Riding Times Z8 - Can I start with the basics?

[drobins9]

Hello- I previously posted about a year ago with a dead Riding Times Z8. I ended up taking it to a shop and their mechanic disappeared, so I got it back and it's been laying around. I spent a few hours with it, and I can't get anywhere. The manufacturer sent me a bunch of new parts (based on the bike store's assessment) long ago, including a new motor, a new controller, and more. Here is where I'm at so far:

The batteries both show full power, and my multimeter says they are around 52V. So I think they are good.

When I connect it, the whole system is lifeless.

I have tried connecting just the power to the (new) controller, and just the (new) display to the (new) controller, but the display won't turn on. Realizing the display wouldn't be able to do anything with all the other cords disconnected, I thought the display would at least power up. Should it? If I connect my multimeter to the red and black terminals on the 5-wire display connector on the controller, I'm not getting voltage. Shouldn't I get 5 volts or something like that?

I also tried connecting the new motor (not yet in the bike) and all the accessories, but everything is still dead.

When I connect the controller to the power (which I can confirm with my multimeter), is there any connection on the controller where I should be able to confrim the power is making it out and/or anything I can connect one piece at a time to find that something is working properly?

Thank you.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Does the bike have a key switch or on off switch that is not currently connected to the controller? Did the manufacturer send you a pinout diagram for the controller?

 

[drobins9]

Hello- There is not a key switch. The only "security" is a code built into the display. There is not a pintout diagram but the wires appear to be pretty standard and there a few references that outline them like this one:

 

[RunForTheHills]

Maybe try hooking up all the connections then. The display should come on without the throttle, ebrake, or PAS connected.

 

[drobins9]

Yes, I did that, too, and it doesn't. I have perfectly good batteries, I removed the battery splitter or whatever it is, I connected the brand new motor, the brand new display, the brand new controller, and it is still just dead.

 

[RunForTheHills]

There could be a break in the battery wiring somewhere. Use a continuity tester to check that. Or one of your new parts may be bad then. New doesn't always mean good. Most likely the display or the controller.

 

[Alex12345]

Hello- I previously posted about a year ago with a dead Riding Times Z8. I ended up taking it to a shop and their mechanic disappeared, so I got it back and it's been laying around. I spent a few hours with it, and I can't get anywhere. The manufacturer sent me a bunch of new parts (based on the bike store's assessment) long ago, including a new motor, a new controller, and more. Here is where I'm at so far:

The batteries both show full power, and my multimeter says they are around 52V. So I think they are good.

When I connect it, the whole system is lifeless.

I have tried connecting just the power to the (new) controller, and just the (new) display to the (new) controller, but the display won't turn on. Realizing the display wouldn't be able to do anything with all the other cords disconnected, I thought the display would at least power up. Should it? If I connect my multimeter to the red and black terminals on the 5-wire display connector on the controller, I'm not getting voltage. Shouldn't I get 5 volts or something like that?

I also tried connecting the new motor (not yet in the bike) and all the accessories, but everything is still dead.

When I connect the controller to the power (which I can confirm with my multimeter), is there any connection on the controller where I should be able to confrim the power is making it out and/or anything I can connect one piece at a time to find that something is working properly?

Thank you.View attachment 385621

You should have linked your previous thread about this bike for context

Need help with diagnosis of dead Riding Times Z8!

Hello- I bought my son a Riding Times Z8 electric bike for Christmas. It lasted 100 or so miles before it went dead and, shockingly, the support has been virtually nonexistent. I have been trying to make my way through resources to understand what is going on and what I need to do. I would...

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So after reading all this, I think I agree with amberwolf's advice in your previous thread. Basically the motor is an unlikely problem, but the battery or wiring or the controller/display are suspect. Ideally, if you recall the circumstances when how the system died, it could be helpful.

