By UnicycleSanta - Wed Jul 24, 2019 3:22 am
- Wed Jul 24, 2019 3:22 am
#13186
Did some tinkering today. I found a forum called EndlessSphere and there is a huge wealth of information on there about these brainpower controllers. The first thing I looked into is how to get the regenerative/electric braking active. On the rear of the controller there are 2 solder points, one labled DS and the other labled X. Bridging these two contacts enables the functionality of electric braking.
The electric braking feature turns on when the white and black wires coming out of the controller are shorted:
The current issue is figuring out how to translate the shorting of these wires into brake lever action (or letting off the throttle) as the switch in the brake lever is magnetic and requires an input voltage to get an output.
Another functionality I discovered is that (like the LCD version) these 350w controllers have 3 speed modes. Medium is achieved by shorting no pins, low is achieved by shorting pin K1 to ground, and max speed is achieved by shorting pin K2 to ground. I did this and the top speed did increase, however it hangs at the medium speed for a second before going to full power.
I am sure if the LCD version were taken apart all we would find would be a power output leading to the LCD unit as well as wires going to each of the currently unpopulated programming contacts, so an LCD could possibly be added to the non LCD version, it would just require taking apart the LCD version to get a wiring map. At that point I'd just buy the LCD system which I'm probbaly going to do anyway
One other thing I learned about these controllers is they expect a certain voltage return on the throttle signal line for 0-100% speed. I believe it was 0.8v to 3.8v. If the stock throttle returns a range lower than this, the scooter will not be able to hit its top speed. I will probe the return of the throttle to see what its putting out when fed 5v.
I like the idea of moving the LCD to underneath the stock dash window, that would make it look clean. It would be easy to do, I just cant figure out how to get the stock dash apart, I think the window is glued on. I agree with forgetting about the stock dash, at this point it will just be a hinderance.
So current list of things to do:
- low end power
- electric braking assist
- full lighting functionality
- ???
The electric braking feature turns on when the white and black wires coming out of the controller are shorted:
The current issue is figuring out how to translate the shorting of these wires into brake lever action (or letting off the throttle) as the switch in the brake lever is magnetic and requires an input voltage to get an output.
Another functionality I discovered is that (like the LCD version) these 350w controllers have 3 speed modes. Medium is achieved by shorting no pins, low is achieved by shorting pin K1 to ground, and max speed is achieved by shorting pin K2 to ground. I did this and the top speed did increase, however it hangs at the medium speed for a second before going to full power.
I am sure if the LCD version were taken apart all we would find would be a power output leading to the LCD unit as well as wires going to each of the currently unpopulated programming contacts, so an LCD could possibly be added to the non LCD version, it would just require taking apart the LCD version to get a wiring map. At that point I'd just buy the LCD system which I'm probbaly going to do anyway
I saw your video, that thing runs very smooth and the top speed seems just as fast if not slightly faster than my system with the K2 pin bridged to ground. My main concern is pulling power, as currently in the lower end of the range it almost doesn't get up small hills and it makes a racket when doing so. I have a hill going up to my house and if I try hitting that the scooter will slow to a stop very fast and I have to manually push it. The deck lights can be powered off the 36v rail, but are we sure the headlight is only 5v? Or is it 12v? Either way, a step down board can be wired in with the 36v rail that powers the tail lights so they all come on when activated. Unless the 5v rail from the controller is also switched on and off with the same command, then this could be used. I will do some probing aroundCjwelcome wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 11:14 pm@UnicycleSanta hey man so good news I got the first test ride in around my local park tonight and it was a lot of fun and pretty fast. Top speed on level ground had about 22-23 mph and I must say I’m rather enjoying this little programmable throttle a little too much to try and connect the stock display anymore. It would very likely limit customizable settings without proper knowledge and probably an Arduino to program it every time you want to change something. The motor was warm after my 3 mile ride by not really hot at all and the motor controller was just as cool as it was when I put it inside the neck which is awesome this display has some cool settings to mess around with of which I found how to actually program them on some random alibaba listing I would have never figured it out and after going through the settings I was on only 100% power out of the three(50,100,150) % so I’ll have to try the 150% tomorrow and test again but it was pretty darn decent I must say I think it’s definitely worth it to get this kit with the throttle and one thing I may try is actually soldering up the stock throttle to this display and heck maybe even unsoldering the display and mounting it under the handle bar tinted plastic would look very professional I didn’t notice any jerky feel to the ride and it was the basic humming of the electric motor running when accelerating that all I heard but anyway I fixed the YouTube link in my last posting and had a blast riding it around. After looking over the internals one last time I actually think the lights in the deck just not the handlebars are rated for 36V so essentially the wires that can be toggled power on and off from the display can just go directly power the deck lights only thing is the brake lights won’t work as, brighter when braking and regular when not, without something more complex which I’m willing to sacrifice a little on the brake lights at least they all will be lit and be able to be turned on and off from the throttle display anyway watch the YouTube video and tell me what to think
One other thing I learned about these controllers is they expect a certain voltage return on the throttle signal line for 0-100% speed. I believe it was 0.8v to 3.8v. If the stock throttle returns a range lower than this, the scooter will not be able to hit its top speed. I will probe the return of the throttle to see what its putting out when fed 5v.
I like the idea of moving the LCD to underneath the stock dash window, that would make it look clean. It would be easy to do, I just cant figure out how to get the stock dash apart, I think the window is glued on. I agree with forgetting about the stock dash, at this point it will just be a hinderance.
Details? Are you running the LCD setup? How did you go about powering everything? We need those juicy details man
So current list of things to do:
- low end power
- electric braking assist
- full lighting functionality
- ???