Perplexing Potbox/Zilla Controller w/Hairball old Electro Automotive 914 issue

[Stephen Federico]

Hi Folks,

I'm new to the group, wanted to say hello to all, and unfortunately, start off with a perplexing issue that I just can't figure out and maybe someone could help me shed some light. This bizarre issue is that any time I completely take my foot off the pedal I may have no power the next time I try to use it again, and the only way to get it to work again is to turn the car off and then on again with the key. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when it happens. It can happen the first time I turn on the car and go to pull out of my driveway, or it can happen when I'm tying to pull out from a stoplight/stopsign, or it can happen when I'm doing 70 on the freeway and try to accelerate after coasting. the main contactor is still connected, everything continues to work perfectly normally, except no signal is coming out of the Zilla controller to the motor, although it gives no error codes, and simply acts like I'm not pressing on the pedal at all without any other indication that something is wrong. So far I have replaced all of the following without any change:

Relays for both the Keyswitch and the Potbox

Potbox, all wiring to controller from ptotbox, and a 3rd spring to make sure it is returning all way back when pedal is released

Countless hours checking all wiring, fuses, connections

This is an old Electro Automotive conversion which uses a relay to prevent the car being able to drive away if the charger is plugged in, I'm planning on going back over that. Another thought is that it's the keyswitch/ignition, which is probably original to the car, or the wiring going to it which I haven't checked yet.

Lastly, there was never a microswitch connection on the pot box hooked up to anything, although the electro automotive kit has instructions to connect it to the relay. Since this problem didn't happen when I first put batteries in, and the car had been updated to the Zilla's Hairball interface with a direct connection from the potbox, I didn't see a need for it, but maybe there needs to be a wire to bridge where the microswitch is supposed to engage the relay?

Or, maybe it's simply possessed by a demon that is enjoying making me go crazy?!

[John RA Benson]

Not sure based on what you said if it's the potbox or something else, but are you using the mechanical potentiometer potbox, or the induction version from cafe electric? I'm guessing mechanical? Sounds like a short somewhere, so when the controller gets a low voltage spike it goes into a fault mode and shuts down. Pretty sure there is something in the zilla for that? Turning on/off would reset that issue.

It's been years since I looked at any of that stuff, but would be worth looking at those controls to see what in the zilla can do that, and go backwards from there. 

Good luck!

jrab

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[David Shields]

Brother, I feel your pain.

I'm not a big fan of pot boxes. There are alternatives.

---

From: 91...@googlegroups.com <91...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John RA Benson <jr...@e-m-w.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2017 10:52 PM
To: 91...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [914ev] Perplexing Potbox/Zilla Controller w/Hairball old Electro Automotive 914 issue

 

[Stephen Federico]

Thanks for the replies folks, it sounds like a good place to start is a non-mechanical potbox (or full on hall effects), I saw the ones that EV West is selling a day after I bought the identical mechanical replacement. Perhaps my assumption that because it was new it couldn't be the problem, was the problem. 

Thanks again for the ideas, and sympathies!  I've got a little while until I get the next paycheck, so will think about it a bit more before buying anything.

Cheers,

Stephen

On Sat, May 20, 2017 at 6:45 PM, David Shields <dshie...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Brother, I feel your pain.

I'm not a big fan of pot boxes. There are alternatives.

---

From: 91...@googlegroups.com <91...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John RA Benson <jr...@e-m-w.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2017 10:52 PM
To: 91...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [914ev] Perplexing Potbox/Zilla Controller w/Hairball old Electro Automotive 914 issue

 

Not sure based on what you said if it's the potbox or something else, but are you using the mechanical potentiometer potbox, or the induction version from cafe electric? I'm guessing mechanical? Sounds like a short somewhere, so when the controller gets a low voltage spike it goes into a fault mode and shuts down. Pretty sure there is something in the zilla for that? Turning on/off would reset that issue.

It's been years since I looked at any of that stuff, but would be worth looking at those controls to see what in the zilla can do that, and go backwards from there. 

Good luck!

jrab

On May 20, 2017, at 22:42, Stephen Federico <2piesf...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Folks,

I'm new to the group, wanted to say hello to all, and unfortunately, start off with a perplexing issue that I just can't figure out and maybe someone could help me shed some light. This bizarre issue is that any time I completely take my foot off the pedal I may have no power the next time I try to use it again, and the only way to get it to work again is to turn the car off and then on again with the key. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when it happens. It can happen the first time I turn on the car and go to pull out of my driveway, or it can happen when I'm tying to pull out from a stoplight/stopsign, or it can happen when I'm doing 70 on the freeway and try to accelerate after coasting. the main contactor is still connected, everything continues to work perfectly normally, except no signal is coming out of the Zilla controller to the motor, although it gives no error codes, and simply acts like I'm not pressing on the pedal at all without any other indication that something is wrong. So far I have replaced all of the following without any change:

Relays for both the Keyswitch and the Potbox

Potbox, all wiring to controller from ptotbox, and a 3rd spring to make sure it is returning all way back when pedal is released

Countless hours checking all wiring, fuses, connections

This is an old Electro Automotive conversion which uses a relay to prevent the car being able to drive away if the charger is plugged in, I'm planning on going back over that. Another thought is that it's the keyswitch/ignition, which is probably original to the car, or the wiring going to it which I haven't checked yet.

Lastly, there was never a microswitch connection on the pot box hooked up to anything, although the electro automotive kit has instructions to connect it to the relay. Since this problem didn't happen when I first put batteries in, and the car had been updated to the Zilla's Hairball interface with a direct connection from the potbox, I didn't see a need for it, but maybe there needs to be a wire to bridge where the microswitch is supposed to engage the relay?

Or, maybe it's simply possessed by a demon that is enjoying making me go crazy?!

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