I just got this blue Iacocca LE 36v ebike. I was very excited to improve it, so I converted to 3 SLA 12v, 12ah batteries in series to provide the 36v, 12ah that would propel me to 18-20 miles or so. It rode nicely as I was testing, and I was doing over 10-12 miles with plenty to spare. I rode about 3-4 times until ...
Yesterday I turned it on after a full night's charge. I got a bright green, meaning fully charged and ready. The headlight strong, brake light and horn all in operating condition. I press the throttle and nothing. No power to the reputable 500 Heinsmann hub motor, nothing. I also noticed a few days ago that this happened before all my 3-4 rides in the beginning, but I would turn it off then on again and it would give me power. This time though, nothing. It seems as if it went dead for good this time. I've tried the following test's as recommended by the manual:
QR connector test (this didn't solve the problem)
brake sensor operation test (checked fine)
brake sensor continuity test (checked fine)
throttle control test (checked fine)
throttle test (checked fine)
motor test (did not check fine, no voltage coming from Heinsmann motor as I spun the wheel with a voltmeter connected to the leads from the motor.)
I also tried to check voltage on the two leads from the controller and as I pressed the thumb throttle and I got no voltage. hmm.
I'm either suspecting the controller or the motor. I could understand the controller or the throttle maybe, but does the motor just die like that? It was working so consistently, hmmm. If someone with experience with these bikes can help I would really appreciate it.
thanks.
I believe I have figured this one out after a bit more diagnosing. I wanted to eliminate the hub motor, so I took a 12v battery from my powerdrill and hooked up the leads directly to the Heinsmann motor for a second or two. It started spinning nicely. Therefore, the motor is OK. I disassembled the throttle control unit and found that all the leads were intact. I also found out that it started working too, depressing the throttle was making the back wheel spin! I would then power off and on again it would stop working. Intermittent and puzzling. I recall that in the throttle resistance test, at no throttle, it should give you less than 1100 ohms. Full throttle should give you over 3800 ohms. At rest (no throttle, it was giving me around 1190 ohms. This was over the specified range. What this means is at power on, this throttle resistance is not accepted by the controller, and therefore the controller will not allow voltage to pass through to the motor. I would think that this is a safeguard to prevent excessive voltage from jolting the bike at startup. I will need to replace the throttle resistor, which is unobtainable since the bike is discontinued. I will be installing a full throttle control assembly which I found online to remedy the problem.