How can I connect a replacement different controller?

[duggie]

I accelerated very quickly and the bike cut out, so I think I have damaged the controller. So I'm going to replace the controller. I took out the controller from its compartment and out it popper with a tangle of wires. I disconnected it, marking each connection. There is a maker's name zunuo, but internet comes up with nothing. So, I'm going to have to by a controller but the terminals will be different. How the heck am I going to buy a controller and connect it up. The connections will be different, the wires will be different. It seems impossible. What can I do?

In the meantime I have wrote to the place i got it from, but I can't bank on that they will help. So what should I do?

 

[indianajo]

Good luck. I managed to find one with compatible rectangular connectors, but the pinouts were all different. I had to buy a new throttle & PAS pickup. Took me 6 weeks of probing to figure it out & I still don't have the brake cutouts or "3 speed" or "cruise control" working. Apparently PAS pickup is not available on the seoondary market, only from HK or Shaghai. Some of the ebay vendors have names on their controller connectors. Most do not. When you buy one be sure to save the picture (which ebay prohibits) with the English names. Mine came with only ****ese labels and the vendor ad with the picture disappeared as soon as I bought it. I didn't acquire an op system that would screen capture a picture until after I bought the controller.
The connectors everybody was using in 2017 are totally non-available now. Some people have the rectangular connectors that you can buy a kit of pins & blocks from ebay. Most vendors have the juli connectors (round injection molded) now that have random pinouts and no labeling except for bafang products.

 

[harryS]

Before you start cutting away, does the bike power up? Do the lights work? Is there a display that lights up, or some LED's on the handlebars? If not, did you check for a blown fuse in the battery? The bike in your picture uses a battery that has both a fuse for charging (under the lever), and a fuse for operation.

I also saw some thoughts about whether this is a geared or direct drive motor. The way to check is to spin the rear wheel forward/backward. A geared motor will have more resistance going backward, and you can usually hear the gears turn, A direct drive feels the same in either direction. This test works for a healthy motor< but not if you melted something.

If you happened to melt wires in the controller or in the motor, a geared motor will be hard to turn the reverse direction, and a direct drive motor will be hard to turn in either direction. If you were trying to throttle up that impossible hill, now that warm weather is here, maybe you melted something.

If you did destroy the controller, best approach is to buy it from Ma and Pa Kettle. You have the same unit and it's plug/play. Otherwise, you have to replace the LCD and controller as a unit and figure out the wiring. . We can talk about how to do this if needed.

 

[duggie]

Indianajo..........thanks, I've clearly got a job on from what you say, so that any any info will help. I'll take it all in. Thanks.

harryS........... Thanks a lot for that. I never noticed the fuse under the handle. I've just checked it.........no fuse! Also the larger one not under the handle......no fuse! They take the glass tube ones. I would have thought that the battery shouldn't work without a fuse in, so that seems, odd. Maybe that is why I have damaged something because there wasn't any fuse protection.

Spun the back wheel. It is geared and as it should be.

The bike powers up as normal. There are five leds on the handlebars next to the throttle. The top three are green, the bottom two are red and amber. When I turn the key the top three green all come on and also a bottom red one. This is normal, how it has always been. I turn on the control panel and seem ready to go, but as soon as I set off the bike cuts power and the top three go out with only the bottom red and amber leds lit up. Sometimes, after the bike has been left a good while I can ride it for a minute or so before it cuts out.

I can find ma & pa Keteles on internet but can't get a message to them. I have to go through alibaba and its messaging is insane, but I'll keep trying.

 

[harryS]

I think it's a battery issue if your bike powers up and stutters to a stop under power. I hate it when that happens. So you bought this from overseas without a local dealer. You are braver than me.

What is best done in this situation is to swap the battery with one from another working ebike, and see if the problem moves with the battery, That may be impossible for some owners, but a willing ebike repair shop could do that.

 

[duggie]

harryS.......I bought two batteries, and it is the same with both of them.

I can't find the same anywhere. The seller not got back to me. I guess it was a gamble buying that way.

It just seems an impossible nightmare. What am i going to have to do? How can I know which wire is which and for what? I'm totally out of my depth. I could buy one but them there will be problems with that OR are they all basically the same and will work with my control panel? this is juts the very worst. I'm totally on my own. I went to two shops and they didn't want to know, anything like this with a bike they have sold they send back, told me they couldn't do it or test it at all. I think in this problem I have been triple unlucky. And it might not even be the controller.

I think I'm just going to have to write it off, £1,100 down the Swany. Life, another one on the chin. Been too many lately. But that's life sometimes. Just very bad luck. I'd like to get on to the seller but it is soooo difficult to get their insane messaging to work.

I think i will have to write it off. I will not be put off. I converted my girlfriend's bike with a bafang. I have the same bike and so will convert one for myself. One would expect that bafang parts would be obtainable. I can't make anymore progress with this fat tyre, I just can't see how.

 

[kevinmccune]

harryS.......I bought two batteries, and it is the same with both of them.

I can't find the same anywhere. The seller not got back to me. I guess it was a gamble buying that way.

It just seems an impossible nightmare. What am i going to have to do? How can I know which wire is which and for what? I'm totally out of my depth. I could buy one but them there will be problems with that OR are they all basically the same and will work with my control panel? this is juts the very worst. I'm totally on my own. I went to two shops and they didn't want to know, anything like this with a bike they have sold they send back, told me they couldn't do it or test it at all. I think in this problem I have been triple unlucky. And it might not even be the controller.

I think I'm just going to have to write it off, £1,100 down the Swany. Life, another one on the chin. Been too many lately. But that's life sometimes. Just very bad luck. I'd like to get on to the seller but it is soooo difficult to get their insane messaging to work.

I think i will have to write it off. I will not be put off. I converted my girlfriend's bike with a bafang. I have the same bike and so will convert one for myself. One would expect that bafang parts would be obtainable. I can't make anymore progress with this fat tyre, I just can't see how.

Repower the dang thing from wheel to controller, you already have the frame and tire and batteries. much cheaper than whole unit, power wires are easy to figure out you might add some extra oomph while you are at it, not much different than a 'frame up" build( actually easier beings you have battery hookup etc) on the controllers( always include brake cut off) you could skip alarm and other superfluous functions, do try to find headlight wire if you have light on bike sometimes you do not even need 'Hall effect" wires, just do not short anything, had this problem with a bike I had using a different controller, used" reductio ad absurdum"( found out what wouldn't work and went from there) actually basically a process of elimination, eg., the hall wires come in threes, the power wires are two, the brake cutoffs are paired or two wires into one and some kits come with the wires laid out and identified the PAS wires are usually easy and if you don;'t have an alarm skip, reverse wire usually skip, etc. Some Folks can actually help you if you are handy with a multi-meter.
Remember one thing the lithium batteries dump current so fast you can create a plasma where there used to be wires and if you are inside the controller the capacitors usually are charged, you can do it, be patient and think. proceed with caution and make friends with the Neighborhood electronic genuis.

 

[AHicks]

I'm curious about the voltage level of both the batteries. That's where I would start. Then, if they show up in the range expected when checked, follow the voltage to the controller, checking it as it enters the controller. If still OK, the batteries and the power to the controller are pieces of the puzzle you can rule out as the problem you are trying to identify.

From there, thing get a little trickier, too many variables to write about here, but really nearly as simple. Stay focused on one item at a time, checking each as you go. Throttle, PAS sensor, and motor. Avoid looking at everything involved at once, and focus on one piece at a time. Major connectors for instance, can be unplugged, checked for corrosion, and plugged back in.