Reverse on a Scooter? Why not.

If you have been reading through this blog, you know that during the controller upgrade we only used 5 or so pigtails from the controller. One of the pigtails that I didn't originally connect was the "Reverse Switch" pigtail. This allows the bike to go into reverse if a switch is closed and the throttle is rotated. The configuration software allows the user to set how fast it can go into reverse as well.

Schematic with Reverse Switch Installed

First thing, I'll post the schematic here again but with a momentary switch added to the Reverse pigtail. There are 2 wires on the pigtail, and if you jumper the 2 together, you'll see that the vehicle will go in reverse. So all we need to do is put a momentary switch in the circuit so you can hold it and twist the throttle and the vehicle will go backwards.

3 Unused Wires in Front Electrical Box

So where can we find a momentary switch? Well, on my Beast, there are 2 red momentary horn switches, one at each hand grip. I decided to leave the right hand switch connected to the horn, and disconnect the left hand horn switch and re-task it as the reverse switch. I chose the left side, since I needed the right side to twist the throttle.

Same 3 Wires in a white Connector in the Back

The first thing I looked for were 2 wires that were already running from the front of the vehicle back to the controller area. If I can find these wires, then I won't have to run my own wires which would make the job much easier. Luckily I found 3 wires in the front electrical box that had been cut, and were just sitting there. This came from the factory this way, so now I looked for the same color wires somewhere in the back by the controller.

Luckily the 3 wires were sitting in a white connector, unused in the back. I verified this by using a DVOM and checked for continuity through the wire from the front to the back. Since I only needed 2 of the three wires, I removed 2 from the white connector and stripped back insulation back from the same 2 wires in the front.

Weatherpack Connector Used

I used a 2 cavity WeatherPack connector to connect the "Reverse Switch" pigtail from the controller to the 2 wires identified earlier.

I used a pick to release the terminals from the white connector, cut them off and installed the insulator, terminal and connector, as seen in the picture.

White Shrink Tube for Original Terminals.

The front electrical box does not provide enough room to install a WeatherPack connector, so I chose to release the two wires from the connector, and add my own wires and terminals. For info on using Weatherpack connectors, check this site out.

First thing I needed to do is find the 2 wires that come from the Left Hand Horn Switch. As it turns out, its the Black and Purple wires in the white 9 way connector coming from the left-hand hand grip harness. I removed the mating terminals from the connector and added my own wires to those 2 cavities. I left the original harness alone so it could be easily restored if necessary. I also shrink tubed the 2 terminals I removed to protect them.

Set Reverse Speed Limit

Finally I used 2 Salmon colored Crimp and Seal Splice sleeves, which are weather protected to connect my 2 added wires to the 2 wires I identified as already in the harness.

All this may seem a bit complicated, but in reality with a little detective work using a DVOM to identify 2 wires you can use from the harness then use the existing left hand horn switch as the input to the controller.

The last thing to do is to configure the Daymak Drive App to regulate how fast the controller will allow the bike to go. So pull out your phone and go to "Settings" and locate "Reverse Speed Limit" and pick a percentage. I selected 10% to keep it safe and slow.

Be sure you hit "Save" to send the new value to the controller, otherwise it won't change. I would think keeping the percentage well below 30% would make sense, otherwise you could easily lose control.

Here's a quick video of how it works on my bike with the Reverse Speed Limit set at 10%.

I'm hoping that this feature may help in getting out of some sticky situations. It may not ever get used, but that is ok it was fun to get it working.