Controller

Motor Controller

The motor controller is manufactured in China by Kelly. Kelly makes a broad range of similar controllers with different voltage and power ratings. EM selected Kellys' KEB48601 for use on the 5.7. KEB stands for Kelly Electric Bicycle. The numeric portion describes its ratings, where “48” is the nominal battery voltage, “60” is 6.0 kW, and the trailing “1” means it's capable of regeneration. Its absolute maximum ratings are 60 volts and 350A for 30 seconds.

The controller draws 24 mA quiescent and about 30 mA while running at very slow speeds as measured via the 2-amp fused power input.

Switch inputs are nominally at +12V, closing the switch pulls the input to ground.

Two LEDs on the controller indicate status and faults.

It weighs about 1.91 kg (a bit over 4 pounds).

An RS-232 port allows changes in operating parameters.

Waterproof to IP65 rating.

The controller's logic signals are introduced via a 14-pin circular GX20 “aviation” style connector (pinout below).

Configuration Software

The controller is configured via a Windows PC with freely-available Kelly software that communicates over an RS-232 port. Of course, modern computers no longer have an RS-232 port so a USB to RS-232 converter must be employed. The DB-9 connector is a bit hard to reach, so I installed a short 5-inch extension cable since you obviously don't want a laptop plugged in during a test ride. Only TX, RX, and GND are needed.

There does not appear to be any method to load/save a configuration file. Therefore, I took screenshots of the 5 configuration “steps” (shown below) so I would have a record of the original factory settings. The only software documentation I found is in Kelly's Description box (shown below). The Help button takes you to a broken webpage link. Many things are straightforward, but some are cryptic and more experimentation will be required. Kelly does have a User Forum, but I have not explored that.