The circuit breaker on my XM-5000 is tripping more frequently. It used to only trip on steep hills or when I went over 60MPH. Now it trips around 50 and on lower grade hills. Do circuit breakers go bad? Has anyone had to change out their circuit breaker? Could something else be causing it to trip as my bike ages?
Thanks for any insights.
Two things come to mind:
1. yes, mechanical circuit brakers do age somewhat and thus may trip at lower currents than in the new state. And as that circuit braker appears to be a little too small for your scooter (as you said it tripped in the new state already under high load) such ageing could well account for the earlier tripping now. On my scooter the orignal 63A curcuit braker was too weak and would trip even on less than steep hills, and as it was officially replaced by an 80A one on the newer models of my sccoter we also did this mod on my older model. And I haven't had it tripping since, and nothing has been fried either :-)
2. there may be a more worrying reason, such as some shorted coil windings in your motor that would cause more curent to flow , and on the other hand would cause less torque generation. If the latter should be the case your motor could die pretty quickly.
Do you feel the scooter is less responsive than what you were used to?
My rides:
2017 Zero S ZF6.5 11kW, erider Thunder 5kW
Thanks MEroller,
I was considering replacing the breaker with one of higher amperage. Since the bike is long out of warranty, I was thinking of upping it by 5 amps. Now you've provided the idea to go back to the manufacturer to see if they have upped it in their later model. (I have serial number 8).
I don't think I've notice any decrease in performance. It still takes off faster than most cars.
What year is your 5000li and how many miles? My 4000li is 2009, and just turned 6681 miles and my circuit breaker only tripped one time when I foolishly rode in a very hard rain and shorted the ignition switch. (my fault, not the bike's fault) After replacement of the ignition switch, it has never tripped once. I have seen my controller overheat when riding in the 115 degree Phx temps, and it takes 5 min to cool off, but that has been the only time she has ever shut down. The bike has been absolutely flawless for 6681 miles and to this point is the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned.
Hi PzlPete,
I got my 5000 in Oct 2009 - only have 1,000 miles on it. That's why I have #8. I see now that they've made a number of modification.
Does you battery guage work well? Mine only indicates when I'm about out of charge, so I installed an amp hour kit for electric bikes. I can now monitor the cojnsumption of the 44 amp hours I get from a full charge.
What maintenance have you performed - new brakes?
Buckda, I actually have the original brake pads and so far they seem fine. The only maintenance I have done at all is replacing the rear tire because I picked up a huge nail that made the original tire un-repairable, so I replaced the stock tire with a larger high performance tire. It geared the bike up a bit which gave me slightly slower acceleration but slightly higher top speed. And it rides really nicely on the larger tire.
When I replaced the ignition switch I took the bike apart to the batteries and tested every one individually. They all seemed fine both at rest and under load. This was at 3383 miles, and as I said, I know have 6681 miles. My battery gauge seems to only show "usage" not capacity. Are you seeing that as well? I installed a digital voltmeter in my dash to show precise voltage, and that helps, but I really need to install a cycle analyst next. Was the amp hour kit difficult to install? I would like to find an analyst that connects directly to the controller.
Temperature affects the batteries greatly,and right now it is in the 60s and 70s in Phoenix AZ. My range is only about 30 miles in those temps (which is winter for us), but I was seeing over 45 miles last summer in the warmer weather. I am anxious to see if my range goes back up in late spring or if I need to check my cells again.
I installed the Cycle Analyst (http://www.ebikes.ca/drainbrain.shtml). The only problem is there is really no place to mount it so you can view it real time. I keep it in the charger "glove box".