Help i've blown my currie motor

[okmate]

just uploaded this via you tube have a look guys see what you think ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Dyoc5o ... e=youtu.be

i've managed to take it out for a spin and was pleasantly pleased but the weather here is awefull
i took it up a hill for about 300mtres then jumped off to test the phase wires they were luke warm and the controller was luke warm considering i'm 16 stone plus the bike must be around 100kg i thought that was pretty good but will test a little more over the next few days
does anyone no what the phase wires can handle in amps ?

[rkosiorek]

AWH!!

when are you going to put the video back up?

rick

[okmate]

have a look now mate

[knoxie]

Thats great crikey you did this all by yourself or did you ask Fechter? how did you get on with the phase hall combinations? have you go them correct? you can check this, measure the no loads amps with the wheel spinning freely, you should only be pulling about 2-3 amps, what voltage are you running? at 48V you can expect about 27mph on the flat, looking forward to seeing some videos, I love my currie motor and havent ruled out building another wheel thats strong enough to take the power it develops

[okmate]

Thats great crikey you did this all by yourself or did you ask Fechter? how did you get on with the phase hall combinations? have you go them correct? you can check this, measure the no loads amps with the wheel spinning freely, you should only be pulling about 2-3 amps, what voltage are you running? at 48V you can expect about 27mph on the flat, looking forward to seeing some videos, I love my currie motor and havent ruled out building another wheel thats strong enough to take the power it develops

Hi knoxie for sure mate i wouldnt of been able to do it if it wernt for this superb site so this is me taking my hat off to endless-sphere

i do believe the phase wires are correct i seen a picture on this forum which helped me out maybe i was lucky to wire it first time not sure how it would act if it wasnt wired correctly ?
unfortunatly i have no amps reading on my meter but i do have a british gas power meter that sits on my windowsill the main unit tells you how many watts yours running and converts it to £
the other half is in fact a wireless clamp meter which sits over the phase wire on the incoming meter so will have a fiddle with that
my only concern is the heat build up in my phase wires ' the phase wires coming out of the controller are surely large enough to with stand the parematers that are set within the controller so my theory if my phase wires coming out of my motor are the same gauge everything should be ok
let me no what you think ?

[okmate]

some pics but not very good

[knoxie]

Yes it may well be wired correctly but then you may have a false timing, there are many different combinations of hall and phases some wont work, some will work but spin really fast and draw lots of amps, and others will spin the wrong way, etc etc, your gas power meter wont work as its optimised for AC amps, lift the wheel, run it full speed and check the volts to see how much it drops when the wheel is running unloaded this will give you some idea as you are using lead acid batteries and they will sag if the laod is high, else get a meter with a DC amps setting, they are cheap enough.

If you run an advanced timing it may warm the motor and phase leads up too so you need to make sure that you have got it right, what size phase wires have you wired to the motor and what voltage are you running it on? can you post pictures of the wires from the motor to the controller, are they 2.5, 4, 6 mm ? it will be written on the side of the cable if you are using UK sourced cable and not AWG.

[okmate]

The wire i have used is off a 13a extension lead wish i would of made it bigger but the phase wires coming out off the controller arent very beefy

[knoxie]

which means they are most likely only 1.5 to 2.5mm and are borderline unless they are very short, you really need to use 6mm cable at least to avoid volt drop and heating as your controller will push more than 40A or so to that motor.

[knoxie]

I have just also noticed have you got 3 x SLA batteries and your controller hanging off a seatpost rack? if so please get that changed for a proper rack, you will snap the rack or the seatpost or both, trust me I have broken 2 of them, you must use a proper bike rack if you are holding 3 big SLAS like that.

[okmate]

whats wrong with this site i just wrote a whole paragraph but everytime i click submit it wants me to login then i lose what i wrote
its really bugging me ?

[okmate]

its the mudguard connected to the seatpost
the rack is original currie one which accomadates the battery underneath the panneir so underneath the panier is 2x 12v on top is 2x 12v
its very sturdy
i made a plastic base and mounted the batterys on and strapped it all together with foam in between to stop vibration the white switch is also for the led lights on the front of the bike 12v
think i will change the phase wires to be safe

[amberwolf]

whats wrong with this site i just wrote a whole paragraph but everytime i click submit it wants me to login then i lose what i wrote
its really bugging me ?

