Very sensitive ON/Off button (KS-16)

[wozphil]

I just noticed that on my brand new KS16, the power button is very sensitive. I mean, the wheel powers on as soon as I just lightly touch the button. 

For example, yesterday I was carrying my wheel by the handle in my left hand (I'm left handed) and my thumb accidentally touched the power button and the wheel powered up and started to spin like crazy... This may be very dangerous...

Has any of you noticed the same behavior on a KS16 ? Or do you really need to press the power button firmly to power the wheel up ?

In other words, do you think I should have my button replaced or is it a "normal" behavior for that model ?

 

[DS]

1 hour ago, wozphil said:

Has any of you noticed the same behavior on a KS16 ?

I just tested my button and yes, it is pretty sensitive. One touch (actually press, not caress ) for less than second is enough to turn it on.

But I need to hold a bit in order to turn it off.

[Frode]

6 hours ago, wozphil said:

the wheel powers on as soon as I just lightly touch the button. 

I have the same wheel, and I definately have to press the buton about 1 mm down and keep it there for about a quarter of a second, not only touch it. I can imagine it turning on if you carry it in your left hand and the thumb strikes the button, for example when you lift it . If this happens often, you can glue a ring of something around the button, for example a plastic tube, in order to make a border around the button. Or maybe you can find something applicable here: http://www.aliexpress.com/cp/emergency-button-cover-online-shopping.html

 

6 hours ago, wozphil said:

This may be very dangerous...

Just keep the wheel lifted untill it stops spinning by itself. It will take about 5 seconds. Then turn the wheel off.

[LeeBear]

I've always wondered why there isn't a mechanical/physical on/off switch to cut power to the battery in case of emergencies or repairing.  Better yet the switch could double as a lock to keep people from being able to turn you wheel on when left unsupervised.

[Cloud]

Well.  They haven't used mechanical switches in electronic devices for quite a while now ( with rare exceptions). If incorporated though, it needs to be in a difficult to reach location to prevent cutting the power off by accident as well as somehow to not allow the user to turn it off while in motion , and such difficult to reach location may not be convenient when turning the wheel on.

The on/off button should be below the surface though, to prevent accidental powering on.

[Frode]

3 hours ago, Cloud said:

it needs to be in a difficult to reach location to prevent cutting the power off by accident

There are other remedis to achieve this. You can use a switch with a cover. Or you can use a switch with a key where the key can be retracted both in off and on position. The later would also be an effective measure to prevent somebody to ride away on your wheel.

[LeeBear]

I'm not suggesting a replacement for the push button power switch but a mechanical switch back up. Similar to computer desktops you have the power button in the front if the case that you use all the time but when you need to do work inside you have mechanical switch on the back of the power supply to cut off power from the source.
 

I think one of those round keys could be made to fit to act as a lock and battery cutoff.

 

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rvdiscountsuppliers.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct%2Fcache%2F1%2Fimage%2F1000x1000%2F9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%2F0%2F1%2F01266a_3.jpg&f=1

[HEC]

47 minutes ago, LeeBear said:

I'm not suggesting a replacement for the push button power switch but a mechanical switch back up. Similar to computer desktops you have the power button in the front if the case that you use all the time but when you need to do work inside you have mechanical switch on the back of the power supply to cut off power from the source.
 

I think one of those round keys could be made to fit to act as a lock and battery cutoff.

 

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rvdiscountsuppliers.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct%2Fcache%2F1%2Fimage%2F1000x1000%2F9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%2F0%2F1%2F01266a_3.jpg&f=1

It's not that simple as it might seem at first look ... Considering the current and voltage the switch would need to withstand plus avoid any arching / sparkling, be water and dustproof plus most of all work flawlessly under the most harsh riding conditions makes this not really worth the risk and effort.  

[Keith]

The irony in the direction this thread is going is that, EUC's use touch switches because physical switches are perceived as dangerous and that caused a few rants as well. BTW, a fair number of them do have physical switches see:

A well designed touch switch will refuse to turn off if the wheel is actually moving, so the only danger is accidentally turning it on. As @HEC said, actually having the switch directly in the power line would require a big and very heavy switch that may still fail on you. Even those wheels with mechanical switches have them on a signal wire, not physically shutting off the battery.

Also do not forget, it requires a fairly sophisticated 3-phase sine wave power application to spin the wheel, any failure on, such as a MOSFET dying, within the electronics will just lock the wheel up - as, indeed, has been seen multiple times on this forum. I am not aware of anyone complaining of a wheel spinning up uncontrollably. 

If working on your EUC, you would, of course, unplug the battery before getting too deep into the disassembly, wouldn't you?