Connectors and Voltage

[jfny1978]

Hi everyone - for those who haven't seen my saga, I had an ebike working with a kit purchased from Greenergia through Amazon, and the pedal assist stopped working.

I purchased a new "bare bones" motor from California Ebike, and it arrived today. (Dealing with Greenergia for a refund is a different story I don't care to discuss here right now)

The connectors are different on this new motor. In the top left of the photo below is the connector on the old motor, and on the top right in the connector I used with it.

The bottom left of the photo shows the connectors on the new motor, and the bottom right is a cable that had come with the old kit that I didn't use.

This may seem like a dumb question, but I do not want to break anything...is the cable on the bottom right meant to fit the connector on the bottom left?

Also, this new motor is marked as 48V, and my battery is 36V. That won't be a problem, will it? I understand it won't work at 48V full power, but that's fine. I don't need that power.

And before I get yelled at for posting here instead of contacting California Ebike, I did try to contact them, but I think they're closed for Good Friday.

Thank you.

 

[Gionnirocket]

The connectors are different in style only. The ones provided by California eBike are known to be of better quality.
That said... NO! Do not use the 48v motor with your system. Return it and get the proper one.

 

[JES2020]

What would happen though?
I'm curious. I know overvolting is popular, but never heard of undervolting.
I guess the motor just won't have enough juice to operate properly?

I agree undervolting should be no problem at all. In fact the motor is undervolted even with a 48v battery, when not using full power !

 

[Gionnirocket]

It probably just won't work as the 36v is below the usual Low Voltage Cutoff of 40v for a a 48v motor

 

[Gionnirocket]

The low voltage cutoff is governed by controller and BMS to protect the battery.
As far as I know, it's not restricted by the motor.

Correct.. So now you're running a motor without a controller?
Just use the properly rated motor with matched controller instead of trying to be smarter than the manufacturer

 

[jfny1978]

Here are some wider photos. Top is the motor with Anderson Connector. Bottom is the wire that goes to the battery connector. Even if I should solder an Anderson Connector to the part in the bottom of the photo, I should be able to connect these 2 pieces to test to make sure it all works, right?

 

[JES2020]

The low voltage cutoff is governed by controller and BMS to protect the battery.
As far as I know, it's not restricted by the motor.

Agree again.The motor will not be at it's full usage, that's all.

 

[EMGX]

I have a 48v 500w geared rear hub motor kit that I bought on amazon. It came with a KT 11a-22a 36v/48v controller that automatically recognizes the difference between 36v and 48v. I've mostly run it on a 48v battery but also tried using a 36v battery for a short test and it worked well with that also. If your controller isn't dual voltage that might not work.

Edit: That bafang has a built in controller, right? If it does and it is rated 48v then I doubt that it is a dual voltage controller and run with a 36v battery it will probably give a low voltage fault. I recently installed a 48v 750w TSDZ2 mid drive - the new C3 display has menu choices for 24v, 36v, 48v but the controller is for 48v only, when I tried a 36v battery on the 36v setting it gave a low voltage fault. The seller informed me that it will only work with the rated voltage battery despite the menu choices. Bafang might be different but I suspect you will find the same issue.

I use Anderson powerpole crimp connectors, the connectors on the motors I have used (two TSDZ2 and two different geared hub motors) all had crimped on bullet connectors so soldering might be better but not a standard for those motors.

PS
the anderson connectors are easier to use if you slide connect them together as they are designed for instead of loose individual. Looking into the ends with the silver connectors on the top, the convention is that the red would be on the right, black on the left.

 

[jfny1978]

Thank you all for the help so far. Also, I have an EggRider. I think I can use that to set the battery voltage and it should be smart enough to control everything?

 

[Gionnirocket]

Thank you all for the help so far. Also, I have an EggRider. I think I can use that to set the battery voltage and it should be smart enough to control everything?

