Rain Pain

[neptune]

I got caught in a bit of a downpour this afternoon. Donned the waterproofs, and sheltered under some trees for a bit to see if it cleared up. When I could see it was not going to, I headed for home. After a mile, my bike developed a peculiar fault. The bike is a 2002 model Powabyke Euro. I suddenly had no power to the motor although the battery lights were lit. When I switched from throttle mode to pedelec mode, the power was back. If I switched back to throttle, it would work intermittently. I seem to recall that i have had this fault before in wet conditions. The water is getting in somewhere, but where? It can not be the throttle , because the throttle works normally in pedelec mode. At the moment, the bike is drying out in the shed while the battery is on charge.
I expect it will be ok once it dries out, but I would still like to know the cause of the fault, and where the water is getting in . Does anyone have experience of this fault please?
Added Later. Bike must have dried out because it is OK now.

 

[flecc]

These odd wetness faults usually result from water in the controller, and the current weather isn't much help.

We down south are to blame for that, bringing in hose pipe bans after a dry period always prompts the heavens to open. The chant "hose pipe ban, hose pipe ban" is the white man's equivalent to the rain dance, and much more effective too.

We should teach it to the tribes in Africa's dry regions, they probably won't know what a hose pipe is, but that wouldn't matter, they'd just be grateful for the downpours!

 

[neptune]

Thanks flecc. I thought about this in the meantime and reached a similar conclusion. In Pedalec mode, the throttle, pedalec sensor, rear wheel motion sensor and associated wiring are all in use and working. That eliminates just about everything but parts of the controller. Next time I get bored I will dig it out and look for evidence of water ingress.