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?
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?
