Need help with Q100 install...

[majornelson]

I've built four bikes up from kits from EM3EV and GreenBikeKits. All have been assembled and worked without any problems. I'm not a complete novice but I'm stumped with my latest project.

I added a Q100 bike kit to a women's (my wife's) Electra Townie this past weekend. This kit:
http://www.greenbikekit.com/electric-bike-kit-1/front/36v-250w-gbk-100f-electric-bike-kit.html

I chose the Q100 front drive, Con61 controller (no LED display, thumb throttle) on an assembled 26" wheel.

Front driving hub and I've done it in the past. I installed it, ran the wires and hooked it up to an existing 36v bottle battery from an AmpedBike kit that failed (still not certain why). Battery shows full charge (has a meter built into it).

After installing everything, I get nothing. Nada. No wheel spin or stutter, nothing.

I have extra controllers (Con62- not the 61), throttles, even another bike built out with the Q100.

Here's the testing that I did:

1) Hooked up the wheel to the existing bikes controller/battery and it worked fine.
2) Tried the Con62 controller (had to build an adapter cable for the battery) and nothing.
3) Tried a different (but same style) thumb throttle. Nothing.
4) Swapped in my battery from the other bike. Nothing.
5) Built a new wiring harness that connected to the Q100 hub and tried various combinations of accessories (I did this to check if I nicked the existing cable while installing it on the frame) but still had the same result using different controllers and thumb throttles.
6) I have an ebike tester and used it to check various parts. Only curious thing is that the controller check seemed to fail but I don't trust my expertise in setting up and interpreting the results. I think I have the tester from Em3EV.

A couple of curious observations.

1) When the battery is connected to the CON62 the battery charge indicator at the back of the bottle battery doesn't work.
2) When the bottle battery is connected to the CON61 , the charge indicator (four led lights) does work.
3) I had to build a couple of cables/convertors for the bottle battery. My electronic tester indicated that the wires were delivering the appropriate voltage but I am subject to errors!
4) The thumb throttle has a number of extra wires that can drive an on/off switch and a battery level indicator. These are not connected to anything.
5) I have no PAS, brake cutoffs, etc. installed or connected to the controller.

I am at a loss as to what could be wrong. It feels like the controller is missing an on/off switch but from what I've read on GBK, this is not required. I may be introducing testing errors as I change controllers, etc. as each one requires some type of wiring change.

Any help or troubleshooting ideas are appreciated. Right now, I'm dead in the water...

Thanks.

Lee

 

[majornelson]

Okay, just posting this on Endless-Sphere solved the problem!

I re-read everything and determined that the throttle wires were crossed on the thumb throttle that I received. It passed my ebike checker which is puzzling but the black and white wires were in the wrong places.

I can't tell you how many hours I've spent trouble-shooting this one...

One more question. In the diagram sent by GBK they detail how to enable the on/off switch. Image attached.

As diagramed, the yellow and brown wires are attached to the positive side of the battery input to the controller (my read). But these are 20 gauge or better... I don't see where they could be attached to the controller. Any advice?

Happy now!

Lee

 

[motomech]

Yeah, most of these GBK, BMS B., ELB kits need to have 2 of the throttle wire swapped.
To have the switch turn on/off, wire it in series into the thin red wire that is grouped with the main power wires.

 

[d8veh]

That diagram is not quite how it should be. You connect the brown wire to the battery, then join the green and yellow together and connect them to the controller ignition wire. Different versions of the controllers have different ignition wires. The older ones have it as a thin red wire on the main battery connector. The newer ones have the connector for the LED or LCD, in which case, it's the blue wire on that connector. With it connected like I suggest, the throttle LEDs will come on when you switch the controller on with the red switch on the throttle. If you do it like they suggest, the LEDs will be on all the time until you disconnect or switch off the battery. With a switch on the ignition wire, you can leave the battery permanently connected and switched on.

The 20g wires to the red switch only handle the power for the controller CPU and the sensors, which is something like 100 milliamps. The main power to the motor is blocked by the MOSFETs until the controller CPU gets power from those thin wires, so the thin wires work like a sort of relay.

 

[majornelson]

Thanks. That makes sense... I'll have to check my controller but I believe it uses the blue wire.

GBK was great in so many ways but one. They confirmed the product was in stock, committed to shipping it immediately and it (wheel, hub, controller, etc.) arrived within four business days (ordered it on Thursday and received it on Tuesday). Extraordinary! It's frustrating that the connectors were crossed on the throttle. Took days to trouble shoot.

Lee

 

[d8veh]

Thanks. That makes sense... I'll have to check my controller but I believe it uses the blue wire.

GBK was great in so many ways but one. They confirmed the product was in stock, committed to shipping it immediately and it (wheel, hub, controller, etc.) arrived within four business days (ordered it on Thursday and received it on Tuesday). Extraordinary! It's frustrating that the connectors were crossed on the throttle. Took days to trouble shoot.

Lee

The Chinese suppliers are slowly getting better at these things. but there's still a way to go. I started buying Chinese kits 6 years ago when everything was wrong, so I've got used to checking everything before I install it.