Motors & Controllers

Brushless Motors

Vevor and similar 1500-2000w large inrunner Motors

See Rule Zero

Suggested replacement hall sensors for Vevor motors: "Hall effect sensors 49E OH49E SS49E linear Hall switch".

this might help with figuring out the connections: https://www.etotheipiplusone.net/?p=2373

The connections you absolutely need to get them driving are:

• power in: two thick wires, probably red and black
• throttle: three thin wires, ground (may be black), 5V (may be red) and signal
• power to motor: three thick wires, probably yellow, green and blue
• motor hall sensor signal connector: five thin wires, probably red, black, yellow, blue, green
• reverse: two thin wires, best to match the connector type from the link above

That may be all you need to get it running.

Some controllers also have an ignition switch, but its not a consistent connector or colour. you have to figure it out from either the chinese labels (google lens is good for translating them), or looking at pictures online of similar controllers that have the wires labelled in the listing.

For reversing the vevor motors, Dave found swapping the blue/green phase wires and also swapping the blue/yellow hall wires does the trick. Ian found swapping the blue/yellow phase wires and also swapping the green/yellow hall wires worked for him. The Vevor controllers are more picky about the hall/phase pairings than other controllers. There's likely another pair combination that will work.

some advice from Rob Orwin: The "electric lock line" usually needs to be connected to positive in order for the controller to allow the throttle to work and power the motor. Just for fun, sometimes these need to be connected to negative but it's the vast minority. The self learning wires when touched together, reverse the direction of the motor, meaning you don't need to mess around with Phase wires. The Low brake wires are for brake activated motor cut offs. The high brake wires are to power a brake light. The "three speed" connection you just need to bridge to earth whichever makes the motor turn the fastest. That's about it, generally. You can usually tape off the brake wires and permanently connect the electric lock line and just have a switch on the power supply. You can also buy brushless motor and controller testers for a tenner or so, that'll help you figure out what is doing what, without the risk of blowing anything up.

Fault Finding Wiring Issues

Running backwards? Swap two motor phases. Some controllers may also need hall sensors swapped too, but not all. Motor not running smoothly? Does your controller have a teach or learn input? That's the easiest route to get it to work. If not, check out the flowchart to the left (credit lsdzs.com).

E-Scooter Controllers

See Rule Zero

Alternators & ESCs

See Pink My Ride

Hoverboards

See CYBR TRK

Second hand Hoverboards are a great way to secure cheap motors, and sometimes even come with a working controller PCB! If the PCB is blown up, common faults include the TIP127 transistors to switch on / regulate the voltage to the board, or the H Bridge MOSFETs. Hoverboard motors are built in to the hub of the wheel, and are available in a few different sizes. They have the advantage of not requiring a chain, and are not locked to the same axle which improves cornering. Wiring is howerver a little more complicated.

The boards typically run at 36V, but will tolerate 48V if you're lucky. Some boards are designed for 24V, which are a little less easily hackable.

Schematics have been quite well reverse engineered for these PCBs, and several alternative firmwares are availible. hoverboard-firmware-hack-FOC by EFeru on GitHub is a favourite, which has lots of hacky friendly features.

Although the motors are only rated at 350W each, some experimentaton with the PCBs showed they will briefly tolerate peaks up to 1.4kW, but catastrophicaly fail at 1.6kW.

It is possible to fit pneumatic tyres to the 6.5" hub motors with some careful modifications. 4.10/3.50-5 tyres are about the only size which can be made to fit. A brake from a Xiaomi M365 can also be fitted to the inside wall of the motor with some modification.

Hall sensors

part number/label	alt part number	recommended by	datasheet	type	switching point (Gauss)	mv/gauss	pin1	pin2	pin3	suitability
13A 117	SS413A?	OEM?	mouser	bipolar	140		5V	GND	signal	SS413A untested
3144		Michael West	elecrow	unipolar	30 to 440G		5V	GND	signal	works in VEVOR/BOMA 2000W + ebike controller
49E OH49E SS49E		Chris Shakespeare	honeywell	linear		1.4	5V	GND	signal	works with VESC

49E OH49E SS49E appears to have a low output current so may not be suitable for escs with strong pull up resistors (such as some ebike ESCs). with an ebike ESC, the sensor couldn't pull the signal lines low for Mark. 3144 worked fine.

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