Fusinmotors Online Forums

On the Road
When I rode the bike on the paved road or trails, the performance of the controller is beyond my expectations. I use the bike to go to work or on trails just for fun. I have ridden the bike with Louis’s controller for about 100 miles so far. I would like to talk about the performance of the controller from the perspective of my own needs for an electric bike.

Pedal Assist System (PAS or Pedelec): beyond my expectation
I want to ride a bike not a moped or a scooter, so PAS is indispensible for me. It is a subjective matter to say if a PAS system is good or not so good. I would say Louis’ PAS is the best I have had so far. I feel very much like riding a regular bike. I can travel as far as 20 miles in one charge.

3-Speed switch: beyond my expectation
The big surprise for me is that I have never thought the difficulty of climbing a very steep hill could be solved by the L setting on the 3-spped switch. I used to believe the more power was the only solution, but I dislike the big motors and heavy battery packs. Then I found the geared hub motor, but unfortunately electric brake is not possible for the geared hub motor. With the old controller, I could hardly overcome the hill leading to where I work. With the L-setting on the new controller, I can pedal as slow as 4mph, and the motor shows no sign of giving up, so I can slowly but confidently climb the hill with grad of 17%.

Regenerative braking: As I have expected
I would like to clarify a misconception about Regen brake by people (including me).
The electric brake originates from the back EMF of the motor. A general misconception is that whenever you use the electric brake, there is recharging of the battery, so “regenerative braking” is coined. Well, it is not true.

Regen brake is felt whenever the motor speed goes beyond its limit. For example, if I am in L, whenever the front wheel goes at a speed beyond 18mph, the resulting back EMF will be bigger than 24V. The current then is forced to go backwards into the positive pole and leaving the negative pole of the battery. In other words, the recharging of the battery is taking place. It is a byproduct of the motor and is independent of the controller. Whether you like it or not, your battery is recharged. The reverse currents produce reverse motor motion and you feel the electric brake.

However, if the speed of the motor has not reached the limit, the induced back EMF is lower than the battery voltage. Thus there is no possibility to have the current go backward to recharge the battery. If you want electric brake under this situation, then you need a special controller like Louis’s. The controller is able to use the back EMF to reverse the motor. However, the current is still going from positive to negative poles of the battery as usual. There is no recharging of the battery taking place. Let’s use Louis term to coin the electric brake under the speed limit as EABS.

When I am done with my work and ready to go home, it used to worry me a lot to think I have to waste a lot of my brake pads to slow down my descending on the slope. It is also very dangerous to control the bike especially with geared hub motors because of the freewheeling. Now, I descend the slope with great confidence and no brake pads are used most of the time thanks to the EABS of the controller.

Conclusion:
The overall performance of Louis’s controller fits or exceeds what I have desired for an electric bike. I would really hope there would be a hub motor developed to make use the features of such a good controller.

Der-Ming

Thank you very much for posting this. I have waited breathlessly to hear real world application of the EABS. The 3 speed switch is amazing. I commonly tow a 70 lb. trailer up 12%+ grades. It really does change the torque level between the three settings. With my cycle anylst I can see that each gear is capable of drawing maximum amps from the battery. I've got 1250 miles at least on this kit and have had absolutely no problems.
If it's o.k I'd like to ask you a few questions. So as soon as you release the throttle or in your case stop pedaling does the controller immediately work to brake the motor? Is this at any speed? Is this resistance more than the motor has normally? And most importantly there is a disconnect on the controller. When this is disconnected is the EABS completely disabled thus eliminating any resistance besides the normal resistance felt with a direct drive motor? These are all questions I have been dying to ask someone with a direct drive motor so I thank you for your time.

No problem at all, Crash Machine. I am more than happy to be of help to you.

When the pedaling is being stopped, the throttle is being released, or the brake lever is being applied, the EABS will kick in. The controller cannot tell the difference. There is a tiny time delay of one or two seconds for the EABS to kick in. Once it kicks in, the brake is very significant compared to a standard controller, which is also related to your second question about disabling the regen brake in Louis's controller. If the regen is disabled, then Louis's controller is no different from a standard one. You do not feel any brake at speed lower than the limit. The only brake you will feel is the regen brake when the bike is cruising down the slope at a speed higher than the limit.

Ironically, since Louis’s controller cannot tell the difference between my intent to cruise or brake (I stop pedaling in both cases), I will need to pedal lightly in order for regen brake to happen. Otherwise, the EABS will kick in even when I want to cruise down the hill. However, it is no big deal because I really enjoy using my legs only to tell the motor to go or stop.

I hope my answers help. Thanks.

Der-Ming

Hi Der-Ming,

I must thank you for your posting this on our forum and prove our controller is one with Rege & EABS, which has been suspected long time by many ebikers, I think this will be helpful for more people to know clearly about our controller and what it could do with their ebikes.

Just a hint, when you are driving downhill at more than 15kph you could use brake levers slightly by activating the e-brake without activating front and rear mechanical brakes, this will activate the motor's rege to charge the battery. The rege & Eabs will happen at the same time, as what you said in your posts, if it will charge the battery depends on reverse voltage created, if it is bigger than battery voltage, it will charge it.

Cheers,

That's exactly what I was wanting to know. I'm going to build a pusher trailer and I'm hoping to use the EABS as a trailer brake to keep me at a safe speed downhill. Thanks for the info.