Got soaked by a passing truck... Acute Hall Sensor problems...

Klauts

10 W
Joined
Nov 10, 2022
Messages
77
Hey everyone! I was just riding home from work when a passing truck absolutely soaked me with a puddle.

A couple seconds later the rest hub motor started skipping and stuttering, the ktLCD threw an error 3 and then the backlight on the LCD started to fade in and out...

I was 30km from home still so didn't have much of a choice but to try and get it running so I Powered everything down, unplugged and dried all connections and then powered it back up.

On starting it back up the hall sensors stutter for a couple seconds and then the motor roars to life, if I try and use the throttle or PAS from a stand still it'll start stuttering before finally roaring to life again.

I made it the 30km home ok... The LCD3 threw and error 3 once more on the way.

I've been home for 20 minutes now and just started it up one more time and there wasn't and stuttering this time working as normal but I'm a little bit nervous... Not sure where I should be looking for water ingress...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
 
With the backlight fading but system still running i’d guess that there was a problem with short circuits in the LCD connector. It’s a possibility that this also makes the hall sensor signals dive if the low voltage driver for the halls dips in voltage due to the short circuit.

The halls are protected inside the motor and the kt controllers with lcd3 often have a type of 8 pin waterproof overmolded connector at the motor (?)
If so then the risk of water intrusion into the motor or the hall connection at the motor is small.

If motor was stuttering then might also be short circuit in the hall connector at the controller or (if you’re unlucky) inside the controller. I’ve had a few of the kt controllers and none of them were waterproof from the factory.

You should let it dry out thoroughly before using, especially if there are any signs of water in the controller but if you already turned it on with function then i don’t think the risk to use it now is big.
 
ACF50 or Boeshield treated connections and exposed electrics. I spray inside my controller too.
 
larsb said:
With the backlight fading but system still running i’d guess that there was a problem with short circuits in the LCD connector. It’s a possibility that this also makes the hall sensor signals dive if the low voltage driver for the halls dips in voltage due to the short circuit.

The halls are protected inside the motor and the kt controllers with lcd3 often have a type of 8 pin waterproof overmolded connector at the motor (?)
If so then the risk of water intrusion into the motor or the hall connection at the motor is small.

If motor was stuttering then might also be short circuit in the hall connector at the controller or (if you’re unlucky) inside the controller. I’ve had a few of the kt controllers and none of them were waterproof from the factory.

You should let it dry out thoroughly before using, especially if there are any signs of water in the controller but if you already turned it on with function then i don’t think the risk to use it now is big.

You were right about it being the LCD, I discovered the wire going into the back of the LCD has had the protective cover wear off, water got Inside the actual LCD. Took it off and dried in silica and everything is running smoothly now. Opened up the LCD and Controller and applied dielectric terminal grease to all exposed connections internally.


So far so good
 
"dielectric terminal grease"

There are so many great products far superior to dielectric grease.

I highly recommend them in your environment. You won't see dielectric on avionics.
 
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