# Dead Hairball?



## EVMiata (Jan 25, 2009)

I've had our Miata conversion on the road for close to 5 years. Sunday it died. Both the "run" light (alternator) and the "error" light (check engine) are lit on the dash. There was no telltale popping noise and all wires, cables, batteries looked fine. I towed it home and put my laptop on the serial port and...nothing. No communications whatsoever. On the hairball, the yellow "Contactor Off" LED is lit, but the green "Contactor On", "Precharging" or "Error" LEDs never light. 
Since the serial port was working before and the LEDs indicate no processing, my thought is that the hairball croaked.

Anybody have a similar issue or thoughts to share?


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

It sounds like something is wrong. Have either of the fuses supplying power to the hairball ("SLI +14 in" or "Key in") blown? If they check out then I recommend you contact Manzanita Micro.


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## PStechPaul (May 1, 2012)

What is a "hairball" as used in this context? The closest definition I could find is:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=electronic hairball

Usually problems in electronic equipment are caused by bad connections, bugs, and gremlins. Watch out for Gizmo!


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## EVMiata (Jan 25, 2009)

Thanks for the reply, EVFun.I did check that the 12v (nom) power was OK and the connections were solid. 
I contact EVSource where it was purchased, but haven't heard back from them yet. 
I'll give Manzanita a call tomorrow. 


Thanks.


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

PStechPaul said:


> What is a "hairball" as used in this context


This is a hairball:








It is the control box for a Zilla controller. You put it somewhere easy to access and wire up (power, contactor, throttle pot, tach, dash warning lights and other options) and then connect it to Zilla controller power section with the supplied plug-in cable. The brains stay away from the power section just in case you figure out some way to turn the power section into a plasma ball. This controller started out as a racing controller and those guys try to melt stuff down. I don't know if any power sections have actually been reduced to plasma.


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