Renew a Faulty E-bike
I got an old but still working Gazelle Orange Plus Innergy two years ago from second hand. It worked well seamlessly at that time, but I knew the stock battery (with its 6 years!) will not last long. Finally, it worked for more 1.5 years which was quite a good surprise.
After that, it started to loose power very quickly and after a heavy rain it went dead completely. As the cyclic mechanics and (maybe the motor HUB also) should still work 10 more years, I decided to renew the ebike myself.
First round — the battery
I wanted the keep the Gazelle’s original smooth design as close as possible — so instead of replace the battery to a 3rd party one, I risked to go with the original battery — at least with it’s case.
Gazelle made a strange and bad policy at the dawn of the ebike era and they restricted their ebike computers (controllers) to work with only registered stock batteries. Which needed to be registered on the ebike by an official Gazelle dealer — which is about 500km the closest to me. So, I had to check whether my ebike still has that restriction. One of Gazelle’s dealer available on the internet, Hollandbikeshop.com was very kind to check it based on the frame number. Fortunately, my bike was made in 2012 and Gazelle got rid off the restriction already in 2011!
I had to choice: order a brand new stock battery pack or replace the cells of the original battery pack. I choose the second one: why waste a working electronic/case and why pay more for the same power? I searched a local vendor who made the renewal for me.
Anyway, I got the renewed battery and pushed into the bike. The surprise came now: the display and even the lights worked properly — only problem was the power assist haven’t switched on at all. The motor HUB remained still.
Second round — fix the electronics
I made my investigation and I found following article: Gazelle Orange Innergy rebuild. At least there was someone else in the same shoes as well. I decided to follow the basically same steps — with some changes.
The Display
The Chinese de facto standard displays for ebikes are the KT. The KT LCD3 is two squarish for the Gazelle bike, so I went after the LCD5.
The wire was very loose at the back, fixed it with a super glue.
The Controller
In spite of the article above, my Gazelle’s motor HUB has no HALL Sensors. So I had to find an ebike controller which is compatible with KT displays and can drive the motor without HALL sensors.
The naming of the product is very critical, it should be like controller for Dual mode or sensorless motors. Controllers named as sine wave motors are not able to control motors without HALL sensors — or motors faulty HALL sensors. E.g. I ordered the Dual Mode variant of the beautifully named LOLTRA E-Bike Controller Sine Wave/Dual Mode KT Controller for 36V/48V Electric Bicycle DC Hub Motor and KT Display.
Also important to check the Voltage and power. Gazelle’s ebikes have power up to 250W (legal requirement in Netherlands) so I ordered a controller with least power among other ebike controllers. There are 750W or even more powerful controllers out there which could simply burn a 250W motor.
I attached the controller with hot glue to back of the head light and isolated with some tapes.
The motor HUB
I haven’t even found the original controller on the ebike first. Everyone said, it should be behind the front light — but only two wires went there, the light power.
I had to open the motor HUB and I found the controller there, it was inside the motor HUB…
As I assumed the controller is a faulty one, so I just removed it completely and lead out the 3 phase wires from the HUB — with a simple 3 wires 230V cable.
After a clean-up of the inside of the motor, I closed the HUB back.
The PAS Sensor
To be compatible with the new controller I also replaced the original PAS sensor to a Chinese one. Actually, it came with a bundle together the display.
The Connectors and the Cables
I used XT60 connectors for the high powered cables: for the battery and the 3 phases wires of the motor. XT60 connectors are small, cheap, water (or at least splash) resistant and relatively easy to solder.
I reused the original connectors from the ebike’s sensor cables and what the new controller came for the rest of low powered cables. However, I had to re-solder them to shorten the cables as much as possible. Especially the display’s cable as that came originally with a cable as long as almost two bicycles.
The result
Everything put together and it works! The power assistance with pedaling working and battery state is showing like a charm! The renewed battery charges with the stock Gazelle charger which is very comfortable. On the other hand, the new controller has no input for speed sensor, so neither the speed nor the odometer work on the display.
The only visible difference on the Innergy ebike is the controller’s box at the back of the headlight — but that seems to be a good place to avoid any troubles with the extra little box on the bicycle. The water resistance is a question though: not only the controller’s and it’s connectors, but the motor HUB’s as well. I haven’t added any sealing when assembled the motor HUB. So rain should be avoided.
In overall, I’m satisfied with the result: the electronics will keep running 3–5 more years without major problems. Even after re-new the battery will be always an easy option — without renew rest of electronics if I’m lucky.
What’s next?
The lights are possible to control from the new display, but the controller’s light output is the direct voltage of the battery — which is 36–40V. This is too much for Gazelle’s original front light which got only 13.5V originally. I left a light power output into the back of the head light and I plan to apply a small DC-DC Voltage converter to get work the original head light (and hopefully the rear light on the battery).
