Xiong Da 2-speed kaput

nabidana

Pedelecer
Nov 1, 2010
34
1
Hi there - was looking forward to posting about my first 350km on the bike, but just short of that, I've had a bit of a setback.

My route home takes me up a long-ish hill, then up a much steeper part of the hill. When operating normally, the wattage meter shows between 40w and about 300w, but when going uphill semi-lazily, it can register 480w or more. This used to alarm me, but it's gone through that cycle about 40 times now, so I didn't see it as a concern.

Last night, in a very heavy rainstorm, as I approached the very steep part of the hill, the screen went dead and all power assistance was lost. There was no other indication of an impending failure.

Battery checks out okay and charges as usual. Battery cradle was wet, screen was wet and of course the assist selectors and switch were wet. Controller, which sits in a waterproof saddlebag, did not get wet at all. On removing the battery, the terminals connecting the battery to the cradle were bone dry. Haven't taken the cradle off to see if there's water inside there.

Around 5 minutes after the failure, when I finally got the machine back into the garage, the controller was lukewarm to the touch. The motor was cold, the axle was lukewarm, but certainly not hot.

I don't claim to be able to unpick the variables: either a) stuff got wet and it stopped working, in which case it's been in a dry place and I shall check for any corrosion or shorts as soon as I get home today. or b) something has gone in the controller or the motor.

Where would you start?
 

KirstinS

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 5, 2011
3,224
899
Brighton
From your description I'd be most concerned about water ingess into the lcd

Where the lcd plugs into the controller - ca we see a picture of wiring ? You may be able to connect two wires to bypass the LCD panel. If that's restores power then I'd say LCD internals have shorted out

And when you say te battery checks out - did you check the output with multimeter ? My old battery had fuses on the output side. It would charge normally giving impression everything ok . Only if the output was tested with a multimeter could I know nothing was coming back out
. You might be very lucky and just have a battery fuse to replace
 
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nabidana

Pedelecer
Nov 1, 2010
34
1
Thanks Kirstin. Got home and had a quick check of the fuse - it wouldn't want to be that, it's a 30 amp job - if something had blown a 30 amp fuse, I wouldn't have wanted to be on it in the rain, rubber shoes notwithstanding.

It powered up ok this time, and there's no evidence of water ingress into the LCD or anywhere else. My guess is still flooding of the battery cradle, so a bit of judicious silicone and gaffer tape will be going on that at lunchtime tomorrow.

Delighted and relieved that it all started up again. Had all sorts of visions of 'if not this then what' diagnostics.