What are the 5 slots on an Aventon battery?

[spokewrench]

My Abound worked fine when I shut it down at 8:30 last night. At 8:30 this morning, the motor wouldn't run. The display had no troubleshooting help except to say the battery is at 92%. The speedometer works. The brake light is off unless I pull a lever. There was no response when I substituted an identical throttle.

I unplugged the motor and removed the controller. Nothing looked suspicious. The five blades to which the battery connects look find. I checked the corresponding slots in the battery. The three in the middle, A, B, and C, look fine. The end ones, labeled + and -, look bad. Is it possible that only the motor uses those two the end slots?

Two screws hold the connector in the battery, but I don't know if I could pry it out or buy a replacement. How about contact cleaner and a burnishing tool?

 

[Gionnirocket]

That's what I would try... Some contact cleaner should at the very least be a temporary fix if that's your problem.
That said if the display is working, the battery is making a connection.
As for the ABC connections there's many variables and that's specific to that bike and/or brand on what they do. Many times the power connection is in parallel so 2 slots for + and 2 for -

 

[spokewrench]

I cleaned the contacts. Now the brake and tail lights don't work. I hadn't disconnected that cable. I took the controller out again. The taillight connector was tight. Everything was clean with no sign of cable damage. The display, speedometer, and headlight still work. It seems like the controller is what the two problems have in common.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Not familiar with your particular bike but yes the controller seems to be the common denominator.
Have you checked to see if you have an Aventon dealer in your area?

 

[spokewrench]

Not familiar with your particular bike but yes the controller seems to be the common denominator.
Have you checked to see if you have an Aventon dealer in your area?

Aventon replaced the controller and taillight last August, 9 months ago, under their warranty. On the invoice, I noted the list price, something like $65. That's not too bad, if they can still supply it.

The OEM controller on my Radmission was flaky. An aftermarket replacement has been very reliable. If there were such a replacement for my Abound, that's the way I'd go.

 

[Chazmo]

Ugh. How annoying, spoke. At least you could ride it this way.

 

[kevinmccune]

I despise proprietary,I love universal and standard,one of my biggest hates are those stinking poly headlight covers,my Cousin( who would argue with a fencepost( you know the competitive type) didn't like standard,once upon a time you could go to the local ,gas,oil and grocery and acquire a sealed beam or a standard "Edison base light bulb and be happy about it or a spin on oil filter,nowadays there is no guarantee of interchange,the burgeoning landfills reflect this.

 

[PedalUma]

@spokewrench, Have you yet tried disconnecting the brake lever motor cutout wires? Those levers have an adjustment screw.

 

[spokewrench]

@spokewrench, Have you yet tried disconnecting the brake lever motor cutout wires? Those levers have an adjustment screw.

Customer support asked the same thing. When I pulled a brake lever the brake light lit. When it went out, I figured that showed that no brake switch was closed. Nevertheless, I popped the connectors and the motor still wouldn't run. There ought to be a tool for opening e-bike connectors!

This was the controller they sent me under warranty 9 months ago. Every few days, when I opened the throttle slightly to help me get under way, the ride would feel bumpy for the first couple of seconds, as if I were rolling on cleated steel. It was a mystery. Now I think it was a symptom of a defective controller.

For $99.20, I hope the next one lasts longer. I agree with @kevinmccune . I wish I could go with another brand of controller.

 

[kevinmccune]

@spokewrench, Have you yet tried disconnecting the brake lever motor cutout wires? Those levers have an adjustment screw.

sounds like the Hall sensors are a bit knackered as well,just for giggles disconnect those 5 puny wires,next controller I do will be with minimum wires.

 

[spokewrench]

sounds like the Hall sensors are a bit knackered as well,just for giggles disconnect those 5 puny wires,next controller I do will be with minimum wires.

The Hall sensors in the motor? Would they cause the tail light to fail? On times when I got a bumpy start, I was unable to repeat it. I suspected a bad connection.

I recall that the controller has a fat cable to the motor, a 5-conductor cable to the tail light, a 2-conductor cable to the headlight, a fat cable to the display, and a cable to the torque sensor, which I don't use. I don't remember 5 puny wires.

