Help! Gazelle Orange Innergy

[ElectronicRepairer]

Symptoms : No power to the motor.

Indications : No error messages, battery full, lights work, display works, battery lights works, charger works, speedo shows mph as front wheel is manually rotated. Controller behind the light shows no physical signs of distress. All cables and connectors in good condition.

At the rear of the bike is a hall effect switch - which works when a magnet is brought near - but I'm not sure what the plastic arm with the rubber band is about that is in contact with the lower return half of the chain. I assume this may be a chain tension sensing mechanism, but don't see how it can possibly work in its current configuration.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[obcd]

Maybe a bit late to the scene.
The hall sensor is probably analog. If the chain is brought under tension, the magnet should come closer to the hall sensor and that should output a higher voltage. So it basically measures the force on the pedals and adjusts motor assistance relatively to that force.

There also is a second sensor that measures pedal rotations.

 

[ElectronicRepairer]

Maybe a bit late to the scene.
The hall sensor is probably analog. If the chain is brought under tension, the magnet should come closer to the hall sensor and that should output a higher voltage. So it basically measures the force on the pedals and adjusts motor assistance relatively to that force.

There also is a second sensor that measures pedal rotations.

Thanks for your interest.

Having dug fairly deep, it appears this could be an early design. The Hall effect device is, as you say, analogue. It seems to be used to sense distortion in the rear frame as force is applied to the pedals. It looks to be very difficult to set up since the movement from 2.5V to full output is about 0.5 mm. Also, there is quite a large voltage offset (2.5V) on it, with no load, which leads me to believe it might be broken. The controller may well compensate for this offset during power up. I think Gazelle have gone away from using this device.

The bike speed is derived from Hall switches in the front wheel motor. There is no pedal rotation sensor on my version - and I don't think there ever has been.

 

[vfr400]

Thanks for your interest.

Having dug fairly deep, it appears this could be an early design. The Hall effect device is, as you say, analogue. It seems to be used to sense distortion in the rear frame as force is applied to the pedals. It looks to be very difficult to set up since the movement from 2.5V to full output is about 0.5 mm. Also, there is quite a large voltage offset (2.5V) on it, with no load, which leads me to believe it might be broken. The controller may well compensate for this offset during power up. I think Gazelle have gone away from using this device.

The bike speed is derived from Hall switches in the front wheel motor. There is no pedal rotation sensor on my version - and I don't think there ever has been.

These type of hall sensors supplied with 5v would give 2.5v when no magnets are around. When you apply a S magnet pole, it pulls it down to 1.2v and when you apply a N pole it pulls it up to 3.8v. Look at your magnet arrangement or better still, show us some photos.

The contoller normally would have safety algorithms in it to prevent the bike giving power to the motor as soon as you switch on. Typically, that would be looking for a zero torque/force value before giving power. If a magnet dropped off or was out of position, there would be a non-zero value.

Find the connector for that sensor. Tell us how many pins.

 

[obcd]

If it's the kind of sensor I have seen, it's having 3 wires. It's just the hall sensor mounted on a very small pcb and surrounded by some blue plastic for easy fixation.

 

[vfr400]

If it's the kind of sensor I have seen, it's having 3 wires. It's just the hall sensor mounted on a very small pcb and surrounded by some blue plastic for easy fixation.

In that case, there's a fair chance you can wire a throttle to the three wires instead.

 

[obcd]

gazelle indeed stopped using those sensors. The newer ones have a metal encasing that contains the magnet mounted on a spring and the hall sensor. It outputs digital pulses that widen if more pressure is going trough the chain. The output is normally 12V and that voltage is pulled down. The pas sensor is connected to the same input and also pulls the signal down. The pas pulses are much longer. The input can detect if a pulse comes from TMM or PAS based upon the voltage level.