To make the debug simple

1) check for continuity btw the controller battery ground (black on the XT connector) and the display plug black wire of the controller; similarly, check for continuity btw the controller battery positive (red on the XT connector) and display red (assuming the standard color coding). I doubt it feeds 5V power to the display, I again concur with Amberwolf that KCHQ likely uses a standard approach of feeding the battery voltage to the controller. If either is not continuous, then when the controller receives power, it will not pass it to the display and thus the display will not pass the key voltage back to the controller so the whole system will be down. Serial wires (yellow green) should not be continuous with the battery lines, or it's a big problem.
2) do not use the battery power split device but rather connect a single battery to the controller directly. If possible connect with the battery being off. Try both batteries separately.
3) going back to Amberwolfs idea of a load test, now that the controller is connected, part of its circuitry exerts load onto the battery, so check if the display connector red and black still show battery voltage - if not then the battery is the problem.
4) if the display connector has the battery voltage then powering the battery down, connecting the display, and powering back up should power the display (does the display have an on off switch?). It is still possible that the controller alone wasn't a large enough load test and connecting the display finally downs it, so you could try back probing red and black while everything is connected and checking for battery voltage present. You should normally be able to do any of these tests without the motor even connected, and without all other peripherals too.
5) if it works, then power everything down, connect the brakes and throttle and pas,and check the motor operation. It's possible that the controller logic is fried but that wouldn't affect the display except it would show a communication error. I suspect though you will encounter problems before step 5.

In any case, to check the display it only needs red and black to light up (at least this is the case with all ebike displays I've seen). You could test it separately with a battery by crafting an XT to JST adapter if you have spare connectors and wires. It's possible that the display was fried, then it will be dead no matter what. To run the controller headless without a display (if allowed/ configured) normally enough to short red to blue (battery to key) on the display connector, for some controllers additionally need to short one of the serial wires to ground, no idea about KCHQ. But at a minimum these types of controllers will not operate without battery voltage provided to the blue key wire, including that they may not provide power to lights etc when off. Finally, you could test the batteries separately by finding some appropriate 48v rated load. For example, if your lights use battery voltage, you could craft another adapter to run the lights directly off the battery and test if they work.

 

[E-HP]

Hello- I previously posted about a year ago with a dead Riding Times Z8. I ended up taking it to a shop and their mechanic disappeared, so I got it back and it's been laying around. I spent a few hours with it, and I can't get anywhere. The manufacturer sent me a bunch of new parts (based on the bike store's assessment) long ago, including a new motor, a new controller, and more. Here is where I'm at so far:

The batteries both show full power, and my multimeter says they are around 52V. So I think they are good.

When I connect it, the whole system is lifeless.

I have tried connecting just the power to the (new) controller, and just the (new) display to the (new) controller, but the display won't turn on. Realizing the display wouldn't be able to do anything with all the other cords disconnected, I thought the display would at least power up. Should it? If I connect my multimeter to the red and black terminals on the 5-wire display connector on the controller, I'm not getting voltage. Shouldn't I get 5 volts or something like that?

I also tried connecting the new motor (not yet in the bike) and all the accessories, but everything is still dead.

When I connect the controller to the power (which I can confirm with my multimeter), is there any connection on the controller where I should be able to confrim the power is making it out and/or anything I can connect one piece at a time to find that something is working properly?

Thank you.View attachment 385621

If you aren’t measuring battery level voltage at the display connector then you have an issue upstream. Thats unusual since there isn’t anything between that connector and the battery input. It’s possible that you are measuring a phantom voltage at the battery discharge connector, but not something that can support load. This could happen if the battery BMS has tripped for some reason, including one cell group being discharged below the BMS low voltage cutoff. Depending on the BMS, this could happen because when stored for long periods, the BMS is still drawing a small amount of power from the battery, many times from a single cell group.
I would try fully charging the battery to 54.6V, full charge for a 48v battery. You may need to leave it on the charger so the low group can be balanced to match the rest.
In order to trouble shot your issue, you’ll need to provide better pics where all the wiring and connectors can be clearly seen. Refer to the post below for tips on posting useable pics and info.

Troubleshooting sticky (work in progress)

Purpose: This thread includes some tips on what types of information to provide in order to receive prompt advice, and the level of detail ideally available to diagnose the issue. Ebike troubleshooting requires information that in most cases, only the requestor can provide or has access to. The...

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