Grin Cycle Analyst V3.1 Official User Manual

Cycle Analyst V3.1

Official User Manual

Grin Technologies Ltd

Vancouver, BC, Canada

ph: [phone]
email: [e-mail]
web: http://www.ebikes.ca

Copyright © 2019

Cycle Analyst V3.1 User Manual

Rev 1.0

Table of Contents

1 Introduction...................................................................................3

2 High Level Operation....................................................................3

3 Installation....................................................................................4

3.1 Handlebar Wiring.....................................................................................4

3.2 Shunt / Controller Wiring.........................................................................6

4 Display Screens.............................................................................7

4.1 Main Display..............................................................................................7

4.2 Diagnostics Screen, Display #12...............................................................8

4.3 Wh/km, Display #4....................................................................................9

5 Resetting the Trip Counter............................................................9

6 Setup Menu..................................................................................10

6.1 Accessing and Navigating the Setup Menu ...........................................10

6.2 Setting the Speedometer..........................................................................11

6.3 Setting Up the Battery.............................................................................14

6.4 Throttle Input Settings............................................................................17

6.5 Output Throttle Settings.........................................................................19

6.6 Setup Speed Limits..................................................................................19

6.7 Setup Power Limits.................................................................................20

6.8 Setting Up PAS or Torque Sensors........................................................21

6.9 PAS Configuration..................................................................................22

6.10 Temperature Sensor..............................................................................24

6.11 Setup Auxiliary Control Inputs............................................................25

6.12 Setup Ebrakes and Regen. ...................................................................27

6.13 Set Current Sense Shunt Resistance....................................................28

6.14 Using Presets..........................................................................................30

6.15 Display Customization..........................................................................31

7 Data Logging...............................................................................31

8 Software Setup Utility .................................................................33

9 Common Mistakes.......................................................................34

10 Enjoy your Ride and Remember to Reset..................................35

11 Specifications.............................................................................36

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1 Introduction

Thank you for the purchase of a V3 Cycle Analyst device, Grin's latest model of
open standard display and control device for ebikes and other electric vehicles.
This document should help you get reasonably familiar with the basic setup and
operation of a CA3 as part of your vehicle system.

2 High Level Operation

The V3 Cycle Analyst is not like a typical ebike display interface that
communicates with one particular model of motor controller. Instead the CA3 is
designed as a more universal display and control unit. To achieve this
universality, it reads existing signals already present in most EV drives to sense
the power and speed of the vehicle, and then it regulates the motor power
through a common throttle signal.

This is an important concept to understand; the CA3 does not "communicate"
with your ebike in the same manner as proprietary display units. Rather it taps
into analog signals already present inside a motor controller and interprets them.
It then sends what it thinks is the most appropriate throttle voltage to your
controller for generating a target amount of power from the motor.

As far as your motor controller knows, the V3 Cycle Analyst is just a throttle
device. The CA3 can't change any internal controller settings, or make the
controller do anything more than what you could do via deft manipulation of a
normal throttle.

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3 Installation

The Cycle Analyst includes a handlebar bracket that allows it to clamp on any
tube from 21mm (7/8”) to 40mm (1.5”) in diameter. You can mount it directly on
the handlebar, or you can swivel the base 90 degrees and clamp it to the stem
for a more central display that doesn’t consume bar real estate. There is also an
optional steer tube mounting bracket and a ¼” threaded insert on the bottom of
the enclosure for improvised attachments.

If you have a CA3-DPS device which uses an
external spoke magnet and separate speedometer
sensor, then you will need to screw the spoke
magnet to your wheel and zip-tie the sensor pickup
to your fork so that the magnet passes within about
5mm from the middle of the pickup sensor. To avoid
glitches in the speed reading, the sensor body
should be perpendicular to the direction of magnet
motion.

3.1 Handlebar Wiring

It is important that you wire up your throttle to plug into the Cycle Analyst rather
than directly to your motor controller. The CA3 has a short cable bundle for all
accessories and the throttle input is the black 3-pin connector. Your throttle
should be attached to this plug.

You can also connect ebrake cutoffs, auxiliary inputs, a temperature sensor, and
Pedal Assist (PAS) or torque sensors if you have them to the appropriate
connectors on CA3, but the throttle is the most essential for basic operation.

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There are two additional short cables coming out of the Cycle Analyst. One is an
1/8” TRS communications jack that can be used for data logging or connecting to
a computer for firmware updates and setting changes. The other is a DC Power
cable that has full battery voltage for powering front ebike lights, DC-DC
converters, and other peripherals that can run directly off pack voltage.

This DC power tap is fused internally and is limited to 1 amp. It is shipped with a
rubber protective cap and you should leave this cap in place if you are not using
the connector, as there is full battery voltage present on the exposed connector
pin.

