Stumped about wiring new throttle to e-trike

[neithermovingnorstill]

Hi,
I'm a bit stumped. I'm trying to restore a used tadpole style e-trike (bought with no battery) and I need to install a different throttle (I wanted to put a thumb throttle on it to make it easier to activate on the upright handlebar, and accidentally broke the old one while removing it, so there's no going back). I'm having difficulty getting the new throttle to work, and wondering if I need a different one.

The new throttle doesn't have the same size plug, but it is 3 pin. So I cut them both and tried wiring the new throttle to the old throttle's plug, so it could plug into the trike, but when I tested it, it won't make the motor go. The old throttle did, so the motor/controller/battery are fine. (I charged the battery to full before testing).
I matched the colors based on the throttle manufacturers chart, and twisted them together and wrapped in electrical tape.
(It's a wilderness energy with red/yellow/green, their charts says yellow=black and green= white, and the old throttle cable was red/black/pale burgundy, so I matched red->red, yellow->black, and green->pal burgundy.

I'm wondering if the problem could be that the new throttle has much thinner wires than the old one, so I'm wiring thin wires to thick ones? Or if this isn't really a wilderness energy, (bought on ebay) so maybe the colors aren't matched up that way?
Or if it could be something else?
I'm scared to just connect them randomly in case I destroy the controller (which is internal to the motor casing, so I'd have to scrap the whole motor kit if the controller was destroyed).
I'm open to getting a new throttle (as long as it's tadpole trike/upright handlebar compatible), but I don't know of any that would connect better, with reliable red/black coordination.
Thanks for reading.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Pics would help of the old and new.
However, did you unhook the battery after installing the new throttle? It needs to power all the way down, and then come back on with the new throttle in place, or it will sense something's different and shut off.

 

[neithermovingnorstill]

Hi, thanks, I did both ways and it didn't work either way. I also tried unplugging everything and doing it over again.
The battery still makes a spark crackle as it's plugged in,(which it did before when it worked) so it's not the battery wiring, nothing has changed since it was working with the other throttle (hasn't been ridden or worked on).

I took a photo, thanks, on the left is the new throttle and plug, on the right is the old throttle plug. I threw out the old throttle, it was one of those electric vehicle thumb throttles, with a pivoting lever that sticks out of a black box. Chunky and awkward.

 

[John in CR]

Measure what is coming on the throttle wires from the controller, taking care not to short them, but have the wheel off the ground just in case. Hall throttles are more common, like the one you purchased. One wire is ground (continuity to battery negative), one is +5V, and the other is the signal wire with the throttle sending back 0-5V to the controller on that wire. The chunky box and lever of the old throttle sounds suspiciously like a 5k ohm pot throttle, which you should be able verify with a multimeter. I've never had a controller expecting a 5kohm throttle, so I don't know what the output would be from the controller wires.

In the meantime, order yourself an ebike tester. They're a cheap tool great for troubleshooting, an ebiker toolbox must have. I use mine for just these kinds of situations. eg Connect throttle to the tester, to verify which wire is which AND that the throttle does in fact work.

 

[d8veh]

You wired it correctly, and the thickness of the wires doesn't matter because they don't carry any significant current.

Connect everything up with the wires twisted together being careful not to let them touch. No damage will be done if they do touch, but your motor might suddenly start.

Measure between the black/yellow and the red/red. Should be 5v
Measure between the black/yellow and the green/burgundy. You should see the voltage change in the range 1v to 4v as you open the throttle.

If you don't get those results, separate the wires and measure between the red and black on the controller side. Should bee 5v. Short the burgundy to red should make your motor run at full speed. If it doesn't, the problem is not the throttle.

 

[neithermovingnorstill]

Thanks John in CR and D8veh, I appreciate your help. I was getting a bit frustrated and worried that I might fry the controller because I didn't know what I was doing.
I decided to go ahead and order one of the 5k ohm pot throttles you mentioned John, thanks, and this one luckily states clearly that it is for the older Curries (the kit on the trike is an earlier currie electro drive, which were brushless). Unluckily it was $65, a hair under $80 with tax and shipping, but at least it's better quality and well sealed, and it's still a thumb throttle, which I think will work best for the upright handlebar, and this one says it has a mild spring so it's easier on the thumb. The other one had a very stiff spring, and only cost $10, and didn't seem very durable, so this will be nicer. I hope it works

 

[John in CR]

I hope I didn't spur you into a costly knee-jerk reaction. I'm not familiar with controllers requiring a pot throttle, but before spending big money make sure that's what you need. You should be able to easily test the variable resistance of the old throttle to verify. Anything over $20 I consider big money for a throttle, so $80 is wow, but pot throttles do have special risks, so I can see higher cost. That's probably why hall throttles are the norm, 0-5V vs 0-5kohm of the pot throttle.

 

[neithermovingnorstill]

Thanks John, but I came to considering that throttle by a different route, so your insight was really just confirmatory and very much appreciated, and I am happy with the purchase, I agree it's expensive, but they are a currie authorized dealer, which I find reassuring. I decided to save myself a lot of headache this way. Otherwise I could do all that testing, and end up finding the cheap throttle wasn't compatible. And the spring on the cheap throttle was -ridiculously- stiff, which I've heard is hard on the thumb on long rides. I also noticed the plastic on it was very brittle with sharp edges, and tacky white paint, and when everything else on the trike is quality, it would sort of bring the whole thing down a notch to have a cheap flimsy throttle.
I saw someone on ES mention the kind of throttle I just ordered is noticeably better quality than others out there. I hope it turns out that way when I get it. If it isn't compatible, I can send it back, but it would burn to pay so much if it's just as flimsy feeling as the cheap kind. I'll "cross my fingers", but I think it will probably turn out well. Thanks again for your concern, but everything going well I'll be rolling as soon as it arrives, which would be great!

 

[Ykick]

Do you wanna sell your Wilderness energy thumb throttle?

 

[neithermovingnorstill]

Hi Ykick,
You can just have it, but there's a few things to know, so let me know if you still want it.
1. You may have read that the plug's been cut off, but I didn't think to leave enough wire on the plug end for it to be able to be wired back on, so unless you wanted to solder it back on, you'd need another plug.
2. There is a little plastic catch that snapped while I was trying to peek inside it. It still has the other three left, so I was planning to simply attach something wider than the handlebar, just above it and snugged against it, to keep it tight. It operates normally as long as the enclosure is pressed together, which isn't complicated to achieve once it's in place.
I still have the piece that broke off, so you could superglue it back on and maybe attach a thin bamboo shim as a splint. This does also mean it can be opened up easily and you could remove the spring and maybe replace it with a small coil spring like the kind in a pen, which would make it much easier on the thumb. Or if you don't want to remove the spring, just install it so that when it's at full throttle, your thumb is using it for support, rather than extending to push it, this was my plan, at least for the short term.
3. The white arrow markings on it which I guess are meant to simulate a speed indicator have been blacked out with a sharpie marker. I didn't see a use for them, and they looked cheesey to me, kind of ugly. It's not impossible to see where they were if you're looking up close in bright light, but people standing next to the trike probably wouldn't notice, unless they knew to look for them, and got up close to inspect it carefully. You could sand it with some fine sand paper and it would just be black plastic. You could also sand the sharp corners of the thumb tab.