Motor Problems

Motor problems include but are not limited to the motor not starting, functioning intermittently, and turning off unexpectedly.

1. The most likely cause of problems with the motor is an undercharged battery.  If the battery isn’t holding enough charge, then the motor will not be able to start.  To check the voltage on the battery, use a voltmeter on the two leads of the battery, which should register 53V when the battery is fully charged.

• If the battery is not fully charged, charge the battery to just over 53V and then check to see if the motor responds.

2. If the battery is adequately charged, then check to see if the battery cable has become unseated.  This cable can become unseated if it has been jostled significantly.  To check to see if this is the case, examine the connection between the battery and the wiring harness and check to see if there is a gap between the connectors or if the battery is not fully plugged into the wiring harness.

• If this connection is at all loose, make sure that the black connector on the battery cable is firmly and fully seated in the black connector box inside the ELF and then test the motor. Make sure that when you plug in the battery you push it in until you hear an audible click.  If you do not hear a click, then your battery is likely still disconnected.

3. If the battery is charged and plugged in, then perhaps the problems with the motor are due to the disorientation of the Hall effect sensor.  This is often caused by significant jostling of the motor.  Try the below instructions if neither of the above two steps were relevant to your situation.

• To reset the motor, turn the motor off at the key switch, unplug the battery, wait 10 seconds, plug the battery back in, and turn the motor on at the key switch. Try this multiple times if doing it once doesn’t resolve the problem.

4. If the motor still does not function properly, then check to see if the throttle has become disconnected by examining the electrical wiring.  To do so, trace the wiring from the thumb throttle through the hole in the middle of the dashboard to the inside of the front panel of the ELF.  At this point, the throttle cable should give way to a large white connector with 9-holes and one black, one white, and one red cable emerging from it.  If the wiring is intact up to this point, then all is well on this front.  If not, then follow the instructions below.

• Reconnect the wires that have become disconnected by first plugging the white connector into the corresponding white connector on the brain box. Both should have 9-holes and one should slide into the other until they click, at which point they should be firmly connected.  Tug on them to make sure that the connection is snug.
• If the white connectors are already connected, then see if one of the individual colored wires has escaped from the white connector. If this is the case, then refer to the wiring documentation below.  The pins should be placed in the nine channels of the connector in the following pattern, assuming that the viewer is facing the back of the connector (or looking in the direction that the wires enter the connector), and the connector is oriented with the key, or little ridge, on top.

• If following these instructions doesn’t resolve the problem, then the throttle itself may be malfunctioning.  Send it back to us and we can either repair or replace it.  This service will be free of charge if the ELF is still under warranty; otherwise, the customer is responsible for the service cost.

5. If none of the above proposed solutions work, then the problem may lie within the Kelly controller itself.  To see if this is the case, check the error codes on the Kelly controller using the relevant portion of the user’s manual, which can be accessed via this link.  To check the error codes, refer to the Kelly controller on top of the brain box.  The brain box is on top of the battery and the Kelly controller is the largest box on the brain box.  The Kelly controller has an LED that will blink a code if there is an error.  It will blink a certain number of flashes, pause briefly, and then blink another number of flashes.  It will then pause for a longer period of time before flashing the code again.  The first number of flashes is the first number of the code, and the second number of flashes is the second number of the code.  Thus, if you see three flahes, a short pause, one flash, and then a long pause before restarting the process, then the error code is “3-1.”  The error codes and what each one entails can be found on pages 14 and 15 of the document found at the above link.

6. The last resort solution to the problem is to replace the battery.