Brake Cutout Levers

[tezdread]

Hey,

I've got the woosh 8Fun front hub motor and I didn't buy the brake levers that will cut out the motor. I haven't had the kit long and it's developed a couple of issues and I was wondering how beneficial it would be to have the brake cutout levers installed. I guess that stopping and starting a lot isn't good for the motor (with or without cutout levers) but will having the cutout levers installed reduce the wear on the motor?

Thanks

 

[Nealh]

What are your issues. Brake cut offs are to protect the motor when the throttle is stuck in the on/open position.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You need the brake switches if you're using the pedal sensor. You mustn't try and stop the motor with the brakes. That can do a lot of damage. You don't need the special levers and you only need a switch on the back brake. If you have bare brake cable running down your crossbar, you can make a brake switch from an old or cheap cycle computer. You cut off the sensor leaving some wire on it. Cable-tie it to the crossbar near the cable. Then fix the spoke magnet to the cable so that it moves to the sensor when you operate the brake. Join the two wires to the two wires in the brake connector at the controller. You have to get the right position of the magnet by a bit of trial and error.

 

[tezdread]

First issue was that when the charger was showing that the battery was fully charged, the LCD was only showing it as partly charged. Sent the battery and the charger back but they found no issues. They sent me a new LCD, which I installed at the weekend and everything was fine. (Probably has absolutely nothing to do with not having brake cutouts)

The other issue happened today and until things have been tested by the pros I won't know for sure but IMO, the motor broken.

The motor sounded to me like it was making a bit more noise than usual after installing the new LCD but I wasn't sure as I hadn't been using the bike since the issue started with the battery. I was stationary (on flat ground\road) and then eased the throttle a little bit to get me going and I heard what sounded like metal breaking. I stopped, then when I tried to use the throttle again, I moved forward very slightly and slowly then nothing. When I was only pedaling I wasn't getting hardly any power.

If I lift the front of the bike up and apply the throttle, it seems to be fine but as soon as I put any weight on the bike it doesn't move.

I wish someone would have advised me about brake cutouts when I first started to ask questions!

All I've been able to do is stop the motor with the breaks. I've heard it make a groaning noise before when stopping and starting. Sometimes, the motor kicks in just before I have to apply the breaks! The motor kicks in randomly and always has. What I mean is, sometimes I only have to rotate the pedals once and the motor kicks in, sometimes I'm pedaling a good few seconds before it kicks in. Same level of assistance etc.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

If you're lucky, you have a loose motor phase wire connection at the controller. If they're the bullet type, tighten them up a bit. If you hold the motor still with the brakes when it wants to go, you can blow the MOSFETs in the controller, which can give the symptoms that you have, though a bad connector is more likely.

 

[tezdread]

Thanks d8veh, haven't a clue what you mean though!

I'm not gonna touch it, think it would possibly void warranty?

I guess I'll get brake cutouts installed, which I should've done to start with.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Did you buy and fit the Woosh BPM kit?

 

[tezdread]

Bought it and had it fitted by one of their recognised installers

 

[trex]

the BPM motor is rock solid, it's unlikely the cause, more like the victim of the controller. If you lift the bike off the ground and the growling noise disappears then the gear box should still be OK.The LCD on these kits come from KT. It has some registers reserved for the motor which should not be changed.
Have you contacted the fitter or woosh support? also, what happens if you put everything back like it was?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Bought it and had it fitted by one of their recognised installers

Do you want to fix it yourself? If not, take it back to the installer.
If you want to fix it yourself, let us know.

 

[tezdread]

Well I don't know what happened, but I know I definitely heard what sounded like metal snapping...doesn't mean it was though right

Yes I contacted woosh and they've asked me to test a couple of things.

I haven't contacted the fitter yet, because I wanted to do what woosh said first. Before doing that I wanted to leave it on charge, which I've now done.

One of the things I was asked to do was disconnect the throttle and see if the PA works ok. I couldn't do this before now as the battery wasn't charged much.

I've done the test and PA works fine. So I reconnected the throttle and that also works fine!

The motor however is definitely making a noise that wasn't there before.

The only thing I changed on the LCD was KPH - MPH.

The OP was just to ask if it would be beneficial to have brake cutouts and it seems that it would be and that stopping the motor as I have sometimes had to do by just stopping the bike is not going to be good for the motor (however solid it is)

I'll speak with Woosh again tomorrow and see what they suggest about the noise but I might see if I can drop it off with the installer on Sat so I can get the brake cutouts installed anyway and if possible get the motor\controller checked out.

Thanks for the input, I'll post the outcome.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I can't understand why the installer didn't install the brake switches in the first place. He must have known that you needed them. Anyway, any juddering or rough running of your motor is usually due to the phase wire connections. the phase wires are the main power wires to the motor. There's two connection points. There's a multipin connector near the motor. It's a common problem for it not to be properly pushed together. There's a guideline on it that shows how far it has to go. Wiggle it apart and check that there's no water in it, then push the two halves together until the edge meets the line. If that's all OK, you have to look at the bullet connectors inside the black box. It's easy to over-stretch the barrel that the bullet goes into, which will leave a loose connection. It's also possible that one is not fully inserted. Pull them apart, crimp the barrels down a bit to make them tight, then push in the bullets. It'll all make more sense when you look in the box.