Fault finding help

[iain85]

Hi,

Wasn't ignoring you Dave. I appreciate your help and am not being dismissive. I am truely rubbish with computers and if it's ok I can email you a pic ? ( I can manage that ). The last attempt at posting my build pics required my brothers intervention!

I will go through the instructions and see what's what and report back later. Hopefully....

Please let me know if a email is to post of the controller and if so send me your email address?

 

[iain85]

Ok, firstly thanks again Alex for the lend of the diagnostics device. Il go through each result but ultimately i think its the controller at fault.

Hope I understood the engrish instructions correctly : ) although on each motor test the intructions indicate that on winding the motor clockwise ( along the advance direction of the vehicle ). My results were gained from turning the wheel in the opposite direction! Does this indicate anything ?

1, Test the winding of the motor. All 3 LEDs flashed as indicated, although again only when wheel is spun backwards.

2, Test the hall of the motor. LEDs flashed alternately as indicated they should. Backwards turning wheel.

3, phase angle indicates 120 degrees ( what does this mean?) as opposed to 60 Degrees.

4, Test the phase sequence of the motor. Tbh the instructions confused the hell out of me so missed this test

5, Steer test. LEd went from Green to nothing to Red. As expected as brand new throttle

6, Controller check,The 5v indicator light was flashing indicating the 5v power supply is good. Although when operating the steer, six LEDs should illuminate. I am getting none on mine which apparently indicates a blown controller.


So, I once again dissassembled the controller to look at the circuit board. There are no obvious signs of any burnt out components. I have changed a lot of Pcbs on boilers and normally there is scorching on components when they are broken?

Any help would be gratefully received and much appreciated.

Btw Alex, thanks again for the loan of the machine. Please message me a return address and il post it back tomorrow.

1, Winding test of the motor.

 

[iain85]

Just found this test on the other thread to test for blown mosfets.

http://ebikes.ca/troubleshooting/BlownMosfets.pdf

I tested for continuity between ground and power on all 3 of the phase wires (6 tests total) and not one showed continuity.

Am I right to assume all of the mosfets are blown?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

No continuity is good. You should get a resistance of minimum 8k. Posting photos is very simple if you follow this instruction post#3:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/announcements-feedback-support/15268-does-forum-picture-upload-work.html

 

[103Alex1]

Doesn't sound like MOSFETs are blown unless you are getting low (<8k ohms to zero resistance) in which case that might signal continuity (bad). What resistance results do you get from each of the 6 multimeter tests (phase/ground x 3 and phase/power x 3) ?

Hang on to the tester for a bit till you get to the bottom of this. I don't have a copy of the "engrish" )) instructions so it's hard to comment but I'm sure Dave must have a copy of them with his tester

Can you remind which motor you are running ?

When you take a photo insert the card into your computer / reader or connect your smartphone to a computer with a comms lead. This should allow you to open a menu of photos through explorer if you are using Windows. I've never used a Mac so don't know how that works.

If you don;t want to use photobucket, then when you want to instead upload a photo to the forum direct, click on the paperclip just above where you are typing your message on this thread. then click on 'Add Files' tab with the green 'plus' sign. Then click 'select files' which brings up an explorer tab where you can use the root directory to locate the photo you want to upload off your computer or device.

Click 'open' and it will be listed in the upload box. Click 'upload files' and the photo will upload to pedelecs. You then need to click 'Insert Inline' followed by 'Done'. You should see something like

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I doubt that there'll be enough detail with the forum's photo hosting, Alex, so best to use Photobucket. It's simple, reliable and you get full resolution. Just follow the instruction.

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

Well I've worked out the upload so that's a start : )

Ok re did the resistance checks

Yelow power is 4.6 m ohms ground is 7.43 k ohms
Green power is4.58 m ohms ground is 9.10 k ohms
Blue power is 3.67 m ohms ground is 9.10 k ohms

When conducting the power tests the reading would slowly drop at .01 a second consistently, is this to do with temperature fluctuation?

Now I've mastered the pic upload if you need any specific shots let me know.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi Is your 500 watt motor direct drive or is it geard

and are you anywise near banbury

Frank

 

[iain85]

 

[iain85]

Hello,

I'm unsure as to the drive. It's a 500 w bafang rear wheel drive motor. I'm in Canterbury so not close to Banbury I'm afraid.

Iain

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Your FETs are most likely OK, although the yellow looks a bit suspicious. I see you have reinforced power tracks to the FETs. Most KU123s don't have 'that, so the tracks can melt if you use lot of power for a long time.

Let's go right back to the beginning, to find some clues:
The throttle stayed on. Did you have the cruise wires connected, which will make the throttle stay on if you hold full throttle for 5 seconds?
You managed to stop it. How? Did you overwhelm the motor with the brakes? If so, how long was the motor stalled?
I'm still unclear about the yellow wire. I understand that it was the yellow phase wire bullet connector. Did you pull it out when you disconnected the battery, or did it mysteriously disconnect itself, or did the wire blow off the connector? Scorch marks are normal. Those connectors are not up to the job, so need to be replaced/eliminated.

One last thing to try while you have the tester. Connect only the battery wires to the controller. Does the LED on the PCB flash? If so, what is the pattern? Connect the tester to the phase wires from the controller to test their output. Short the red and green throttle wires on the throttle connector. Do the tester LEDs flash? Does the controller LED flash pattern change? Take off the tester and connect the throttle. Does the PCB LED flash pattern change?

 

[iain85]

Hi Dave,

Just a quick reply then il conduct the tests you described latter as I have my daughter today.

Cruise wires not connected.

Yes, had to overwhelm hub with the brakes motor stalled 5 seconds maybe?

Yellow wire was connected when I checked but looked like a bad connection with some heat damage.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Too late now, but this is why I recommend at least one brake switch. I'll be surprised if your system could survive that. There's still a question of why the throttle stayed on. Reasons I can think of: magnet broken off inside the throttle or a short somewhere, As it appears to be working now, the only possibilities I can think of are a temporary short between the 5v and the throttle signal, or temporary short of the cruise wires. Whatever it is, it needs sorting as well as the controller.

 

[iain85]

Hi Dave,

Yes I tend to agree it was the orginal throttle at fault, as when I conducted the test with the multimeter it was loseing the 5v from the controller and you said it could be a dead short.
I have now got a new throttle ( courtesy of Alex) so at least the cause is eliminated. Do you know anywhere I can send the controller to be repaired or should I put a wanted ad up in the classifieds and see what's around?

Thanks,