I need help installing a new controller

stereo_ghost · Jun 14, 2022

Hello, I'm really hoping someone here can help me.

I have a Polarna M6 folding ebike that I bought online about 2 or so months ago. I started getting a "error code 21 over current protection" message on my display and the motor shutting off any time i accelerated by peddle or throttle. I contacted the company and they sent me a new controller. I tried connecting the new controller by going one cable at a time from the old controller to the new one, but I ran in to a few issues and now I'm not sure what to do. I contacted the company again, but it's a Chinese company and there's a little bit of a language barrier, plus they just haven't even responded at all to my last email. So I'm really hoping someone here can help me because there are no ebike shops in my town and the bike doesn't fit in my car anyway.

Ok so, here's what I'm dealing with you guys....

1. Where does this cable plug into? What is this cable for?

2. The cable from the bike has 6 wires, but the white wire has its own separate plug. So the cable from the bike has a 5 hole plug, but the plug from the controller has 6 pins. Can I still connect these two plugs together? I mean it does fit together with one pin being unused, but is it ok to do this? What do I do with the white wire plug? What is the white wire for? Is it not needed?

3. These wires would not release from the connectors. I think there were some kind of connectors on the end of these wires, but I had to pull the wires so hard with pliers to release them that I believe it stripped the connectors off and left them inside the little barrel looking connectors which can be seen hanging loose and unconnected at the bottom. What do I do now? Do I just cut the ends off all the wires and then twist them together and wrap them in electrical tape? Will that be good enough? Or should I replace the connectors? And if so, can someone tell me what they're called or send me a link of where to buy more?

4. These two plugs have nowhere to be plugged in to. Where do they go? What do they do? Are they important?

Am I just a dumbass you guys? I have zero experience with this stuff. Is this ready to go after i twist the green/blue/yellow wires together? I'm afraid of turning it on and ruining something because I've connected things wrong. Any help you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated, I'm so eager to get my bike back on the road!

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Can no one help me with this??? Can someone at least answer question #3 for me??? Please guys, I'm desperate, I have no idea what to do with this thing. I can provide more pics if needed. Can someone please just attempt to help me???

eee291 · Jun 15, 2022

I did read this post when it was first made but the picture was just ridiculous. It would be nice if you showed us where those wires came from, like throttle, brake, key switch etc.

...as for those 3 thick wires: those are motor phase wires, quite a bit of current passes through those so I wouldn't recommend just tying those together.
You could either solder or crimp them together, ask a local electrician or even car mechanic to crimp some bullet connectors on those wires.

Hope this helped.

E-HP · Jun 15, 2022

your first pic doesn't display

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

eee291 said:
I did read this post when it was first made but the picture was just ridiculous. It would be nice if you showed us where those wires came from, like throttle, brake, key switch etc.

...as for those 3 thick wires: those are motor phase wires, quite a bit of current passes through those so I wouldn't recommend just tying those together.
You could either solder or crimp them together, ask a local electrician or even car mechanic to crimp some bullet connectors on those wires.

Hope this helped.

Thank you so much! That is definitely helpful! I will gladly provide more pics for further assistance, I'm just not really sure what you're asking for. The wires are coming from inside the bike. That's why I had put the towel there, to better see the wires. One of these pics will show the wires coming from inside the bike. The other pic will show that the cables referred to in question 2 are bundled together with the phase wires. I'm hoping this might help you identify it's purpose.

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

E-HP said:
your first pic doesn't display

There was actually only one pic, idk what happened there, but i went ahead and edited that out. Thanks!

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

They're called bullet connectors. You could just cut them off, and use butt crimps, and auto parts store would probably have something that would work.
Your setup looks pretty low power, so there's not going to be a ton of amps flowing, so you could get away with pretty basic connections.
Stay away from electrical tape though...it always seems to get melty and slide off the wires eventually until they short out. Heat shrink tubing is the way to go, also gettable at an auto parts place.
You just have to remember to put it on first, before you make the connections. If you have to go tape, use colored tape, it gets less weird over time than black for some reason.

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

The flat plug with the 5 small wires is for the Hall sensors, and the extra white one is a speed sensor.

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Voltron said:
Your setup looks pretty low power, so there's not going to be a ton of amps flowing, so you could get away with pretty basic connections.

The bike is "750W Motor 48V 15Ah Battery". Is that low power? I think I may be able to find someone to help me put new connections on it.

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Voltron said:
The flat plug with the 5 small wires is for the Hall sensors, and the extra white one is a speed sensor.

What do these sensors do? Do i need to find a way to attach the speed sensor? What happens if it stays disconnected?

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

Medium to low depending on who you talk too
Higher in peaks, but probably not seeing more than 30ish amps sustained.
High power would be more like 1500-3000 watt, with 50-100ish amps flowing thru the phase wires.

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

It looks like your old set up had the speed sensor on a separate plug, and your new controller has it integrated into a 6 wire plug with the Hall sensors.
So you're going to need to find a way to connect the 5+1 to the 6.
Some bikes with run without the speed sensor, some won't.
Some will run, but the bike thinks it's turned on but sitting still, and will shut itself off after 5 or 10 minutes while you're riding.
The Halls sensors feel the magnets in the motor going by to time the bursts of power thru the phase wires.
Some controllers can run sensorless, but most need the Halls hooked up to work.

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Voltron said:
So you're going to need to find a way to connect the 5+1 to the 6.

Any suggestions on how to do that?

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

You can push the tab on the connector plug to get the white wire to slide out of the plug, then you sometimes get lucky and the 5 pin will still slide in, sometimes after trimming plastic off the 6 pin one.
Sometimes you can cut the old 5+1off your dead controller, cut off the 6 pin, and splice the 5+1 to the new controller.
But it's not abnormal to have to just cut all the wires, then splice them all back together with no plug.

Manufacturers like plugs as it makes it easier assembling things.
But there's nothing wrong with hardwiring everything together. It just makes it a little tougher if you have to replace a controller again. But like you've found out, they usually change the plugs anyways by the time you need one.

Btw, they sometimes switch up the color codes too, so the new controller won't work hooked up, so you have to experiment with cross connecting the different colors.

Welcome to the exciting world of ebike hackery

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

I added two more pictures of plugs that are being unused. Are you able to identify what they may be? Is there anything else I can do or a view I can provide to better help identify them?

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

Hard to tell which ones you mean.
You can add the picture down here too so it's easier to tell which one you mean instead of up with the others.

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Voltron said:
Hard to tell which ones you mean.
You can add the picture down here too so it's easier to tell which one you mean instead of up with the others.

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

Can't be sure, but the grey/white/black group could maybe be for lights, with the plug being for a handlebar switch?

The others could be lots of accessories maybe, like a horn? Maybe a high/low power switch?

It's not uncommon to have extras... They sometimes change the bike, and now it doesn't come with a horn or lights, but the harness still has plugs.

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

I see. Well thank you for all your responses!

Voltron · Jun 15, 2022

Don't let the smoke out lol

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Voltron said:
Don't let the smoke out lol

stereo_ghost · Jun 15, 2022

Thank you again, so much! With your help I was able to take the bike to a mechanic friend and tell him exactly what needed to be done. He used the 5+1 connectors from the old controller and spliced them over to the new one and replaced the bullet connectors and we had it up and running again in no time!

I need help installing a new controller

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