No ready light

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bennelson
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Joined: Friday, December 5, 2014 - 16:20
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No ready light

Hi folks!

I need your help.

I'm not getting the "Ready" signal on my instrument cluster.

First a little background....
A few years ago, I bought a used VX-1 with a dead battery pack. I took it apart, rebuilt the battery with Nissan Leaf Cells, upgraded the firmware to make it work with the Leaf Cells. Later, I built an "aerodynamic" cargo bin on the back (which replaced the rear seat and added LOTS of storage), added some additional charging (Mean Well power supplies) and then road the bike over 1200 miles around Lake Michigan.
(Do a search for "Loop the Lake" on YouTube or 300MPG.org)

After that, my next big project was to rebuild my garage. Unfortunately, that meant the bike had to go into storage somewhere else. It was pretty much buried with some other things, and did NOT have access to electricity. I never did a full manual disconnect of the battery. I had a Cycle Analyst added to the cycle and it's possible that was a drain on the battery (although I thought the way I wired it should have completely disconnected it) or perhaps it was a small discharge from the motor controller itself. Either way, the battery got completely drained, and as far as I can tell was completely ruined.

My garage is now rebuilt (and features solar panels!) and I finally have space and time to work on projects again! I'm trying to get the Vectrix going again. I built a new battery pack from 18 cell modules from a salvaged Nissan Leaf battery pack.

I built that and dropped it in the Vectrix. I turned the key and got everything to power on. I also plugged it in and the cycle topped off the charge on the cycle. However I DO NOT GET THE "READY" INDICATOR!

I already of course made sure the kickstand was up, that the kill switch was to ON and not OFF, and the other basics.

I've heard that there have been issues with the throttle getting messed up on VX-1s before. When I was picking up my cycle, I was working by myself, and yup, I tipped it, landing it on it's right side. I don't think the throttle got whacked, but I'm also trying to rule it out.
If I turn on the cycle, and hold the left brake, the speedometer goes to 43 and if I twist the throttle the speedometer goes to 115 and if I twist it to full regen, it goes down to 8. I think that's about what it's supposed to do, right?

I have also heard that there are issues with not getting the READY light if there is a bad connection to the brake light. Because I modified my cycle for long-range trips, the brake light and rear turn signals were remounted into a separate tail section. Today, I went back to my storage space, got the tail, brought it home and removed the lights from it, plugging them back into the cycle's wire harness.

Turning the bike on, still the same issue. Powers up, headlights work, brake and turn signals work, but no READY indicator.

The only other thing I can think of is that on the same section of wire harness going to the brake light, rear turn signals, etc. is one marked "J26 SEAT SWITCH". That's not plugged into anything. It's on the left side of the bike tucked up and under just behind where the rider's left hip would be. Also right there is the connector for the trunk light switch. For the life of me, I have no idea what this seat switch is supposed to connect to. I don't think it was connected to anything while I was riding the cycle with the custom tail on it.

Just trying to trouble-shoot and figure out why the READY light isn't coming on.

I really hope I missed something simple and obvious. Please let me know! Thanks in advance,

-Ben.

PS: My blog is at 300MPG.org. Most of my work on this cycle was leading up to a September 2015 trip around Lake Michigan.


X Vectrix
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Re: No ready light

Sounds like the kill switch is not making good contact. Try working it back and forth a bunch of times.

zeuz
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Re: No ready light

The only other thing I can think of is that on the same section of wire harness going to the brake light, rear turn signals, etc. is one marked "J26 SEAT SWITCH". That's not plugged into anything. It's on the left side of the bike tucked up and under just behind where the rider's left hip would be. Also right there is the connector for the trunk light switch. For the life of me, I have no idea what this seat switch is supposed to connect to. I don't think it was connected to anything while I was riding the cycle with the custom tail on it.

Sounds to me that's the power lead for the light under the seat...

bennelson
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Re: No ready light

IT was the Kill Switch!

I rocked it back and forth a zillion times and DID get the READY light to come on! Whew, glad it wasn't something worse than that. I do still have to rock it a bunch of times to get it to read ready. If I turn it off and then on, it won't read READY. Do I need to take it apart and get in there with some contact cleaner or something?

The bike has been in storage for well over a year. I wonder if some corrosion could have formed on the kill switch, or could have dropping the bike on it's right side had done something? I'm not sure.

The connector I showed a photo of is NOT for the light in the truck. The connector for that IS located very close to it, but that is plugged in and labelled as J25 TRUNK LIGHT SW.

BLUESTREAK
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Last seen: 5 years 2 months ago
Joined: Sunday, November 15, 2009 - 19:55
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Re: No ready light

HI BEN long time since we spoke, the plug you are talking about is not used in any thing, I don't think it's in the later harnesses. still working on my SON'S VX4 TRIKE WILL GET IT FINISHED. I am getting old also 74 in dec.2016-09-02 14.04.21_2.jpg

R
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Re: No ready light

Nice to see you here again!

yes, sometimes these swicthes get rusted, just unscrew the black cover of the switch (philips screws, don't touch the hexagon nuts), without touching anything of the twist grip mechanism, dismantle the switch from the cover, then clean it.

bennelson
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Last seen: 2 years 10 months ago
Joined: Friday, December 5, 2014 - 16:20
Points: 110
Re: No ready light

Thanks guys!

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