RXV hit by Lightning

[aintgotthis]

I have recently came into possession of a 2012 RXV that was one of three carts hits by lightning. I thought I would give one a try to see if I could figure anything out. First of all, I am a Club Car trained tech and have dove a little deeper than the average wrench monkey.

The cart has a 1206ac-5201 controller. 48v pack voltage. The parking brake will not release in tow and neutral (fuses are good) but will when bypassed by switching the wires. The cart will jerk back and forth when put into run but no response from the accel pedal. Reverse buzzer works.

I have Curtis 1314-4402 programming station running at Factory level and the usb purchased from ebay. Using the Club Car adapter I was able to jump to the RXV diagnostic plug and open the controller to see diagnostics. I have HPD, Controller Overcurrent and EM Brake Driver OC faults. I tested the brake at 24.5 ohms but I think the FET is burnt in the controller. Is there any way to turn off the braking system in the controller to test the rest of the cart? I realize there will be absolutely no brakes but I would like see if the motor, accelerator and other systems are still working after being hit by lightning. I am afraid the cart will be scrapped if not.

[jkredman]

Your main issue is the brake. The cart jerking is a failure of the brake twist test.

The controller is programmed to try and turn the motor with the brake locked. You should some clicking, but no movement.

HPD is a pedal switch fault and usually it’s indicating an issue with the accelerator pedal.

The brake is within the resistance specs.

I’d say the next best move is to take a thorough look at the wiring harness. The overcurrent and HPD errors could be damage the harness.

The cart is old enough, depending on how it was cared for, to have developed corrosion issues in the wiring harness. The lightning could have damaged the harness enough to enable shorting (in the case of the brake circuit) or an open (in the case of the HPD) error.

In the end it could be an FET, but those things, if they’re to spec, are more resilient than you might think.

To answer your question, with a factory level handheld, I don’t know of anyway to bypass the braking function. You need the developer level software on a laptop computer to accomplish that and I wouldn’t recommend it even for a troubleshooting test.


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[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by aintgotthis

I have recently came into possession of a 2012 RXV that was one of three carts hits by lightning. I thought I would give one a try to see if I could figure anything out. First of all, I am a Club Car trained tech and have dove a little deeper than the average wrench monkey.

The cart has a 1206ac-5201 controller. 48v pack voltage. The parking brake will not release in tow and neutral (fuses are good) but will when bypassed by switching the wires. The cart will jerk back and forth when put into run but no response from the accel pedal. Reverse buzzer works.

I have Curtis 1314-4402 programming station running at Factory level and the usb purchased from ebay. Using the Club Car adapter I was able to jump to the RXV diagnostic plug and open the controller to see diagnostics. I have HPD, Controller Overcurrent and EM Brake Driver OC faults. I tested the brake at 24.5 ohms but I think the FET is burnt in the controller. Is there any way to turn off the braking system in the controller to test the rest of the cart? I realize there will be absolutely no brakes but I would like see if the motor, accelerator and other systems are still working after being hit by lightning. I am afraid the cart will be scrapped if not.

Ok, if you wish to disable any POST step to continue tests beyond...

Go into Parameters/Drivers/
Main is the Solenoid driver
EM Brake is the Motor Brake driver
Brake Lights is the Brake Relay driver
Fan is the Fan Relay driver (used on the 2Five, not the RXV)
Buzzer is the Reverse Buzzer driver (not to be messed with, reverse buzzer must stay connected or controller will be damaged)
Resistor is the Resistor driver
Main Contactor is Solenoid Parameters (not to be changed)
Fault Checking is advanced parameters (not to be changed)

So you can toggle XXXX Checks Enable off for each of those drivers to temporarily disable testing for that driver.

Sometimes, there will be actual damage to a controller I/O (Input/Output) pin. Nearly all pins are 2 state, in that they monitor the device connected to it when not being used as an output...
Sometimes, there is no actual damage to the controller hardware. In those cases, memory corruption has occured, preventing proper operation. Corrupted controllers can sometimes be reflashed to correct the corruption.

By the way, there are a few different Factory access levels. Depending upon which one you are using, it determines your capabilities. Only the highest one has the ability to reflash.

Bob

[aintgotthis]

Good morning fellas and thank you for the replies.

I have turned off the EM Brake Checks in the Drivers-EM Brake menu

There was also one hiding in the System Configuration-Misc-EM brake Test which I switched to off.

When I cycle the tow switch or the key, it seems to skip the "twist test" but I can't get rid of the EM Brake Driver OC in the current faults. It's the only one left in current faults.

