The Kelly Motor Controllers are attached to the outside ELF “Brain Box”. It is the Silver Box.
The Motor Controller is responsible for the Electric Motor’s starting from a dead stop and slow speed operation among other things. All of the wires from the Electric Motor are attached to the Motor Controller. The throttle and the Cycle Analyzer are also attached to the Motor Controller.
There are blinking light codes that help you find out what the Motor Controller is doing or what errors it is having. These magical lights are located on the Black “Brain Box” which is where you put the key in to start the ELF. The Brain Box on ELF’s have a Red and Green Light mounted on the back side of the box from where you put the key in.
Anyone can download the manual for your Kelly Controller at Kelly Controller Support. You will need the Model Number of your Kelly Motor Controller as they have several different kinds of controllers for several applications.
Here are some basic codes from the manual.
When the Green light is off, there is no power. Turning your key on gives the Kelly Controller power. When the Green light is on, the Kelly Controller has power and is ready to control the motor.
Any Red blinking lights are error codes and they get erased as soon as you turn the key off.
Here’s the Error Code key from Kelly: provided by Power in Flux
1,2 OVERVOLTAGE ERROR
-Battery voltage is too high for the controller.Check battery voltage and configuration.
-Regeneration over-voltage. Controller will have cut back or stopped regen.
-This is only accurate to +/-2% upon overvoltage setting.
1,3 LOW VOLTAGE ERROR
-The controller will clear after 5 seconds if battery voltage returns to normal.
-Check battery voltage & recharge if required.
1,4 OVER TEMPERATURE WARNING
-Controller case temperature is above 90 degrees C. Current will be limited; reduce controller loading or switch off until it cools down.
-Clean or improve heatsink or fan.
2,1 MOTOR DID NOT START
-Motor did not reach 25 electrical RPM within 2 seconds of start-up. Hall sensor or phase wiring problem.
2,2 INTERNAL VOLTAGE FAULT
-Measure that B+ & PWR are correct when measured to B- or NEG.
-There may be excessive load on the +5v supply caused by too low a value of Regen or throttle potentiometers or incorrect wiring.
-Controller is damaged. Contact Kelly about a warranty repair.
2,3 OVER TEMPERATURE
-The controller temperature has exceeded 100 degrees C. The controller will be stopped but will restart when temperature falls below 80 C.
2,4 THROTTLE ERROR AT POWER-UP
-Throttle signal is higher than the preset ‘dead zone’ at Power On. Fault clears when throttle is released.
3,1 FREQUENT RESET
-May be caused by over-voltage, bad motor, intermittent earthing problem, bad wiring, etc.
3,2 INTERNAL RESET
-May be caused by some transient fault condition, like a temporary over-current, momentarily high or low battery voltage. This can happen during normal operation.
3,3 HALL THROTTLE IS OPEN OR SHORTED
-When the throttle is repaired, a restart will clear the fault.
3,4 NON-ZERO THROTTLE ON DIRECTION CHANGE
-Controller will not allow a direction change unless the throttle or speed is at zero. Fault clears when throttle is released.
4,1 REGEN OR START-UP OVER-VOLTAGE
-Motor drive is disabled if an over-voltage is detected at start-up or during regen. The voltage threshold detection level is set during configuration.
4,2 HALL SENSOR ERROR
-Incorrect or loose wiring or a damaged hall sensor.
-Also can be caused by incorrect hall angle configuration (60 degree or 120 degree)
4,3 MOTOR OVER-TEMPERATURE
-Motor temperature has exceeded the configured maximum. The controller will shut down until the motor temperature cools down.
The RED LED flashes once at power on as a confidence check and then normally stays off.
-Battery voltage is too high for the controller.Check battery voltage and configuration.
-Regeneration over-voltage. Controller will have cut back or stopped regen.
-This is only accurate to +/-2% upon overvoltage setting.
1,3 LOW VOLTAGE ERROR
-The controller will clear after 5 seconds if battery voltage returns to normal.
-Check battery voltage & recharge if required.
1,4 OVER TEMPERATURE WARNING
-Controller case temperature is above 90 degrees C. Current will be limited; reduce controller loading or switch off until it cools down.
-Clean or improve heatsink or fan.
2,1 MOTOR DID NOT START
-Motor did not reach 25 electrical RPM within 2 seconds of start-up. Hall sensor or phase wiring problem.
2,2 INTERNAL VOLTAGE FAULT
-Measure that B+ & PWR are correct when measured to B- or NEG.
-There may be excessive load on the +5v supply caused by too low a value of Regen or throttle potentiometers or incorrect wiring.
-Controller is damaged. Contact Kelly about a warranty repair.
2,3 OVER TEMPERATURE
-The controller temperature has exceeded 100 degrees C. The controller will be stopped but will restart when temperature falls below 80 C.
2,4 THROTTLE ERROR AT POWER-UP
-Throttle signal is higher than the preset ‘dead zone’ at Power On. Fault clears when throttle is released.
3,1 FREQUENT RESET
-May be caused by over-voltage, bad motor, intermittent earthing problem, bad wiring, etc.
3,2 INTERNAL RESET
-May be caused by some transient fault condition, like a temporary over-current, momentarily high or low battery voltage. This can happen during normal operation.
3,3 HALL THROTTLE IS OPEN OR SHORTED
-When the throttle is repaired, a restart will clear the fault.
3,4 NON-ZERO THROTTLE ON DIRECTION CHANGE
-Controller will not allow a direction change unless the throttle or speed is at zero. Fault clears when throttle is released.
4,1 REGEN OR START-UP OVER-VOLTAGE
-Motor drive is disabled if an over-voltage is detected at start-up or during regen. The voltage threshold detection level is set during configuration.
4,2 HALL SENSOR ERROR
-Incorrect or loose wiring or a damaged hall sensor.
-Also can be caused by incorrect hall angle configuration (60 degree or 120 degree)
4,3 MOTOR OVER-TEMPERATURE
-Motor temperature has exceeded the configured maximum. The controller will shut down until the motor temperature cools down.
The RED LED flashes once at power on as a confidence check and then normally stays off.
Here is a partial list for a controller that was in a 200 series ELF
Fun Stuff about Controllers. Controllers typically have a Thermal Sensor which will shut down the Controller when it gets too hot and they do get hot. People panic thinking they’ve killed their controller or motor sensors but the Thermal Sensor will or should reset after the temperature goes down…usually below 70 Celsius. A bag of ice cubes or ice pack will cool the unit faster. Also best Controllers will have IRFB4110 Mosfets and the more Fets you have the less over heating you’ll have. Controller shells are typically Aluminum with ribs which act as a heat sink—bigger the fins the more heat is removed from the Controller. Carrying a spare Controller is usually a good idea unless you want to Pedal home a 200 pound ELF. If you see light grey smoke coming from your Controller and that smoke smells like burning rubber you’ve just killed your Controller and it cannot be repaired. A sizzling cracking sound is also a warning you are going to be pedaling home.