2000 watt brushless hub motor, 5 gel batteries in array (60 volt) Chinese built everything (Jinhua MTL Electric Vehicle Co., LTD.)
Model MTL - EB - 023 "Streetcruiser" distributed by "eCruiZer" in Pasadena, CA
While running under load (in motion, full throttle), motor keeps cutting out, cutting in, every three to six seconds. Like an old car with a bad carbrurator. Batteries check out, motor moves freely with alternate power (off bike), controller looks good (very clean looking board, good solder points, all capacitors and resistors look good, no extra or loose wires, well secured to housing, very large, roomy cast aluminum housing so heat is probably not the issue and no evidence of burning or melting), found suspect (loose) ignition connection, fixed with no difference. No obvious shorts or frayed wires throughout entire bike. Adjusting throttle does not help, same result 10mph, 15mph, 20mph, can't sustain anything over 25 mph because of loss of power. Really eats through the juice (meter falls to half after 10 kilo, normal, about 45 kilo). At wit's end and ready to give up, any help or thoughts appreciated. Thanks!
Motor keeps cutting out
Thu, 07/29/2010 - 12:16
#1
Motor keeps cutting out
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Ecruizer? If thats the place I think it is.. I cant say anything good about them! , but as to the bike problem, that sounds like a phasing problem with the motor.... here is some reference material on that.. the part you want to look at is the bottom of the page.... http://bergerweb.net/electricbike/programming.shtml Hope that helps get you up to full speed.
You could have a phasing problem, or a bad battery. Sometimes a battery will drop in voltage under load, triggering the low voltage cut-off. Test each battery with a 50 amp load, see if voltage remains above 11.8 volts while providing this amperage. (Or, substitute new batteries) Lead- acid batteries are especially prone to this type of failure. Fully charged, just off the charger, each battery should read close to 14.0 volts, and all batteries voltages should be nearly identical. (within about 0.2 volts of each other)---Bob Curry
Robert M. Curry
Bob's knowledge exceeds mine greatly, he's worth listening to. Another thought on battery system.... Make sure each wire, including the ones going from cell to cell are of reasonable gauge to carry the full pack voltage/amperage to the controller. Rusty tin crimp rings on 18gauge hobbyist wire wont power a bike. In a series circuit, one weak point will take the whole thing down. Even fuse holders should be high current rated, and waterproofed.
Ok, thanks for the replies. I think I understand about possible phasing issue, my question would be;
"Wouldn't this have been a problem from the start?" I had just over 2,000 kilometers on the bike before this problem started. Is it possible for the motor to become "out of phase"? If so, how would you prevent this? Could this still be a controller issue? Is there way to bench test (off bike) the controller? I am not a mechanic or an electrician, but I'm fairly handy with tools and equipment and I'm willing to learn. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks again.
Yes, phasing is usually just an installation/setup issue. Once set its usually good. As to the controller "looking" good, parts can loook perfect, and have internal flaws that only a load test or meter will show. When the motor was tested off the bike, was there any load on it to simulate riding, or just "air resistance"? With those kind of performance changes, "something" should be getting hot. It might be time to look up an inexpensive surface temperature meter from some place like harbor tool & freight. I'm going to sit back and learn on this one...