Converting Viking Easy Street from PAS to twist throttle?

[Neil Rothwell]

My father has trouble with this bike using the PAS as he wants to use it to accompany my mother on walks and the PAS won't start without peddling and then is too fast. He had an old ebike and this had a twist throttle. Can the Easy street be converted to a twist throttle or thumb throttle by-passing the PAS. If so what wires do I replace/hook up to with a three wire throttle off ebay or where ever you recommend? I am competent with solder and wiring just need to know which ones to change. Thanks in advance.

Neil

 

[Nealh]

You have to remove the controller to see if it has a spare 3 pin wire connector these wires are often or can be the same colour as the pas wires, if so then you can wire a throttle up to this connector. If you have both then you can disconnect the pas if you don't want it to work. Wiring throttle to the pas connector doesn't work, other wise if no spare connector is available you will have to get a new controller with pas and throttle capability.
If unsure show us a pic of the controller with wiring nicely spread out to see.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It might be a bit awkward on this bike if it's the one with the small cylindrical battery in front of the seat post. If it is, the motor controller must be in the base of the receptacle thing. that makes it very difficult to use an alternative controller.

The problem sounds like it's because the motor controller uses speed control for the PAS rather than power control, so you get full power whatever level you're on until you approach the target speed of the level.

 

[Neil Rothwell]

I have been to look at the bike and the controller is embedded in rubber at the bottom of the battery holder. There are no additonal cables and the only leads coming out seem to go to motor, on/off, brakes and the PAS. The issue is that it takes 3 full rotations of the pedals and then the power comes on and isn't controllable. The good news is the battery holder above the controller has a simple 2 prong connector and inside the bottom section this is connected to the controller by 2 wires, so should be able to easily connect the battery to a new controller. So it seems to me that if I can look at the motor and determine if it is brushed (2 wires) or brushless (3 wires) then I should be able to source a controller and wire in switch, thumb lever (3 wire hall effect?) and possible the brakes and ignore the PAS. Happy to mount the additional controller on the frame somewhere in water proof box. Any advise on controller and if the Viking Easy Rider is brushless and how to wire up all gratefully accepted. Dad has 2 ebikes, an old gen 1 Marin conversion to front hub and a BH Emotion MTB so he is used to ebikes. But wants one to put in the back of the car to accompany my mother on walks.

 

[Neil Rothwell]

Think I am confusing myself, hopefully will be bale to just use a 3 wire throttle or thumb lever! Does Hall Effect refer to the type of motor and controller?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Without a connector for the throttle, you're pretty well knackered. Pull the motor connector to have a look at the number of pins. 3 is sensorless and 9 is sensored. A new controller in a box or bag somewhere will sort it. The main complication would be the extra wires for the throttle and display, which would have to run down the folding steering head. A current comtrol (also called torque simulation) controller with a LCD will solve the PAS power problem. Obviously, you'll have to do a bit of work on the connectors, but in principle, it's very straight forward.

This one with a S-LCD5 display should be OK if it's a sensored motor. For sensorless, it's the S06P:

https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-kit/546-s06s-250w-torque-simulation-sine-wave-controller-ebike-kit.html?search_query=s06s&results=22

 

[Nealh]

Even if your hub is sensorless no halls, the brakes may still use a hall sensor as can the pas.

 

[Neil Rothwell]

So as he is an experienced ebiker do I need to wire in the brakes or can I just go power in, on/off, motor output and thumb throttle. Will check if 3 or 9 wires, if 9 do I need to use compatible controller or can I just use the three for the brushless motor?

 

[anotherkiwi]

You need e-brakes if you are going to use a throttle - it can eventually jam WOT. Not a good thing!

 

[Neil Rothwell]

Thanks for the advise so far. Think I am getting there, motor is 3 wire. It is 24V so I can use the S06P controller. Will wire in the brakes for safety. Will use a thumb throttle. Do I need the LCD or will the LCD for S line controllers work. I can't see one for P series. Will this give me anything other than battery condition, do I need one for power levels if using a throttle or is it just a nice to have?

 

[Nealh]

You need the one for S controllers whether ending in P or S.

 

[Neil Rothwell]

Final question, do I need the LCD for it to work or just to see state of charge etc?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You need the LCD.

 

[Neil Rothwell]

Many thanks to d8veh and Nealh for the help in sourcing the parts. Parts finally arrived after being lost in post. Used a courier second time round. Install went well and bike works very well on power level 4 or 5. It tends to cut out on 1,2 or 3 setting after 100M. Battery seems to be fine and the manual suggests that the unit should detect the voltage and set itself. Anyone seen this effect?