Car was working ok, then one day it started ok, then stopped going fwd. Pressing pedal on and off it would start but go very, very slow. Eventually worked its way up to normal speed. Happened again, took it even longer to recover. Display shows 7 bars, even though it was plugged inover night. no codes. Found out it was tripping house breaker.
Have not tried another circuit, but tried my 2005 on same circuit and it charges fine.
Could something be shorting in the pedal or on/off switch that is keeping it from running right and tripping circuit?
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Do you have a meter to verify state of your battery pack? (Your Dash Display could be confused).
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Verify that your charger is working properly and goes through a full charge cycle via the Charger Display on the charger itself (not the Dash Display)
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If tripping house breaker, yes- switch to another outlet.
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When was the last time you serviced your battery pack? (Checked for balance, Connections tight and bright, proper water level, Load test each one)
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Is the motor making any unusual noises?(popping, crackle, like bacon frying in a covered pot)
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is the car still running smoothly, or does it stutter and jerk when applying throttle?
Thank you for the response. Here is what I know:
- Yes, we show 73+ volts at the motor controller
- I know where the charger is, but don’t know how to see if it’s working properly
- For a couple years I used this circuit for both my e4 and 2005 e2 with no problems, and the cir currently is working fine to charge the e2.
- The batteries were replaced about a year ago, connections seem fine
- No unusual motor noises
- Before this problem it would stop or hesitate but re-pressing pedal usually got it going as it should.
When we outlet was live and working properly we plugged the car in and after a couple seconds there was a click and the display changed , but still no codes.
* > type or paste code here
pic is display when plugged
73v on the controller sounds like a depleted battery in need of a charge.
Charger is mounted on the shelf directly under the motor controller. It has a display visible from the driver side if you look over the top of the tire, past the shock, and towards the center of the car.
What does it show you?
Thanks, but my charger doesn’t look anything like that. I’ll try to load a pic. Excuse the foliage, at this time of the year it is parked uncovered. How many volts should we get at the cotroller leads?
We checked voltages on the 4 front batteries and they were 13+ volts each.
The tag on the charger says it’s a SURE POWER INDUSTRIES model 710301
Just realized that’s not the charger, going to take another look. Wit h BOTH eyes.
Here is my charger, this is what it looks like now plugged in to house at same time e2 is also plugged in.
You have 2 cars plugged into the same outlet???
No wonder your breaker is blowing.
How long have you been doing that?
A little over 2 years. I had the circuit put in just for the cars only, it’s 15 amps.
Certainly looks like you hit the nail on the head about the low battery. Now I’ll see what happens with it fully charged, and it it keeps blowing the circuit.
Thanks again!
15a on the input is not enough to support two cars at full tilt !!!
I’m surprised your electrician did that if he knew what your intentions were.
For now, only charge one at a time on this outlet.
Then, check your pack for proper balance. This is part of what a full pack check-up is. I bet you have a cell way out of whack. It might even be damaged if you have been running this way for a while.
I will do that, and switch to just charging one at a time. There are no other outlets that can be used right now, although I am putting up a garage next spring and make sure it has plenty of electric power!
Apparently more than one problem. After charging fully overnight all lights on charger were correct, display showed 10 bars, no codes, but pressing pedal would only move car a few feet backward or forward. Finally by playing with the pedal I got it to move and it went all the way to it’s normal 15mph in low range. If I selected Hi range it was erratic and again felt it was going on and off with the very slightest pedal movement. It seemed like the cause was operator induced oscillation rather than a constant voltage or power problem.
We decided to pull off the pedal to see if there was a way to clean contacts, check for broken wires, etc., but as ou know the pedal does not lend itself to interior inspection easily.
Based on the way it drives, it really feels like the erratic speed, stopping and starting has to do with pedal movement.
Did I read that you rebuild them or have a rebuild one for sale? It seems like swapping the pedal out would certainly eliminate that problem. Or is there a wa to bench test the pedal with an ohmeter?
There are a couple of options that can be done with the pedal. I would like to fully ferret out any other possibilities first.
Finally by playing with the pedal I got it to move
What was it that you did here?
I find it odd that you messed with the pedal it went from a few feet, then it ran up to 15 as normal in DL. Were there any dead spots in the pedal at that time? was it a reliable/repeatable 15mph.
When you switched to DH and it becomes erratic, do any codes appear on your dash display when this is happening?
One thing you can try right away is swapping pedals with your 05 car.
By playing with the pedal, I mean moving it up and down with my foot (pressing then letting up).
We were thinking of doing that swap, weren’t sure the were compatible. We can do that tomorrow. The 05 has the Ride4Fun motor, I wouldn’t think that would change the effect of pedal operation.
First off, thank you very much for your help. We replaced the pedal from the '05 to the '09, and the pedal felt and responded smoothly, and the car worked perfectly (15 mph in L, 25 mph in H) until it didn’t. After testing for 2-3 road miles, parked it and tried again after a few minutes, but when switched to H speed, it balked, slowed and threw code 81. I’m familiar with that from having to replace my speed sensor magnet on the 05 a couple years ago. It would only run in low with now mph display showing. Then a real surprise. When I slowed to stop with the brake, it REALLY stopped, tarder than I’ve even seen it stop tromping with my 240 lbs fully on the brake. After stopping it would start normal again, but every time I pressed on the brake to come to a slow stop it IMMEDIATELY stoppped as though it was more than the brakes stopping.
