Throttle issues

I have had some problems lately with the power dropping off. Initially I thought it might be because of the sub zero temperatures causing the battery to struggle a bit. However it also occurred on warmer afternoon rides and if I kept the battery inside overnight. And then one day it stopped working all together! When this occurred I noticed the red LED on the controller was flashing 5 times then going off and flashing again. A quick email to ebikes.ca and they informed me this was an error code for the throttle.

Closer inspection of the throttle cable showed a possible area of concern. The steering dampener situated underneath the cargo box seemed to be rubbing ever so slightly on the cable when I turned right. By wiggling this section of cable I was able to get the LED to stop flashing so there was obviously now a fault in this part of the wiring. I cut out this section and soldered the cable back together and all was good again. Sure enough the section of wire I removed did have some issues with the internal insulation and there was an intermittent short circuit occurring.

I rerouted the cable well away from the steering and checked everything else and it all seemed fine. The bike now powers along as it should. I only wish the controller was flashing this error code every other time I was looking for the problem!