Hub Motor vibrates but does not turn; works with different controller

Do you have the right combination of phase and sense wires or is it a sensorless controller?

Thanks for the suggestion

I’m not sure what type of controller it is. I bought the ebike as a complete unit & it worked for 4 years … now it is becoming more of a self-build as I try to fix it!

There are thin blue, yellow and green wires that go to the motor as well as the thicker power wires - so I’m guessing that means it has sensors?

Could this be caused by a lose / cracked sensor wire?

Here are some photos - not sure if they might help?

from everything you described, sounds like it's the controller is bad. a picture of the other side of the controller might help as the back side show's nothing.

Andrew.Robinson said:

• Tried running hub motor from a separate e-bike that had a smaller motor/controller and wheel spun fine with no noise

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this is basically says that the controller is shot in one way, shape or form. if you take a picture of the controller connections, might be able to source you a different controller. might have to change the display also as most controllers run on their own display.

FYI - looks like a lishui controller, i have an ebike that has a controller like that. the manufacture outright says that it's controllers are faulty if you push them too hard. have hard time finding same replacement controller, so going to have to do custom. KT if you want something cheap, phaserunner if you want something good. i'm currently in the process of changing my controller from oem(lishui) to KT because of this and cause i want something with cruse control.

Thanks for the reply,


[edited]
Is it possible that the different controller (the one on the other ebike that I tried) could run a motor with damaged sensors? - some controllers can run motors even if the sensors are damaged? Could I have damaged Hall Sensors even though the other controller could run the motor?

Yes, it is a Lishui controller. I will post a couple more photos.

Andrew

There are sensored controllers and unsensored controllers. Controllers over time can just not work over a long period time and that is so with cheap controllers. Mine acts up if I go from 52V to 36V and I have to connect the learn functions for it to get out of not working. But I ride until 36V is done then switch to 52V but soemtimes I forget to unhook 52V from controller when I get home and I charge up.

Look over the wires and see if there are any obvious marks on the pcb board and just buy another 48V 20A controller they are cheap.

Some more photos of controller - I did test the transistors for shorting & they were ok. No obvious damage.

I did find that the green power wire to the motor was missing insulation, so I thought that might have been the issue … taped with electrical tape, but that did not change anything!

And here is what the connectors coming out of the controller look like:

I have a similar problem with my bike. This is a custom build so it's difficult to match the plugs on other components. I'm an ebikekit.com dealer so I do have stuff in boxes I can try.

This is a 72V 14 amp batt, using a lyen edition EC12411012 Extreme moder controller. Everything is controlled through a CA V3. This bike has never been wet, stored outside wrecked dumped or abused. It has run perfectly for many years until this morning.

I pedaled it out the drive way, hit the throttle and it skidded to a stop. I leaned it over & spun the wheel & it spun free until I applied power & it stopped. At that point it kind of vibrated back & fort. I set my V3 to KW & hit the throttle 7 it immediately pulled 1100 Watts.

A few seconds of doing that warms up the wire going into the hub.
I'm sure its phase wire but where? controller or wheel. My guess is the wheel. I can use some help. My email is matypersonal @gmail.com. I think I may still have my old EZGO address which I fix.

almost all of the issues i seen with lishui controller tends to be the controller not working. hardly ever do i see anything where the hub motor is burnt, even when pushed hard. seems like the motor can stay cool but the controller overheats when pushed hard and gets slightly bricked. i would say, hack and sack a different controller in or plug the hub moter on a known working ebike and see if the motor spins good. if it does, then you know it's the controller and not the motor.

I did a Hack job with a KT controller by splicing wires and shrink wrapping them(no solder). works like a charm, cost only for controller and display, and been working a whole lot smoother than the lishui controller. controller for controller, i think the lishui controller are built to work, but not built to last if pushed too hard.

Thanks for the replies,

I did try running another eBike motor from my bike - it did not work either - same vibrations. This same other eBike runs my motor no problem. Again, indicating it is the controller or the wires.

However, my controller and wires can run my motor when it is out of the hub - although I was just holding the axles in my fingers and was not really able to put any load on the motor - but it ran fine!

Question - if I get a new controller - does it matter if I get square wave or Sine? Will they both work with the 8Fun hub motor?

Andrew.Robinson said:

Thanks for the replies,

I did try running another eBike motor from my bike - it did not work either - same vibrations. This same other eBike runs my motor no problem. Again, indicating it is the controller or the wires.

However, my controller and wires can run my motor when it is out of the hub - although I was just holding the axles in my fingers and was not really able to put any load on the motor - but it ran fine!

Question - if I get a new controller - does it matter if I get square wave or Sine? Will they both work with the 8Fun hub motor?

Click to expand...

yes either controller would work. it's a matter of preference and if you haven't tried both it goes something like this:

square wave controller = feels more strong the motor and when at top speed, it's like a slight jabbing sensation.

sine wave controller = feels more smooth and when at top seed, it's like a slight hesitation feeling.

power consumption wise at full throttle = square wave wins

power consumption wise at anything less than full throttle - sine wave wins.

many article's online about them, but from personal experience, the power consumption between the two is real minimal and it mostly barrels down to how you want the ebike to feel. sporty (square) vs luxury (sine)

Thanks for the advice on Sine vs square

I did do one more test - tried testing just the wire from my bike in another bike - worked fine. Tried installing my controller in another ebike using the wiring on that Ebike ... didn't work. So it has to be the controller and not the cable.

Problem is that 22A KT controllers are bigger than mine and will not fit in my eBike - unless I use a bag or something? This is turning into a re-build!

Andrew