Need help! I have a 2014 GEM E6 with about 4,000 miles on it. It has 6 brand new Deka 8G31DTM batteries and a new speed sensor. I made sure the charger was on the correct charge profile. I have made sure all terminals are clean and tight and checked all of the fuses. The charger is showing solid green for full battery and solid amber for AC indicator. When I insert the key and turn on the ignition, the display lights up then the dash/fuse area starts “clicking” and the display flashes. It is showing error code 15. Any suggestions?
Grab a meter and start probing to see where all your power is going. Look under the car and check to see if there is a big puddle of it down there.
Start at the pack, check both ends of the string and make sure you didn’t get one or more of the batteries reversed.
- Note that voltage. What is it? (hint- Don’t just say it’s OK)
Jump to the end of the line and put your meter on the motor controller (the lugs on the very back of the controller next to the firewall) and check to see what the motor controller has at it’s inputs.
(Key needs to be on and charger unplugged)
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If the same as the pack V then check your big 23p controller plug. Pull it out, shoot it with a bit of contact cleaner, and a blast of compressed air (if you got it). skritch it back in and out a couple of times, clean it again and put it back in
Code go away? -
If controller V is NOT the same as the pack V then there is a bad connection under the dash.
Report back here for further instructions.
Big puddle? What would I be looking for? I bought it from someone then put it in my side yard and put new batteries in it. It’s been sitting there ever since. I will need to go purchase a Volt meter and figure out how to use it ha.
You can ignore that part. I was being snarky and trying to inject some humor and wackiness into a whacked out day.
Q- How long has it been sitting there with new batteries in it?
I will need to go purchase a Volt meter and figure out how to use it ha.
Yes, you should.
Had me worried I was looking for something else lol. I bought it used from the second owner. I don’t know how long it sat there. I have had it about 3 weeks and it’s had the new batteries in it about 10 days. I have the batteries wired the main positive line attached to the positive of the battery then the negative to a positive and keep alternating and my last connection is the main negative connecting to the last negative post. It seems to be connect correctly. So start at the main fuse/bar right off the batteries and start working from there? As you can tell, I don’t know much about it. Just trying to get the dang thing running.
So start at the main fuse/bar right off the batteries
No- the fuse is normally wired up one or two batteries into the chain. What I would need is a reading on both ends of the pack.
Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by pack? Like the pack of batteries?
Yes- When I speak of pack, that means all of them.
When I mention cell or battery, I mean one of the pack.
Okay, that’s what I thought but I wanted to be sure. So I need to get a voltmeter check right off the pack and then check the controller to see if there is a drop.
Do you have any guess as to what it might be?
Not EXACTLY what is wrong since there could be a number of things. That’s why I ask alot of questions just to try and narrow things down a bit and then I can send you in a direction.
Having you go through some diagnostics will narrow things down, but there is a good chance that it is a bad connection in that main controller plug.
Okay, I have purchased a meter and tested it. The reading right off the pack was 74.1. I then checked the controller (I think it was the controller, it was under the dash, at the top) and it read 71.1. I then checked another set of cables right below it and it read 0. What’s next?
It sounds like you targeted the correct box. The two bolt connections towards the back are marked with B+ and B-.
Did you do the voltage test on the controller with your key ON?
No, I did it with the key off.
Can you do that test one more time with key on.
Verify that the display is still flashing and relay clicking.
When was the last time you plugged in your charger?
Are all the speed/direction boxes lit up on the display also?
If anyone is following this topic and curious- I took this guy to personal call.
Background first:
Subject: mdixon picked up this car in a non-working and partially gutted state(batteries were missing). He did a great job at installing new batteries but the crazy symptoms listed above were very confusing.
The flashing was due to the cycling of the DC Converter and not being able to keep up with the headlights being on.
Probing the batteries found a significant loss in V (~4v) between the front of the car and back.
Physically following and inspecting the battery cable harness noted the cables didn’t simply go from the front of the car to the back, but also made a detour up into the middle seat of this E6. Previous assumption of nothing being in that seat was corrected now when three more old batteries were discovered hiding in there still wired in! He did not know this car was originally loaded up with 9) 8V batteries and took the advice from his local shop and installed 6)12V gel cells.
A quick bypass of the very dead batteries mostly woke the car up and now everything started to work as it should. The main contactor even kicks in and out as it should.
This pointed to another problem. The ADC Motor was not happy at all about being abandoned in the back lot for so long. When power applied it spit and sputtered with flashes and sparks. Rolling it back and forth woke it up a little but we are now working at pulling it out and sourcing a local shop to give it a good clean out.
Progress!
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