I'm having the worst kind of problem, an intermittent one. It's been going on for half a year but I can go for weeks without a problem, and then all of sudden, the throttle fails to produce an response. Sometimes, I feel the motor start to engage and stop and start and stop. Then if I hold the throttle open for a while, sometimes as long as a minute or so, the scooter will slowly start to respond. Then, more often then not, it will work just fine for the next few days or weeks. I have power to headlights, battery meter, etc, all of the time, it's just power to the motor that is seeming to fail.
I've had Electric Motorsport look into this but they didn't have the problem during testing and they didn't find anything wrong.
It seems to happen more frequently when it's raining or has recently rained but then on a day like today, it works fine in the rain without any problems.
I'd be grateful for any ideas on what might be wrong and/or what I should do to try to figure it out. It's pretty scary when I'm riding along at speed and it suddenly fails! So far I've been able to get out of the way of traffic without incident but don't want to wait till my luck runs out!
-Rudi
If the throttle communicates with the controller via a potentiometer the latter may simply be worn out and spiking, thus causing the contoller to doubt at times what it is "told" and temporarily shut down. But hall sensors can go kaput just as well, particularly if they should be of Chinese origin. However a kinked cable or a loose of corroded connector could also be a cause for such potentially dangerous behavior...
My rides:
2017 Zero S ZF6.5 11kW, erider Thunder 5kW
Thank you for your suggestion. It's not likely the throttle as the potentiometer has already been replaced. Seems like the hall sensors, cable or connectors are likely the culprit. The problem had resolved for a while before returning. It seems to happen far more often when cold or wet (or perhaps both) but it's been hard for me to pin it down.
I'm hoping to get EMS to take another look at it but they haven't been as helpful as I would like so far. The problem has gotten bad enough that I'm apt to ride my bicycle instead out of fear of getting stranded or worse yet, getting into an accident.
Just wanted to post an update in case anyone has a similar problem. The problem went from intermittent to more and more frequent finally was repeatable. Todd of EMS was awesome and even picked up my scooter in his truck so that they could work on it at the shop since I couldn't get it moving on it's own. The problem was the controller and it was replaced free of charge under warranty. They didn't even ask me for any money for the install time or their other help -- really awesome of them.
Defect aside, the Z6000 still has the best motor/controller system for anything at the price point. I have found however that the frame has some week points thanks to what may have been poor welding in Thailand at the plant. I need to find a good place to have to welds re-welded and then all will be fine with it. It rides ok, but the ride doesn't feel as good with those welds missing though it is still holding together. I'm sure these welds are due to the modification they made to turn their gas scooter design into an electric one.