Toylander Mini Landrover HELP! Any Electrically minded...

[haroldchap]

Hello,

Ive inherited this toylander ride on car and its lovely but it wont go! Basically - New battery, lights on, horn on, accelerator pressed and all I get is a click from the circuit board which is those two of speed controller things in the picture. Theres power going to the circuit board but none coming out. Ive seperated the motor and attached directly to the battery and it spins. Im not the most electronically minded and dont really know my next step. Any advice?

[GreenV8S]

haroldchap said:

Any advice?

Get a competent electrician to diagnose the problem. It's unlikely to be difficult or expensive to fix, but not likely to be feasible for a DIY fix for somebody without basic electrical skills.

[Penelope Stopit]

Disconnect the motor before trying the following

Unmount the circuit board leaving it connected as is

Using a multimeter, check the positives and negatives are present at the relays, now get someone to operate the pedal and they should click, every time they click in you need to check that the positives and negatives are conducted through those relays, you should be able to see where the relay contacts are and where they switch to. If the relays are switching ok you will need to test along the circuit board from the relays contacts to where the positives and negatives should be going to on the board

It's not worth delving deeper until you have proven the above.
Have you a wiring diagram?

[Dogwatch]

I would agree that the relays are prime suspects - and possibly the cheapest component to replace.

[Mr2Mike]

That isn't actually a speed controller, it's a crude "soft start" controller sold by Parkside Electronics. This switches in a resistor to limit starting torque and speed for a few seconds before applying full power. This does mean that is should be much more simple to diagnose any fault however, and since you are hearing the relays click it could be as simple as a burnt contact on a relay.

A thread on the Toylander owners club forum suggests Parkside are very helpful, so worth giving them a call.

[Penelope Stopit]

I've just viewed an earlier post of yours about this problem and the image that you posted is of much better quality, I can see plenty of corrosion on those relays and it looks like the heavy cable termination/connection points below the relays have been overheating.

Check the relays as I have mentioned above and take a very close look at the back of the board for burning at those termination/connection points
There is a very good chance those relays are no good due to the corrosion

[Mr2Mike]

One option is to bin the whole mess and replace it with a nicely wired brushed motor speed controller...

[haroldchap]

Penelope Stopit said:

I've just viewed an earlier post of yours about this problem and the image that you posted is of much better quality, I can see plenty of corrosion on those relays and it looks like the heavy cable termination/connection points below the relays have been overheating.

Check the relays as I have mentioned above and take a very close look at the back of the board for burning at those termination/connection points
There is a very good chance those relays are no good due to the corrosion

Thanks very much for your reply and everybody's advice. So...bought a new soft start controller from park way, and after a bit of wire crimping and sorting it's all plugged in and lit up. It's an exact replica of the last one and yes! Power to the motor but still no go go!
Now of if I push the accelerator, hold the car up and give the whell a spin its off and spinning, but when if I don't give it a helping hand it doesn't and when on the ground it won't move at all! Any advice?

[Penelope Stopit]

With the motor driven wheels off the ground, check to see what voltage is at the motor when on full power, if the motor and system is 12 volts I would expect there to be approximately 12 volts at the motor when on full throttle/power
If the voltage to the motor checks out ok then there is every chance that the motor has partially burnt out
If the voltage to the motor doesn't check out ok you will need to get that new battery load tested having ensured that there are no big volt drops from the panel to the motor

[E-bmw]

I partly agree with what you say but not with your diagnosis which makes no sense to me, I hasten to add that I am no electrical expert and could be wrong.

Have you tried to stop the wheels after getting them turning to see how much actual torque is there?

Also, while doing this check the batter voltage as you do so.

I say this, because you need to remember that a 12v battery isn't a 12v battery.

It is 6 x 2.1 volt cells in parallel, this gives 12.6v, and this is what a fully charged battery should read.
12.4 volts is 3/4 charged
12.3 volts is 1/2 charged
12.1 volts is 1/4 charged
12.0 volts is virtually flat.

When you get the wheels turning & measure the voltage see what it drops to as you try to stop the wheels, as while 9/10/11v will keep the wheels turning, it won't start the wheels and as it tries to the voltage will drop to around 9v, this is a goosed battery.

[haroldchap]

Penelope Stopit said:

I've just viewed an earlier post of yours about this problem and the image that you posted is of much better quality, I can see plenty of corrosion on those relays and it looks like the heavy cable termination/connection points below the relays have been overheating.

Check the relays as I have mentioned above and take a very close look at the back of the board for burning at those termination/connection points
There is a very good chance those relays are no good due to the corrosion

Thanks very much for your reply and everybody's advice. So...bought a new soft start controller from park way, and after a bit of wire crimping and sorting it's all plugged in and lit up. It's an exact replica of the last one and yes! Power to the motor but still no go go!
Now of if I push the accelerator, hold the car up and give the whell a spin its off and spinning, but when if I don't give it a helping hand it doesn't and when on the ground it won't move at all! Any advice?

[GreenV8S]

If you apply power and nudge the vehicle forwards does it try to move intermittently as the position of the motor changes? That would point to a failed coil or contact on the rotor.

[haroldchap]

Yes I'd say that's true. Is a new motor needed then would you say?

[GreenV8S]

Repair or replace.

It would be worth having an electrician check the motor over in case it's simple like worn out brushes, but if something has burned out it's unlikely to be practical to repair it.

Replacing would be much easier if you can find a similar spec motor.

[Penelope Stopit]

You need to know what voltages are at the motor before going any further

[skeggysteve]

Many Toylands us mobility scooter motors and control electrics.

If it is based on a mobility scooter then the motor is very likely to be a 24 volt motor, so it would do pretty much what you describe with only 12v going to the motor.

[haroldchap]

Thanks for the advice guys but it is a 12v motor and I think I've cracked it! The motor, when loose worked fine upright but intermittently when laying horizontal which is where it needs to be. So I opened the motor up and removed the inner coils. It was clogged with dust so retried and it span happier but still intermittently. So then I realised that the two blocks that are charged and charge the arm of the magnets in the motor were spring loaded and one was not coming out of its hole very well. Shaved a few mm and it's working beautifully! Thanks for all suggestions and advice. It does show...I was seconds away from buying a new motor but a tinker here and there goes a long way...