Battery Vehicle Society

Seems weird they are all failing

I'm wondering if theres a part of the servicing we are missing ??

ChrisB

If it is sensing leakage in the motor field or armature (and it was a common prblem on the CF) then their maybe something in the french service manual about cleaning out the carbon properly to stop a carbon particle build up inside the motor casing.


Problem is its in French and although I can read bits of it, its not easy. I will have another look at the manuals see if I can spot anything.

John

OK Update time...the blingo arrived back on the lorry and as there had already been e-mails from Evan with his usual promptness I immediatly checked the brushes and the insulation resistance of the motor. The motor IRs (for those interested) Armature-Field 102 Meg ish Field-earth 80 ish meg and armature to earth 4.4 meg so although the 4.4 is not great it is not indicative of failure (these tests at 500V DC). Evan reckoned these OK too so off went the controller today in a nice wooden box to join the Queue in Scotland.

There was no obvious burning smell when the terminal lid came off and no signs of excessive carbon. (i used air and an industrial vac to get carbon out when I did the brushes).

So its over to the great guru to see whats up.

Poor Jo is now facing rural busses to work until we know whats hapening.

I dont know how old all the others vehicles are but ours is now 10 and with the industrial power electronics I have worked with 10 years ish is always taken as time for a change due to ageing components. Although that is at higher voltage So maybe its just the passage of time.

Well I am pleased to say I am back on the road.

I opened up the brush cover and sure enough the brushes were beyond the wear limit line, not quite down to seeing the copper in the tails exposed but close. These were OEM brushes from Schunk and only lasted 4112 miles.

As last time, I had a good vacuum out of the carbon dust and a good blow through with the air line. I also worked a small bottle brush up behind the brush ring to get rid of that Insulation fault lamp.

I reset the fault code with the Peugeot Test tool and the light went out. I have now done about a hundred miles and she is running as sweet as she was before. I prefer the pre-curved brushes as the bedding in time is reduced, the OEM's were grooved but not curved.

I have now got the knack of being able to undo the brush ring clamp bolt that you cant see, from underneath. This means you dont have to take off the wheel and the splash guards etc. Reduces the time to about 45mins.

John

Flying John wrote:Well I am pleased to say I am back on the road.

I opened up the brush cover and sure enough the brushes were beyond the wear limit line, not quite down to seeing the copper in the tails exposed but close. These were OEM brushes from Schunk and only lasted 4112 miles.

Glad to hear your back up and running John

mmmmm these OEM's arnt lasting very long ? wonder why, are these the harder versions that I have or the standards.

ChrisB

Sposed to be harder. We will see how many I get on this set.

It's also possible to remove the blower and clean from the top. The rate of wear on the brushes can be due to commutator condition too?

Flying John wrote:If it is sensing leakage in the motor field or armature (and it was a common prblem on the CF) then their maybe something in the french service manual about cleaning out the carbon properly to stop a carbon particle build up inside the motor casing.


Problem is its in French and although I can read bits of it, its not easy. I will have another look at the manuals see if I can spot anything.

John

Hi John,

My partner is native French, although she won't understand *anything* to do with cars. I sugest putting bits that may seem relevant through google translation first - then if what comes out is gibbership send the google translation to us & I'll ask her to correct it. To repeat - she won't know any technical words beyond wheel etc

Rob.

Thats a very useful offer thankyou. Sadly all the manuals are scannned in the from of pdf files so I cannot cut and paste them into google translate.

I have sat there from time to time and typed in some of the phrases when the details are important.

John

Here's another good French technical document I found online.

http://guillaume.tasdhomme.free.fr/misc/specs.pdf