2013 RXV Curtis: Throttle wiper fault

[nickdalzell1]

This one has me genuinely stumped. First it was just random and you could switch key off and back on a few times and it ran fine, until you stop.

In history on the handheld I have just 'Throttle wiper'

Swapped out the little potentiometer with THREE (count 'em) new sensors, I know it's not the sensor, now it won't run OR push in N(On) in TOW, with the active fault showing 'throttle wiper'

Pedal is NOT sticking, I have swapped:


Pedal microswitch, brake microswitch, both brake and throttle pots, wiring harness and controller. I have pretty much eliminated any chance this code should be coming up at all, yet it does.


In TOW and N it releases the brake, but any attempt to push it you can feel the regen stopping you, which is not only odd but new to me. You have to swap the red connectors under the cover for the controller to move the cart at all.

My handheld (dealer 1311-3301) is a pile of excrement, so all it shows are the counters, showing hundreds of counts for 'throttle wiper' on the old controller, and a few dozen for the new one, which is about how many attempts to run the car I've done. It shows the microswitch inputs, key inputs, and brake pot inputs all normal, as well as normal voltages across the board, but of course the fault is causing the throttle command area to show 0% so I can't tell what is exactly going on. I'd love to have an OEM one and bypass this error as there is nothing wrong with the sensors!!!


These Curtis RXVs are becoming more common and with them, so are my migraines. I had the Danahar versions pretty much licked until they had to change them AGAIN! Really what EZGO has been doing (did they fire their old team and hire monkeys?) lately is ticking me off to no end.

Edit: under monitor it shows command throttle 0% regardless of pedal position (probably caused by fault) but under mapped throttle it shows negative 100%. Should this be zero too?

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by nickdalzell1

This one has me genuinely stumped. First it was just random and you could switch key off and back on a few times and it ran fine, until you stop.

In history on the handheld I have just 'Throttle wiper'

Swapped out the little potentiometer with THREE (count 'em) new sensors, I know it's not the sensor, now it won't run OR push in N(On) in TOW, with the active fault showing 'throttle wiper'

Pedal is NOT sticking, I have swapped:


Pedal microswitch, brake microswitch, both brake and throttle pots, wiring harness and controller. I have pretty much eliminated any chance this code should be coming up at all, yet it does.


In TOW and N it releases the brake, but any attempt to push it you can feel the regen stopping you, which is not only odd but new to me. You have to swap the red connectors under the cover for the controller to move the cart at all.

My handheld (dealer 1311-3301) is a pile of excrement, so all it shows are the counters, showing hundreds of counts for 'throttle wiper' on the old controller, and a few dozen for the new one, which is about how many attempts to run the car I've done. It shows the microswitch inputs, key inputs, and brake pot inputs all normal, as well as normal voltages across the board, but of course the fault is causing the throttle command area to show 0% so I can't tell what is exactly going on. I'd love to have an OEM one and bypass this error as there is nothing wrong with the sensors!!!


These Curtis RXVs are becoming more common and with them, so are my migraines. I had the Danahar versions pretty much licked until they had to change them AGAIN! Really what EZGO has been doing (did they fire their old team and hire monkeys?) lately is ticking me off to no end.

Hey there Nick

Sorry, I missed where you said you had swapped harnesses. I suspect something on the 5V bus is overloading it and causing the error. Try changing out the Motor Speed Encoder and see if that clears the error. That and the SOC meter are the only things left that will affect the 5V bus. Try swapping the SOC meter and see if that fixes it.

Using your handset to watch Monitor/Inputs, while moving the throttle pedal, are you getting any change to Mapped Throttle value while no change to Throttle Command value? Let me know.

Where are you located again? I may need to visit you. LOL

Bob

[nickdalzell1]

This car has no SOC meter at all so that rules that out. New controller has same fault. I'm guessing by speed encoder you mean the inductive sensor because the encoder bearing isn't used on Curtis versions, right? I was going to try that tomorrow but it seems quite unlikely to cause a Throttle Wiper error, but Curtis RXVs are just weird to me. TXT48 and anything using a Sepex is fine but the Curtis RXV is just, odd.

Mapped throttle remains frozen at -100%, while command throttle is frozen at 0% no matter the position of the go pedal. As stated not sure if symptom of fault or cause. The replacement sensors are Nivel #8004, the only throttle pot they list for RXV. I checked to see if Curtis variants have another but doesn't seem that's the case.

In Tow and N (on) brake releases, you can push in either direction a foot then the regen stops you, you feel resistance. Sometimes, in N(on) the car twitches back and forth a bit all on its own as if haunted.

hanks for helping. We are located in Owensboro, KY, a place called Tony's Carts & Parts. We have existed since 2007 but if you show up, you're gonna be surprised we can do what we do give the primitive state of our shop.

