The e-bike started giving me trouble around 6 months ago.
Sometimes it worked fine, sometimes it would turn on, but then immediately show low battery status and turn off quickly, even with fully charged battery. I checked all contacts, these seemed OK so I assumed there is something wrong with the display unit or the controller inside the motor.
I sent an email to http://www.ebike-solutions.de in Germany were I had bought the conversion kit and they were extremely helpful in explaining how I can test the individual components.
- Test of the battery with car headlight lightbulbs showed that it was not the battery.
- Test of the whole electrical system using the charger (I would not have expected this to work) showed that all the other components were OK too.
So the only potential trouble maker was the power switch. It appeared to be OK when I tested it with a multimeter, 1.2 Ohms in On position. But what else could it be? So I decides to destroy the switch (as all modern components, you can’t take it apart without destroying it. And yes, it was the switch, see the picture below. Heavily corroded, small currents still were going through, but the resistance was so high that the voltage dropped and the electronics just turned the bike off. Some of the white plastic was also deformed, so the switch must have gotten quite hot.
I tried to find a replacement, but all the switches I have are only up to 4A. And the switches available in Los Banos are just cheap Chinese crap, they won’t last a year. So I restored the switch for the meantime with 600 sanding paper, some contact spray and the heated glue gun. Will need to find a new switch back home.
I used the opportunity also to give the new Singer a try and fixed the battery bag. Not too pretty, but it will hold longer than the bike.
