Electrical fault during weekend. Please help.

[HittheroadJ]

Today my bike suddenly stopped. All lights went off.

I tried switching it off/on and found this happens:
a. the lights come on very briefly.
b. the bikes gives a mighty jerk on the motor.
All lights go off and no response. If you switch it off and straight back on the same thing happens again.

Just before this all started the bike had fallen on its side (gently, I held it with one hand while I was lifting of its load). Still, A connection may have come loose, or a cable may have been damaged or something. I did ride a bit after the fall, so it may not have caused it.

- I hung the bike from the ceiling in the shed to work on it and particularly to lift the rear wheel.
- I checked the cables visually and did not see anything wrong.
- I switched the battery from the one side of the bike to the other. No difference.
- I opened the box with the controller and did not notice any loose contacts.
- I tried starting the bike with the switch set to PAS and Throttle mode. There does not appear to be any difference in behaviour. The bike can run as Pedal-assist and you can then still use the throttle to increase the power.

I'm not really sure how to narrow the problem down further.
It could be in the cabling or in one of the sensors or in the throttle or in the controller. But how to check it?


It is a meerkat (currie Izip).
The good news is that I liked riding it enough to buy another one for my other half. So I still have a ride (she hardly ever uses it).

I just checked again. If I switch the bike on the lights come on (briefly) and there is strong jerk from the motor that sends the wheel spinning. Then all go off.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[NRG]

Interesting, not sure I can help other than to say those are the exact same symptoms when the controller in my Alien GSII died. I discovered that one of the three phase drives to the motor had failed. I managed to fix this myself by replacing the drive power MOSFETs in the controller. Not saying your problem is the same as mine failed after climbing a steady 10% gradient and failed near the top......

 

[HittheroadJ]

Interesting, not sure I can help other than to say those are the exact same symptoms when the controller in my Alien GSII died. I discovered that one of the three phase drives to the motor had failed. I managed to fix this myself by replacing the drive power MOSFETs in the controller. Not saying your problem is the same as mine failed after climbing a steady 10% gradient and failed near the top......

Thanks for this NRG. I was on a steep climb too, with a heavy load, when it failed (did remind me of Murphy's Law). Did get to the top in 1st gear, though.
I hope you do not mind me asking more of your time. How did you diagnose this?

Maybe I'll try to switch the controllers tomorrow, that would prove quite clearly where the problem is or is not. Just hope the contacts are not soldered. Much of the cabling looks like it is just plug and play. I'm a bit concerned about potentially voiding warranty.

 

[NRG]

Ah, could be the same issue. Have you got a digital volt meter? If you have set it to the lowest resistance measurement range and measure across each of the motor phase wires coming from the controller and the negative 0v battery input.

If one of these is shorted IE you get a zero ohm reading on your volt meter then you have found the problem.....if they are good there will be no resistance reading on the meter....

 

[HittheroadJ]

Hi NRG.

I measured and measured. Found no resistance. Thanks for that tip.

I can also say that Moore and Large merrily shipped me a replacement controller which works like a charm. Kudos to them and the help I got on this forum.

Thanks.

Ah, could be the same issue. Have you got a digital volt meter? If you have set it to the lowest resistance measurement range and measure across each of the motor phase wires coming from the controller and the negative 0v battery input.

If one of these is shorted IE you get a zero ohm reading on your volt meter then you have found the problem.....if they are good there will be no resistance reading on the meter....