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Yes, I really did manage to squeeze 12AWG through the axle of a Golden Motor. As per request, here's how:
Since Golden Motors' wires exit the end of the axle (which is stupid), having your bike fall over is a surefire way to slice into the wires. It only just split the insulation on one of my wires in my case, but I was gonna rewire the thing at some point, anyway. This gave me the kick I needed, I guess.
I got some of this 12ga silver-clad teflon wire from eBay. Why teflon? Because the insulation is so thin compared to normal wires, there's more conductor for a total cross-sectional area of wire. The tradeoff being that it's not very flexible, also due in part to the fact that this wire didn't have a very high strand count. This proves useful when feeding it through the axle, though. Beware that you can split the coating on teflon, too. All the guy had in at the time was yellow and some other color I don't remember, so I went with the yellow. Not sure why. If you're not cheap like me, you could use three different color wires. The Golden's phases are yellow, blue, and green.
Also some of this wire from Fry's. 8 strands of 26AWG conductor. 25ft for $4. Not bad, I guess. Too bad they don't match the hall wires' coloring, but what are you gonna do?
After snipping off some of the jacket, the wires could be pulled on and used to split the insulation. About the only practical way to strip them out of their casing.
First off: Remove the sideplate. Luckily, the Golden's phase wires are on the side the wires exit, so you don't have to mess with the cassette. You will if you have to replace a hall, though. I hope I never do.
Easy part is removing all the screws. As you can see, I managed to lose one last time I opened this thing. Meh.
Hard part is actually getting the cover off. Pry with some screwdrivers until there's some room to work the cover back and forth. If you're lucky, there's also the possibility that it will just pop off loudly when you pry at it.
Inside the motor, the hall and phase wires are exposed. Beware that fibrous stuff. I discovered it's flammable.
Lop off the wires as close to the axle as you can get. The phases you can cut off the rest of the way, since they're a hindrance later, but keep the hall wires long. They're easier to deal with that way.
Yank hard on the wire leaving the axle. It should just rip out. There's some epoxy/silicone stuff where it enters the motor, so pull some of that off. Probably should replace it after you're done.
According to my wire stripper, the stock phase wires are 16ga. Bullcrap. I'm surprised they stood up to 40A as well as they did. But they won't even compare to the 12ga. FYI, the total cross-sectional surface area of the actual phase coils seem to be between 12 and 14ga.
I wrapped a scrap of the old phase wires around the coil wires to differentiate them.
The small hall sensor wires.
It looks like three 12ga would easily fit through the axle, but don't be fooled; they barely make it. The axle itself is about the right size and isn't a problem, but the bend at the end makes things infinitely more difficult.
After you've moved from the living room into the kitchen for some reason,
feed all the hall wires through the axle and solder them on. Heat shrink each one, of course.
After you get the first phase wire through and solder it on, the second one is kind of a pain to do from the top. Bend it and feed it through the bottom. This is easier, since it doesn't get caught on any notches in the axle.
The third phase is a pain in the ass, and there's no other way to describe it. I found only one way (and I mean ONLY one) to make it work. After you've put in the other two phases, they can't really move around much. With the addition of the third, they can't move at all. Since the real issue with the third phase is getting it around that bend, this comes in handy. If you put the third phase through the axle in the right place, it will sort of ride the other two through the bend. You'll need lube, too. I used dish soap because it was handy.
The worst part about the hollow axle thing is that it's not that good an idea to make a notch under the bearing and feed the wires through BD-36 style, which would make this so much easier it wouldn't be funny.
Congratulate yourself when everything's soldered up.
Then put the whole lot into some heat shrink.
Then it's back to the living room to replace the cover. Fit it onto the bearing, give it a few whacks, and then use the screws to pop it into place. Have ALL of them in before you start tightening down on them. Tighten them in opposite pairs.
Then it's as simple as adding connectors of your choice. Make sure you wrote down the proper combination of hall/phase wire connections, though.