Also, pardon my asking, but it seems we can get a Curtis 1313K handheld, that has color screen and everything, but no one can tell us if it offers OEM access or can do the speed hacks you say are possible on the Curtis controllers. We keep getting runaround from FSIP. they can sell us the handheld but I'd like to know before shelling out that kind of money if its just lipstick on a 1311 pig or actually does stuff

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by nickdalzell1

This car has no SOC meter at all so that rules that out. New controller has same fault. I'm guessing by speed encoder you mean the inductive sensor because the encoder bearing isn't used on Curtis versions, right? I was going to try that tomorrow but it seems quite unlikely to cause a Throttle Wiper error, but Curtis RXVs are just weird to me. TXT48 and anything using a Sepex is fine but the Curtis RXV is just, odd.

Mapped throttle remains frozen at -100%, while command throttle is frozen at 0% no matter the position of the go pedal. As stated not sure if symptom of fault or cause. The replacement sensors are Nivel #8004, the only throttle pot they list for RXV. I checked to see if Curtis variants have another but doesn't seem that's the case.

In Tow and N (on) brake releases, you can push in either direction a foot then the regen stops you, you feel resistance. Sometimes, in N(on) the car twitches back and forth a bit all on its own as if haunted.

hanks for helping. We are located in Owensboro, KY, a place called Tony's Carts & Parts. We have existed since 2007 but if you show up, you're gonna be surprised we can do what we do give the primitive state of our shop.

Also, pardon my asking, but it seems we can get a Curtis 1313K handheld, that has color screen and everything, but no one can tell us if it offers OEM access or can do the speed hacks you say are possible on the Curtis controllers. We keep getting runaround from FSIP. they can sell us the handheld but I'd like to know before shelling out that kind of money if its just lipstick on a 1311 pig or actually does stuff

Even with the newer handset, you are limited in what you can do. It takes a laptop with the right software, set up the right way, and the right interface cable to do more.

The throttle and brake use encoders, not pots. The same with the motor speed encoder. Even the newer one is a dual channel speed encoder with 2 outputs. Now that you mentioned the Mapped Throttle is at -100%, that indicates a problem not related to the throttle encoder input itself. Another input is influencing mapping. Check the status of the reverse beeper. Make sure it is connected and able to operate. If that is an issue, it affects the Motor Speed Encoder inputs, which can influence mapping. I just had this issue with a controller that a member mailed to me. He had cut the reverse beeper from his RXV, which killed the Danaher controller. He did the Curtis upgrade, and the missing reverse beeper damaged the Curtis. I had to do a bit of reprogramming to bypass the damage and clear the errors so that the controller could pass the powerup test and operate again.

[nickdalzell1]

I saw mentioned in another thread i made about Precedents that some handhelds can change values to zero or something, look at my Anti Tamper Fault thread, as it has stopped a car that came in originally for front end alignment issues (they hit a tree) from running period, and it is a fault not listed in any Curtis manual i can find. Someone said you can disable that fault by changing some value to zero in a handheld but mine does not give the programming menu.

Just curious what the 1313 can do that the 1311 cannot. Such as make this particular RXV pass the power up test and run (it does make it to the twist test and passes that, if in run and FWD or REVERSE, and the backup alarm does work in reverse, Also not getting a fault from that, but hitting gas does nothing, no click, no go.

Encoder to me translates to the bearing encoder in the old RXV, or the inductive sensor on top of the motor on the newer ones, and yes, they go bad quite often, but have never caused a throttle error that I have ever seen, usually it does not run at all. I would suggest that that is working as when in TOW and N (on) pushing the car it tries to stop you, implying that the sensor is at least detecting movement and stopping the car, almost like roll away prevention, but in TOW that's odd.

I have tried three throttle rheostats (that is what they appear to be to me) the rotary ones that attach to the side of the assembly with two t20 torx screws, no change. tried using their brake rheostat same issue, tried unplugging both sensors and got both throttle and brake wiper fault, so it seems the controller is detecting an open circuit on the throttle side somewhere. But open circuits do not just magically repair themselves and allow the car to drive at random, and sure does not affect ability to push in TOW mode.

[nickdalzell1]

Update: speed sensor in motor replaced, no change in the fault, but leaving it unplugged will allow you to push car in TOW and N (ON)

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by nickdalzell1

Update: speed sensor in motor replaced, no change in the fault, but leaving it unplugged will allow you to push car in TOW and N (ON)

Ok, that rules out the motor speed sensor as a cause of a erronious input from a 5 volt powered sensor, but the walkaway prevention during Tow does present a puzzle. The negative 100 reading in Mapped Throttle I've seen before in controllers that were damaged by shorting the SOC socket with a voltmeter probe, but changing controllers would have fixed that... unless the short is from one or more bent pins in the SOC socket, still shorting out. Grey wire terminal contacting either power lead terminal for the SOC meter would certainly do it.

