Smart Pie Not Powering up

[Brendon1128]

I've had my Smart Pie for about 6 months now (ridden approximately 3500 km) Yesterday after work, I started home, and all the sudden the motor died. All 3 lights on the throttle power meter went dead as though the battery had been disconnected. The battery was definitely fully charged. I checked the connections, wiring, etc and couldn't find anything broken or faulty. I ended up having to pedal home on human power.

One thing that I did notice was that when I was going downhill (above 30 km/h) the lights on the power meter light up. Around 30-35, the red light came on. Above 40, the yellow and green lights came up.

Any clues as to what this might mean? Did the controller fry? I've never ridden the cycle in the rain. I took apart my battery to check all the metal connections and see if anything burned out, but couldn't find any issues.

[Scooter]

It sounds like a battery issue...as you are getting the charging effect from the wheel when it is spun at high(er) speed. The lights coming up shows all the connections are sound/correct. Maybe you blew a fuse in the battery? Do you have a meter to test the output of the battery?

[Bikemad]

It does sound like either a poor connection on the power cable connectors or a switch problem.

I had a similar problem which turned out to be the contact plate coming loose on the rear of the keyswitch:



The cables soldered onto the end cover were pulling the fixed contact plate away from the moving contacts.



I pressed the end cover back in fully and then bent the wires more tightly at the switch end to make sure the wires were no longer trying to lever it off again and I have not experienced any further problems with the switch since this was done.

Alan