OK, so I've been EV'ing it for a year and a half, had been dying to get into it for five years.
Year and a half ago I bought an electric bike at a local retailer -- no kind of documentation, instructions, not even what brands of motor/controller and so on. I felt kind of lucky to find one in this city even though this place is known for its bicycles.
Forget about SERVICE! Doesn't exist, and if I wanted to get some kind of servicing done, I'd have to haul the carcass into Santiago (two hours by train, more by bus) and MAYBE find some place that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators, which in this part of the galaxy, is not very common.
Anyway, back to our story: after the initial purchase --yes, they gave me a defective cell in the battery pack, which they replaced, I got to tooling around town in my all-steel bike (26"wheels, 36V 3x12Ah Pb, unknown controller, 250W unknown motor on the back), equipped with a cheesy squeeze horn (which people CANNOT ignore), wearing my bell helmet and enjoying the autonomy.
Then about six months later I had a pedestrian run out in front of me... sent me flying and put me in the hospital with four broken ribs, and were it not for my helmet, skull intact. Apart from the idiot prosecutor who had never heard of a pedestrian causing an accident, I came out of it alive. The bike had a damaged chain guard, BENT crank axle, and other scrapes and scratches. So much for my nice shiny bike. Obviously I couldn't ride it for a while because of the ribs, but I got it taken apart and went in search of a replacement shaft for the pedal crank (also known to the locals here as a unicorn horn). Well, there wasn't one. Nowhere to be found. It was more likely to buy ten winning lottery tickets for the jackpot in a row than to find the shaft. But... there were some turners in town. And I got it straightened pretty much. So I could at least pedal without the chain falling off.
I had to stop by the Medical Legal Service, so I got on my bike and got off to a shakey start. Totally ok, round trip about three miles. Better than walking. Next morning I went to take the bike out again, throttle wouldn't work. Son of a... tested it, yeah it had taken a pretty strong hit and it was a no-go. Ordered a new one off eBay. Two months later, it gets here and I get it installed. Everything okey-doke.
Months go by, and come September, I hit a steel grate a little too hard and it puts a good dent in the rear rim. Being a heavy guy (over a 100Kg), I figure I better get that replaced, so I took it to the local butcher shop. Actually there are probably two dozen bike workshops in just the downtown area here, so I take it where I've bought bike stuff before. Yeah, so he'll put a new rim on it installed for $12,000 pesos. Which works out to about 25 bucks. So I leave it with him.
I come back and the IDIOT has CUT the cable running to the motor! I was seething. Don't worry, he says. He's gonna solder it all back together. Come back two hours later, and he's still working on the soldering. He had to borrow someone else's soldering iron, paste, solder and replace the damn electrical plug. Forty-five minutes later he's finished. I put the key in and hey presto! it works!
Months pass by and no issues with the soldering job. But it worries me, just the same.
Monday I go into terminal's lunch room, kiss the wife, have lunch, stand in front of the fan to cool off (it's over 30C here, not unusual) and then outside to hop on the bike to go back to the house. Turn the key, nothing. Whaaaaa... Ok, key on, key off, nothing. Wiggle the power connector. Nothing. Check the LED's: on. Headlight? Working. Brake lights? Working. Crank the throttle. Nothin' honey. OK, so I hop on and pedal home to take a look.
Get on the Internet, check ebikes dot ca for the troubleshooting pdfs. Ok, so 5 volts to the throttle (everything else disconnected), check voltage on the return (in this case, it's a yellow wire, the old one was white) yeah, just about a volt at rest, and 4 and some volts at full throttle. CHECK.
Check the Hall circuit in the hub. OK, 0V, 5V, 0V, 5V etc., all three phases. Hall sensors OK. Re-did the suspect soldering job (this guy loved to do it wrong, but it was ok) using barrier strips.
Opened the no-name controller (sealed with silicone), nothing smells inside. Exterior wiring: nothing melted or scorched.
I also spun the wheel while measuring voltage: varying results (difficult to do alone while watching the meter) on the three phases while disconnected from the controller...
Checked for open circuit on the MOSFETS: they ramp down... I guess that's normal.
I'd like to check the three phases on the controller, but I can't seem to get a reading... shouldn't I be getting (equivalent to square tooth) something like an intermittent 36V or what?
*EDIT* I should mention that I charged up the battery pack and it shows 39.8V. Also, I checked the fuses (one in the battery pack, the other to the headlamp/LED indicator), all good.
But still I'm walking!
Any ideas, suggestions? HEEEEEEeeeelp.
Oh, and before I go, if it's the motor that's borked, can a 500W motor be put on a 250W controller without major issues?
