Lessons in Patience

Had a slight problem with the e-bike. I say slight - disastrous in terms of the electronics, but not that costly in terms of the damage done.

There are some 14 parameters one can change via the LCD screen. I decided to change a few, including the state at which the throttle engages and the wheel size. All well and good; however, I noticed that the max amperage setting was at 12 and, given the battery is 48v x 20a, I thought that perhaps the setting should be 20 amps and set it thus.

No.2 Son took the bike for a ride for some 10 miles just after I changed the setting, but with no adverse effects. The following morning I was about to set off for a test drive with the new settings and there was a pfftt sound and the smell of electrical burning.

Investigation of the error code that showed on the LCD screen indicated a communications error between the controller and the LCD display. I decided to take it apart, while having ordered a replacement - not expensive at £33.

As you can see, there's a lot of burning at the top. It was bloody difficult to prise apart and the short had basically heat-welded it shut.

A salutary lesson in electronics - just because the battery can pump out 20 amps, it doesn't mean to say all components can take that amount of juice. While the motor and controller are rated above 20 amps, the display screen certainly isn't.

That was the first problem. Next I was keen to get the bike working without the LCD screen - impatience. I was aware that it was possible to have a fully functional e-bike without a screen and all that was needed was a jumper connection on the leads coming from the controller to the screen. 

I searched high and low for some assistance and finally got a chap on an e-bike forum on Facebook to give me some guidance; however, his guidance catered for a brown wire, which I didn't have on my system. I kept searching on t'internet and found a diagram that showed a jury rig to cater for exactly what I wanted. 

Made up the jumper connection, connected it to the controller and set off down the drive. 

Everything seemed normal till I braked, upon which the bike once more went dead. Inspection showed I'd horribly fried some wires on the controller itself. 

Another bloke then told me I should only have connected only the blue and red wires together and isolated the rest, but I think even this is incorrect, as it was the red wire that melted.

A new controller has been duly ordered (cost £35), but it will be several days before it arrives. I must learn the virtue (and cost saving) of patience. I should be back on the road again by next weekend.

Meanwhile, I was alerted to this motorised bike for sale by a friend:

Very retro and just what I want. Unfortunately, it was sold before I managed to contact the seller.