V2.4 Direct Plug-in Cycle Analyst With Speedometer Pickup For Geared & Mid-Drive Motors

Regular price £150.00

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The Cycle Analyst (formerly called DrainBrain) is the first digital dashboard and battery monitor originally designed around the specific needs of electric bicycles. However, the flexible setup configurations, wide feature range, and affordable price have led it to widespread appeal in a range of other EV applications. From the dashboards of MIT's solar car, to record breaking electric motorbikes, to small trains, powered wheelchairs, and even sailboats and airplanes, the Cycle Analyst has become the e-meter of choice for keeping track of the vehicle's battery usage and performance characteristics.

What it Does

Once connected to the vehicle's power bus, the Cycle Analyst calculates and shows the following information:
  • Volts, Watts, Amps: The instantaneous electric power being drawn from the battery.
  • Amp-Hours, Watt Hours: The net energy that has been pulled from the pack since the meter was reset. The accumulated amp-hours let you know the remaining energy in the battery pack with far greater accuracy than a voltage or LED indicator.
  • Speed, Distance, Time: All of the basic features of a bicycle computer, including the average and maximum trip speeds, plus a total distance odometer.
  • Regen, Wh/km: There are several quantities this meter will calculate that you don't get with other instrumentation, such as the % extra range that was gained from regenerative braking, as well as the vehicle's average energy use in Watt-hours per kilometer or mile.
  • Peak Currents and Voltage Sag: Records the maximum forwards and regenerative currents as well as the minimum voltage on the battery pack.
  • Total Battery Cycles and Amp-Hours: Retains life cycle information on the vehicle's battery pack, such as how many charge and discharge cycles the pack has experienced and the total amp-hours that were delivered over its entire life.
Furthermore, the Cycle Analyst has the ability to over-ride the user's throttle and regulate the power delivered to the motor, turning an otherwise dumb ebike into an intelligent device with a user programmable speed limit, current limit, and low voltage cutout.
  • Speed Limit: This has the utility of providing legal compliance to the speed cap imposed on ebikes in most jurisdictions. When used with a full throttle, it serves as a cruise control on the electric bicycle. It can also be beneficial to riders who want to increase their torque and power by using a higher voltage battery, without simultaneously increasing their top-end speed.
  • Current Limit: An adjustable amps limit is useful to prevent damage to the batteries from excessive current draw, to increase the range that you'll get on a charge, and to protect the motor controller and motor in setups that draws too many amps.
  • Voltage Cutout: A low voltage cutout is used to protect a battery pack from being discharged too deeply, which can cause cell reversals in NiMH/NiCad packs, permanent cell damage in Lithium packs, and sulfation in Lead Acid batteries. The programmable low voltage rollback allows you to set an appropriate low voltage point tailored to your pack.

Additional Features

  • Remote Shunt: Unlike the watt-meters and amp-hour meters designed for RC hobbyists, the Cycle Analyst uses a remote shunt for sensing current rather than running wire through the meter, so you do not need to route heavy gauge battery cables up to the handlebar and back.
  • Backlit LCD: The display readout is well illuminated for night riding.
  • Water Resistant: The circuitry is fully enclosed in a sealed box enabling it to withstand exposure to wet and rainy conditions.
  • Handlebar Mounting: Easily attaches to handlebar tubes from 7/8" to 1 ¼" diameter with included hardware. 
  • Save on Power Down: Trip data such as amp-hours and distance are saved when the meter is shut off, and are restored when power is re-applied.
  • Fwd and Negative Amps: Both positive and negative amp-hours are displayed separately, so you can calculate accurate regenerative braking statistics or use it to monitor charging currents as well.
  • Wide Voltage Range: Operates from 10V to 150V, accommodating the vast majority of all small electric vehicles. A high voltage option for use up to 350V is available on special request.
  • Flexible Speed Input: Detects vehicle speed either with a magnet and sensor cable or through the hall effect signal on brushless motor controllers.
  • Data Logging: Devices have a serial output stream that can be used for real-time recording the vehicle statistics to a computer or laptop.

Cycle Analyst Types

There are currently 4 standard versions of the Cycle Analyst being produced to accommodate different vehicle setups. All models have the same circuitry and code, and all of them have speedometer functionality. However, additional wiring is required by the end user to take advantage of the speed and current limiting features on the Stand Alone and High Current models.
cycle analyst cycle analyst connector cycle analyst speedo
Stand Alone Model: Stand Alone Model (CA-SA): The stand-alone Cycle Analyst comes pre-calibrated to a molded shunt resistor capable of handling 45 amps continuous and up to 100 amps peak. It is designed to be compatible with virtually all types of Personal Electric Vehicles (PEVs). A pair of pigtail leads on either side of the shunt simply connect between the vehicle's battery pack and motor controller. Speed is detected via a spoke magnet and sensor cable. Direct Plug-in Model (CA-DP): This unit is designed to plug directly into a motor controller to get the appropriate signals, resulting in a tidy installation with minimal wiring. Most motor controllers have an internal current sensing shunt resistor that can be used for measuring current, as well as a hall sensor signal that can be used to detect the wheel speed in direct drive hub motors. The CA-DP is terminated with a 6-pin plug that connects directly to the modified Crystalyte, Infineon, and eZee Controllers that we have at www.ebikes.ca. Direct Plug-in with Speedo (CA-DPS): This is a variation of the CA-DP device for ebike setups that can't use the hall signals in the motor controller for the speed sensing. This would include DC motor systems which don't have hall sensors, geared motor setups like the eZee kits where the motor RPM does not match the wheel RPM, and mid-drive arrangements where the motor powers through the bicycle drive chain. It uses a separate speedometer sensor and spoke magnet like the Stand Alone device to pick the speed from your wheel.
High Current Model (CA-HC): For larger vehicles that draw in the 100's of amps, a high current model is available that can be connected to a user-supplied shunt in the 0.1 to 1 mOhm range. The two sense leads that go across the shunt are terminated with a ring connector. The vehicle speed is detected with a spoke magnet and sensor as with the Stand Alone model.

Power from Cycle Analyst

The included 5.5x2.1mm DC Power cable can be wired directly from the Cycle Analyst by opening the CA and soldering the red and black wires to the CA's V+ and Ground pads. Since the CA and Lumenator are usually both located on the front handlebars, this saves running the cable down to the battery pack. If you don't have a Cycle Analyst, you can make an Anderson Powerpole tap for use with Powerpole systems, or wire in to whatever connectors or terminals you have available on your battery.

 

Direct Plug-in models need to be to have their RShunt value calibrated to match the shunt resistance inside the controller, rather than left at the default 1.00mOhm. All of our controllers have the calibrated RShunt printed on the label, and most other vendors provide this information as well.

Dimensions: 128 x 57 x 26mm

140cm cable terminated with 6-pin JST-SM series connector

Comes with handlebar mounting bracket, speedometer sensor and spoke magnet.


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