We include a stretchy fabric Velcro sleeve that lets you cover up the connector
assembly for a clean finished look on the front of your bike once everything has
been plugged in. This sleeve also provides a convenient place for bundling up
any excess cable length.

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3.2 Shunt / Controller Wiring

For systems that have a CA3 compatible motor controller, the electrical hookup is
simply a matter of connecting the 6-pin CA plug to the mating plug on the
controller. This JST-SM connector standard has pins for the battery voltage,
throttle signal, speedometer signal, and current sense resistor leads.

If your controller doesn't have a compatible CA plug on it, then you will need to
use the Stand Alone Shunt wired inline with the + and – battery leads in order for
the CA to see the battery current and voltage.

The Stand Alone CA3 Shunt has a short unterminated cable with 3 signal wires
in it. The green signal wire is the throttle output of the Cycle Analyst, and that
should be wired to the throttle input plug of your motor controller. Without this
connection, the CA3 can monitor and display speed and battery consumption but
has no way to regulate and control the motor power.

The CA3 turns on whenever there is voltage on the CA plug. With direct plug
connections, if the controller has an on/off switch this would also turn the CA on
and off. If the controller does not have an on/off switch or the Stand Alone CA
shunt is used, then the the battery itself should have an on/off switch for turning
the CA on and off.

Please refer to section 6.13 about setting the Cycle Analyst Rshunt value,
especially if you are connecting the CA3 directly to a motor controller.

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4 Display Screens

When the device is powered up you can scroll through numerous display screens
by pressing the left and right buttons to show you things of interest:

Table 1: Summary of CA3.1 Display Screens

Display #1, Main Screen Summary of battery level, speed, power, voltage, distance etc.

Display #2, Electrical Only View of just the battery voltage, current, power, and amp-hours

Display #3, Human Power Shows pedal cadence and human power if torque sensor installed

Display #4, Wh/km Battery watt-hours and energy consumed per km or mile

Display #5, Human Stats Average human power, pedal cadence, and total human energy output

Display #6, % Regen Shows regenerative amp-hours and % by which it has extended your range

Display #7, Peak Stats Shows peak current, peak regen current, and battery voltage sag

Display #8, Speed Stats Maximum and average trip speed and total trip time

Display #9, Temp Stats Shows current, average, and maximum temperatures if sensor is attached

Display #10, Odometer Shows both current trip distance and lifetime odometer

Display #11, Batt Info Charge cycle count, total kWh energy used, and Battery internal resistance

Display #12, Diagnostics Live readout of throttle input/output voltages and active limiting flags

Most of the essential information you would want while riding is on Display #1.

4.1 Main Display

The battery State Of Charge (SOC) icon on the top left is a graphical indication of
the charge level in your battery pack, inferred from a combination of the cell
chemistry, pack voltage, and amp-hour consumption. This gauge will only be
accurate if the battery type and series cell count has been set up correctly.

Next to that is the actual pack voltage. We recommend paying attention to your
battery voltage and becoming familiar with the value that it shows on a full

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charge, during use, and when the battery goes flat. This is often your first clue to
anomalous behavior and provides very useful troubleshooting information.

The top right is a customizable display field. By default, this toggles between
showing your accumulated amp-hours and distance since the last trip reset, but it
can be configured to show other things like motor temperature, instantaneous
wh/km, pedal cadence and so forth. You will eventually find the consumed amp­hours to be among the most useful and important pieces of information on the
CA display, but only if you remember to do a trip reset each time there is a fresh
charge on the battery pack.

The bottom left of the display has a throttle position that moves up and down with
the user's throttle signal going into the Cycle Analyst. This is replaced by an
animated brake lever if the ebrake cutoffs are engaged. Just beside this slider is
an animated Pedal Assist bar graph, which is only active if you have a PAS
sensor and visually indicates how fast or hard you are pedaling.

The bottom left numeric display by default shows the electrical power currently
flowing through the system, and will go negative during regenerative braking. It
is possible to change this to display amps instead of watts if you prefer.

Finally, on the bottom right is a readout of your current vehicle speed, in either
kph or mph as chosen in the setup menu.

The left and right buttons will scroll through other display screens that show
specific information that may be of interest. These screens are explained in detail
on the CA3 web page and any of them can be hidden from view if desired. The
diagnostics screen and watt-hour screen are of particular interest though.

4.2 Diagnostics Screen, Display #12

If you press the left button once from the main display, you will have the
diagnostics display. This can be invaluable during any kind of system
troubleshooting. The top line shows the actual throttle voltage signal going into
the CA3, as well as the throttle voltage going out to your motor controller. If the
rate of change of the throttle is being clamped, then the associated rate limit will
show up (F = fast, U = up, P = PAS, D = down, see section 6.5).