And 5V bus splice harness corrosion issues causing encoder undervolt would have been resolved by changing the harness... unless both harnesses have the exact same corrosion. The chances of that are slim. Too bad you can't access the deep error logs, that would show the sequence of events that led up to this. There is no tool to view those logs, they must be downloaded as a file dump from the controller then use Grep to extract/view the entries.

[nickdalzell1]

Yeah, I am puzzled as well. As for grep, I am afraid the most we have is Windows XP Pro, since our Fairplay controller software never got updated to work in 7, 8, or 10. Grep is Linux/UNIX.

I am about this close to just putting their body onto a working car frame and sending it to them as their car, but that sounds sneaky but I cannot make this work, and FSIP got back to us and they can only send dealer level 1313 so i cannot bypass the error or manipulate the thresholds to force the car to go, either. We called Curtis and they can sell us the 1313 hardware, but are all hush hush about OEM level access, which is making me pull my hair out. Why is this so hard to get? how on earth do OEMs and folks like you all get it? I do not like the red tape involved with importing from China and I told the boss about ebay and that just shut the entire discussion down. We can fill out this form to get some sort of authorization from Curtis/EZGO about it but by their saying not available to USA i am not holding out any hope. Our shop is gonna close because it is being obsoleted by EZGOs constant changes. I am at the point where I would rather tackle repair on a Bad Boy Buggy over touching any newer EZGO with any length of pole...They really tick me off lately.

[BobBoyce]

Just hang in there... I have a busy weekend, but next week I should be able to make it that way. XP is fine, I have the software and an OEM interface that will run on that. No need to buy anything from China. I looked up the shop address and it looks like it's about 400 road miles from me if I go via Nashville then head north on 65 from there. I travel more than that when I go to Florida.

[nickdalzell1]

I am only there monday through friday 9 to 5. But we are in our busy season so I expect you might blend in with the customers around here haha.

I am not sure if the 1313 has a USB or SD Card interface but i know for sure my 1311 does not. We did not buy the 1313 because we did not want to be out that money to be stuck with essentially a nicer, fancier, but just as limited 1311 with a color screen, so we have no hardware as yet. My laptop runs Windows 10 but nothing Linux based, and our XP machine is put away because we do not get many Fairplays anymore, but we get a handful and pull that machine out when needed, but it does not even go beyond 16 colors due to a video card fault so it is not pretty when we do use it. The other PC runs Vista.

Boss is not tech savvy, she is pretty much still using a check scanner from the 1970s to give you an idea. She always calls me from my work (often when under a cart) to help with issues (she gets a ton of fake virus alerts from those indian tech scammers because she clicks every free ipad ad she sees)

It kinda sucks that our shop is like out of time. It is really just a detached garage with two of the three doors used as bays and clutter all over the place. We got around a couple of charger mountains and QEs spilling over from all around, a pile of dead/customer chargers next to my toolbox, which the toolbox is the only nice part of the shop and the newest. All my tools are great but i lack some of the necessary stuff but i am trying to bring standards to this place by buying my own stuff.

Outside the place is nice, we got paved driveway and a nice line of cars and some well customized stuff. However look at the customer row when you get here and you will get an idea of some of the garbage that rolls in. Two i recently done (and at least were simple) were a 1976 EZGO Marathon with it wired backwards and wrong, and a 1985 EZGO Marathon with a spun hub.

Most of our repairs were from the 60s to 70s, now we are getting more and more Curtis RXVs in, and from at least my experience, they seem far more failure prone/unforgiving of user abuse than their Danahar cousins. But of course my Danahar programmer is way better than the universal 1311 that is limited on various cars (although it gives me full control over Tomberlin controllers!)

Our service manuals for RXV stop after Danahar so that is not helping and the lack of proper handheld programmer leavs us guessing, as the 1206AC controller acts a lot different than any 1204 or whatever Club Car and TXT 48 uses, so some errors that show up under faults have nothing to do with the actual fault. For example, once an RXV came in showing High Pedal Disable fault, like the micro switch or throttle switch was stuck. we replaced those, still no dice. ended up actually being a key switch.

Another time a RXV with encoder fault showed up, and Curtis RXVs have no bearing encoder. was one of those throttle rheostats. So you can look where it tells you and it is a problem at the other end of the cart.

The same programmer can show programming menu for TXT48 and RXVs, but that menu is limited when it does show up, and tends to go missing in action on Club Cars or some other various controllers, while on Tomberlin and China made cars using the same style controller (JATO, Bad Boy Buggies with Curtis) that menu shows up with all sorts of write parameters as if open to the public. So sometimes it seems the controller software rather than the access level is stopping me. Some values show a NOT AUTHORIZED error on the screen or say NO WRITE ACCESS!

Trying to copy settings from say a Tomberlin (since it lets you do anything!) to a RXV gives a CAN NOT CLONE! error.