I REALLY don't want to have to do this again anytime soon, so I'm putting pegs over the axles. Plus it gives me the option of riding motorcycle style. 8)
Since Golden Motors' wires exit the end of the axle (which is stupid), having your bike fall over is a surefire way to slice into the wires. It only just split the insulation on one of my wires in my case, but I was gonna rewire the thing at some point, anyway. This gave me the kick I needed, I guess.
I got some of this 12ga silver-clad teflon wire from eBay. Why teflon? Because the insulation is so thin compared to normal wires, there's more conductor for a total cross-sectional area of wire. The tradeoff being that it's not very flexible, also due in part to the fact that this wire didn't have a very high strand count. This proves useful when feeding it through the axle, though. Beware that you can split the coating on teflon, too. All the guy had in at the time was yellow and some other color I don't remember, so I went with the yellow. Not sure why. If you're not cheap like me, you could use three different color wires. The Golden's phases are yellow, blue, and green.
Also some of this wire from Fry's. 8 strands of 26AWG conductor. 25ft for $4. Not bad, I guess. Too bad they don't match the hall wires' coloring, but what are you gonna do?
After snipping off some of the jacket, the wires could be pulled on and used to split the insulation. About the only practical way to strip them out of their casing.
First off: Remove the sideplate. Luckily, the Golden's phase wires are on the side the wires exit, so you don't have to mess with the cassette. You will if you have to replace a hall, though. I hope I never do.
Easy part is removing all the screws. As you can see, I managed to lose one last time I opened this thing. Meh.
Hard part is actually getting the cover off. Pry with some screwdrivers until there's some room to work the cover back and forth. If you're lucky, there's also the possibility that it will just pop off loudly when you pry at it.
Inside the motor, the hall and phase wires are exposed. Beware that fibrous stuff. I discovered it's flammable.
Lop off the wires as close to the axle as you can get. The phases you can cut off the rest of the way, since they're a hindrance later, but keep the hall wires long. They're easier to deal with that way.
Yank hard on the wire leaving the axle. It should just rip out. There's some epoxy/silicone stuff where it enters the motor, so pull some of that off. Probably should replace it after you're done.
According to my wire stripper, the stock phase wires are 16ga. Bullcrap. I'm surprised they stood up to 40A as well as they did. But they won't even compare to the 12ga. FYI, the total cross-sectional surface area of the actual phase coils seem to be between 12 and 14ga.
I wrapped a scrap of the old phase wires around the coil wires to differentiate them.
The small hall sensor wires.
It looks like three 12ga would easily fit through the axle, but don't be fooled; they barely make it. The axle itself is about the right size and isn't a problem, but the bend at the end makes things infinitely more difficult.
After you've moved from the living room into the kitchen for some reason,
feed all the hall wires through the axle and solder them on. Heat shrink each one, of course.
After you get the first phase wire through and solder it on, the second one is kind of a pain to do from the top. Bend it and feed it through the bottom. This is easier, since it doesn't get caught on any notches in the axle.
The third phase is a pain in the ass, and there's no other way to describe it. I found only one way (and I mean ONLY one) to make it work. After you've put in the other two phases, they can't really move around much. With the addition of the third, they can't move at all. Since the real issue with the third phase is getting it around that bend, this comes in handy. If you put the third phase through the axle in the right place, it will sort of ride the other two through the bend. You'll need lube, too. I used dish soap because it was handy.
The worst part about the hollow axle thing is that it's not that good an idea to make a notch under the bearing and feed the wires through BD-36 style, which would make this so much easier it wouldn't be funny.
Congratulate yourself when everything's soldered up.
Then put the whole lot into some heat shrink.
Then it's back to the living room to replace the cover. Fit it onto the bearing, give it a few whacks, and then use the screws to pop it into place. Have ALL of them in before you start tightening down on them. Tighten them in opposite pairs.
Then it's as simple as adding connectors of your choice. Make sure you wrote down the proper combination of hall/phase wire connections, though.
I REALLY don't want to have to do this again anytime soon, so I'm putting pegs over the axles. Plus it gives me the option of riding motorcycle style. 8)
