Carrera crossfire/vulcan tuning

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
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A 250W motor with a 36 Volt battery will top out at about 20mph even without a restriction.
My old 250w bike did 21ish and it was a big difference. It's all about feel, the way these take off then just shut down feels so unnatural
 

chris_n

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 29, 2016
726
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Niedeau, Austria
A 250W motor with a 36 Volt battery will top out at about 20mph even without a restriction.
Depends entirely on the winding speed. If you are building a motor with 50Nm of torque when you know the top speed is restricted to 15mph why would you wind it any faster? Suntour have a 28mph 48V motor called E45 for faster bikes.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
20,910
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West Sx RH
Yose hub 17a 48v = 28mph +.
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
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So there's hardly any difference if any with the speed wire blocked, blocking any hall wires just gives an error. That leaves changing or programming the controller. Changing will be a pain as there is no controller I know of with that big motor connection preinstalled. Going to just try and get a different hub and use a regular setup until (if) we have a breakthrough. I miss my throttle anyway
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
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I still think it's maxed out on winding speed.
I would say that but on a full battery it gives up just shy of 17mph and on empty it's the same behavior until it gets too low to function. If it were just windings there would be a difference in speed in different charge states. I can't reliably test speed with the sensor blocked but now I'm used to the new tyres I guess it's the same. Placebo effect probably. There is a regulator in there for sure probably set to throttle down as the rpm increases
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
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After some digging I think the controller may be made by tongsheng. I have asked them to confirm, and how to configure. I could be wrong as there are no markings that I can see, this is purely based on product styling. I have tried a hidden settings method I found online but it didn't work for this bike.
 

Damian.Doherty

Pedelecer
Jun 27, 2017
202
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Derry, Ireland
My old 250w bike did 21ish and it was a big difference. It's all about feel, the way these take off then just shut down feels so unnatural
That's something I like about my bike, because the is no "limit" on the speed the motor keeps going until its just not providing any more assistance. Its a very gradual tailing off of the power. You can still feel it helping a little at 20mph, at 21mph it's almost imperceptible and at 22mph you on your own.

But....its as smooth a butter, even when slowing down the power from the motor gradually comes back in again.
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
GB
That's something I like about my bike, because the is no "limit" on the speed the motor kreps going until its just not providing any more assistance. Its a very gradual tailing off of the power. You can still feel it helping a little at 20mph, at 21mph it's almost imperceptible and at 22mph you on your own.

But....its as smooth a butter, even when slowing down the power from the motor gradually comes back in again.
Yeah my old one was the same. Shame it was a piece of crap
 

egroover

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 12, 2016
1,038
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UK
Thanks for the hard work you putting in anon4. If you ever crack this, you'll be receiving a crate of ale from me and I'm sure a few other crossfire-e / vulcan-e owners. Good luck!!
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
GB
Thanks for the hard work you putting in anon4. If you ever crack this, you'll be receiving a crate of ale from me and I'm sure a few other crossfire-e / vulcan-e owners. Good luck!!
I could be chasing my tail but I'm not giving up just yet. If my hunch is right and the controller is a tongsheng, perhaps putting one of their displays on that allows the hidden settings would be enough to be able to tweak. If not then there is software available. If I'm wrong then the only option is swapping out parts as all other routes seem exhausted
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
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I've hit a dead end. I am going to replace the controller. I want to minimize soldering, the motor wire is a HG-F-Z919. Finding this for sale has proved impossible so far. So If I can't get hold of this I'm going to have to solder a new controller or add crimp connectors. Another problem is will a left side Pas sensor fit or will I have to remove the suntour sprocket and replace with a regular one to make room?
 

Jsxx

Finding my (electric) wheels
Feb 21, 2018
18
1
39
bolton
I've hit a dead end. I am going to replace the controller. I want to minimize soldering, the motor wire is a HG-F-Z919. Finding this for sale has proved impossible so far. So If I can't get hold of this I'm going to have to solder a new controller or add crimp connectors. Another problem is will a left side Pas sensor fit or will I have to remove the suntour sprocket and replace with a regular one to make room?
Any luck?
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
GB
Today I soldered some makeshift plugs to test a different controller on the suntour motor. It was crude but I did get some movement. Going to order a good controller then get to business. Watch this space
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
GB
So imI going ahead with this. Connectors and tools are arriving, I have a Pas sensor ready, waiting on a standard crankset, 36v 350w controller and a thumb throttle. If all goes to plan the total cost is just over £70. Will post results, the controller is from China so could be a while yet. I'm hoping it fits into the enclosure, if the quoted dimensions are accurate it should fit. I'm excited
 

Samaad Hussain

Just Joined
Aug 29, 2018
1
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34
So imI going ahead with this. Connectors and tools are arriving, I have a Pas sensor ready, waiting on a standard crankset, 36v 350w controller and a thumb throttle. If all goes to plan the total cost is just over £70. Will post results, the controller is from China so could be a while yet. I'm hoping it fits into the enclosure, if the quoted dimensions are accurate it should fit. I'm excited
Read all of these posts, feel like your solution could finally work! Good luck !!
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
GB
Read all of these posts, feel like your solution could finally work! Good luck !!
It's working. Just waiting on a new controller. I had one here but unfortunately the amp limit is too high for the battery BMS and it trips. I believe the limit is 15 amps. Tested with a Chinese battery with presumably no limit and although my test controller had no Speedo I'd say I hit 20mph ish on throttle alone going just down my street. Awaiting my controller, display and throttle to finish the job. I will do a tutorial if I have time. You will need to be able to do crimp connectors, and potentially soldering as there is not much length of wire to play with. But basically it goes like this:

Buy a 36v controller and display with an amp rating of 15 or less, Pas sensor, new crankset (suntours crank sensor will not work and leaves little room for magnet disk) throttle if required.

Tools required:

Your chosen connectors, I used the ones commonly found on Chinese controllers which are used on motorcycles too

Crank puller for changing cranks

Bottom bracket tool to fit Pas sensor

Wire crimp tool and cutters

Heat shrink if your connections aren't pre insulated

Screwdriver and Allen keys to remove controller box

Cable ties to secure new wires.

Open controller box and snip all wires from controller. Leave enough that you may reattach should you revert or abort. Crimp connectors to the wires, plug in new controller and attachments (note, try to get a small one or it may not fit in the box, check dimensions). You can leave the small wires from the battery connector as only the large + & - wires are needed, you can also leave the white wire from motor as most controllers don't use that either. Remove old crank and fit Pas sensor, install new crank. Remove old display, fit new display and throttle if required. That should be it. It will be more or less a chinese bike with suntour motor at this point but if you're already stuck with the bike as I am it's worth doing of you have the patience
 

anon4

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2017
574
90
32
GB
New controller in, works fantastic after tweaking the settings. Had to use the self learn wire as motor was spinning backwards, now it's ok. The suntour hub really packs a punch. Awaiting throttle now, Pas is good but it demands a higher cadence than other systems I've used. Speedo was inaccurate so can't quite the true speed, but it's the fastest hub I've ridden, I'd guess 22+mph on the flat. Very happy
 
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