CYC PHOTON

[nervagon]

OK, this is not good. I went for a ride today in 75F degree weather, and by the end of my ride the Photon was throttling heavily, sometimes as far down as zero watts. Battery was 56V, so not battery related. The motor began throttling itself at just 50C motor core temperature. Motor temperatures only reached the 70s.

Thought this thing was designed to hit 100C without issue? This thing was just crapping out on a mild day.

I'm going to go take it out again for a ride and figure out what's happening. I might need limit the motor to 750W. I think over the course of the ride, the motor became heat-soaked and couldn't shed the heat and cool down. The motor casing at the end of ride was only 44C degrees. Really can't make sense of it because the temps didn't look bad to me.

 

[nervagon]

So the Photon is working totally fine now. Weird. Hopefully just a weird fluke.

 

[Mongo]

Sorry for the troubles, @nervagon - I've not seen that behavior from my motors, which I've run up to an indicated 200+F.

I'm speculating that perhaps the motor core temp sensor is failing, or perhaps the related spring loaded contact pins are not making good connections.

By chance, did you notice what the controller temps were?

 

[nervagon]

Sorry for the troubles, @nervagon - I've not seen that behavior from my motors, which I've run up to an indicated 200+F.

I'm speculating that perhaps the motor core temp sensor is failing, or perhaps the related spring loaded contact pins are not making good connections.

By chance, did you notice what the controller temps were?

Controller temps were considerably below the motor temps.

It ran fine on my second ride, so I'm just going to do a factory reset and hope for the best. I might join a long group ride on Tues. I'll report back if the issue returns. Another weird thing is the motor sounded better on the second ride too. Hopefully just software gremlins that a reset can fix.

 

[hindesite]

Controller temps were considerably below the motor temps.

It ran fine on my second ride, so I'm just going to do a factory reset and hope for the best. I might join a long group ride on Tues. I'll report back if the issue returns. Another weird thing is the motor sounded better on the second ride too. Hopefully just software gremlins that a reset can fix.

There was a recent firmware update, do you have it?

 

[nervagon]

There was a recent firmware update, do you have it?

Yep, I've installed, thanks.

 

[nervagon]

I took the photon on a long trail ride with lots of long, steep climbs and it did fine. So everything seems OK.

 

[tomholz]

My experience regarding thermal throttling:
When operating only pedal-assist, it is hard to each throttling at all. Even at the highest support setting I am using for eMTB off-road riding I always stay below 70C, maybe 80C in a very steep climb.
Only when involving throttle, I observe the thermal limiting.
I think it starts at 80-85C (underneath I observe the full 2000W are available), and above max power is reduced more and more, until I see at 99C only 500-600W being available.

 

[SammySamm]

Halloechen Tom.
Can you oparate the Photon throttle smooth in a wide range, or is it like BBS02 jerky and almost an on–off switch?

 

[tomholz]

I would say the Photon throttle can be modulated quite well. When I was injured at one feet, I could drive on my EMTB next to my wife walking, and keep the slow speed with the throttle.

 

[Mongo]

The CYC Ride Control application (Android and iOS) allow calming down the throttle ramp-up and max power - to a degree. It's not a flexible as Luna's V2 app IMHO, but it does help:

There are also some tweaks that can be made to the BBS02, via the stock and open source firmware & configuration tool, though I got the impression that satisfaction is mixed.

 

[hindesite]

Halloechen Tom.
Can you oparate the Photon throttle smooth in a wide range, or is it like BBS02 jerky and almost an on–off switch?

I find mine to be smooth but over a very small initial range, after that it doesn't vary so much and is pretty much full on. It works fine, though - on mine I usually roll my thumb against it, rather than pulling on the blade directly.

I don't ride much with throttle partially used, tend to use it for a real boost for short steep sections and the like.

 

[SammySamm]

tend to use it for a real boost for short steep sections and the like.

The jerky BBS02 twistgrip on my vintage Mountain Cycle San Andreas SR doesent work sensitively. It´s fine for a thrilling motocross-style climbing.



But in order to climb a steep rocky trail in slow trial-mode, a well metered „throttle-push“ is needed.
I hope my Photon will do well in the new build.