Brainpower controller displays break trip when throttle is connected

Joined
Jul 4, 2022
Messages
2
I’m pretty sure something is wrong with my throttle and I should just get a new one but I wanted to ask in case I missing something obvious .

I hooked up the battery motor and controller and successfully ran the self learn and got the motor spinning in the right direction. However after I hooked up the throttle my display shows that the brake is activated and the motor will not spin. This happens even when the white data wire is not plugged in, so just the positive and negative wires connected to the throttle will activate the brake trip. When I switch the polarity going to the throttle the motor spins slowly but the throttle has no affect on the speed. I have included a link to the throttle and controller I am using in case that helps.

Any thoughts?

thumb throttle:
BAFANG Thumb Throttle for Motor Kit : Compatible with BAFANG Mid Drive Electric Bike Conversion Kit BBS01 BBS02 BBSHD & Hub Motor, Waterproof 3PIN Female Thumb Throttle Accelerator for eBike https://a.co/d/d5lBa2c

controller/display:
Motor Brushless Controller + LCD Display, Rainproof 24V-48V Electric Bicycle Scooter Brushless Controller Kit https://a.co/d/0FE51Af
 
If it shows the brake is engaged, then that usually means it is detecting the brake lever input is active. Active on some systems means the brake signal is shorted together, but on others it means the brake signal is open. Depends on how the brake levers are designed for that specific system. If the levers didn't come with the controller, they could be the wrong kind.

If there are no levers hooked up to the controller, but only the throttle is connected to it when this problem happens, it may mean the connector being used to plug the throttle into is either not for the throttle, and is actually for the brake levers, or it may mean the connector is miswired (usually inside the controller).

Note also that it is possible to damage the hall sensor in a throttle by miswiring it, if voltage is reversed across it's power leads, etc.

Some controllers don't have a throttle input, only a PAS input, and can't be controlled via throttle, but yours does show one in the diagram from the link (I've attached the image to this post for reference). However, the diagram has at least one obvious mistake, where they have labelled the main positive battery wire as "Hall sensor", so they could certainly have mislabelled the "speed throttle" and "electric brake" connectors.

I recommend, if you have not already done so, connecting the throttle to the white connector instead of the black one, after measuring both black and white connectors with a multimeter to verify which wire is which. Without anything connected to the white or black connectors listed above, connect the controller to the battery, and turn it on via the display. Connect the meter's black lead to the black negative battery connection. Set the meter to 20VDC, and use the red lead to measure the voltage at each of the three wires (white, red, black) in each of those two connectors. You should read 5v on the red wires, and 0v on the blacks (assuming they are power and ground). For a throttle input you should read 0v on the white wire as well, if it is the signal input. For a brake input, it depends on how the controller is designed to work. Most controllers place a 5v pullup on the signal wire, which to activate it is then grounded to the black wire. Most only have two wires on the brake connector (or four, where each pair is wired in parallel, but still only two functional wires), just signal and ground, and a simple Normally-Closed switch is used in the brake levers (pull the lever, the switch closes, activating the brake). The ones with three that include 5v, signal, and ground, can be used with hall-sensor brake levers, which still activate the switch when the lever is pulled, just that they can be more waterproof than mechanical-switch levers, assuming the manufacturer bothered to do so (they often don't).

Either way, shorting the signal wire to the ground wire on the brake connector should activate the brake signal. Disconnecting the signal wire should disengage the brake signal.

Some controllers do this the opposite way, where connecting the signal wire *dis*engages thee brake signal. If yours is like this, and nothing is connected to the brake connector, try connecting it's signal wire to it's ground wire and see what happens.

A very few controllers can do variable (proportional) regen, and take a variable voltage (like the throttle signal) on their input instead of an on/off signal; these use three wires (5v, signal, ground) like throttles do. I don't know if yours does this or not, but if you have anything connected to the variable input wire it might engage this and cause brake signal to show active.

I suggest this because the diagram *also* shows a two-wire "low potential brake" connector pair (black and white wires), which is what you usually see on controllers. So it's possible the "electric brake" white connector is really a variable input to be used instead of or in addition to the on/off brake lever signal.

It is also possible that the white connector is a PAS input, and not a brake input at all.

There's also another connector that I cannot see the wiring to that is labelled "1:1 accelerator", and if htis is three wires, it may be a throttle (or PAS) input, or it could be a 3-speed switch that changes how the controller responds to throttle or PAS input when there is no display attached.


Note also that if the self-learn wires are still connected, the throttle doesn't typically operate normally; it might engage the mtoor but doesn't usually control the speed.


schlagermeister said:
I’m pretty sure something is wrong with my throttle and I should just get a new one but I wanted to ask in case I missing something obvious .

I hooked up the battery motor and controller and successfully ran the self learn and got the motor spinning in the right direction. However after I hooked up the throttle my display shows that the brake is activated and the motor will not spin. This happens even when the white data wire is not plugged in, so just the positive and negative wires connected to the throttle will activate the brake trip. When I switch the polarity going to the throttle the motor spins slowly but the throttle has no affect on the speed. I have included a link to the throttle and controller I am using in case that helps.

Any thoughts?

thumb throttle:
BAFANG Thumb Throttle for Motor Kit : Compatible with BAFANG Mid Drive Electric Bike Conversion Kit BBS01 BBS02 BBSHD & Hub Motor, Waterproof 3PIN Female Thumb Throttle Accelerator for eBike https://a.co/d/d5lBa2c

controller/display:
Motor Brushless Controller + LCD Display, Rainproof 24V-48V Electric Bicycle Scooter Brushless Controller Kit https://a.co/d/0FE51Af
 

Attachments

  • 51UHxds4oZL._AC_[1].jpg
    51UHxds4oZL._AC_[1].jpg
    32.3 KB · Views: 242
Back
Top