Intermittent isues with Ecotric Folders

[BRuff]

We have two Ecotric folders. My wife's has quit working and mine has intermittent failures. Symptoms are the same. That darn LED controller lights normally but PAS does not work, throttle give a quick jerk then nothing, and the walk assist does same. To have issues with both makes me wonder if we are mistreating them in some way. We can not trust them as every time we take them camping, one of them fails. Looking for help before we scrap them and look for replacements. Today mine would not work (did not bring my wife's Dolphin). I turned it upside down on a picnic table and it works. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Neither has more than 150 miles on them.

Another tidbit, when it is not working, the hub is locked up ( won't rotate backwards) and is a bit stiff when rotating forward.

 

[harryS]

The tidbit says you may have a short circuit in the controller or in the phase wiring. The motor is powered by the three heavy wires and if any of them touch, it will be hard to turn backwards.

If you check the controller, the phase wires attach via bullet connectors which are taped. They sometimes get hot, melt the plastic insulation and could short out. They will be blue, green, and yellow.

The wires could also short circuit elsewhere but this the most vulnerable spot.

 

[harryS]

SInce Ecotric uses a quick disconnect in the motor cable, probably the easiest thing to do is to disconnect it and see if the motor frees up. If it does, it would suggest a short circuit further down the cable toward the controller.

 

[BRuff]

I measured impedance between the three large wires (blue, yellow, green) at the connectors between the motor and the controller. Measuring the motor side my meter reads .3 ohm. Checking back to the controller the resistance reads infinite. With the controller and motor connected, I read 0V when I turn everything on and set the display to walk mode or twist the controller. I am measuring all combinations between the three wires. Anybody have access to a wiring diagram for the bike? I wiggled the cable going into the hub while checking for voltage with no change noted.

Occasionally when turning the bike on and twisting the throttle or setting the walk mode, the rear when will lurch and then stop. When this happens, the wheel will go forward for an eighth of a turn when I try to roll it backward, then stops. If left on in this condition, the the controller heats up as does the cable that goes into the hub.

Does anybody have suggestions or know where I can find a wiring diagram for the bike?

 

[harryS]

I didn't get an owners manual for my Ecotric 20: folder. but there is a block diagram in there. It has this diagram.

 

[harryS]

This is my old Ecotric controller. I just checked. I agree with infinite resistance on the phase outputs, power on.

With the phases not connected to controller. try rotating the motor backwards. It should turn with some resistamce from the gears, which you will hear turning. Then if you put a short across any pair of phase wires, it will be hard to turn. Is the the same feeling when the bike is acting up.

If your bike has the quick disconnect. it's a 9 pin plug. Make sure it's aligned correctly with arrow matching and snug. At the other end, it changes to the three bullets and a flat 6 pin connector for the motor's hall sensors . If the bullets are not touching and all else looks good, it's probably a bad controller.

 

[BRuff]

Thanks for in diagram and info. I believe this is a bad controller and will see if Ecotric will send one as one of the dead bikes is still under warranty. I'd like to test with a new controller but will upgrade the controller and go with an LCD to get better slow speed PAS control on my wife's bike. I may go with an upgraded controller on my bike just to be more reliable. I will let you know next week how things work out. Huge thanks for your information!