Rewire a 3 wire throttle? Pulled it loose from connector

[Stochastic_Sam]

My twist throttle is part of the eZee kit from Grin. While swapping controllers I mistakenly pulled apart the connector that connects the throttle wires to the controller (photo attached). I'm a novice but it appears that the three wires from the throttle are still either crimped or soldered into a connector, which I managed to break apart. Is there a simple way for me to fix this without buying a specialized crimp tool? I assume I would need to source a new connector (a 3 pin JST connector? Not sure.) from a hobby shop/electronics shop. I'm in San Francisco. Thanks for any advice.

 

[themadhatter106]

Wow, that's a shame that the wires broke off at the back of the scontact. You will need a new 3 hole JST-SM connector and contacts. If you don't have the crimp tool then you can always use needle nose pliers to try and crimp the wire in the connector as good as possible and then solder the wire to the contact. Guarantee you the wire will stay if you solder it.

 

[amberwolf]

It is possible, though difficult if you haven't done it before, to remove the pins from the existing shell in a way that leaves both intact, and then solder the wires to the pins where they used to be crimped, then reinsert the pins. I've done it on a few different JSTs for various things, but it's definitely way easier to just use a new shell and pins.

You can buy a pack of the JSTs from Grin, which includes male and female sides and pins, one of each of all the sizes used on hte controllers. You can then use pliers to crimp them if you don't have a crimper, but if you haven't crimped anything before, especially without the proper tool, you might also want to solder after crimping.

Either way you'll need to be sure your crimp and/or solder isn't any "bigger" than the original crimped pin diameter, or it won't go into the new shell properly. (excess solder can be scraped or sanded off, but a "fat crimp" is harder to fix).

 

[d8veh]

Connectors here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=171222034966

I crimp mine with thin pliers. It's very fiddly and takes a bit of practice. You can solder, but you still need to do a bit of crimping too because when uncrimped, the pins don't fit in the housing. Before you start, make a note of the position of the three wires.

 

[dogman dan]

Since it's not a terribly critical plug, that is, not carrying lots of amps, I'd be inclined to just cut off the controller connector and just splice the wires. Solder, or even small wire nuts will get you going for now. It's not like you have a need to unplug a throttle all the time.

Leave enough wire on the old controller side plug, to splice it back on later if you choose to actually replace the plug on the throttle. Or just cut insulation and splice on with the plug still in place.

Another approach, you could put some solder on the wire ends, then shave them down to the right size, and stuff them into the female side one by one.

Ideally, get a new plug, then with careful use of not much solder, you can solder on the wires rather than crimp. That's what I have done to install a mini jst plug. I much prefer working with the larger blade plugs common on other controllers. Those are easy for klutzy solderers like me.

 

[StudEbiker]

I agree with Dogman on this one. Anything that gets rid of a bulky connector near the controller is a good thing in my book.

I think I have cut that connector off completely on my last three builds and just twisted them and used some heat shrink on them. Never had a problem. These days I pretty much try and get rid of any bulk near the controller that I can. It would be SO nice if some controller maker would start staggering te lengths of the wires so ALL the connectors aren't right there in one place, but since they all come from China and the cheaper the better is the rule there, it will never happen.

 

[Stochastic_Sam]

Thanks for your thoughtful advice. I don't trust myself with a soldering iron at this point, so I've ordered a replacement throttle. I can learn something using the old one as a test dummy. Best regards.

 

[chvidgov.bc.ca]

I agree with Dogman. This might be ghetto, but I would just cut the connectors off, strip half an inch of insulation off each of the six wires, twist the exposed ends of the correct pairstogether, and heat each of the the three twisted pairs separately with a small torch, before melting a bit of solder onto each one. Then tape them all up with some electrical tape. It won't make any difference to your ride, and they won't come apart again.

 

[dogman dan]

You found a good solution though, throttles are pretty cheap. If not too late, order the bag of mini jst plugs along with it.