motor making jerking/rattling noise

[stevo]

Help please!

I have a Crystalyte 408 rear hub setup (36V Li-Ion battery). Recently I damaged the wires leading into the motor. So i opened it up and soldered the wires. I put everything back together and everything seemed to work for awhile. But then yesterday, the motor started making a jerking/rattling noise. I did some testing and narrowed it down to the following:

-assuming the controller is connected to the motor, the jerking/rattling noise only happens when I switch the controller to “ON”. If I switch it to “OFF”, the jerking/rattling noise disappears (also if one or both of the 2 cables that connect the controller to the motor is disconnected, the jerking/rattling noise disappears)
-the jerking/rattling noise only happens at wheel speeds above 10km/h.
-it happens regardless if the battery is or is not hooked up to the controller

Note: the motor still “works” but it is very uncomfortable to ride (and although I don’t have a Cycle Analyst, I am concerned that it may be drawing excessive current)

Based on some research (http://www.ebikes.ca/troubleshooting.shtml), I suspect that there may be a problem with the motor’s Hall Effect sensors. However, there did not appear to be any water/corrosion damage when I opened the motor up. Can anyone advise?

Thanks

 

[icecube57]

Sounds like you need to check and test your hall wires.

 

[stevo]

Hi icecube57,
Can you elaborate a bit on how to do this/equipment required? (I am a relative newby to electronics - the soldering job I did was my 1st). To be honest, I'm not clear on what a hall effect sensor looks like (and which wires from the controller are for the hall effect sensors).

Thanks

 

[icecube57]

http://www.ebikes.ca/troubleshooting.shtml

Go Here! Near the bottom of the page you will see directions on how to check your hall sensor. You will need a volt meter.

 

[stevo]

Thanks icecube57.

One further question: assuming it is a hall effect sensor problem, any thoughts on why the problem does not happen at wheel speeds below 10km/hr?

 

[dnmun]

you did not say what broke that you supposedly fixed by soldering it.

did you twist off the wires when you had the wheel come loose?

i suspect you have some shorted phase wires and or hall sensor wires inside the axle or else they are torn in two. maybe the controller is damaged too if the phase wires are shorting.

 

[stevo]

hmm,
I believe it was the yellow and green "phase wires" that were damaged (see attached picture). I soldered the wires and put black electrical tape over the soldered sections. In the picture, the yellow wire has a 2nd exposed section where I figured the wires were mostly intact so I ended up just covering it up with black electrical tape (not shown in picture).

Re your question "did you twist off the wires when you had the wheel come loose?", the yellow and green wires still had some wires intact (which I soldered) so I would say that they did not completely "twist off".

Anyway, if you can diagnose anything from the picture, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.