My bike failed in the snow, diagnostic?

I went in the mountain for a ride in the snow this morning.
I was having a lot of fun with it, until the motor started to have hesitations and growling on accelerations. It went worse, up to the point that it was not giving any power and only growling hard when given throttle. Then, when I was standing aside and testing the throttle, it started running backwards.

Well, since it had always doing perfect until now, I figured out that the only problem was the snow, and that water would have shorted hall sensor wires in the connector that was quite low and full of snow and mud. I cleaned it, blown some air in the holes and on pins, replugged it and was able to drive back home as it was now going frontward, but still growling alot.

Now the bike is drying in the garage, I decided to test it again when dry, and see if my only problem might be waterproofing the connectors.

Had anyone tried his bike in the snow, does anyone have an opinion on what else could be wrong and the best way to avoid such annoyments in the future?

It is almost certainly a hall sensor problem. Most likely wet connections. Could be a failed sensor or (not likely) controller input circuit.

Always waterproof stuff before going into the snow. I just had to look up your build to see what you are riding. Nice bike. If the snow was deep enough to get into the axle as water, or the electrical load was high, you may be in a pickle. Take a hair dryer and blow dry all your connections, and then use it to warm up the hub a bit while turning the rim ocasionally. Then use it to dry out the controller. After you are sure things are dried out and cooled bown a bit, try riding it again. If you are sure there's no moisture in the system, and you still have plenty of juice, and it still exhibits issues, you got problems baby!
Brian L.
I read that the 9C hubs are better insulated against moisture. Electricity and water don't mix.

Many thanks!
I hope that it is only wet connectors. The motor and controller are Clyte, only running for one month.
I would not mind so much about the controller since I have another one coming in the mail from Lyen, built with 4115 mosfets for higher voltage.

I believe that I will have to upgrade all the wiring and most of connectors anyway, with the new controller. I realize for the first time that my electric setup is not yet fail proof, I was sure to break hardware first in the mountain.

you can test the halls by watching the voltages on the three sensor wires while slowly rotating the wheel. with the controller on of course and the hall wires connected to their sensors. measure on the controller side of the plug by sticking the probes in the backside of the plug to contact the metal clip.

It could be the cold contracted the metal enough to break the glue bond holding the sensor in place.

Everything running as new now. It was the hall signal corrupted by a short due to the infiltration of snow, mud and water in the connectors. I cleaned, then waterproofed all the connectors by taping the joints, and stuffed windshield gum in the back of them, where the wires are exposed.

I'll be back in the mountain tomorrow, to feed it more snow, water and mud. Reminds me of my younger years, riding motocross all winter and racing on the ice. I love this bike, if only I could make it 25hp... Maybe the next one, building on a wonderfull Specialized freeride beast.