Another Safety Shutdown...

[Sal]

This is something along the lines of SegwayUtah's latest thread...

As many of you know I had my last couple of safety shutdowns in a rainstorm, and my powerbase was replaced...

Today was a hot day, and I glided to the canal where at certain points, the grassy borders are being waters, not by jets of water but fine streams and mist.

I glided through the edge of the mist (on the pavement of course), and the Seg Gave me the red wrench safety shutdown.

I got off, pulled it out of the "wet" area, and waited for a couple of minutes.

turned the machine back on, and left it in balance mode, moved it back and forth a few times, and glided home, it was fine!

I thought these machines were environmentally sealed.

Now I know the culprit of my last shutdown(s) was water.

How is this possible?

-Sal

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[pam]

hmmmm, I didn't think they were environmentally sealed - although I do think they're pretty "water resistant" - we've had comments on the forum before from people who mentioned having water in their control shaft. I know that when I *know* I'm going to be out in water, I'm really careful to tape over my display with wide clear tape, and to be sure my plug cover is snapped in.
Pam

[TedS]

Sal, it was probably the i-button port that got wet enough to cause the shutdown. In other threads this was noted. If you go through a mist, cover the port an you should not get a shutdown.

Ted

You won't find anything if you are not looking for something.

[mattk]

I thought you could technically ride it up to its handle bars (I heard this on the news- so who knows if its true :-) )

[W9GFO]

quote:Originally posted by mattk

I thought you could technically ride it up to its handle bars (I heard this on the news- so who knows if its true :-) )


The Segway batteries are NOT sealed. They only become sealed when they are snugged up against the powerbase. If you take a battery off you can look right in the hole where the connector is and see the cells.

SO, the only thing keeping water out of your batteries is the gasket around the connector. I trust that seal in normal use but I would be wary of submerging it.

Rich H
Everett, WA

[beckpm]

Am I mistaken or did we hear at SegFest03 that they actually tested the HT underwater in a pool. Something here doesn't compute?

<div align="right">http://www.segwaychat.com/photos/beckpm/smallsig.GIF</div id="right">

[SegwayUtah]

Sal,

If you do the "wet finger trick" you can get the HT to go into emergency shutdown mode. I think that what happened was the same thing--it's just your HT watching out for you. I'm guessing it was just water in the key port; if that's the case, I think you can just dry off the port and go on your way.

I don't know if I've ever had any problems riding in the rain, but maybe I have. If I did, it was just a "dry key port" type of thing and go back to riding.

Chris

[GadgetmanKen]

Hey Sal. You said it was hot, perhaps some sweat from your hands or arms dripping from the mist spray dripped upon your keyport temporarily shorting it out. I know it was warm today here but not enough to sweat I think. Could have been residual sweat on the keyport and the mist activated it or the water got under the gui. Perhaps you could put a thin bead of clear silicone around your gui and a sliding elastic bonnet over the keyport when its going to be getting wet.

I love the Canal. Its is just amazing what they did with it. 30 years ago it was an eyesore.

You should see a picture I took of downtown Indy and the canal in the foreground, just across from the Walker Theater. Its awesome. The little street lights down in the canal just poke above the ground and an un-intended reflection of the city skyline from the roof of my car gleams like a lake right where the canal flows. I then added 15 surface mount red LEDs at each marker light at the tops of the buildings and they flash some at one, two, and three second intervals. Being a newcomer to Indy I think you would like it. The shot cannot be duplicated at its location now because there are many condos built were I took the view of the photo. My brother is Indy's official Leprechaun and helps turn the water green for St. Patricks day for the last twenty years.

"Wouldn't it be cool, if?...is like Folgers in my cup"

[SegwayUtah]

quote:Originally posted by GadgetmanKen

You said it was hot, perhaps some sweat from your hands or arms dripping from the mist spray dripped upon your keyport temporarily shorting it out.

I knew I had had a safety shutdown because of water sometime. That's it. I remember now: I was leaning on the handlebars, probably standing it place, with my sweaty hand on the keyport. I realized what I did, and just started back up.

Chris

[Sal]

It seems strange that a something like moisture on the keyport wasn't addressed so it could be avoided, like the same rubber powerport cover on the keyport.

Would this happen in high humidity? in a thick fog? I know it can happen in mist, maybe pre or post thunderstorm in the summer? It's truly annoying.

-Sal

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[vanclute]

I smell an after-market accessory... ;)

J

[Stan671]

I have ridden my HT in the rain many times. The keyport has gotten quite wet. I never had a safety shutdown from that.

I did have trouble restarting the HT when the port was full of water, but I blew on it a few times and then the key worked.

Stan Dobrowski

[sholloway]

I took the service training class at the plant and the batteries aren't meant to be submerged. You should be able to ride through a few inches of water as long as you don't get the batteries under water. There is a story of a guy riding one waist deep in a swimming pool for several minutes before it finally shorted out but I think he was lucky if he lasted more than a few seconds.

[Neelix]

I'm fairly sure that shutdowns in rain are NOT caused by the key port. Instead I think that many Segways have some problems in the lower control shaft which allow moisture to get in. When I was beta testing Zorba's M model I rode a bit in some light rain and the Segway shut down on me. After letting dry I found that I could no longer raise the shaft to its full height without the Segway shutting down. It turned out that where the CS wires entered the base of the unit they became damaged and any moisture on or stretching of the wires caused immeadiate saftey shut down. The part was eventually replaced with the cool new connectors, and that Segway has since moved on and out of my life, but I'll always remember the special times I had with her...

;)

-------------------------
Fear not, for even though I come from the Forbidden City, I surely do not agree with the rules.
Chris Knight

[Sal]

Interesting Chris, thanks for your insight.

One thing that still puzzles me: The mist I glided through was very thin, I am intrigued at how little moisture can cause the glider to seize up!

-Sal

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[Ground Loop]

I'm still wondering why the HT cares what goes on at the key port while it's running. I mean, it's not like you can do anything with the keys while it's on anyway. Why is it polling/driving the key port? It should just ignore it and not shut down. I get the impression it's still driving the 1Wire bus, detecting a non-destructive short, and shutting down because it's unhappy the keyport is wedged. Why?

Just my opinion.