Ignition wire?

[ian.mich]

How do i hook up the ignition wire on a cotroller? do i just solder the thin red ignition wire into the main positive wire and the put a switch along the thin ignition wire?

[Joe Perez]

By "ignition wire", I assume you mean the wire which, on most e-bike controllers, is typically used as the master power switch.

Quite simply, place a SPST switch (an ordinary on/off toggle switch) between this wire and the battery + cable. This line is usually "active high", meaning that the controller powers up when battery voltage is applied to it.

Which controller are you using?

[ian.mich]

greentime controller, so what i said was right? solder the ignition wire to the positive battery wire on the controller and install a switch along the ignition wire to turn it on and off?

[dogman]

90% sure yes.

[Joe Perez]

If by "install a switch along the ignition wire" you mean that the switch will be in series with the "ignition" wire, between it and the battery + cable, then yes.

[d8veh]

Use the switch for tempory stops - like when you're shopping or in the bar, but don't leave it like that for a long time because there's still a bit of drain from your battery. If you're going to leave it over-night or longer, it's best to disconnect thr main wires to the battery.

[Joe Perez]

Use the switch for tempory stops - like when you're shopping or in the bar, but don't leave it like that for a long time because there's still a bit of drain from your battery. If you're going to leave it over-night or longer, it's best to disconnect thr main wires to the battery.

This kind of piqued my curiosity when I read it, as I don't customarily disconnect my battery, well, ever.

I just went outside and measured the current drawn from the battery with the controller connected but switched off. It's hard to get a stable reading at such low rates, but I saw between 4 and 6 ma of current. We'll average it to 5ma.

(For reference, this is a 36v SLA pile going into an EB312 controller. No, this isn't my normal battery- I'm waiting on a new 52v LiFe pack from Cell_Man.)

At 5ma discharge, you'd lose 120 milliamp-hours per 24 hour period, or exactly 1% of a 12Ah battery.

A more typical overnight rest for my bike would be about 11 hours (the difference between when I disconnect the charger from the battery at 8pm and when I get on it at 7am to ride to work. In that time, I'd lose 55 mah, or two-thirds of one percent of my total charge.

I'm going to go ahead and continue leaving the battery hooked up at night.

[d8veh]

Different controllers have different consumption rates when on standby. Mine draws about 100mA. You should be OK then.

[ian.mich]

Thanks for the help errybody

[John in CR]

How do i hook up the ignition wire on a cotroller? do i just solder the thin red ignition wire into the main positive wire and the put a switch along the thin ignition wire?

Yes. I suggest using a keyswitch as your switch. I use cheap ones from a motorcycle parts store. Regular switches are way too easy to forget to turn off, and the throttle is what people seem to want to mess with. The smallest of kids will eyeball that switch as a way to turn the bike on, so making it need a key is much better.

John

[ian.mich]

Yes. I suggest using a keyswitch as your switch. I use cheap ones from a motorcycle parts store. Regular switches are way too easy to forget to turn off, and the throttle is what people seem to want to mess with. The smallest of kids will eyeball that switch as a way to turn the bike on, so making it need a key is much better.

John

Yeah for sure, aliexpress here I come. makes it easy especially since its not actually carrying any real current

[Kin]

Your controller might be drawing less, because you're only running 36v. I am under the impression this has to do with some resistor in the controller, so a higher voltage will see substantially higher "off" draw.

I wouldn't underestimate 5ma though. If your battery is 36v, and this is indeed a resistor that's bleeding the current, at 52v it would be.... oh, well, only 7.2mah. Not much more. Meh. I'm glad your controller doesn't draw that much.

[icecube57]

I thought if the switch is off on the ignition then current isnt flowing through the power resistors so there should be little to no current. If you did leave it on then i would be worried about a 3-5w drain on the pack.

[recumbent]

*** snip*** This kind of piqued my curiosity, as I don't customarily disconnect my battery, ever.
I just went outside and measured the current drawn from the battery with the controller connected but switched off. I saw between 4-6 ma of current.
At 5ma discharge, you'd lose 120 milliamp-hours per 24 hour period, or exactly 1% of a 12Ah battery.
I'm going to go ahead and continue leaving the battery hooked up at night.

I never thought that my controler would drain power from my batteries when turned off, because i never disconnect my batteries either. I'll be more carefull form now on, although nothing bad happened yet. Thanks for the tip.

[Joe Perez]

I never thought that my controler would drain power from my batteries when turned off, because i never disconnect my batteries either. I'll be more carefull form now on, although nothing bad happened yet. Thanks for the tip.

I should also note that I took that measurement with a clamp-on probe, which is not the most accurate instrument in the world. When I get back home next week, I should probably replace the fuse in my inline ammeter and re-test it that way.

[wojtek]

my controller came with 2 thin red wires- one of which is 0V, and another shows whatever V the main battery pack is connected [eg 50v for 12s lipo]

when i connect those 2 red thin wires together, CA lights up. But no response from motor on throttle movements...

[Joe Perez]

I should also note that I took that measurement with a clamp-on probe, which is not the most accurate instrument in the world. When I get back home next week, I should probably replace the fuse in my inline ammeter and re-test it that way.

Turns out that my clamp-on probe is pretty accurate after all. I just re-tested the current draw when off using my Fluke 77 inline with the battery, and saw 5.6ma exactly. I should also note that I've installed the Cell_Man LiFe battery, so the system was floating at about 54v this time.

This is with an EB312 controller.