Increase in motor drag

[allotmenteer]

Hello everyone,

I have quite suddenly experienced a large increase in drag from the motor while pedalling without power. The drag is really bad at lower speeds but is hardly noticeable past 15 mph. It seems like I'm riding with the brakes on at speeds from 8 mph to 13 mph. I hadn't used the bike for about 12 days but it was never like this before.

I recently disconnected all the controller connections while I was trying different places to mount the controller box and battery so I imagine there is a loose connection somewhere. One of the hall effect wires maybe?

With the power on the bike rides great so I think the controller itself is working fine.

Any ideas?

Paul

 

[flecc]

If a phase is reverse wired it acts as an electrical brake Paul. In fact Ian recently posted the possibility of using a switch to achieve this as a hidden anti theft device.

It might seem unlikely that's the problem if your bike is running ok otherwise, but possibly it's in some way making a wrong connection or an earth at lower speeds and losing that connection as the hub speeds up. Rechecking your connections and insulations is the best place to start, given the trouble started there.

Reversing the phase connections experimentally won't do any damage, it just won't run in some positions. I can't say that for your controller connections, so care is needed there.
.