Help with Crown Motor lockup issues?

[plebe]

HI All,

I'm in a jam and would love anyone's suggestions on what to do next. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area CA and think you can help, I'm willing to pay to get my Crown motor rolling again should you think it requires some case opening adventures.

In short, I think the current issue is related to damaged hall sensors, but feel free to suggest next steps. Feedback welcome!

Summary:
New Lyen controller (18 mosfet MKII) with modified traces. Crown T100 (fast wind) motor. Running 48V GBS Lithum batt setup. I've ruled out the power source in this case. Also running Cycle Analyst 2.25, but I’ve tested everything without any connections.

1. Wired up new controller and was working fine, but only 50amps. (Target is 80A, given modified traces).
2. Downloaded Software to update controller settings. Defaults set at: Phase Current 80A / Rated Current 40A.
3. I increased rated and phase incrementally by changing settings and downloading to Lyen controller successfully, and using Cycle Analyst to show me “actual amps drawn.” Test riding between setting changes.
4. Increases were…
rated: 40A, phase: 100A. (CA read ~50A using these settings).
rated: 50A, phase: 125A.
rated: 65A, phase: 150A (CA read 77A using these settings).
5. Test riding here I noticed that, upon throttle down regen seemed to enable, whereas it did not before.
6. After a speed test of 2 blocks, I pulled the ebrake (connected), came to stop. Nothing out of ordinary.
7. Throttle up and motor locked up, oscillating back-and-forth. All subsequent throttle makes the motor lockup. No heat on controller or motor, no smell, before lockup otherwise nothing!

TESTING:
1. Disconnected controller and testing with Clyte HS3540, spins up fine both directions.
2. Connected GrinTech 40A controller to Crown Motor, nothing, no spin (and no lockup), just nothing. GrinTech controller to HS3540 spins fine.
3. Checked Crown motor phase continuity: same level across all poles.
4. Lyen controller with Crown locks up with current settings (see attachment).


Thoughts:
Everything was working great until I went up to 36mph, then pulled the regen lever coming to a stop. Amps show on CA for regen showed something like 20A (my charger is max 6A). Battery pack is 40Ah and at least 2C charge so should take 80A charge rate at least for a short period?

The only unexpected part was that regen was applied by throttle-down, which did not seem normal, and then also when pulling regen something bad happened. It seems like the issue was caused by pulling regen switch.

I’ve since disconnected regen and ebrake. But motor does not respond. Ack! Help? What could be wrong?

Thanks in advance!
Joel

 

[bowlofsalad]

No heat on controller or motor, no smell, before lockup otherwise nothing!

To my understanding, the most common killer of hall sensors is heat. Something to keep in mind. Maybe you have a temperature sensor installed in your motor?

http://www.ebikes.ca/documents/HallSensorTestingFinal.pdf

 

[plebe]

Thanks this is good info, and I have not seen the Grin PDF on hall sensors. That will help a lot!

I spent time last night after posting splitting the wiring harness down to the motor. Indeed, a fried black wire was evident (even severed). Clearly it was hot.

My question now is does anyone think it may have been from throttle, or from a snafu with the regen lever? I know amps on regen were high.

Current plan is to pull the motor apart, inspect, and see if I can swap for thicker gauge wires.

 

[fechter]

Which wire fried?

Regen can produce some destructively high phase currents. Possibly the wires got hot enough to melt the insulation, then shorted something.

The symptoms do sound like a bad hall signal. You can test with a voltmeter and turning the motor by hand.

 

[plebe]

It was the black ground wire. See attached pic. The other colored hall wires seem ok. The black wire clearly melted and even severed the wire.
I thought about heat causing a short and melting also. Hard to tell in these cases.

Thanks for the help! I'm going to pull apart, test, and see if I can beef the wiring.

 

[plebe]

Just an update on this problem. Thanks to Justin and Methods for keeping me on the right track. Turns out that the regen caused the axle to spin in the stator, thus pinching and shorting the wires. Ouch! Be warned! Crystalyte crown motors don't come shipped with an axle key! The slot is there but no key!

Some pics of the full repair, including replacing the hall sensors and hall wires. Oy!




View attachment 6