 

[kevinmccune]

my little 15 a 350 watt controller has 5 little puny wires the instructions sez Hall effect and the motor will probably run without them,it said if you have a rumbling or jerking unplug the hall sensors you probably have a bigger controller with 2-3 Juliet connections? if you have signal and brake lights I would imagine there is some separate wiring for them to complicate matters,my trike conversion is going to have very little from the controller( even losing one brake cutout and a simple led display,the stock controller was 36 volt and probably judging by the wire size 10 amp,I intend to use a 48 volts battery and feed a little more amps to the motor on PA 3 it didn't have a lot of torque,imagining this is going to help a little m y other bike with a 22 amp controller runs great and feels strong( will pull 625 watts) never had a driveway it wouldn't go up with me helping and the one driveway wea extremely taxing to even walk up( on a ridge)

 

[spokewrench]

Yea, Julet connectors! When I removed the cadence sensor, I remembered my automotive hose removal pliers.

Amazon.com

If they would work on Julet connectors, it would have been a breakthrough. They wouldn't work.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Yea, Julet connectors! When I removed the cadence sensor, I remembered my automotive hose removal pliers.

Amazon.com

If they would work on Julet connectors, it would have been a breakthrough. They wouldn't work.

Put a little silicone grease on the mating rubber and plastic before assembly... but keep it off the copper pins.

 

[spokewrench]

Put a little silicone grease on the mating rubber and plastic before assembly... but keep it off the copper pins.

They used to say don't grease the posts or cable terminals of a car battery. There's a hairline crack where the rubber case meets the battery post. I'd prevent corrosion by using a q-tip to cover that crack with silicone grease. I was careful not to get any one the post until I read an article by a highly experience electrical engineer. Among other credentials, he worked for RCA in the days of mechanical tuners. When you changed channels, wipers for several circuits had to make contact. A little resistance would spoil reception. To prevent oxidation, they would smear the contacts with silicone grease. There was never a problem. He said the grease does not prevent metal-to-metal contact.

I tried it with battery posts. I'd remove terminals from a car battery, scour posts and terminals, connect them, and read the voltage drop across each connection at 15 amps or so. It computed to microohms. Then I'd remove terminals, grease terminals and posts with silicone, reconnect, and test again. The resistance was the same. As the engineer said, silicone grease did not interfere with metal-to-metal contact.

Hmmm... I have some spare Julet extension cables. I can see if packing with silicone grease changes the voltage drop.

 

[Gionnirocket]

It's not what the meter reads immediately after assembly... It's what happens down the road.
Silicone grease is not conductive and the julet connection is low voltage/low current... It doesn't take much to foul them.
In your current situation a little grease will help facilitate disassembly, so why go beyond what you need.
Lastly... There's no reason to coat the pins if the plastic/rubber lock out the moisture if that's your reason for using the grease.

 

[spokewrench]

Mechanical TV tuners had to handle VHF/UHF signals of very low voltage and current. The contacts would perform fine immediately after assembly, but although they were kept dry, oxidation could cause trouble down the road. RCA electrical engineers found that silicone grease kept them working down the road.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Then go for it and loaded it up with grease

 

[PCeBiker]

,.. RCA electrical engineers found that silicone grease kept them working down the road.

I'm a Big Fan of dielectric grease, and I Greased the Hell outta all my connectors when I first got my ebikes.

It not only seals and protects the metal pins, but it forces out any air pockets that could pull water into the connection as it heats up and cools down.

The only time I screwed something up was when I put it on a video cable connector and the video turned pale red.

I tried to remove it with contact cleaner and brake cleaner, but it didn't work.

I figure that the super high frequency of a video signal gets lost in the silicone?

Bad connections and intermittent connections would create a path for electrical gremlins to get in and haunt my ebike.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I'm a Big Fan of dielectric grease, and I Greased the Hell outta all my connectors when I first got my ebikes.

It not only seals and protects the metal pins, but it forces out any air pockets that could pull water into the connection as it heats up and cools down.

The only time I screwed something up was when I put it on a video cable connector and the video turned pale red.

I tried to remove it with contact cleaner and brake cleaner, but it didn't work.

I figure that the super high frequency of a video signal gets lost in the silicone?

Bad connections and intermittent connections would create a path for electrical gremlins to get in and haunt my ebike.

So am I, but as an electrician we were always taught to keep metal to metal contacts clean and free of any contaminants. You seal around a clean connection.
On new connections you have a better chance that the tight connection between conductors will displace the grease and not be an issue. But on used hardware you definitely run a risk.
So following my schooling I've never put it on the conductors and only on the mating plastic housings... And never an oxidation issue.
I guess I've been lucky doing this compared to the those posting here with issue after issue