Cyclone controller failure?

[sanyock]

Hello,

I have recently equipped my montague bike with a cyclone 960W kit and 36V32AH headway battery.
Photos (sorry they are from an old phone): http://aulix.com/ebike

Unfortunately during last trip it stopped to work suddenly.
I suspected it was a battery or connection and tried to reconnect the battery several times, also tried to turn off/on the ORO, but this did not help.

After I returned to home the battery voltage was 40V, based on this measures I expect that spent only 1/7 of the battery capacity.
The I tried to disconnect the battery and connect a charger to the controller instead of the battery, but it did not work too.
I noticed that just after power connected a red ORO led flashed for a very shot period of time and then became dark (not all green as general).
I thought the controller might die and went to sleep.

In the next morning I decided to check the system once again and it started to work.
Please suggest what can it be? Did anyone experience similar problems?

I do not think it was an overheat because I used the motor only for shot periods of time like 10-30 seconds relatively rare when it was a bad road. On the back road it did not start to work during several hours which was several times enough to become cool again.

Please suggest what should I do? Should I try to solder the wires between the motor and controller to avoid plug connections?

Thank you,
Alex

 

[sanyock]

Please note that before the problem appeared all ORO leds were green and after the problem appeared (the motor has stopped) all became dark, turning ORO switch off/on did not help.

 

[VSkudarnov]

Change the ORO handle for a simple 3 wire handle off Ebay. ORO is not reliable.

 

[dnmun]

there is a thermal switch inside the motor and you may have overheated and opened that switch. try not to fix it if it is not broken yet. using a watt meter or cycle analyst will help you figure out how much current it is using.

 

[sanyock]

there is a thermal switch inside the motor and you may have overheated and opened that switch. try not to fix it if it is not broken yet. using a watt meter or cycle analyst will help you figure out how much current it is using.

Please suggest, what do you mean under "not fix" and "open the switch"?
Is it an automatic switch? How soon does it return to its normal position after an overheating?
The motor did not work for at least 7 hours since the incident, but it started to work in the next morning by itself, I did nothing except turning the throttle to activate it.
I have covered the motor and controller by a layer of sealing compound, all small holes closed with it, so no any internal ventilation.
But I have installed a radiator (heat sink) on the motor.

 

[mrbill]

there is a thermal switch inside the motor and you may have overheated and opened that switch. try not to fix it if it is not broken yet. using a watt meter or cycle analyst will help you figure out how much current it is using.

Please suggest, what do you mean under "not fix" and "open the switch"?
Is it an automatic switch? How soon does it return to its normal position after an overheating?
The motor did not work for at least 7 hours since the incident, but it started to work in the next morning by itself, I did nothing except turning the throttle to activate it.
I have covered the motor and controller by a layer of sealing compound, all small holes closed with it, so no any internal ventilation.
But I have installed a radiator (heat sink) on the motor.

An overheated motor should reset after ten to fifteen minutes, less if you pour water on the motor.

I can think of at least these reasons for the flashing red LED:

1) The ORO throttle will be disabled if you flip on the power switch when the throttle is engaged, however slightly. The ORO throttles can stick, which is sometimes convenient as the behavior functions like a poor man's cruise control. But, if it sticks open slightly when the power switch is flipped off, you will see the blinking red LED when the switch is flipped on, and the motor will not start immediately. Probably a safety feature.
2) You have a loose connection somewhere.
3) The controller also has a thermal switch. But, unless you are running the motor under high load at partial throttle at 48 volts supply, you are unlikely to get the controller hot enough to trip its thermal switch.
4) Supply voltage is too low or too high for the throttle you are using.

There are probably other reasons, but these are what I can recall at the moment.

 

[sanyock]

there is a thermal switch inside the motor and you may have overheated and opened that switch. try not to fix it if it is not broken yet. using a watt meter or cycle analyst will help you figure out how much current it is using.

Please suggest, what do you mean under "not fix" and "open the switch"?
Is it an automatic switch? How soon does it return to its normal position after an overheating?
The motor did not work for at least 7 hours since the incident, but it started to work in the next morning by itself, I did nothing except turning the throttle to activate it.
I have covered the motor and controller by a layer of sealing compound, all small holes closed with it, so no any internal ventilation.
But I have installed a radiator (heat sink) on the motor.

An overheated motor should reset after ten to fifteen minutes, less if you pour water on the motor.

I can think of at least these reasons for the flashing red LED:

1) The ORO throttle will be disabled if you flip on the power switch when the throttle is engaged, however slightly. The ORO throttles can stick, which is sometimes convenient as the behavior functions like a poor man's cruise control. But, if it sticks open slightly when the power switch is flipped off, you will see the blinking red LED when the switch is flipped on, and the motor will not start immediately. Probably a safety feature.
2) You have a loose connection somewhere.
3) The controller also has a thermal switch. But, unless you are running the motor under high load at partial throttle at 48 volts supply, you are unlikely to get the controller hot enough to trip its thermal switch.
4) Supply voltage is too low or too high for the throttle you are using.

There are probably other reasons, but these are what I can recall at the moment.

Most likely it was a loose power connection between the battery and controller.
While riding this loose connection became even worse (may be slightly burned).
On the next day (after several connecting/disconnecting several times a day ago) most likely a thin layer of ash was scraped away from the wire small plug contacts and it began to work again.
Now I have replaced that small plug by a standard EURO plug for 220V/16A and it worked last trip of 50km very fine without any problems.
Also I have soldered a http://ebike-bmsbattery.com/dispro.php?id=120 between the controller and the battery plug to control voltage.

Btw, I have purchased an excellent battery consisting of 24pcs of Headway 16AH cells ( http://ebike-bmsbattery.com/dispro.php?id=103 )