My five year old was pretty good today and he let me do some work on the trike. He even offered to help - 'I know dad, when you need something from your work box you tell me and I'll get it for you.' He can be so cute when he is not being naughty!
Anyway I digress. I had a good look at all the wires and various bits and made some decisions about how it should all be wired up. The battery will definitely go under the lockable kids seat in the cargo box so my attention turned to where to put the controller. Originally I thought I would just put it under the seat also (it fits in the supplied bag next to the battery) but upon looking at all the connections it occurred to me I would need some big holes in the floor of the box to accommodate the connectors from the various cables that connect to it. I had also read that sometimes it is good to have the controller outside of the battery case in the 'fresh air' to assist in keeping it cool. So I flipped the bike up and found that the controller could fit nicely underneath the cargo box nestled into the frame -
The controller is held in place by two cable ties and heavy duty velcro which is attached to the base and the bottom side that rests on the steel frame. Due to a weld in the bottom right corner of the frame I was unable to make the controller sit flat against this edge so I wrapped a nut in some black insulation tape and placed it up the top between the frame and the controller. Thus I was able to ensure the horizontal cable tie pictured above could be pulled tight while keeping the base square on to the frame. With the controller mounted here I now only have to drill a hole in the box for the power cables to the battery directly above. There is also plenty of room under here to wind up any excess cable lengths and tuck them neatly out of the way of the steering mechanism.
So far I have only had a chance to connect the grey cable pictured above to the motor. The Ezee kit as supplied is very good as it includes a connector housing with zip tie holes to ensure this connection is secure and watertight. You can see it here just in front of my pedals (still have to secure and take up the slack on the grey cable) -
The bottom of my tube also has a few ziptie mounts that are used to hold the gear cable in place on its journey up to the handle bars. I was able to utilise one of these to help secure the connector housing. The Ezee kit also had a tube of dielectric silicone compound for smearing on the connectors.
One issue that occurred to me is that with the battery mounted under the locked kids seat it will be a hassle turning it off every time I leave the bike alone. With the bike often left up at the school it would not take much for one of the curious kids to hit the throttle! I asked Justin from Renaissance Bikes about wiring in a 'kill switch' and he said this was easily done by shorting pins 2 and 4 on the 'pedal assist sensor' connector which is unused on my setup. This connector is also used for the brake cutoff lever which I may look at getting if I install a rear rim brake down the track.
Tomorrow I will hopefully wire up everything else!
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