Resting it overnight and charging it full again, it worked perfect for several miles around town in low, high, stop,reverse, go, etc. After about 20 minutes of this, the 81 came back, no high range, and the scary stopping. When I got it ho,e I couldn’t remove the key without a few minutes back and forth, pulling, pushing and finally got it to come out of the dash. I had problems in the past with having to fiddle with the key to light the display or move the car.
So now I’m thinking maybe the ignition switch has been another problem all along, and the severe braking isn’t the brakes, but the motor trying to go in reverse. Is that possible? That’s what it feels like, now that I think about it.
Any thoughts? I guess I could swap the switch with the 05, since it isn’t going anywhere until I get a new accelerator pedal for it (I’ll keep the good one in the 09). Which brings me to another question, do you rebuild the pedals or should I get a new one?
Thanks again,
Larry
I’ve been chewing on this for 15h and it sounds to me like your controller has some strange personality issues. Let me see if I can figure out a good way to check a few things.
CMPD (Controller Multiple Personality Disorder)
Where do you live again? Are you in part of the country currently getting flooded by daily rain? Is it possible that your controller got wet?
It might be worth removing the controller from the car, popping the lid off and looking for signs of water intrusion. If found, drying it out now while it still works (kinda) would be a good thing. Otherwise, shaking it over a clean cloth might reveal remnants of a loose exploded component/wirebit/solder ball that is hopping around in there as you drive and causing personality changes. (I know people with this issue)
Altho I am not aware of how a controller will still operate with a missing/exploded component.
No speed readout?
One thing that I was not aware of is the ability to continue to drive without a speed sensor input (code 81). Normally, the car stops. You say your car does drive in DL which would be a new/interesting trick I did not know about. This would allow a car to get home in limp mode.
You should remove your speed sensor and check condition of the magnet. If this is a grey motor, the ring magnet may have just chosen to come apart and it’s bits are usually found stuck together in clusters around the sensor cavity.
Heavy braking
No- I don’t think the Key Switch is the issue. If you are having troubles with it going to ON (without filldling with it) then bypass it for now just for consistent power.
The heavy braking is also very strange. It either is applying all regen or kicks in plug braking. After a test run and a couple of good hard stops, run around and feel you motor and see if it is heating up. (this may be subjective as there is alot of mass and it wont be noticeable right away)
What seems to set it off?
- Accel Pedal up? (pre brake press)
- Slight Brake pedal press?
- Heavy Brake Pedal press?
Perhaps you have a pad or caliper jamming sideways. I’m guessing this is a front end issue. If back wheels were locking up then they would just skid.
If your car still does this heavy decel/braking habit today try this test:
→ When it is doing this heavy decel, be ready to reach up and switch off the key. This should depower the controller and the car should coast to the stop nicely.
Accel Pedal
It sounds like this swap might have cleared up part of the original issue unless the donor was borderline fail too? (what are the odds?). It would not be related to the speed sensor issue (81 showing up). There are a couple of pedal options to entertain. Let me check status of what is going on in the back rooms at skunkworks.
Depending on what you find today, I might have you try a few other things.
Unfortunately, didn’t learn much today. First off, I forgot to plug it in last night so only had 6 bars showing (which is how I left it yesterday) when I went out to test it. Decided to try things you suggested anway. Naturally it worked perfectly. No problems with key switch, backed out properly, and smoothly took off in low, quickly hitting 15-16 mph on the display, no codes. I drove around trying to get panic braking to occur, but no dice. Brakes worked fine, quiet and smooth. After 3-4 miles of stopping/starting going up to speed, I put it in Hi range and it ran right up to 24 mph again smoothly with no issues, codes, etc. Accelerations, decelerations, stop and goes, reversing, all worked good. After about 20 minutes and maybe 4-5 miles, took it home to charge it. Now had 5 bars down.
Tomorrow when it is fully charged I will run it for at lest twice as long, in case heat buildup is a factor. I am quite sure the stopping was not do to brakes grabbing or jamming, I think I know that feeling, adn often accompanied by noise. We both feel something was making the motor brake as soon as a little pressure was applied on Hyd brakes. Deft front only, not rear.
We have had some rain, not much (Illinois) and we considered water causing problems but did not see any evidence, and cleaned the controller up with compressed air. This was before the Heavy braking, code 81, etc occured. By the way, the car definitely drives in low with 81 code and no mph displayed, probably still 15 mph, but only in low.
I don’t think I mentioned that yesterday we pulled the quick disconnect apart from the controller,pedal and speed sensor and sprayed the contacts with electronice cleaner. I still had the problems afterwards until I got home, but maybe sitting overnight allowed them to dry more, so today’s running was normal.
I will test again tomorrow for 45-60 min to an hour and report back. At this point I am considering swapping out the fwd-rev switch and visually checking speed magnet if problem persist.
Larry
The hard braking could be the roll away protection kicking in, since the sensor isn’t pulsing in limp mode
I wish I could make come on with a push button as a hill holder at slightly elevated intersections
I’ll need to look to see if hill hold was an option for dc cars.
I thought that was only for AC cars. The encoder on the ac motors are way more sensitive.