Doug's Sounding Board

For quite some time there has been a problem where over a bump the scooter will momentarily lose power. At first I thought I was imagining things but then I found it was real. Last week it cut out for a good 30 seconds on my way home and because it was a long time I was able to see that it wasn’t just the motor since the battery meter went all the way down. Total scooter death. That with it not being consistent over bumps meant to me that it was battery leads or the circuit breaker under the seat (those wires run in the open always looked suspicious). I resolved to fix it this weekend.

Last night on the way home from Jeanne and Terry’s it went out at the Sears entrance to the Capitola Mall. I walked/ran it for a bit hoping it would come back to life but no luck. Then I walked it to a street light and opened the seat. Turned off the circuit breaker and turned it back on, nothing. Felt for the wires, tugged on the red one, it was good. Bumped the black one and saw an arc. The black wire was loose and coming out. I touched it again and another arc. I turned off the power and tugged slightly and it came right out.

I ran/walked it the rest of the way home, got some asthma but nothing too bad, and started looking for tools. It turns out I don’t have a long philips-head screwdriver or a long narrow flat-head screwdriver. It’s a screw slotted for either of those and it’s right alongside the bucket wall under the seat so I need it long to work the driver. No luck last night.

On the way home tonight I will get an appropriate screwdriver and we’ll try round two. I’ll also see about getting some protective covering for the wires (maybe even some rubbery globs of glue) to secure everything.