Do not do anything before speaking to California eBikes.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I have a 48v 500w geared rear hub motor kit that I bought on amazon. It came with a KT 11a-22a 36v/48v controller that automatically recognizes the difference between 36v and 48v. I've mostly run it on a 48v battery but also tried using a 36v battery for a short test and it worked well with that also. If your controller isn't dual voltage that might not work.

Correct, you have a motor and controller Designed to work in that manner.
The BBS02B is not.

 

[jfny1978]

Do not do anything before speaking to California eBikes.

Luckily I have other bike projects to work on in the meantime if I get bored

 

[jfny1978]

Nowhere on original post said that it was BBS02 with 48V controller integrated into it.
I thought OP was talking about hub motor with separate controller.

And yeah.. in this case, if OP is using 48V controller, it will get cut off at 40V, 41V or whatever the protection kicks in.

Alternatively, OP could swap the controller, but that would take extra time and money.

Well, I am wondering, if I use the EggRider to tell it I have a 36V battery, won't it take care of it?

(I think I am going to exercise more patience than I am used to and wait to talk to California Ebikes, but it's fun to talk about anyway)

 

[Gionnirocket]

Nowhere on original post said that it was BBS02 with 48V controller integrated into it.
I thought OP was talking about hub motor with separate controller.

And yeah.. in this case, if OP is using 48V controller, it will get cut off at 40V, 41V or whatever the protection kicks in.

Alternatively, OP could swap the controller, but that would take extra time and money.

Yeah... He had an early post about the problems with his kit from Greenergia.. So that's how I knew what he had.
Even if you can get it to work... You're asking for trouble with brand new hardware. Why would you spend all this money just to hack it up for a less efficient setup at best? And real problems most likely.

 

[JES2020]

Well, I am wondering, if I use the EggRider to tell it I have a 36V battery, won't it take care of it?

(I think I am going to exercise more patience than I am used to and wait to talk to California Ebikes, but it's fun to talk about anyway)

We are all learning here, discussing your projects is helpful.
I'm learning how much more complicated middrives are than hubs.

 

[jfny1978]

Yeah... He had an early post about the problems with his kit from Greenergia.. So that's how I knew what he had.
Even if you can get it to work... You're asking for trouble with brand new hardware. Why would you spend all this money just to hack it up for a less efficient setup at best? And real problems most likely.

I am pretty sure California Ebikes told me a few weeks ago that all the motors are pretty much the same with different programming, so I'll see if they tell me to just program it differently with the Eggrider. They promised they'd take care of me when I told them I wanted the new motor from them, and I trust them.

 

[jfny1978]

We are all learning here, discussing your projects is helpful.
I'm learning how much more complicated middrives are than hubs.

LOL. Yeah, it's crazy, and I came in not being someone who knew anything about bikes. But I'm learning a lot. I also have non ebikes I am messing with. I had people from Facebook give me 6 bikes in various states of ruin and I've been tinkering. It's fun.

 

[EMGX]

Nowhere on original post said that it was BBS02 with 48V controller integrated into it.
I thought OP was talking about hub motor with separate controller.

That's what I thought also. His post with the bafang image came up while I was typing my message so I didn't see it.

 

[EMGX]

Here we go again, sorry, I've done both mid and hub motor installations on now several bikes. At least for the TSDZ2 installation of the hub is overall simpler and neater. To each his own, but I've done both so there's that.

 

[JES2020]

LOL. Yeah, it's crazy, and I came in not being someone who knew anything about bikes. But I'm learning a lot. I also have non ebikes I am messing with. I had people from Facebook give me 6 bikes in various states of ruin and I've been tinkering. It's fun.

Agree.
I spent the winter learning how to mod my controller to boost the amps. Now it feels like I have a new ebike.
I hit 38.6 MPH with my battery at 49.x volts...an increase in speed was totally unexpected, I was just looking for more acceleration. Turned out that my 22 peak amp rated controller was only peaking at 18 amps!
I boosted it to 32 peak and hit 28.6 MPH with only 28 peak amps !
My next full charge (54.9 v) should give even more speed!