I was trying to understand the back emf thing d8veh, so when you increase the voltage the motor will have a higher max. rpm and more torque, but will still reach the point where the back emf will reduce the current, just at a higher rpm.
Back EMF kicks in once you pass the maximum rpm just like on a hub motor. The thing is depending on gearing you can spin a mid drive motor faster than max rpm before the cut off speed. Back EMF is at about 90 rpm on the GSM so when I am climbing in a lower gear than necessary I have to remember not to spin at my natural rhythm.I was trying to understand the back emf thing d8veh, so when you increase the voltage the motor will have a higher max. rpm and more torque, but will still reach the point where the back emf will reduce the current, just at a higher rpm.
Nice one, makes more sense now. I knew that a motor could be used as a dynamo, but hadn't considered it would be producing voltage when used as a motor. As you say this is down to the physical characteristics of any given motor and can only really be changed by external gearing, hence why I asked earlier how this could be improved by firmware or controller improvements.Put another way, any DC motor is also a dynamo - they are one and the same thing. So, when you apply a voltage to the motor a current flows through the stator windings creating a magnetic field which intereacts with the permanant magnets in the rotor - so causing the rotor to spin. As soon as it spins the magnetic field of the rotor magnets intereacts with the windings (copper coil) in the stator, so generating a voltage in the windings BUT this has a reversed polarity to the applied voltage. Hence back EMF (electro motive force). As the rate of spin increases so does the back emf, when the back emf equates to the supply voltage there can be no further increase in rpm. So rpm limit of any electric motor is a function of the way that motors work and, ultimately, not the controller or firmware.
So it seems to me that the relationship between cadence and motor rpm is one of the internal gearbox between motor and final drive.
Sorry if I'm stating the bleedin' obvious, but writing it out helps me understand it.
There is one thing you can do with the controller. You still see it on some controllers, and that's then three speed switch. You get an extra connector with three wires. One is ground and the other two are basic digital inputs to the controller, so the switch only acts as a command to the controller when to operate high-speed mode. High-speed mode changes the timing slightly - a bit like you can with an internal combustion engine to get more torque or speed. I'm not sure about exactly how the changed timing deals with the back emf, but the end result is a 10% boost in maximum speed.Nice one, makes more sense now. I knew that a motor could be used as a dynamo, but hadn't considered it would be producing voltage when used as a motor. As you say this is down to the physical characteristics of any given motor and can only really be changed by external gearing, hence why I asked earlier how this could be improved by firmware or controller improvements.