Year and a half ago I bought an electric bike at a local retailer -- no kind of documentation, instructions, not even what brands of motor/controller and so on. I felt kind of lucky to find one in this city even though this place is known for its bicycles.
Forget about SERVICE! Doesn't exist, and if I wanted to get some kind of servicing done, I'd have to haul the carcass into Santiago (two hours by train, more by bus) and MAYBE find some place that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators, which in this part of the galaxy, is not very common.
Anyway, back to our story: after the initial purchase --yes, they gave me a defective cell in the battery pack, which they replaced, I got to tooling around town in my all-steel bike (26"wheels, 36V 3x12Ah Pb, unknown controller, 250W unknown motor on the back), equipped with a cheesy squeeze horn (which people CANNOT ignore), wearing my bell helmet and enjoying the autonomy.
Then about six months later I had a pedestrian run out in front of me... sent me flying and put me in the hospital with four broken ribs, and were it not for my helmet, skull intact. Apart from the idiot prosecutor who had never heard of a pedestrian causing an accident, I came out of it alive. The bike had a damaged chain guard, BENT crank axle, and other scrapes and scratches. So much for my nice shiny bike. Obviously I couldn't ride it for a while because of the ribs, but I got it taken apart and went in search of a replacement shaft for the pedal crank (also known to the locals here as a unicorn horn). Well, there wasn't one. Nowhere to be found. It was more likely to buy ten winning lottery tickets for the jackpot in a row than to find the shaft. But... there were some turners in town. And I got it straightened pretty much. So I could at least pedal without the chain falling off.
I had to stop by the Medical Legal Service, so I got on my bike and got off to a shakey start. Totally ok, round trip about three miles. Better than walking. Next morning I went to take the bike out again, throttle wouldn't work. Son of a... tested it, yeah it had taken a pretty strong hit and it was a no-go. Ordered a new one off eBay. Two months later, it gets here and I get it installed. Everything okey-doke.
Months go by, and come September, I hit a steel grate a little too hard and it puts a good dent in the rear rim. Being a heavy guy (over a 100Kg), I figure I better get that replaced, so I took it to the local butcher shop. Actually there are probably two dozen bike workshops in just the downtown area here, so I take it where I've bought bike stuff before. Yeah, so he'll put a new rim on it installed for $12,000 pesos. Which works out to about 25 bucks. So I leave it with him.
I come back and the IDIOT has CUT the cable running to the motor! I was seething. Don't worry, he says. He's gonna solder it all back together. Come back two hours later, and he's still working on the soldering. He had to borrow someone else's soldering iron, paste, solder and replace the damn electrical plug. Forty-five minutes later he's finished. I put the key in and hey presto! it works!
Months pass by and no issues with the soldering job. But it worries me, just the same.
Monday I go into terminal's lunch room, kiss the wife, have lunch, stand in front of the fan to cool off (it's over 30C here, not unusual) and then outside to hop on the bike to go back to the house. Turn the key, nothing. Whaaaaa... Ok, key on, key off, nothing. Wiggle the power connector. Nothing. Check the LED's: on. Headlight? Working. Brake lights? Working. Crank the throttle. Nothin' honey. OK, so I hop on and pedal home to take a look.
Get on the Internet, check ebikes dot ca for the troubleshooting pdfs. Ok, so 5 volts to the throttle (everything else disconnected), check voltage on the return (in this case, it's a yellow wire, the old one was white) yeah, just about a volt at rest, and 4 and some volts at full throttle. CHECK.
Check the Hall circuit in the hub. OK, 0V, 5V, 0V, 5V etc., all three phases. Hall sensors OK. Re-did the suspect soldering job (this guy loved to do it wrong, but it was ok) using barrier strips.
Opened the no-name controller (sealed with silicone), nothing smells inside. Exterior wiring: nothing melted or scorched.
I also spun the wheel while measuring voltage: varying results (difficult to do alone while watching the meter) on the three phases while disconnected from the controller...
Checked for open circuit on the MOSFETS: they ramp down... I guess that's normal.
I'd like to check the three phases on the controller, but I can't seem to get a reading... shouldn't I be getting (equivalent to square tooth) something like an intermittent 36V or what?
*EDIT* I should mention that I charged up the battery pack and it shows 39.8V. Also, I checked the fuses (one in the battery pack, the other to the headlamp/LED indicator), all good.
But still I'm walking!
Any ideas, suggestions? HEEEEEEeeeelp.
Oh, and before I go, if it's the motor that's borked, can a 500W motor be put on a 250W controller without major issues?