MP II,48V-novice problems:wiring problems;battery life

[jbzg]

Hi everybody,

I bought MP II with 48V battery 3 weeks ago from my local dealer. It took me some time to put it on my bike, because I didn't how much spare time lately. However, two days ago MP II as on and running.

IT IS AMAZING!

But, I have some issue with wiring, etc. So I have following problems, and I kindly ask you for help.

1. Battery level indicator is not working: Well the green, yellow, and red light is on, but they are not showing any indication of batter lever. As I understand, I need to connect green wire from throttle to positive (red) wire of the battery? Where, and how is the best way to do this? It seems strange to me that I need to do this, since the battery is already connected to the controller, so why is not positive wire connect to the green one in the controller? (Looking at wiring diagram, it seems to me that there is no additional wiring that I need to do once I connect battery gauge. Are white (battery gauge connector) and black (throttle connector) supposed to be connected with the black wire?) solved - I had 36v throttle instead of 48v
2. Since my batter level indicator is not working, my battery died once I was like miles away from my house. I pedaled back, and this is not a problem, but for some reason I have doubts about my batter life. (it seems like it has been used). So, I weigh about 240lbs (110kg), and if I drive on the road with no slopes, lets say with half speed, with a lot of stop-go (because of traffic lights) would you say that I my range should be at least 25km?

3. My bike has shifters built in brakes, so I am not able to use GM brakes for regen. What is you suggestion to do? My local dealer told me to use reverse button like a regen button (looking at wiring diagram this should not be a problem to do) but how do I know regen is on?

Thanks in advance...

[jbzg]

It seems to me that my throttle is 36V throttle, and that is the reason that battery level is not working properly (green, yellow and red lights are always on), how can I determine is the throttle 36v throttle or 48v throttle?
I will still appreciate your input on battery life, and average range I should get in a city... (it seems to me that something might be wrong with my battery)

[jbzg]

It is Wuxing s29x-dx throttle... Can't find what voltage is for, althougt on one of the forums some was mentioning 24V... Please help

[Henry Chang]

Because of your 48v battery, the local dealer should give you 48 v throttle and you'd better change a 48v throttle.

Your throttle is 36v throttle , and that is the reason that  battery level indicator does not work, just as something of the kind that use 48v throttle for 24v battery, battery indicator aways  is red.

24 v48v throttle  show words“ 24v”“48v”  ", 36 v no words.

[jbzg]

Thanks a lot for answering Henry.

I will also really appreciate for some input on second and third point of my inital post, so if someone has any ideas, please let me know...

[jbzg]

Dear all,


More input on my problems, concerning the range I can achieve/ battery life. Fully charged 48v 12ah battery, only 17km passed (in a city, a lot of stop and go, with 110kg rider, no regen connected). I believe that this is to small range.

After my battery died, actually after MPII did not want to run anymore I measured battery level, and it was 50.4V! Is this normal? In my opinion my kit is behaving very strange...

I would appreciate any insights...

Thanks in advance

[Bikemad]

1) Your battery level indicator is obviously wired correctly for the lights to come on, but it does not show the voltage drop because, as Henry has already explained, it is the wrong voltage throttle control for a 48V Battery. The black wire that loops between the throttle and battery gauge connector was not originally fitted. This was presumably incorporated into the later controls to provide a more reliable ground connection for the throttle assembly.

2) Constant stopping and starting will drain your battery far quicker than cruising at a steady speed. Accelerating at full throttle from a standstill draws full current, as the motor increases with speed, the current will reduce.

3) The easiest way for you to operate the regen would be to connect the horn switch wires to the brake switch connector on the main harness so that regen would then operate while the button was being pressed.

A much better solution to the regen button would be to find some way of fixing a couple of micro-switches to your existing brake levers, so that the motor power is automatically stopped when you apply the brakes.
If your throttle was to stick fully open while descending a steep hill, it would take a lot longer to stop if you forgot to press the regen button at the same time.

After my battery died, actually after MPII did not want to run anymore I measured battery level, and it was 50.4V! Is this normal? In my opinion my kit is behaving very strange, and my local dealer is not helpful at all...

If you have the earlier 48V 12Ah pack, I would say the reduced range and early battery cut-out could be caused by some faulty cells whose voltages drops low enough to cause the Battery Management System (BMS) to cut off the battery supply to prevent the cell voltage from falling too low.

There have been several posts recently regarding similar problems with the earlier type batteries, and as GM no longer sell the LiMn₂O₄ rack packs, I would say that the amount of problems that have been reported is most likely the main reason why these packs have been discontinued. 

Alan
 

[jbzg]

Dear Alan,

3) The easiest way for you to operate the regen would be to connect the horn switch wires to the brake switch connector on the main harness so that regen would then operate while the button was being pressed

Please can you let me know, or please point me out to the post where I can find wiring diagram to do this? (what wire color from horn swith corresponds to what wire color from the main harness).

Thanks a lot

[Bikemad]

I've just had a quick look at the connections on my MPII wiring, and my horn/cruise switch assembly appears to be wired as shown here:


The green horn button is connected via the green and blue wires to the red connector.
The red cruise button is connected via the red and yellow wires to the green connector.

To use your horn button as a regen button, simply plug the red connector from the switch unit into the blue brake switch connector on the main harness.

The original Magic Pie connections were as shown here:


My MPII harness has different coloured wires to the above diagram, and it also has an additional black two pin connector which connects to the red switch on the throttle to allow the reverse function to be used.

If yours has the external controller the wiring may be slightly different, but hopefully you can figure out which wires need to be swapped.

Alan
 

[jbzg]

Dear Alan,

Thank a lot for a promt reply.

I'm still at work, and I will try to connect regen once I get home. As I remember, my MPII has the same wiring as yours. but my kit came without connectors attached, so I will need to do some more attaching, but that should not be a problem.

Will let you know how did everything end up...

[jbzg]

I connected two pins as u suggested, and it seems be working perfectly...Thanks Alan...

Further diagnostics on my battery. Today my battery cut-out after 16km of riding (in a city, including 1km of somewhat steep street). So immediately after battery died I measured voltage, and it was 49.8.

So based on your reply Alan, and on some other post I got to believe that there is faulty cell in my battery pack... I will contact my dealer, and see what can he do...

[GM Canada]

I've just had a quick look at the connections on my MPII wiring, and my horn/cruise switch assembly appears to be wired as shown here:


The green horn button is connected via the green and blue wires to the red connector.
The red cruise button is connected via the red and yellow wires to the green connector.

I have often wondered what genius decided the red button goes to the green plug and the green button goes to the red plug. why? Why? WHY? Is this just to drive people insane??

Gary

[Bikemad]

As red usually indicates danger, I can only assume they opted for the red connector on the horn circuit because it connects to the battery +ve terminal which is potentially far more dangerous than the cruise signal voltage.

The cruise button is probably red because inadvertently operating the cruise control could be more dangerous than sounding the horn!

Most of the machines where I work have green start buttons and big red emergency stop buttons, but I did hear someone mention that the European Standards want this to be changed so that a red start button indicates danger, and a green stop button makes it's safe.
We readily accept that Red traffic lights mean STOP because it's dangerous and Green lights mean it's safe to GO, so why would we even consider changing switches on potentially dangerous machines and equipment to do the exact opposite?

Alan