Most likely you have a problem with the browser not keeping cookies, I would guess. Sometimes antivirus or antispyware causes this, sometimes browser addons or toolbars, or just main browser security settings.

[okmate]

Well guys i had a good run the other day' i went round my block afew times and up a hill half way then checked wires' then alittle futher then checked the wires' they went a bit warm on some occasions so i was a little concerned. The batterys didnt last as long as i thought they would' i guess that will be a job to change in the near future budget is always a problem so if you have any ideas on a good 48v kit please let me no.

Any way i was in my shed and noticed some jump leads that i never use' nice and thick probably around 16mm well overrated and thought they would be good to rewire my motor with. I took the motor apart again and resolded the phase wires i did have to file a slightly bigger hole to accomadate the wires' all went very well just charging the beast up ready for work

[okmate]

Oh dear whats happened

Went to work this morning the bike was great but it did seem under powered from the other day when i was testing it.
As soon as i entered the bike shelter i released the throttle' (at that time i was only going slow) when i got off i felt the controller and the wiring also the motor all was fine not even Luke warm.
I then turned off the battery and went about my 10hr shift when i finished work i turned the battery on then flicked the throttle nothing happened i checked all connections and all seemed fine
so i had to ride it home with pedal power when i got home i tried too back it into the shed but the back wheel wouldn't move i have just taken the motor off the bike and its jammed solid i haven't time to strip down till tommorow
any ideas guys

[knoxie]

maybe cracked rotor magnet jamming between the rotor and the stator, done this on one myself, it was the high temp and rpms that did it

[okmate]

problem solved took apart and found the hot glue that i put over the conections had melted over the magnet so thats a lesson to me eventually i will have to remove all glue and replace with epoxy if it happens again
no back to batterys ?

[knoxie]

good, glad you sorted it..lipo packs is your best bet for your batteries, contact jozzer at jozztek in brighton he sells new and repairable lipo packs if u are on a budget.

[okmate]

Guys think i need to close this thread and start another
My motor has blown? think one of the phase's inside the stator has melted down and to be honest i only took it to work' everything was cool but reckon the stator could not standup to the controllers setting.
I've checked by batterys and there still fully charged so reckon i should buy a new motor first then new batterys after what you think?
what motor should i buy dont forget cheap is very good for me lol

[okmate]

Quick resurrect the post its alive ?
Thought i would inspect the motor? it did look burnt on one of the internal phase winding's but i soaked the hole stater in petrol to get rid of the glue that kept melting and setting on the magnet.
At close up i could see that one of the phase wires had detached itself from the solder I've soldered it back and epoxy resined over the wires.
When it set i plugged it in and voila it works.
I then started to attach the motor to the bike again and for some reason the motor will only turn when i spin the wheel.
From standstill it wont budge but when i spin it it moves any ideas guys it was working OK before all the problems
is there a way to check the hall sensors ?

[knoxie]

yes this sounds like hall sensors for sure, yes you can check the hall sensors, test between the black wire which is the ground wire, so put your black test lead on there, set your meter to DC volts, spin the motor and test between the yellow, green and blue wires you should see pulses up to 5V from each one, if you dont then one of the hall sensors might have failed, it can also be the connection to the hall sensors so check them as well.

[okmate]

yes this sounds like hall sensors for sure, yes you can check the hall sensors, test between the black wire which is the ground wire, so put your black test lead on there, set your meter to DC volts, spin the motor and test between the yellow, green and blue wires you should see pulses up to 5V from each one, if you dont then one of the hall sensors might have failed, it can also be the connection to the hall sensors so check them as well.

thanks knoxie just checked that mate and the yellow green and blue show 2.5v when spinning not five ?

so if we say the hall sensor has gone is it time to chuck it ?

[knoxie]

no that doesnt look like halls then, check the connections from the hall sensors to the controller, red and black should be 5V and the others should pulse when you power the wheel.

[okmate]

no that doesnt look like halls then, check the connections from the hall sensors to the controller, red and black should be 5V and the others should pulse when you power the wheel.

ok so put my tester on red and black thats no probs when you say the others should pulse how do i test this ?

[okmate]

does anyone no where i can source some hall sensors from
prefer ebay if possible