Unfortunately a colleague decided to help me by moving my bike for me today. He reversed it out of an area and then put it into forward and then it all went wrong.
I wasn't there at the time - so I am unsure exactly of what he did or how, but when i got to it - you can power the bike up - squeeze both levers and the bike started having an eppy fit. Juddering and shaking. (no other errors on the screens etc - all looked good - no wrenches etc - weird)
It was much like the idea of it having a issues with the encoder disc. So i quickly got the back wheel in the air and tried the magic lever press to reset the encoder disc. and to run a test on the phases - speedo needle just at this point decides to rotate to a fro continuously from 0 - 120 and back again. I also quickly whipped of the encoder cover to see a pristine encoder and pristine (no dust) encoder environment. So no clue there.
Then after doing all this - bike powers up - squeeze all levers and GO light indicates - but otherwise - nothing ! zilch .
Incidentally i can check the throttle response and its all good.
The guy who moved the bike was mortified he'd killed my bike !
Tomorrow - i'll be plugging her into the pc to see if i can see any further info but its not looking/sounding great.
Any ideas anyone ?
bugger
Paul
Wow, frustrating. So sorry. :( I hope a solution is presented.
I'd suggest opening the bike to have a look at the MC - particularly the phase connections
The bike showing 0-120 and back again could be the start-up sequence repeating over and over again
was the headlight turning on and off again?
If so, I would also be checking the connections on the DC side of things
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
I won't get a chance to open the bike up til next week now (due to other commitments)
However I think it is the power output from the mosfets/IGBT that is/are dead.
The bike was having issues at full throttle under great load,say up a hill and from a standing start. Bearing in mind, Auckland is built on Volcanos we have a lot of hills here. I managed it by not using full throttle when symptoms presented themselves (which were an uuuuuurrrrrrgggg noise and a 'momentary pause/lurch' from the motor/gearbox which was almost like the needle roller bearings binding under full power. However I had a feeling the IBGT was failing.
So... it transpires that the guy who moved my bike (who is somewhat bigger than i) may have come across this problem when moving my bike in somewhat tricky environment and when it 'graunched' he just applied more power rather than less which may just have been the straw that broke the camels back.
Consequently, I believe the main board may well have failed. Interestingly booting the software - there were NO failures/faults or any other noticable problems from the softwares perspective which is fascinating.
Just for the hell of it (anything at that point) - i rebooted the bike using the charger plug method, and reflashed everything 'just in case'. Obviously none of those options worked which is unsurprising if the main power output is dead.
Next week will be telling !
Fingers crossed its an easy swapout process.
Cheers for all the encouragement.
Chris
My bike did that for a full year before eventually failing.
usually the problem is just the IGBT module isn't properly bonded to the heatsink
So under load the IGBT overheats internally and the internal temp protection kicks in to prevent burn out.
thats the uuuuurrrrrrgggg noise you can hear
when two dis-similar materials are bonded together, they are prone to come apart due to the difference in expansion and compression rates with respect to temperature.
each heating and cooling event is called a thermal cycle, and each bond will only last a finite number of thermal cycles.
Everytime the IGBT has been heated to cut-out temperature means one thermal cycle, which may happen many times on each ride.
Where the heat sink is properly attached, the whole ride is one thermal cycle (and not a very hard one at that)
What has happened is the internal temp sensor bonded to the power silicon has detached itself - effectively disabling the thermal cutout leaving the IGBT module free to overheat and fail.
anyway - the MC board will most likely look pristine, as the IGBT module will likely have failed internally.
Measure the resistance between all terminals (should be infinite if it is good)
measure the diode voltage between all terminals (I still have got around to digging up the correct values)
The bike still making bad noises when you try to take off means the main fuse is fine, and at least one of the 40A cap fuses is ok.
The gate drivers may also need checking, as a shorted half bridge tends to take the driver with it.
I have been meaning to make a video of how to fix a dead MC, but sorting out the time, parts and people have been a bit beyond me.
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
Ok... good news.
Replaced the main board today and it fixed the problem.
I haven't had time to test the old board yet. But i assume that everything Anti-scab said is essentially correct.
Unfortunatley in rebuilding the bike i tucked the rear temp sensors negative cable down between the packs to tuck it out the way whilst working and essentially rebuilt the whole bike with it unattached.
The fascinating result of this is not what i expected in that it didnt bring up the temp sensor flashing lights on the dash. Instead it showed 35.5 (or 37.5) degrees.
So tomorrow - dismantle AGAIN but not so much this time - fit temp neg cable and she's good to go.
Interesting the difference between a dying MC and a good one. Even using it at slow speed in the workshop its immediately apparent its a much quieter and smoother in use than the old one prior to its demise.
Bike is now fully back together and i'll pop into work and collect it tommorrow.
Should be an interesting ride home.
Cheers all
Chris