Electric trike

[Jay64]

I picked up an electric trike that someone else had built and I'm trying to get it running again. The SLA batts were really dead. 2 of the batts were down to about 4v and the other 2 were down to 0.5v. I put them on a charger and got them up to 11v and then I threw them on the desulfuring charger and got them up to 13.5 on the charger. They dropped down to 12.83v and 12.72v after a few hours off the charger. I got the trike for my elderly aunt, who needs to start getting some exercise, but can't ride a bicycle for long enough to get exercise. I figure that the electric will keep her out on the path for a longer time and she can just get a lot of cardio/no work, by just keeping her feet spinning with the trike speed. This way she can get herself into shape and slowly do more of the work on her own as she builds up to it. From what I know of her, her reaction time and such is not that great, and she lives in a community that has a 10 mph speed limit. The road through the community goes around a large lake, by the pool and clubhouse. There are a few people that have electric golf carts and bicycles to get around, so there are already a few slow moving vehicles on this road. For these reasons, I want to keep the speed down as much as possible 10-15 mph max would be great. The trike was originally built with 36 volt setup.

I rewired the Odyssey batteries into 2s2p for 24 volts. But the problem is that I think the controller has a LVC higher than 25v. Since I got this unit used, I don't know the brand/model of either the motor or the controller.
View attachment 2
The motor is a front hub. Here is where I'm starting to need some ideas. Sure, I could hook it up w 36v and just hope that she can maintain enough throttle control, but I really don't want to take that chance. She doesn't have enough money to pay for an ebike, so I'm doing this out of my own pocket to get her on the road to health, so I don't really want to buy another controller if I don't have to, but that is a possibility if it comes to that.

I don't see any type of port on the controller to plug into in order to try and change the LVC, but maybe I'm missing something in that regard. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could either get this controller to run on 24v, or on how to minimize the speed while running on 36 volts? I have four of the batteries, so 2s2p would be perfect rather than just 3s1p. I'm sure she would be more able to use longer range rather than higher speed. Also, there is a walmart right around the corner from her community, less than a block, so it would be good that she can take this to go shopping with the big rear basket that it has.

 

[Jay64]

It appears that the motor was painted black by the previous owner.

 

[ddk]

My trike uses a 36V battery
top speed is 9MPH

a new/different/improved(TM) controller with current limiting costs about $20 from china- shipping likely would be more expensive than the part
:{

also, ebay.

your intentions are good.
You might look into adding a PAS sensor to use with your new/different/improved(TM) controller as your aunt wouldn't have to maintain a throttle position to get motor assist.

 

[ecowheelz]

What type of throttle does it have -- thumb throttle or twist? Maybe you could rig something up to limit the range of the throttle -- which will limit the speed...

 

[Jay64]

The original owner told me it went pretty damn fast on 36v. But I guess that is a relative term. I think I'm going to hook it up in 3s1p for right now and just make sure everything is good to go besides that. And I can check the speed at 36v at that time too. I also have to try to see if the local bike shop can re-tap the left side crank, the pedal is stripped out. I would prefer to ride the trike down there for this rather than load it up in my van and drive 4 blocks and back.
I did check out ebay and found some cheap 24v controllers. One was $20 w free shipping buy it now price. I might just end up doing that, as I can use this controller for something else down the road.
It has a twist throttle. But I was just talking to the previous owner about the possibility of putting a screw stopper on the throttle.

 

[ddk]

The original owner told me it went pretty damn fast on 36v. But I guess that is a relative term.

looks to be a DD hub where # 36-48 V it WOULD go pretty damn fast.
any standard delta trike should be speed limited BELOW 15mph.
They tip very easily above 8mph.

It has a twist throttle. But I was just talking to the previous owner about the possibility of putting a screw stopper on the throttle.

I still think you should fit a pas
I might be similar to your aunt's position. Using the pas forces me to have to turn my legs. The actual 'assist' from my efforts is at best, minimal

 

[Jay64]

I hooked it back up in 3s1p and took it for a ride down to the bike shop to get the left crank tapped so I could put a pedal back into it. The trike does run on 36v, so that is a good thing. Couple of observations about the ride. It seems very unstable of a ride, kinda had a sensation like it was going to tip over at any moment. But I'm sure most of that was in my head. Didn't seem that fast at all, so that is a good thing. This might be due to the fact that the batteries are sagging really bad while running them. I didn't have a battery monitor set up for this ride, I mainly wanted to make sure it all worked and wanted to get the pedal fixed. I have a cheap digital voltmeter that I plan on wiring into the batteries so we can have an idea of how much charge is left. Another thing that could have contributed to the fact that it didn't feel very fast is that the last ebike I rode had a 9c motor at 84 volts. :lol: The trike didn't take off like a bat out of hell (not even a bat out of heck ) so that is good, but I did notice that it got just fast enough to cause a problem at top speed with trying to turn too fast. Thanks for confirming that ddk. I didn't do that great of a job securing down the batteries for this first test, so they would jump very slightly on the bigger bumps in the road, so maybe that also had something to do with the feeling of unstability. I have a way that I am going to secure them down, but I need to figure out if I'm running the 36v or 24v first. Another thing that I noticed is that the front forks are suspension, which isn't the best place to put a hub motor, and there are no torque arms. So I guess those are even more reasons to try to limit it down to 24v. Turns out I don't think I have a 24v or 36v charger, so I will have to buy one of those either way. I will look into a pas, but again, I don't want to spend too much money, but I guess I will have to see what a cheap pas system costs.

 

[ddk]

from bms it's....




$1.50

 

[HighTekBikes]

That looks like an Aotema motor, if you show the plug I can know for sure. The controller looks like the Aotema and can not be programmed. You can do a hardware mod for the LVC which I have done once, I can look for my notes if you are interested. I wouldn't attempt it unless you are good at soldering.

 

[Jay64]

hmm, for some reason I didn't get notified that those last two posts.

In my rush to order a new controller, I failed to notice the fact that the new 24v controller was a brushed controller. Now, looking, I can't seem to even find a 24v brushless controller now. Unfortunately I'm not that great at soldering.

BMS? Is that a store?

 

[Jay64]

I'll try to get a pic of the plug tomorrow.

 

[ddk]

BMS? Is that a store?

http://www.bmsbattery.com/

shipping will kill you :lol:

Most all the e-bike suppliers sell controllers
Clean Republic only sells 24v controllers - http://www.electric-bike-kit.com/

looking closer at your trike it looks just like my E-Moto trike which indeed has the motor mentioned in this thread.