The Controller Upgrade Overview

The performance of the Beast up a 10% incline behind my house had me concerned that maybe this wouldn't handle the beach in Mexico the way I hoped. So I called Justin up at Rush Outdoor Gear and asked what, if anything I can do to increase performance.

Looking back down the 10% incline in question.

Because the unit I purchased from him was last year's model, it had an older controller and display. The newer units have a newly released controller known as the Daymak Bluetooth Controller, model #DMK1802LED. This controller is larger in size and is configurable through it's Bluetooth interface using Daymak's phone App called "Daymak Drive". According to Justin, this will allow for the Beast to perform better under the conditions I described to him.

So he ordered it for me and I received it a week later. Unfortunately it arrived with zero instructions, or schematics. On top of that, I noticed that the connectors didn't match the Beast (There was one that did). This required altering the harnesses to properly match up the circuits. And while some of the wire colors matched between the controller and Beast, many of them did not. Finally, it was apparent that manuy of the connectors included with the new Controller will not be used with the Beast. In other words, there was no intuitive way to determine what was needed to be connected.

So, not one to let this stop me, I contacted Justin again who pointed me in the right direction. He gave me the number to Parts and Service at Daymak in Canada. When I called I spoke with the Parts Dept. and they pointed me to YouTube to watch a video of the unit being installed on another product of theirs called the Austin SX. You can watch the video here or below. NOTE: The wire connections discussed in this video do not correlate to what will be needed on the Beast! 

I connected my new controller the way this video described, but found that it did not work. However, it did help me get to know the unit better, so it wasn't a total loss.

I got a hold of a Service Technician at Daymak who then helped clarify the connections which greatly helped the project along. It still did not work quite right, in fact the connections described had the motor spinning the wheel backwards, which was quite a surprise on my first test drive! Thank heavens nothing important was behind me.

Ultimately, I did a bunch of research which helped me re-wire the phase wires on the motor to reverse the direction of the motor, but still had an issue with the controller cutting out prematurely. So one more call to Daymak hooked me up with the Lead Technician who efficiently solved the problem. As it turns out, my installation was correct, but I hadn't properly configured the controller through the Daymak Bluetooth app. He had me change a few settings and all of a sudden it worked!

In future posts I will cover the steps I took to get this controller up and running. And by the way, all the hassle was worth it. I can now summit that hill behind my house with power to spare!

So if you are in the same boat as I was, keep reading and I'm sure it will be helpful.