I took the brake off the motor and tried another one and grounded it to the motor with a jumper wire. There is limited space in my shop at the moment due to other customers and when I flipped on the tow switch and it did the "twist test" it kinda moved some of the furniture. That was rather startling. Am I to assume the motor is at least functioning?

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by aintgotthis

Good morning fellas and thank you for the replies.

I have turned off the EM Brake Checks in the Drivers-EM Brake menu

There was also one hiding in the System Configuration-Misc-EM brake Test which I switched to off.

When I cycle the tow switch or the key, it seems to skip the "twist test" but I can't get rid of the EM Brake Driver OC in the current faults. It's the only one left in current faults.

I took the brake off the motor and tried another one and grounded it to the motor with a jumper wire. There is limited space in my shop at the moment due to other customers and when I flipped on the tow switch and it did the "twist test" it kinda moved some of the furniture. That was rather startling. Am I to assume the motor is at least functioning?

Your motor brake is bad! EM Brake Driver OC (Over Current) means it is drawing too much current, and if you keep using it, it will short out the EM Brake switching FET. You'll be buying a new controller if that happens. Be sure to buy an OEM motor brake, not the aftermarket HD (Heavy Duty) one. I am seeing more and more Curtis RXVs with EM Brake Driver OC errors lately, since the OEM motor brakes have jumped in price...

Bob

[aintgotthis]

That really wouldn't surprise me if it was bad. I had two of them but both are off the carts that were hit by lightning. Both do exactly the same thing with the same faults. As far as I can tell, the key, F/R , tow and brake limit switches are reading. Accelerator and brake inputs are reading. That's the good news.

I noticed while monitoring the inputs, Brake Command is at 100%. Is this normal when the brake tests are disabled?

I know if I had a bolt of lightning shot up my arse, there would be more problems than brakes.

[aintgotthis]

Is there anybody who tests these controllers? I just can't bring myself to start firing a parts cannon at this cart

New brake $300
Rebuilt controller $740
Lester Charger $375
Batteries @ $250ea x 4
Total $2500 Canadian pesos

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by aintgotthis

Is there anybody who tests these controllers? I just can't bring myself to start firing a parts cannon at this cart

New brake $300
Rebuilt controller $740
Lester Charger $375
Batteries @ $250ea x 4
Total $2500 Canadian pesos

Brake Command stays at 100% until POST has passed and you are ready to go, and start pressing the go pedal. Then the motor brake releases...

I run forensic diagnostics on controllers. I look at the deep logs, which record each error and when it occured using the master clock as a reference. That is how I can tell if one error is related to another error that occured at or near the same time. I put the controller through output current testing, phase accuracy measurements, inputs vs outputs, and timing interval checks. If all that passes, then it gets 3 hours of real world testing in a cart with a handset connected to monitor it in real time. On-road and severe off-road on the mountain trails on the back of my property. When done, the controller will be good and hot to the touch.

Bob

[aintgotthis]

What do you charge for a test like that?

Here's the list of codes that happened near the same time. The failed to set and brake test failure was me.

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by aintgotthis

What do you charge for a test like that?

Here's the list of codes that happened near the same time. The failed to set and brake test failure was me.

Wow, your controller has some recent issues.

First off, your voltage is dipping below the Undervoltage Cutback setpoint, causing the Controller Overcurrent error to occur. Normally indicates batteries undercharged. Very easy to correct.

Second, you have the Buzzer Driver turned off, a big no-no as described in my earlier post... That in and of itself will damage a controller. It's a balance of voltages between 2 interconnected systems, and disabling the driver (exactly the same action as cutting a buzzer wire) causes a polarity reversal on the second system, destroying that input. The proper way to disable the buzzer is to disable buzzer in the Misc menu. Disabling the buzzer in any other way will damage the controller. While it cannot be repaired without replacing the CPU, it can be bypassed enough to get the controller operational, but it will exhibit intermittent soundings of the buzzer (which disable in Misc will not prevent) for the rest of its life.

Third, your EM Brake Driver FET is already damaged and shorted, as indicated by the EM Brake Driver On error. That indicates that it is already pulled low when it is not supposed to be. It is in input read mode while stuck low. It is a heavilly heatsinked surface mount device. Not easy to remove so it can be replaced. I have done it by carefully grinding the FET away enough to clear the heatsink pad for reuse.

You might be better off sending it off to FSIP and buy a replacement from them.

Bob