Throttle Light and Smart Display not turning on

[Adamsavage79]

So we are back to square one now ? Not knowing what is going on ?

[Bikemad]

You definitely have battery voltage going to the controller or the motor wouldn't run, but you don't appear to have battery voltage coming out of the controller's wiring connectors to both the Smart Display and the main control harness.
To me, this clearly indicates a fault within the controller's wiring harness.

Unless they have altered the wiring layout, the battery feed to the LED battery gauge and the Smart Display comes from the controller's wiring harness.

I would say the wiring attached directly to the controller probably has a fault somewhere within it.

My opinion is still the same as it was 8 days ago, as I still think that the problem lies within the controller's wiring harness.

Hopefully, a replacement controller will cure this problem.

Alan
 

[JJ]

Alan, you gave me instructions last fall about my controller and throttle. Adamsavage78 can test his battery power the same way.  I don't know how to provide a link here, and don't see an easy way on this page. The thread started Oct. 8, 2017.

You recommended drinking straws, but I used 1/4" sections of a coffee stirrer to cover the connectors to the +48V and ground, then touched my probe to the +5V.

[Bikemad]

Hi JJ, I think you were referring to this post, but inserting hyperlinks is not quite so straightforward on SMF forums.

You have to manually paste the target address in the correct place within the leading URL tag and also add a "=" in front of it, as shown in this example of the above hyperlink:

Code: [Select]


[url=https://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?topic=6339.msg35161#msg35161][b]this post[/b][/url]


It should be possible to check for battery voltage between pins 2 and 5 on the 5 pin connector used for the display unit, and between pins 3 and 9 on the controller's main 10 pin connector:



Unfortunately, some people may find this task a bit overwhelming if they are not conversant with how to use a voltmeter (especially if they have never owned one  ).

Alan
 

[Adamsavage79]

I have a volt meter, as I use it all the time for the bike. Helps troubleshot and tells me how much juice the battery pack has. How would I get the meter ends inside though ?  The holes don't look very big. Paper clip and then touch paper clip with voltage meter?

[Bikemad]

It should be possible to check for battery voltage between pins 2 and 5 on the 5 pin connector used for the display unit, and between pins 3 and 9 on the controller's main 10 pin connector:

In the above diagram, the controller's connectors are on the left hand side labeled Motor harness.
The pin layout shown is exactly as viewed from the exposed end of the connector. 

You should have male pins on both of the controller's 5 and 10 pin connectors, the female sockets (holes) are on the mating connectors of the main harness and the Smart Display unit.

Placing small pieces of drinking straw over the pins you are checking prevents touching the wrong pins (or accidentally shorting adjacent pins together  ) with the meter probes.

Alan
 

[Adamsavage79]

I will check it out this weekend. The weather is going to be terrible, so I wont be going anyway.

[Adamsavage79]

Turns out 3/16 heat shrink, when shrunk fully. Works well. Will try it out Sunday, and see.

[Adamsavage79]

I have a little bit of power coming out of the cable that goes to the Smart Display, from the motor. However, 1 and 3 pins give me nothing. It's tricky getting a reading as you have to hold everything just right. I can confrim there is power coming out of the Motor, as it makes a very distinctive "click" when you turn on the power.

[Bikemad]

It should be possible to check for battery voltage between pins 2 and 5 on the 5 pin connector used for the display unit, and between pins 3 and 9 on the controller's main 10 pin connector:

I have a little bit of power coming out of the cable that goes to the Smart Display, from the motor.

Have you checked for battery voltage at the two places that I previously mentioned? If so what voltage did your meter indicate on each connector?

A very distinctive "click" when you turn on the power on does not necessarily mean that you have any power coming out of the motor/controller.

You obviously have battery power going into the controller, and must also have a 5V supply coming out of it to feed  the throttle control or the motor would not run.

On the connector that is used for the Smart Display, Pins 1 and 3 are only used for transferring the programming signals to and from the controller, and are therefore unlikely to produce a constant voltage that you could measure (even if programming was taking place at the time).

On the same connector (with the power turned on) between pins 2 and 4 you should have a constant voltage of between 4~5V, and between pins 2 and 5 you should have a constant battery voltage.

If you can't detect a constant battery voltage between pins 2 and 5, then the controller's wiring is faulty and a replacement controller will be required.

Alan
 

[Adamsavage79]

I checked pins 2 and 5 on both wires. For the main wire checking pins 3 and 9, I got 6.5 - 6.85 volts. For the smaller wire, that goes to Smart Display from the controller. I got about 7-8 volts.

[Bikemad]

I checked pins 2 and 5 on both wires. For the main wire checking pins 3 and 9, I got 6.5 - 6.85 volts. For the smaller wire, that goes to Smart Display from the controller. I got about 7-8 volts.

Finally, a conclusive result which confirms my initial suspicions, the controller's wiring is definitely faulty!
(Unless your battery's voltage was also between 6.5V and 8V throughout the test.) 

All you need to do now is to fit a replacement controller and check that everything is working correctly.

I'm looking forward to receiving confirmation that all is well with the new controller. 



Alan
 

[Adamsavage79]

It looks like I could be waiting a awile for my controller... It was supposed to be here Yesterday, but we had a Ice Storm the night before. However, Today. Everything is fine, weather wise. Yet UPS is holding my package, and refusing to give an update as to when it will be delivered.

[Adamsavage79]

Good news Everyone! The lights on the trottle come on, and the smart display powers up as well. Taking a break from it for now, as I only need to tidy up the wires now. I even switched my battery over to a new bag, that has a key switch. Now I don't have to unplug the wires all the time. Looks like you where spot on Alan.  The throttle lights stay on, regradless of the button being pushed in, but I really don't care about that. If it bothers me enough, I can just cover it up with tape.

[Bikemad]

Good news Everyone! The lights on the trottle come on, and the smart display powers up as well.

That's the confirmation that I was hoping for. 

Hopefully it will remain like this for a very long time, but (if you haven't already done so) please make sure that you safely insulate the four unterminated wires for the horn/lighting on the front control harness.

If the metal conductors inside those four wires are allowed to touch against each other, you will cause a short circuit across the battery wires by either pressing the horn button or operating the throttle switch, which could instantly melt some of the small wires inside the harnesses.

I think that the faulty soldered joint in the old controller's harness must have prevented this from happening, as it was basically a weak link and behaved like a resistor, this stopped any high current from flowing which in turn, prevented serious damage to the wiring harness. 

Alan