I really need to start over with the Cycle Analyst 3.13(b2, IIRC) settings; I've gotten nowhere over the last few months with trying to troubleshoot the dangerous problems with it's speed limiting.
Basically, I have three presets, with the only difference between them being the speed limit itself. I attached what I think is the settings file I last used, probably should just download the present settings in teh CA itself.
One is 5mph, one is 10mph, and one is 20mph.
The CA only controls the rightside motor, via either torquePAS or hand throttle. THe left side is a separate hand throttle.
The controllers are just generic trapezoidal types; the one the CA has conrol over is just a 12FET with about a 30A current limit, powering an MXUS 4503 in a 20" wheel. The other is a 15FET powering an MXUS 4504 in a 20" wheel.
There are no power limits (whatever the max in the CA is). It's in high range mode, not low range, so maybe it's a bug related to that (there have been others).
The problems:
--if i switch from any preset to any other, and was pedalling at the time (usually am), or the CA-controlled motor was running, the CA may or may not "decide" to obey the now-current preset's limit, usually until it has reached the max for the original preset and then droped to the minimum for the new preset (sometimes the minimum for the original preset) and then accelerated to the max of the new preset. Sometimes it never obeys the new preset, and I have to switch to a different one and back again--but no matter which behavior, it does always display the correct preset-changed message, with the correct preset number / name.
For instance, if I was on preset 3, the 20MPH limit, and stop pedalling as I coast into a driveway for a parking lot, then start pedalling to go up the driveway, and switch down to the 5mph preset1 as I enter the parking lot at anywhere from 3-4mph up to 7-8mph, continuing to pedal, the CA keeps full throttle on the motor. If I let it, it'll continue up to around 22-23MPH (when it would begin limiting down for the 20MPH preset3, another problem entirely), and then it won't reapply throttle until it gets down to 2-3mph. ONce it does that, it'll apply full throttle and accelerate back up to 7-8mph, then cut throttle, wait till down to 2-3mph, then reapply full throttle, and repeat that cycle until I stop pedalling or change the preset. (using the hand throttle does the same thing, except I have control of the actual throttle output to some degree, as long as I am not also pedalling).
--if I am in preset1 20mph, the minimum is extremly variable, though the max is much more predictable.
What I *expect* is that it will simply always limit to 20mph max, and never allow me to exceed that speed via PAS or throttle (for on the flats riding). And that if I am applying enough throttle (via PAS or hand throttle) that it will never drop below 20mph, either (as long as power output from the motor is sufficient to overcome wind resistance/etc.)
What actually happens is:
--accelerating from zero, it keeps accelerating until speed is 22-23MPH (most of the time, occasionally it keeps going up to 25MPH), and then it cuts throttle entirely, until speed decreases to 18.2-18.8mph, most of the time.
--sometimes, under the same conditions and the same place on the trip / road that previously it did the above, it will decrease speed down to 15mph, or even 10, in some cases almost to zero, before it will reapply throttle. (watching the screen showing throttle output, it's kept at minimum until that moment by the CA). When it reapplies it, it does so at maximum, as it should, but of course it takes significant time to reaccelerate back to full speed.
When it *does* actually do so, it *then* finally limits to the correct speed, 20MPH, within a couple of tenths, until I either switch presets, let off hand throttle or stop pedalling (whichever I was doing, usually pedalling). So the speed limiting does actually "know" how to do what it's supposed to, but only after what I consider wild excursions above and below the limit.
But if I let off throttle, or stop pedalling, even for an instant, then there's two possible behaviors when I resume:
--it may reaccelerate to 2mph and hold that as it should
--it may restart the whole extreme excursion cycle, with any of the possible extreme listed above.
--- On preset 2, the 10mph, it never settles at 10mph. Ever. It always goes way up to at least 11-12mph before cutting throttle, then goes down to 7-8mph (sometimes 5-6mph) before it reaccelerates back up past 11-12mph, and cycling like that continuously.
Preset1, 5mph, does the same thing, except the high is 7-8mph, and the low is 2-3mph.
The dangerous part is the 20mph behavior, because this is in traffic, where everything the trike does in response to my input needs to be completely predictable.
The surge in speed is easy enough to fix, just let off pedalling.
But then the decrease in speed requires me to use the other non-CA-cotnrolled motor to maintain speed, until the CA "decides" to get around to following the limit it is set to. This can take anywhere from a few to several seconds at minimum, to never ever reaccelerating at all (presumably because speed hasn't dropped below the absurdly low excursion value it seems to expect). This is true whether I keep speed just under 20MPH with the left motor and handthrottle, or only maintian just at 18MPH (which is below the "maximum minimum excursion value" of around 18.6MPH).
If I let the CA just do it's thing, I'd be hit from behind by the cars behind me as it slowed more and more, especially when it expects me to stop completely before reactivating throttle.
The problems are exactly the same whether using a 3-pole speed sensor (three magnets on the front wheel) or a single pole/magnet speed sensor on the front wheel, with the appropriate setting for taht in the CA.
I've forgotten at this point all the settings I've varied in attempts to fix this, but nothing so far has had any effect. I'm sure I'm just screwing something up...but havne't figured out what it is.
