will look a little funny with 2 brake levers on the right but I think I'll get used to having the option of using one or both.

Can the electrical signal get sent to the controller to kill the engine by pulling on the brake lever even if I don't have brake cable there?

RVD.

 

[amberwolf]

Can the electrical signal get sent to the controller to kill the engine by pulling on the brake lever even if I don't have brake cable there?

Yes, as long as you still have the electrical cable plugged into your controller.

I do exactly that on both SB Cruiser and CrazyBike2.

 

[bowlofsalad]

The only problem I see with this dual lever approach(Assuming I understand what you mean) is that there is a part that would normally be under tension within the ebrake lever that no longer would be. Without tension(tension provided by the brake cable, normally) a part inside the brake lever will sway around and sometimes pivot into the way preventing you from reclosing the ebrake without some manual fumbling. You'd probably be wise to glue this little part out of the way, or maybe even remove it, I don't know what it's name is, but it is the catch that holds the 'head' of the brake cable.

I did some searching and found a product that you might be interested in. http://stage.ebikessf.com/tektro_e-sub There is likely more stuff around like this.

https://www.google.com/search?sitesearch=www.endless-sphere.com&q=hydraulic%20%20ebrake&gws_rd=ssl I found it through using google search and searching 'hydraulic ebrake'.

If you decide you want to use anything other than hydraulic brakes (disc, rim, whatever) and they use a cable but you want to use your own lever, there is http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PM8ZU6Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00PM8ZU6Y&linkCode=as2&tag=xbnijgbr-20&linkId=VCW3YFPHMN3NBFVP this.

The rest here is just additional useful information that doesn't directly relate to this thread but may help you and others in finding what they are looking for and such.

In the upper right hand corner of this website there is a search box. Most subjects that you or I can imagine likely have been discussed a few times, doesn't hurt to bring an unusual subject up again after it's been dead a year or two (new faces, new opinions, new developments, different phrasing, attitudes and so on) but searching will always help, it's educational if nothing else. I suggest trying to use and not use the 'using google search' check box. Google's search engine is fantastic in many ways, but you get different results with each. You'd really benefit from learning the syntax of how to use google search, do a search for google syntax to learn, important stuff if you ask me. This sort of information will transcend beyond just this website, in fact I'd recommend learning this type of stuff to everyone uses the internet.

I am not trying to disused you or anyone from making new threads or forming new discussions, but a lot of newbies come to this forum hoping to be spoon fed a lot of newbie information when their questions have been asked 500 times before. Learning how to search for the information they needed would save themselves and others a bunch of time. I understand that finding the right phrasing can be difficult at times but that is part of the skill of learning how to use a search engine. It also seems that google's search engine is excellent at actually understanding the phrasing or words to give you the results you are probably looking for even though your phrasing isn't perfect.

When making threads it's really helpful to both you, this forum and the world in general to label the thread as accurately as possible. This brings the right people to your thread, keeps the wrong ones out, and helps others find your thread later in the future. I am not saying your thread label is terrible, but it's a little off. To illustrate, I imagine a more accurate thread title for this thread would be something more like "Hydraulic ebrakes?" you tried though and to that I say bravo.

Stay hydrated!

 

[RVD]

thanks for the info.

i actually did do a search first (not using google search) and saw a little bit of info but i didn't really see anyone else with this setup (using brake lever solely for the purpose of braking with the motor). i searched for the subject of my post though so maybe i didn't search for the right terms.

i took a look and know what you mean by the little round thing that holds the head of the brake cable. there is a spring so that will put tension on the brake lever but when closing the brake lever, that round thing that holds the brake cable head gets caught so the brake lever doesn't close. i will likely just take a pair of pliers or cable cutter type of thing and cut that thing off.

i'll actually try this out but my bike is still in the process of being re-built so it's not quite ready yet.

 

[amberwolf]

The ebrake levers I use as just ebrake switches dont' have that part--they hold the head directly with the plastic lever itself, IIRC.

 

[John in CR]

You can also wire the ebrake to a horn button or other momentary switch, something reachable with your thumb in an emergency situation like your shorted throttle or comfortable to use with the frequency of regen braking. My main ebike has 2 controllers, and the ebrake for one goes to the brake light switch of a moto brake handle, and the other goes to a doorbell switch. I use them alternately going down mountain descents where the regen force of one is sufficient, and alternating spreads the heat load between the controllers and 2 halves of the motor. During braking I use 1 or both for 2 level regen.

Having your ebrake wire wired to some type of conveniently reachable on the handlebars momentary switch, whether it's a normal ebrake handle or other switch, is a mandatory safety item for ebikes whether you have regen braking or not. No doubt there are plenty of foolish DIYers with hydraulic brakes who don't use regen and don't install ebrake cutoffs, who think their power cutoff switch is enough, but the mistake is thinking they can easily take a hand off the bars to reach it during a runaway condition. Imagine your previous WOT failure in city traffic, or on a crowded multi-use pathway.

 

[RVD]

i agree and that's why i'm making sure that i install this.

fwiw, the electric bike LBS that installed my rear hydraulic disc brakes removed my electric brake since it was hooked up to my old cable brakes so i am in the process of putting it back on.

i'm fine with having 2 brake levers on the right side both reachable pretty easily to the point where i can pull both at the same time. i'll try to test this tonight as i was able to recondition some of my batteries last night so they are good to go.

 

[Eclectic]

A couple of threads on adding a switch to existing brake levers:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18944&p=277863
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16722&p=249780
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11760&p=746365
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=66013&p=993610
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=68874&p=1039216

 

[RVD]

i ended up installing this brake lever right adjacent to the hydraulic brake lever. it's easy enough to pull on both levers at the same time if I want to stop the rear wheel.

There's a small piece where the head of the cable lies that gets caught and causes the lever to not disengage (so the motor stays off). I was going to break it off but instead just ended up using a bit of gorilla tape to tape it in place so that it doesn't flop out. It seems to work well.