Wilderness
Energy BL36 Brushless Motor Overview
The main component of BL36 conversion kit
is the 400 watt, brushless, gearless, hub
motor. This motor has no moving parts, the
motor itself spins around the center bearing,
which is where the wheel mounts on the front
forks of your bicycle.
MOTOR:
The motor has three phases, or power supply
wires (think of this as a 3-cyclinder automobile
engine.) Each of these phases fires in succession
with the others, determined by the "Central
Brain", or what is called the "PWM
(pulse width modulation) Controller."
Inside the motor on the outer perimeter
there are many "rare earth magnets".
Closer to the center of the motor are the
wire coils, also wired in three phases.
As a pulse of electricity is sent to the
motor from the controller the coils create
a strong magnetic field, which repulses
them from the magnets and causes the motor
to advance (rotate) away from the magnets.
The controller then sends another pulse
of electricity and the next phase fires,
rotating the motor even further. It's helpful
to think of our automobile engine example:
3 cyclinders - each firing one after the
other.
There are three power (phase) wires going
into the hub motor, and five Hall Effects
Sensor wires coming out of the hub motor.
The Hall Effects wires are used only to
help the motor start from a dead stop. If
you have a "Pedal First" controller
(this controller requires that the bike
be moving 3-5 mph before the motor will
kick in), the Hall Effects Sensor wires
are not needed.
WORD OF CAUTION: the Hall Effect Sensor
wires are thin, delicate wires that can
be broken. The most common reason these
wires get broken is because the nuts, which
secure the hub motor/wheel on the front
forks are not sufficiently tightened. If
the nuts are loose, there is a possibility
that the motor will spin within the forks,
wrapping the cable into a ball, and severing
the tiny Hall Effects Sensor wires. In many
cases, you cannot visually see that the
Hall Effects Sensor wires are broken. When
the Hall Effects Wires are severed, the
motor will not fire properly, i.e., the
motor will vibrate or "chatter",
in much the same way that an automobile
engine will run badly when one of it's cyclinders
is not firing. Many people mistake the "chattering"
for a bad wheel-center bearing, when it
is really severed Hall Effects Sensor wires.
CONTROLLER:
How does the controller determine the speed
at which the motor rotates?
The pulses of electricity sent to the hub
motor are determined by the throttle, which
is mounted on the handlebars of your bicycle.
The throttle is actually just a magnet passing
by a "Hall Effects Sensor." Power
is supplied to the throttle from the battery.
The throttle then rations a small amount
of power: from 0 to 5 Volts, which it sends
to the controller. The amount of voltage
sent to the controller is determined by
how much the throttle is twisted. As the
throttle is twisted, "Hall Effects
Sensors" read the amount of voltage,
and send this amount of voltage to the controller.
5 volts means the controller does nothing:
sends no pulses to the hub motor, 0 volts
means the controller sends electrical pulses
to the hub motor as fast as it can.
BATTERIES:
This Electric Powered Bike Conversion Kit
is a 36 Volt system. In your battery pack
(which mounts on the rear rack of your bike),
there are 3 - 12 Volt batteries connected
in series, which adds up to 36 Volts. These
are sealed, gel-cell, lead acid batteries.
Lead Acid Batteries need to be recharged
immediately after EVERY use. They hate to
be left in a discharged state, even if they
are only slightly discharged. I repeat,
THEY HATE TO BE LEFT IN A DISCHARGED STATE!
So, if you forget to recharge your batteries,
leaving them drained for even one day, you
WILL damage them, and they will soon begin
to give you poor performance.
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