How to get fuel gauge working if the charger has been uninstalled of vectrix 2008 model

There's no easy way to get fuel gauge back again if you use an external charger.
You can use a shunt and an Amp hrs counter like the Cycle Analyst or the Battman instead.

Klaus

double posting

You will need to get a 12v 5A power supply (15v is also ok)

I suggest powering it from the mains during charging. during riding you could power from the battery separately by switch

with your old charger, can it still drive the fuel guage?
Ie, does the fuel guage show a constant value?

If so, it can be reprogrammed to work with an external charger

Matt

When there is no charger or the charger is malfunctioning (or for that matter if the charger has mismatched firmware to the motorcontroller) the fuelgauge indicator simply works as a volt meter.

As you accelerate using a NiMh battery pack the voltage drops according to the Amperage drawn on the motor. When you stop the volts go back up to the 'static' voltage.

Its entirely normal considering your machine situation

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Chris

PS you might get a better response by posting in the actual vectrix designated forum.

Double post

I have never tried it, but I wonder if the "Voltmeter Fuel Gauge" that occurs when the charger is disconnected could not be learned by the rider so that it becomes a useful fuel gauge. It would be more reliable than the original fuel gauge.

Once the battery is near empty, the fuel gauge will drop to a low level when the throttle is applied the slightest bit; with a full battery, there bars will probably not drop to the very bottom even under full acceleration.

A way to calibrate the "Voltmeter Fuel Gauge" could be find the speed on flat ground (with little wind) at which the bars show about 1/2 full when the battery is half full. Then you can check how many bars are shown at the same speed on flat ground when the battery is full and when it is empty. I guess a speed somewhere between 20km/h and 60km/h would work. Maybe it would work to use a common speed limit on your regular route.

I bet after a few trials you can get higher accuracy from the "Voltmeter Fuel Gauge" than from the original. It will be unaffected by self-discharge and other creeping additive errors that make the original fuel gauge so unreliable. But it will only work while you are riding.

I suggest temporarily re-installing the charger to see if it takes control of the fuel guage

The only way to make the fuel gauge work is to put values for the fuel gauge onto the CAB bus

easiest way to do that is to use the micro inside the charger, which already does this

If that micro is also dead (which is not always the case as it has it's own isolated powersupply) than it becomes much harder

If the micro is alive, than it can be removed from the charger, and reprogrammed

Matt

Hello ngungs and all,
it's not necessary a charger problem, perhaps you have a motor controller problem they are a fuse on your Mc board that you can try to change for repair your malfunction. I have explain this problem on a blog on a french site and here is the adress:
http://vectrix.fr/index.php?option=com_agora&task=topic&id=194&p=3901&Itemid=11#p3901
You can try to translate with google and if you need more explanation you can mail me.
I think that if you use an alternative charger the best way is that use the original wire connection between the charger and the MC board but I have never try this way. I had the same problem and the fault was in the motor controller board.
Good repair.MC board-1.jpg (1.67 MB)

Archi13
MC board-1.jpg (1.67 MB)
MC board-2.jpg (1.69 MB)

You will need to get a 12v 5A power supply (15v is also ok)
I suggest powering it from the mains during charging. during riding you could power from the battery separately by switch
with your old charger, can it still drive the fuel guage?
Ie, does the fuel guage show a constant value?
If so, it can be reprogrammed to work with an external charger
Matt