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The bottom left shows if any of the limit settings are actively regulating the
throttle output voltage. Letters awvst refer to the Amps, Watts, low Voltage,
Speed, and Temperature rollbacks, and they become capitalized when active.

This display lets you easily identify if your input throttle is working correctly, if the
CA itself is sending an output throttle to the motor controller, and if that output
throttle is being clamped by any of the programmed limit settings.

4.3 Wh/km, Display #4

The 4th display screen shows the total energy in watt-hours taken from the
battery, as well as the average watt-hours used per distance traveled, either
wh/km or wh/mi. This is one of the most useful statistics to check as it is the
equivalent of fuel mileage for your electric vehicle. You can see how different
riding styles and terrains affect your energy usage, and you can compute how
large of a battery will be required to travel a given distance.

The other 9 displays are largely self explanatory and are more thoroughly
covered on the CA3 info page.

5 Resetting the Trip Counter

If there is only one thing to remember about using the Cycle Analyst, it is that you
will want to make a habit of resetting the Cycle Analyst every time you have a
fresh charge in the battery. Do this by pressing and holding the right button until
the message "RESET TRIP?" shows on the screen. This allows you to see your
consumed battery amp-hours on each trip and ensures that the battery cycle
statistics are accurate.

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If you forget to reset, the trip amp-hour, watt-hour, and distance accumulators will
eventually peg at their maximum values and you'll stop accumulating new
statistics. You also won't get the benefit of seeing an accurate battery charge
cycle count, seeing trip to trip variation in your wh/km consumption stats, and
learning exactly how many amp-hours the battery is able to deliver.

If you press the reset button on certain other display screens, it will reset just the
statistics associated with that screen, like a reset of just the peak statistics or just
the temperature data.

6 Setup Menu

If you received your CA3 as part of a complete ebike kit package then it should
be pre-configured with reasonable values for that setup and be ready to ride.
There should be little need to change anything. If it was received as an
independent device and not as part of a kit package, then there is a good chance
that you will need to change a number of settings in the CA3’s setup menu for it
to function with accurate readings. Most essential would be the wheel size,
battery details, and Rshunt value.

6.1 Accessing and Navigating the Setup Menu

The Setup Menu is accessed by pressing and holding the left button.

Once you are in the setup menu, the left and right buttons allow you to scroll
through the options or toggle digits up and down. Pressing and holding the
buttons has a special effect.

 Hold the RIGHT button to enter a menu or save a setting (like pressing

enter on a keyboard).

 Hold the LEFT button to exit something (like pressing escape on a

keyboard).

The setup page is organized with all the related settings grouped into sub­menus. Each of these high level menus is summarized in the table below.

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Table 2: CA3.1 Setup Menu Organization

Setup Speedometer Configure Speedometer Sensor (wheel diameter, #poles, metric/imperial)

Setup Battery Configure Battery Details (chemistry, #cells, low voltage rollback etc)

Setup Throttle Input Configure Input Throttle Mapping (min/max range, throttle mode, autocruise)

Setup Throttle Output Configure CA's Output Throttle (min/max range, ramp limits, voltage/RC Pulse)

Setup Speed Limits Set various Speed Limits and associated PID feedback parameters

Setup Power Limits Set maximum power and current limits, and feedback gain parameters

Setup PAS Device Set PAS or Torque Sensor parameters (#poles, fwd/rev direction, torque signal)

Setup PAS Configuration Configure how the CA responds to pedal RPM and torque input from rider

Setup Temperature Sensor Configure motor Temperature Sensor type and max temperature limits

Setup Analog Aux Control Setup behavior of potentiometer or 2/3 position switch for Limit Control

Setup Digital Aux Control Setup behavior of 2-button up/down Digital Limit Control

Setup Ebrake Configuration of Brake Cutoff behavior and proportional regen

Setup Calibration Calibration parameters for voltage scaling, zero offset, and Rshunt

Setup Presets Enable up to three Mode Presets for quick access to pre-configured limits

Setup Display Options Customize Display behavior, hide screens, choose custom views

Setup Miscellaneous Other parameters like data log rate, display averaging, default saving

Setup Lifetime Statistics Total Lifetime charge cycles, kilowatt hours, and odometer distance

6.2 Setting the Speedometer

The first item in the setup menu is your speedometer configuration. The second
line of the setup menu shows a preview of the configured settings, including the
number of pulses per wheel revolution, the programmed wheel diameter, and
your preference of metric or imperial display.

What you may not notice on this preview line is the small wheel sensor arrow
beside the number of poles, which shows the signal going into the CA’s
speedometer input. With a spoke magnet and sensor this arrow should switch
down whenever the magnet is right by the sensor. If you have a CA3-DP device

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