Voilamart front hub motor normal?

[medusa569]

After someone mentioning the voilamart motor kit I bought one. I assumed this poster was speaking from experience but now I regret buying it. what a waste of money on more than one consideration. Maybe it's just my legs but I've ridden for many years a 9c DD front motor with no problem in UNPOWERED mode. Yes it's heavier than a geared motor and you can feel the weight difference but I've never experienced anything like the Voilamart motor. I can't really manually pedal it ! Could there be something inside the motor that is causing such resistance? Surely any company that made such a monstrosity is not looking out for its clients as we all know we will resort to peddling when things go down during a ride. I can't can't express enough just how resistive this thing is!!! It's as if it's got brakes really gripping iot and more (‌no i don't have any brakes engaged). Any food for thought on how I could pssible save this purchase and relieve some of this resistance. This motor is the same size as the 9C was so it should be that resistive magnetically and running unpowered...I mean the axle will barely turn.

 

[amberwolf]

Sounds like the phases are shorted. Unplug the motor from the controller and anything else and see if it still has the resistance.

If it does, there's a short inside the motor or it's cabling.

If it doesn't, there's a short inside the controller or it's cable to the motor.

In both cases it usually means the problem will prevent it from working as a motor correctly, and usually has obvious signs trying to run it.

Another possibility is that a spacer was left out during install and a part of the wheel / motor / etc is rubbing on the frame.

Or that brakes actually are dragging, misaligned calipers, etc.

 

[medusa569]

Sounds like the phases are shorted. Unplug the motor from the controller and anything else and see if it still has the resistance.

If it does, there's a short inside the motor or it's cabling.

If it doesn't, there's a short inside the controller or it's cable to the motor.

In both cases it usually means the problem will prevent it from working as a motor correctly, and usually has obvious signs trying to run it.

Another possibility is that a spacer was left out during install and a part of the wheel / motor / etc is rubbing on the frame.

Or that brakes actually are dragging, misaligned calipers, etc.

A misunderstanding.. I‌was attempting to ride this Powerless. No phases , no nothing. Yes
I chcecks the brakes as that would be an obvious thing. I‌did remount it and I‌ suspect that it may have something to do with that. I‌was under the impression and after researching that there must be some type of grip on each side of the dropouts or else there would be insufficient grip to prevent falling out. Am, I‌
wrong?

 

[amberwolf]

A misunderstanding.. I‌was attempting to ride this Powerless. No phases , no nothing.

So the motor was not installed? Just regular bicycle wheels, no motor wheel? This is the only case where the phases are not involved at all.

Or installed but not connected to the controller or anything else, with the cable tied up out of the way and insulated t it's unconnected connector(s) so they can't touch each other or anything else? In this case the motor phases are still involved, and could still have the problems described; only the controller is isolated and could not be the cause.

If neither of those is the case, then the phases are involved, and what I said applies, even if you have no battery on the bike.

I‌did remount it and I‌ suspect that it may have something to do with that. I‌was under the impression and after researching that there must be some type of grip on each side of the dropouts or else there would be insufficient grip to prevent falling out. Am, I‌
wrong?

I don't know what you're describing. You'd have to show pictures of what you have and how it is installed. (remember that we can't know anything about your setup or problem that you don't specifically show or tell us ).


You'll need to clearly show us how it was mounted originally (presumably there was no problem then?) and then how it is mounted now, so we can see the differences and figure out which of them might be causing your issue.

Most often it is the spacer issue I described previously.

 

[E-HP]

A misunderstanding.. I‌was attempting to ride this Powerless. No phases , no nothing. Yes
I chcecks the brakes as that would be an obvious thing. I‌did remount it and I‌ suspect that it may have something to do with that. I‌was under the impression and after researching that there must be some type of grip on each side of the dropouts or else there would be insufficient grip to prevent falling out. Am, I‌
wrong?

It's a pretty simple test to unplug the phase wires to see if the motor spins freely.

 

[UtahPete]

I always understood that direct drive hub motors (unlike geared drive) cause quite a bit of resistance when the motor is not being used, which is why some direct drive motors can be used to regenerate the battery when freewheeling, such as going downhill.

Drag is normal for direct drive, I believe. They produce little torque at low speed and suck at hill-climbing. Their primary use is to achieve high end power for speed with road bikes.

Correction. DD motors produce a lot of torque at low speed, producing great acceleration. But, they tend to overheat if kept to low speed, such as hill-climbing in pedal assist mode. That's what I read somewhere...I don't have the resources to test this out myself.

 

[UtahPete]

After someone mentioning the voilamart motor kit I bought one. I assumed this poster was speaking from experience but now I regret buying it. what a waste of money on more than one consideration. Maybe it's just my legs but I've ridden for many years a 9c DD front motor with no problem in UNPOWERED mode. Yes it's heavier than a geared motor and you can feel the weight difference but I've never experienced anything like the Voilamart motor. I can't really manually pedal it ! Could there be something inside the motor that is causing such resistance? Surely any company that made such a monstrosity is not looking out for its clients as we all know we will resort to peddling when things go down during a ride. I can't can't express enough just how resistive this thing is!!! It's as if it's got brakes really gripping iot and more (‌no i don't have any brakes engaged). Any food for thought on how I could pssible save this purchase and relieve some of this resistance. This motor is the same size as the 9C was so it should be that resistive magnetically and running unpowered...I mean the axle will barely turn.

How well does it function in powered mode?

 

[amberwolf]

That all depends on the wheel size used with them, their winding version, magnet/stator width, controller phase current, etc.

Electric motors produce maximum torque at the very lowest speed, because that is where phase current is highest (assuming unlimited phase current available from the controller--curves change based on the actual controller output) with no BEMF to counter it, and phase current creates torque.

You can see how these things work using the simulator at ebikes.ca if you are curious (or if you don't accept simulations or other people's experiences, you can buy some various types of motors, controllers, and batteries and test them out yourself).

For more information on this topic, there are a number of threads discussing how these things work under varying conditions that you can look up.

 

[UtahPete]

Useful tools, thanks Tools

 

[MarkJohnston]

I have two of these Voilamart motors. Make sure the controller is plugged in. They aren't the smoothest motors. There is always going to be a bit of cogging no matter what you do.