New controller advice wanted brushed 48v

[rustyp]

Hello there,
I am upgrading my wife's Powatryke as she is unable to get up the hill where we live.
It is 36v as standard, I have wired in another 12v battery so it has 4X12v 10ah batteries (48V)
It is a brushed motor (2 brushes)
The standard controller trips out with 48v, I wired the motor directly to the battery and it easily took me up the hill, not long after the switch fused itself on so I had to pull the connections apart!

I am roughly guessing I need a 500 - 600W controller but I am not sure? What controllers do people recommend? Will I be able to use the standard twistgrip?
I am a bit of an electrical luddite but can wire things up and solder.
Any advice will be most appreciated!

 

[Pat_68]

Hi, if your controller is 36 volt? Maybe it's overheated and cut out or over voltage protection, also when directly connected and the switch fused ON you must be drawing high current, this also proves the battery and motor are up to it but the feed needs to be controlled. The connections I have used are Anderson 30 Amp.
I have only had experience with brushless e-bike kits however I have found 48volt and 1000 watt will pull a 17 stone person up a big hill whilst pedalling . You might need to mount the controller in a vented place to assist cooling.

I don't know if you are using a bolt on motor with a chain sprocket, if you are you could consider gearing it down.
I hope you find a fix, e-bikes are good fun.

Pat

 

[Geebee]

Grab a cheap brushed controller of Ebay, maybe a 500 and 1000w? they are cheap I got one last year for less than 9 pound delivered.
If you are only after climbing and not speed maybe try a high wattage 24volt one so you dont cook the motor?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You'll have to re-wire a bit. If you just want throttle and no PAS, it should be easy enough. Brushed controllers with PAS are harder to find. If you find one, get a new PAS sensor and magnet disc at the same time in case of compatibility issues. That remind me. I seem to remember something about Powabyke throttles working backwards, so you might want to get a new throttle with your controller.

 

[rustyp]

Hello there, thanks for replying, to update.
I bought another 12v 10ah lead acid battery to go with the 3 12v 10ah batteries that came with the bike and a 48v 800w controller.
I had mistakenly bought a Sinclair Zeta motor previously (how rubbish) so am using the charger from that to charge the extra battery.
As the trike has a 20" front wheel the relative gearing seems quite low and I am hoping that for short bursts of full throttle on the steep bits the motor won't get too hot.
The extra battery and controller etc. I am mounting over the front wheel to help them traction as when I tried the direct switch traction was an issue as it is a powered front hub.
I am presently rewiring the trike to fit the new controller.
One issue is the "throttle" as I have 3 wires, red, green and yellow on the throttle and red, blue and black on the controller. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Russ

 

[rustyp]

d8veh you beat me to it on the throttle front.
What is PAS?
Thankfully the electrics are nice and simple 2 wires from the battery, 2 wires to the motor (although it will be trial and error whether it runs forwards or backwards plugging it in!) 3 wires from the throttle, 2 ignition, 2 brake etc.
I have just got to find a nice biscuit tin or similar to mount the battery, ignition and controller under the front basket!

 

[rustyp]

I considered adding a second crank drive motor at first but unless it has a trick freewheeling crank setup you would have to pedal all the time. My wife has no cartilage in one knee so can only offer some pedal assistance. I fitted a mountain bike crank which has longer crank arms for more torque and using the middle chain-ring lowers the gearing just a touch for pulling away and assistance on hills.

 

[rustyp]

Sorry more questions but what amp fuse should I use? I have a 30amp one fitted as that is what I had to hand. Thanks again

 

[Deleted member 4366]

PAS = Pedal Assist Sensor
It's the thing that detects that you're pedalling.

30 amp fuse sounds about right.

 

[Geebee]

PAS = Pedal Assist Sensor
It's the thing that detects that you're pedalling.

30 amp fuse sounds about right.

Take a spare fuse with you though, my 36v 1000w would blow a 30 amp if started on an uphill, I up graded to 35 amp no more issues.

 

[Geebee]

Hello there, thanks for replying, to update.
I bought another 12v 10ah lead acid battery to go with the 3 12v 10ah batteries that came with the bike and a 48v 800w controller.
I had mistakenly bought a Sinclair Zeta motor previously (how rubbish) so am using the charger from that to charge the extra battery.
As the trike has a 20" front wheel the relative gearing seems quite low and I am hoping that for short bursts of full throttle on the steep bits the motor won't get too hot.
The extra battery and controller etc. I am mounting over the front wheel to help them traction as when I tried the direct switch traction was an issue as it is a powered front hub.
I am presently rewiring the trike to fit the new controller.
One issue is the "throttle" as I have 3 wires, red, green and yellow on the throttle and red, blue and black on the controller. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Russ

Red and black should be + and - so blue should be signal, so red to red black to yellow and green is normally signal so to blue, this is best guess as they are not the normal clours I have run across.
I will have a search and see if I can find a definite answer if some one can't confirm the above.
EDITED to match the below data.

 

[Geebee]

Update.
I found this at http://electricscooterparts.com/throttlesstandard.html and it agrees with a couple of other references in forums. I will keep a copy of this for myself as it seems to cover most colour combo's.

WIRING DIRECTIONS:If the throttles wire colors are different from the speed controllers wire colors match the wire colors as indicated below:



ThrottleController
Redgoes toRed
Blackgoes toBlack or Yellow
Green or Bluegoes toGreen, Blue or White

 

[rustyp]

Thankyou Geebee and everyone else. Hopefully the Powabyke throttle plays ball,if it doesn't I have found a guy fairly near that supplies them.

Will have to upload a few pictures as I have made and fitted a rear facing seat and seatbelt for our son.

Big thanks

 

[rustyp]

Hi guys & gals, just a bit of an update, we have lift off, pretty much.
Bought an 800w controller and wired it up with a new self built loom. A lot of the info I have read from looking on the internet has been wrong but the powabyke throttle does work backwards!
You twist the throttle to stop the trike! Damn scary with all that torque, rolling down the hill I let go of the throttle to slow down and sped up!
Adapted a rear mountain bike carrier to fit on the front over the 20" wheel. On the carrier is a Fox's biscuit tin with the extra battery and the controller/fuse etc. Then there is a basket hanging off the bars using a Sinclair Zeta bracket.
All very eccentric!
Will post up pics when I have got the new throttle and wrapped the loom.
I have got some suspensionforks from a 20" Childs mountain bike (not much weight on the front so soft springing is good) I need to widen the yoke on the forks and add mounts for a disk brake as I have exceeded the capability of the standard v-brakes.
All the best, Russ