DIY Ebike questions - controller malfunctioning?

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Feb 6, 2023
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I have three ebike motors from BMC that I purchased used. They are 48v, 600 watt motors and came with two BMC motor controllers as well as several extra sets of planetary gears. The person I purchased them from said that he had been using it for an ebike taxi, but I have no verification that they still work which might be the problem here?
I've been trying to figure this stuff out but it's killing me. I have a custom built battery that I had constructed and shipped to me from a reliable dealer, but they are no longer available for communication. It's been several years since I got the motors/controllers, and about one year since I purchased the battery.

https://imgur.com/gallery/y7VnSwX

These are pictures of the equipment. There are three bullet plugs that plug the motor into the controller, a thumb throttle that uses a four pronged JST plug, and another JST plug (five prongs) that connects the motor into the controller as well. When all of these are plugged in, the motor controller starts flashing red:

https://imgur.com/gallery/uKzIF2x

The throttle also lights up when the battery is plugged in. But whenever I plug in the battery, it sends out a small spark which I'm concerned might be due to a malfunction. If this is the case it's not worth it and I'm throwing it all away ASAP. This is extremely taxing and it's quickly becoming not even worth it to try.

Can anybody help me? I have serial numbers I can give you if that helps. It's somewhat older equipment; I just don't know how any of it works. I was apparently lied to when I was told it was plug and play. So please help me. Thank you.
 
zenmaintenance said:
I have three ebike motors from BMC that I purchased used. They are 48v, 600 watt motors and came with two BMC motor controllers as well as several extra sets of planetary gears. The person I purchased them from said that he had been using it for an ebike taxi, but I have no verification that they still work which might be the problem here?
I've been trying to figure this stuff out but it's killing me. I have a custom built battery that I had constructed and shipped to me from a reliable dealer, but they are no longer available for communication. It's been several years since I got the motors/controllers, and about one year since I purchased the battery.

https://imgur.com/gallery/y7VnSwX

These are pictures of the equipment. There are three bullet plugs that plug the motor into the controller, a thumb throttle that uses a four pronged JST plug, and another JST plug (five prongs) that connects the motor into the controller as well. When all of these are plugged in, the motor controller starts flashing red:

https://imgur.com/gallery/uKzIF2x

The throttle also lights up when the battery is plugged in. But whenever I plug in the battery, it sends out a small spark which I'm concerned might be due to a malfunction. If this is the case it's not worth it and I'm throwing it all away ASAP. This is extremely taxing and it's quickly becoming not even worth it to try.

Can anybody help me? I have serial numbers I can give you if that helps. It's somewhat older equipment; I just don't know how any of it works. I was apparently lied to when I was told it was plug and play. So please help me. Thank you.

The spark when plugging in the battery is normal due to the inrush current that controller draws to charge the capacitors. There are various methods/parts that can be used to avoid that (e.g. anti-spark XT-90 connectors). But, the first thing to check is your battery pack voltage, to make sure it's high enough. The blinking light could be a low voltage error code. Assuming that the seller was using the controller and motors, the hall sensor wiring (5 pin plug to motor) and throttle wiring should be in the correct order, but if the voltage on the battery is correct, then those may be the next places to check.
 
How do you check those, with a voltmeter or something?

Unless the battery pack was made with some error - which it may have been - I definitely ordered the battery as a 48 volt, 600 watt when I purchased it. I did try charging the battery but only for like an hour which I thought would be enough to get it to run.

Please let me know, though, how to check those connections and if there is another check I can do to the battery. My father and I have the equipment most likely to do these checks.... If it is those connections, is it possible to splice a new connector on it or do I need to just get a new motor controller? And if it's the latter, do you know of anybody who sells a motor controller with a deans plug connector for the battery? (Or a decent way to circumvent the deans plug that I had built into the battery for use with these specific controllers?)

Thank you!
 
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