Elifebike Q100 kit fault. Motor, controller or throttle? Video diagnostic?

[Alimages]

My Elifebike kit which I installed a year ago has finally gone wrong after many many miles of use in all conditions. Now for the hard part. Diagnosing the problem. Not sure if it's the throttle(thumb type), or the controller or the motor itself. I have carefully taken the motor apart and found evidence of slight water damage. Nothing too bad considering how often I used it in the rain.

The motor stopped working one day half way up the steepest hill on my commute! It now only jerks or at best runs very slowly and quite noisy for very short bursts. I've uploaded a short video on YouTube for anyone who might have any suggestions.

Q100 hub motor problem - YouTube

It's a 36v 350w Q100 kit. I suppose I could start buying random replacement bits to see what is broken but I'd rather not waste money on stuff I don't need. The battery is still in excellent shape so I might just get a new front kit (maybe 350w bafang this time) for about £180 delivered? Any thoughts! I must admit that I really liked the performance of the Q100 while it was still working. Not sure I'd like the bafang as much.

Any input greatly appreciated.

 

[amigafan2003]

The clutch has died or you've stripped a couple of teeth off the central cog - either way you need a new motor as you can't get replacement bits for Q100 motors.

If you do want to buy a complete kit rather than just a motor don't get it from BMS battery - get it from here - £130 delivered.

I can vouch for them - ordered a Q100 motor on Sunday, arrived yesterday using cheapest shipping method.

 

[JuicyBike]

Or it could be a single hall sensor problem, either a faulty sensor within the motor, or a poor connection, or a poor cable (or even poor insulation between wet cables).

You could most easily find and repair the cable issues (if it is that), but if it is the sensor itself within the motor then the easiest solution is to replace your controller with a non-hall, digital controller, which should cost much less than a new motor.

First try the clutch thing though.

 

[Alimages]

For some reason the link didn't work properly but it looks like it was trying to send me to greenbikekit.com? Did you get the hub motor on its own or already laced to a rim? Don't know if I can be bothered to start building wheels myself.

 

[Alimages]

Hi Juicybike. The current controller is capable of running with or without hall sensors. The fault is the same even if the sensors are disconnected. That was my first thought too.

 

[shemozzle999]

It could be a motor phase wires is faulty.

First disconnect the Hall sensor connector, then:

If you disconnect a phase wire one at a time:

1. Disconnecting a faulty wire will make no difference to the running.
2. Disconnecting a good wire with a faulty wire connected, the motor will not run.
3. Disconnecting a good wire with no faulty phase wires the motor will run but have a dead spot and will run erratically and will run the same way no matter which you disconnect.

If you find one faulty, use a meter and check the suspect wire for continuity from the connector to the motor.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I agree. I had the same problem on my Q100 and it was a bad connection on one phase wire. The bullet wasn't crimped tight enough. Try disconnecting your bullets, clean them, crimp the females so that they're tighter and reconnect. It could also be a faulty hall connection, so just work through these simple things first and see how you get on.

 

[jerrysimon]

Isn't this forum great

Its good to watch people help and diagnose faults to keep us all on the road.

Jerry

 

[amigafan2003]

Actually I concur with other posters - could be caused by faulty hall/phase connections. Should have noted that myself

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hi Juicybike. The current controller is capable of running with or without hall sensors. The fault is the same even if the sensors are disconnected. That was my first thought too.

Just in case you din't know: To get the controller to run sensorless, you have to switch it off (completely off at the battery) before disconnecting the hall sensor, and then swiitch it on again.

 

[Alimages]

Thanks for all your input. Great forum! I'll check all the wires and connections again tomorrow and report back. I've already had a bit of a mess around with them. I tried disconnecting the phase wires one at a time but it didnt seem to make any difference, although its always worth a second look. At the moment I'm suspecting the controller is faulty and isn't sending the correct power pulses down the 3 phase wires at the right time. Is it possible that the controller is sending power down two of the wires at the same time and locking the motor up?