My boat conversion from diesel to el.

[BjornO]

First test with my new 5 kW motor with 300 A sine controller:
As a first test, I only connected the motor cables, the hall connector, a 5 kOhm pot to the throttle input and connected the ignition.
It beeps once and blinks red once. After a few seconds it beeps/blinks 12 times repeatedly. The voltage in is 50 V. The voltage at the throttle connector is 4.5 V.

Edited the subject so that I can use the same thread for all questions

[Bikemad]

Hi Björn,

12 regular flashes indicates an abnormal throttle signal voltage (either too high or too low).

If the 4.5V at the throttle connector is on the signal wire (not the +5V wire) when you turn on the battery power, this would cause the error because the controller expects a throttle signal voltage of 0.8~1V with the throttle released, or 2.25~2.5V if the controller is set for a boat style throttle with forward/reverse and Neutral in the mid position.

A safety feature of the controller automatically prevents the motor from starting if the throttle is not fully released (or in the Neutral position) when the controller is initially powered up.

As you are using a potentiometer instead of a Hall effect throttle, the maximum and minimum signal output voltage is likely to go beyond the upper and lower limits that define the controller's acceptable working range, and this will probably cause the same error code 12.



Resistors could be placed inline on the +5v supply and the ground connection of the potentiometer to ensure the signal voltage remains within the required range.
I would suggest a 1.5k resistor on the ground wire and a 2k resistor on the +5V wire as shown below:



With a 4.5V supply this should hopefully give a working range output of between 0.8V and 3.5V from the potentiometer, or between 0.88V and 3.8V with a 5V supply.



Alan
 
EDIT: Diagram added

[BjornO]

Thank you,
The 4.5 V is on the +5 V supply from the controller to the throttle. The throttle signal will be 0-4.5 V depending on the pot setting.
I will add those resistors and try again.
By the way, do you have a list of error codes for the controller?
Björn

[Bikemad]

Hi Björn,

A list of the error codes can be found on page 5 of the VEC controller guide.

Alan
 

[BjornO]

Hi Allan

with the resistors it works perfectly well. Next step will be building the throttle box for the boat.

Björn

[BjornO]

A new question. I have decided to use the potentiometer for both directions with neutral in the middle. However, for safety, I would like to have a switch for neutral as well. I may use the ignition switch for this, but then the controller will restart each time I use it. Is there another simple solution?

[Bikemad]

Hi Björn,

The simplest way to achieve what you're looking for is to have a separate On/Off switch (or an Emergency Stop button) connected to the +5V and GND brake wires.

With the switch in the On position (or the Emergency Stop button depressed) the motor will be disabled.

Alan

EDIT
If the Emergency Stop button can only open its contacts when activated, you would need to wire this in series with the throttle signal wire to break the throttle circuit, or inline with the e-lock feed to disconnect the feed to the controller.
Please Note:  Deactivating the throttle will not stop the motor from running if the cruise control is already engaged.

[BjornO]

Hi Björn,

The simplest way to achieve what you're looking for is to have a separate On/Off switch (or an Emergency Stop button) connected to the +5V and GND brake wires.

With the switch in the On position (or the Emergency Stop button depressed) the motor will be disabled.

Alan

Hi, I just tried this, and it works, but when the switch is On, the controller beeps and the red LED blinks 15 times as long as the switch os closed.
Björn

[Bikemad]

Hi Björn,

I'm pretty sure that the 15 regular flashes on the VEC controllers indicates that the brakes are applied (or possibly a brake switch/wiring fault).

In your case it is obviously the Neutral switch simulating a long application of the brakes.

In car and bike applications, if the motor refused to run when the throttle was operated, the constant 15 regular flashes would flag up a problem with either a momentary brake switch stuck in the "ON" position, or a short circuit fault somewhere on the brake switch wiring, but in your boat application, it will remind you that your controller is powered up but you're still in Neutral. 

I have a BAC-601 Smart Display unit which I use with a Magic Pie 4 hubmotor:



Mine always displays the "Error 1" code (brake lever failure) every time the brakes are applied.

Alan
 

[BjornO]

Hi Alan,

If I use the brake signal as Neutral switch anyway, do I risk to harm the controller? I think the beeping/flashing will cease when the switch is reset into its Run position.
(The controller will be mounted in the engine room and the beeping/flashing will not be noticed from the helm position.)

Björn

[Bikemad]

Hi Björn,

It shouldn't harm the controller as it is no different to someone sitting in a parked car with their foot resting on the brake pedal, or going down a long steep incline in very slow moving traffic.

I imagine that it simply sends a low level signal binary input to a single pin of the controller chip, in the same way as I suspect the reverse and cruise inputs operate.

Alan
 

[BjornO]

Hi, one more thing,

The cruise control may be useful in my boat, so I have some questions.
Is this input for a pushbutton or a toggle switch?
How do I use the different settings?

Björn

[Bikemad]

Hi Björn,

The input wires are for the manual option, which uses a simple momentary push button switch to both engage and disengage the cruise control.
Applying the brakes on a car or bike etc. would also disengage the cruise function if activated, but I don't suppose you have brakes on your boat. 

You would need to set the Cruise Control Enable setting to 1:Enable to use the manually switched (or the automatic) cruise function.

I have no experience with the automatic cruise, but I assume it would engage when the throttle is held in the same position for a set length of time (more than the number of seconds set in the Automatic cruise response time (s)).

Alan
 

[BjornO]

Another question:
In the wiring diagram, the forward/reverse and the cruise connectors use the same GND pin (6) on the big connector, but the brake uses another pin (5). Are these connected in the controller so I can use the same GND for both cruise and brake, or do I have them separated?

[Bikemad]

According to the wiring diagram, pins (4) (5) (6) (21) and (26) are all ground connections, so you should be able to use any of these pins (or even the B-) terminal as a ground connection.

The signal wires for the brake, cruise and reverse function just need to be switched to ground to activate each function. The current flowing through the ground connection will be negligible, so a single pin would easily cope with all three.

However, using a single connection for each function would be much safer, because if one wire were to break (or had a poor pin contact) the other two functions would still work correctly.

Alan