Hi all, new here - I'm diving headlong into the world of ebike conversion kits, have gone and bought the 350 watt 'Yose power' rear hub motor kit from ebikelife on ebay (the german-warehoused one), 'easy your life' - catchy.
I've installed the kit, but with quite a few snags, yet to get any life out of the motor though.
The story so far;
-Installed kit on bike, hub motor, battery wiring, but the brake cut-offs were not going to work on my bike so I stupidly cut the levers in half so I just had the switches, thinking I could just mount the on the handlebar as emergency stops.
Also, the crank puller destroyed the threads on my left hand crank so I couldn't install the PAS sensor. No problem I thought, I'll just use the throttle anyway. Connected the sensor but not attached to the crank.
Tried motor throttle - nothing happens.
I troubleshoot the battery with a voltmeter - seems to have charge, no problem there. But the voltage display on the screen is wrong... discovered the settings which control that, no problem.
Afterwards I realised the brake switches were sprung to 'open', not closed, so destroying the brake levers was not a good start as this meant the switches were always in cut-off.
I taped the switches closed then, to simulate 'brakes off', and tried throttle again - still nothing happens.
I then played with the controller settings, including the P+C-setting to make the throttle work from 0 forward speed. Tried throttle again, still nothing happens.
So, going into troubleshooting mode now, I take the throttle apart to see how that works, see whether there is a problem there - surprisingly simple... but in the process I destroy the throttle. Bugger.
So the new plan was - buy new throttle, buy new brake sensors, buy new PAS sensor, rebuild and try again.
I got another throttle which looks almost identical to my previous one, now installed (assuming it works), I got one of the Dillenger PAS sensors which install without removal of the crank, installed - light flashes when I rotate the pedals so that seems to work.
The brake cut-offs switches I bought were the MS-BK-1R sensors which mount directly on the cable.
The problem with these is that the connector was a three-pin male connector when I needed a female.
I cut the connectors off the old brake switches, stripped the wires, current-tested them to check which wire was which to match the connector pattern (wire colours differed...), soldered that up, and connected both sensors to my rear brake cable as the front did not have space.
'Done', I thought. But still no joy. Throttle does nothing.
I haven't actually tried riding the bike yet to test if a forward-speed signal is needed for the motor to work, but apart from that my theories are;
-The brake switches have always been the problem (I never tested the kit before I cut the switches out of the original brake levers, although I tried with the switches closed by hand)
- Having soldered up new brake switches maybe I connected the wires in the wrong pattern and the bike is permanently in cut-off.
Solution: bypass the switches so the brakes are always 'off'... but I don't have a circuit diagram to know which wires to connect?
-The controller itself has a fault which is preventing power from being sent to the motor. No way to test this, and the spare controllers available online seem to have different wiring from the one I have.
-The motor has a fault and is not driving because of a break in the windings?
-The controller settings are wrong, the sine-wave drive p & c settings are off... confirmed these with the dealer and they are apparently correct.
So my next steps in the plan are...
-Finish tidying up the wiring as-is, and go for a ride, see if I can get some life out of the motor.
-If still no joy, then go back to the brake cut-off switches and check my soldering pattern, or possibly figure out how to bypass them altogether.
-If still no joy, then the controller or motor must be at fault... and my patience is going to start to wear thin by this point! Might as well just buy another kit...
Any thoughts from my new ebike friends? Is there anything I've missed?
Thanks,
-Pete
I've installed the kit, but with quite a few snags, yet to get any life out of the motor though.
The story so far;
-Installed kit on bike, hub motor, battery wiring, but the brake cut-offs were not going to work on my bike so I stupidly cut the levers in half so I just had the switches, thinking I could just mount the on the handlebar as emergency stops.
Also, the crank puller destroyed the threads on my left hand crank so I couldn't install the PAS sensor. No problem I thought, I'll just use the throttle anyway. Connected the sensor but not attached to the crank.
Tried motor throttle - nothing happens.
I troubleshoot the battery with a voltmeter - seems to have charge, no problem there. But the voltage display on the screen is wrong... discovered the settings which control that, no problem.
Afterwards I realised the brake switches were sprung to 'open', not closed, so destroying the brake levers was not a good start as this meant the switches were always in cut-off.
I taped the switches closed then, to simulate 'brakes off', and tried throttle again - still nothing happens.
I then played with the controller settings, including the P+C-setting to make the throttle work from 0 forward speed. Tried throttle again, still nothing happens.
So, going into troubleshooting mode now, I take the throttle apart to see how that works, see whether there is a problem there - surprisingly simple... but in the process I destroy the throttle. Bugger.
So the new plan was - buy new throttle, buy new brake sensors, buy new PAS sensor, rebuild and try again.
I got another throttle which looks almost identical to my previous one, now installed (assuming it works), I got one of the Dillenger PAS sensors which install without removal of the crank, installed - light flashes when I rotate the pedals so that seems to work.
The brake cut-offs switches I bought were the MS-BK-1R sensors which mount directly on the cable.
The problem with these is that the connector was a three-pin male connector when I needed a female.
I cut the connectors off the old brake switches, stripped the wires, current-tested them to check which wire was which to match the connector pattern (wire colours differed...), soldered that up, and connected both sensors to my rear brake cable as the front did not have space.
'Done', I thought. But still no joy. Throttle does nothing.
I haven't actually tried riding the bike yet to test if a forward-speed signal is needed for the motor to work, but apart from that my theories are;
-The brake switches have always been the problem (I never tested the kit before I cut the switches out of the original brake levers, although I tried with the switches closed by hand)
- Having soldered up new brake switches maybe I connected the wires in the wrong pattern and the bike is permanently in cut-off.
Solution: bypass the switches so the brakes are always 'off'... but I don't have a circuit diagram to know which wires to connect?
-The controller itself has a fault which is preventing power from being sent to the motor. No way to test this, and the spare controllers available online seem to have different wiring from the one I have.
-The motor has a fault and is not driving because of a break in the windings?
-The controller settings are wrong, the sine-wave drive p & c settings are off... confirmed these with the dealer and they are apparently correct.
So my next steps in the plan are...
-Finish tidying up the wiring as-is, and go for a ride, see if I can get some life out of the motor.
-If still no joy, then go back to the brake cut-off switches and check my soldering pattern, or possibly figure out how to bypass them altogether.
-If still no joy, then the controller or motor must be at fault... and my patience is going to start to wear thin by this point! Might as well just buy another kit...
Any thoughts from my new ebike friends? Is there anything I've missed?
Thanks,
-Pete