Bike has been sat over the weekend doing nothing.
Went to go to work and decided whilst i get my gear on i'll plug it in and see how she is for volts etc and knowing she'd dropped over the weekend, let her have half hour of minimal amperage, like a bit of breakfast for her.
Anyhow - plugged in - and things don't go too well, I can't remember exactly what but essentially she was stuck unable to power off, unable to ride or "GO"
Naturally having seen this software lockup before, after ensuring she wasn't plugged into the mains, I just reached under the front of the bike and pulled the two charger cables.
To my surprise, still not change.
So.... hmm, did some consideration - I could leave her all day with lights on and no one home, but this didn't seem to much of a good idea.
Or i could tear her down and pull the anderson connector which in my mind was the only other reset i could think of.
For fun (and i was in a rush) I thought i'd time it, to see how long it would take to get to the battery pack.
It took me 9 mins to get to it !
and a further 9 mins to put her back together.
I realize you 'should' use the whole surge protection process when messing with the Anderson but in this instance as I knew it was a momentary break, i decided i'd decouple and recouple in about half a second. The caps were not going to loose a whole lot of charge in that time. And lo.... she was back to normal.
Bit of stress but now i know i'm basically only 20 mins from fixing most problems lol. Definitely going to have to consider keeping a 10mm socket and a philips drive in the boot !
That's an interesting post. Like a major re-boot... about as major as it gets. Interesting to see it sorted things out and definitely one to bear in mind if all else fails.
I found a video on youtube of someone doing the ICL thing in only a few minutes by pushing two wires into the back of the (disconnected) Anderson connector...one of them with a 7w 240v light bulb on it and the other just wire. It looked quick and easy, getting in from the back of the connector itself rather than crocodile clips wherever they usually go.
What about putting a heavy duty switch on the positive wire up to the Anderson connector? Accessible from outside and that way you could 're-boot' without taking everything apart (and being 18 minutes late for work......)
How long does it take for the capacitors to lose their charge, do you reckon?
Normally had the Anderson been disconnected for more than a nano second i would have dug my light bulb out and done a proper connection but i knew that as long as the caps didn't discharge then all would be good. I'd also say that literally a few seconds is all i would trust.
As for the heavy duty switch - it'd have to be capable of 275 AMPS at 150v which quite frankly is industrial machinery type switches. Plus you still have the ICL issue to deal with !
I meant for it be used rather like you did to do the nano-second power cut. Instead of pulling the Anderson connector briefly, just flick a switch. The only problem would be if it were clicked off and left off. Then powering up again would need the ICL, right?
Do you usually use a normal domestic light bulb?
Yep just a normal lightbulb in a ceiling rose prewired with a couple wires stripped from a 240v cable.
I'm using 60w bulb but the wattage isnt important.
For the reset to actually take place, the caps have to discharge fairly low (below the dc-dc minimum)
This doesn't take very long as the dc-dc draws 7mA continuous, and the actual capacitance of the caps is *very* low
So pre-charge is still necessary
The Anderson's do a reasonable job at hiding the current surge on re-connect, but that doesn't help the caps any.
It's hit and miss, most times you get away with it
as far as switches go - the voltage doesn't matter so much as it is breaking a capacitive load
the current only matters as to what the switch can conduct continuously. It shouldn't ever have to actually switch 275A @ 150V (and wouldn't need to survive)
That's why Andersons are used.
You could extend the Anderson connectors so they are accessible outside the battery compartment.
An alternative is a contactor like a kilovac EV200
That will actually switch 275A @ 150V (it's also rated to break 2000A @ 300V, but only once)
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
Maybe something fitted in the glove compartment !
When mine got stuck like this just recently, I too tried the charger connectors 'pull' - to no avail. The thing that eventually did reset the bike was to disconnect the multiway connector from the charger as well as the two mains and DC power connectors (mine is ESD type). Then everything went back to normal.
Microsoft technique rules ok
Drew
Drew
Hey drew - pm'd you (its not usually very obvious).
Send me your address mate.
Chris