Voltron
1 MW
Went for what turned out to be a terrible Fourth of July ride with a passenger, going up into the hills to watch the fireworks when there was suddenly a chugging and stuttering, then deadness. It's no picnic pedaling this beast around with a passenger and no power...which made my always-go-uphill-first habits pay off.
Back burner-ed it for a while, then had some time and pulled the controller expecting bad things, but it looked great inside. No dark spots, no smell, so I started getting excited. I just assumed it was the controller, as this is a generic $60 60v unit that has been run at 84v for about 9000 miles of hard running with the shunt soldered. But after seeing the pristine interior and the 100v caps, I went looking for the problem elsewhere.
After unbundling the power wires there it was....The Anderson Power Poles had been slowly deforming over a couple of years, hardly noticeable from the outside. It was just enough to loosen the springs under the connector tabs, building up more resistance, until two of the phase wires melted thru their insulation and shorted about an inch before the connectors. Then with hope going up, hacked all three phase wires at the hub and ran 10ga to the controller, straight crimps with no plugs, tidied up the hall wires a bit, rewired my handlebar off switch I had bypassed a long time ago after it got twitchy on a night ride, hooked up the throttle, and sure enough, turned it on and heard the power hum. I've had this bike jump off the repair stand and suck a carpet into the back wheel when I had it hooked up running backwards once, so braced it, gently turned the throttle annndd......nothing. But it really felt like it should work, start rechecking everything, and realised maybe I hooked up my non color coded throttle wires wrong, metered it using the controller for power to re-figure out which one was the signal wire, braced it again, and it spins right up...good to go!
Took a couple of test spins, whomped on the full battery set, then took off for the most canyon carvingest, high g, non stop s turn madness for about 30 miles. I was fully in the zone of trusting my tires, and was full body shifting in the turns....It was epic. Even with the extra weight of the full battery, the uphill acceleration was blistering with the extra amp flow... literally the most fun e ride I've been on, esp as it only cost me about 4 bucks worth of wire to get running again.
So anyway, if you have power poles, keep a good eye on them or you might not get so lucky!
New red phase wires. And for how bulky the bike looks from the side with the full battery set on, I love how it thins down when you see it from behind.
Plus with the full battery, it's just tall enough to lay your chest on for aero in the straights, and a good leg brace height during body shifting in the turns.
Back burner-ed it for a while, then had some time and pulled the controller expecting bad things, but it looked great inside. No dark spots, no smell, so I started getting excited. I just assumed it was the controller, as this is a generic $60 60v unit that has been run at 84v for about 9000 miles of hard running with the shunt soldered. But after seeing the pristine interior and the 100v caps, I went looking for the problem elsewhere.
After unbundling the power wires there it was....The Anderson Power Poles had been slowly deforming over a couple of years, hardly noticeable from the outside. It was just enough to loosen the springs under the connector tabs, building up more resistance, until two of the phase wires melted thru their insulation and shorted about an inch before the connectors. Then with hope going up, hacked all three phase wires at the hub and ran 10ga to the controller, straight crimps with no plugs, tidied up the hall wires a bit, rewired my handlebar off switch I had bypassed a long time ago after it got twitchy on a night ride, hooked up the throttle, and sure enough, turned it on and heard the power hum. I've had this bike jump off the repair stand and suck a carpet into the back wheel when I had it hooked up running backwards once, so braced it, gently turned the throttle annndd......nothing. But it really felt like it should work, start rechecking everything, and realised maybe I hooked up my non color coded throttle wires wrong, metered it using the controller for power to re-figure out which one was the signal wire, braced it again, and it spins right up...good to go!
Took a couple of test spins, whomped on the full battery set, then took off for the most canyon carvingest, high g, non stop s turn madness for about 30 miles. I was fully in the zone of trusting my tires, and was full body shifting in the turns....It was epic. Even with the extra weight of the full battery, the uphill acceleration was blistering with the extra amp flow... literally the most fun e ride I've been on, esp as it only cost me about 4 bucks worth of wire to get running again.
So anyway, if you have power poles, keep a good eye on them or you might not get so lucky!
New red phase wires. And for how bulky the bike looks from the side with the full battery set on, I love how it thins down when you see it from behind.
Plus with the full battery, it's just tall enough to lay your chest on for aero in the straights, and a good leg brace height during body shifting in the turns.
..that rear wheel is soooo small but for good reasons.
