# Zilla Controller Help



## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

I do have a Zilla 1K-LV, so maybe I can help. It's a new one (November 2009) from EVC, so same revision as yours. Can you post your schematic as your car is wired? That should help a lot, most likely it is something rather simple.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

maxdooley said:


> Firstly, I teach Technology Education at a high school in NC. We purchased a Zilla Z1K-LV-STD from EVComponents I guess 3 months ago. We have installed it in the car and the Hairball error light stays constant red. It acted this way from the first time it saw power a little over a week ago.


Did you try Cafe Electric's support page?

http://cafeelectric.com/Ssupport.php


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## maxdooley (Sep 14, 2009)

Thank you for the reply TheSGC. Will try to post a thread friendly version asap.


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## CroDriver (Jan 8, 2009)

Try to measure the resistance of your throttle pod when it's released. It should be below 150 Ohm if I remember right. 

If the resistance is higher the controller won't start. 

The throttle needs to be pushed a few times when connecting the zilla to the palm


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

Do you have a computer with a serial port? I have never used the Palm setup, but I do use a laptop with a serial to program and record data. My setup was exactly like yours, until I upgraded my MAXX29 to US8VGC this weekend. I still have my MAXX29 pack, which works perfectly fine after 1500 miles, I just needed more range.


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## maxdooley (Sep 14, 2009)

Here is a diagram...Mind you I did this from pictures and memory, But I think it is fairly accurate.


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

maxdooley said:


> Here is a diagram...Mind you I did this from pictures and memory, But I think it is fairly accurate.


My first advice would be to get rid of the Brake Light connection and tie the Key Input and the Start Input together. Make sure you have full pack voltage and the Zilla is controlling the contactor.


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## maxdooley (Sep 14, 2009)

Yes, I was thinking about it last night and looking over everything. I deiced to lose the brake light line, move my key input wire and shorten the ground chassis wire and try the system again. We will see later this afternoon. Where I teach high school I can't get enough time to work on the car straight through. My time is segmented and I can just work with the student’s afterschool here and there. That makes it even more frustrating at times. Thanks for the advice, I will let you guys know what happens later tonight.


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## maxdooley (Sep 14, 2009)

Well, Re ran the key wire and 12V constant wire. Shortened the ground wire as much as I could. It only about 12" long now, zilla manual recomended no more than 4". Lost the brake line wire. Still getting the same response (none) and the error light stays on constant.


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

maxdooley said:


> Well, Re ran the key wire and 12V constant wire. Shortened the ground wire as much as I could. It only about 12" long now, zilla manual recomended no more than 4". Lost the brake line wire. Still getting the same response (none) and the error light stays on constant.


Is your high power all connected to the Zilla?


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

maxdooley said:


> Well, Re ran the key wire and 12V constant wire. Shortened the ground wire as much as I could. It only about 12" long now, zilla manual recomended no more than 4". Lost the brake line wire. Still getting the same response (none) and the error light stays on constant.


I'm not terribly familiar with the Zilla - indeed, they are our competitor so we have a vested interest in _not_ helping them - but it looks like you don't have any provision for precharging in your schematic... Also, do you get any sort of error code from the Zilla when you connect a computer to its serial port?


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

Tesseract said:


> I'm not terribly familiar with the Zilla - indeed, they are our competitor so we have a vested interest in _not_ helping them - but it looks like you don't have any provision for precharging in your schematic... Also, do you get any sort of error code from the Zilla when you connect a computer to its serial port?


Precharging is done in the Zilla, actually in the Hairball. The Hairball checks its connections, then precharges and then activates the contactor and boots the power section. 

Max - You really need to connect the hairball to a computer instead of the Palm. You can also look in the Zilla manual and run through the section on using the jumper to check error codes. The Zilla manual has a list of error codes to check against and the manual will tell you how to check them without a computer.


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

What I do not see in your schematic is the 2 wires from the high voltage terminals of the SW-200 back to the short terminal strip on the end of the hairball. The Zilla cannot precharge without those and it will not power up if it doesn't precharge.


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## jtgreeson (Aug 14, 2009)

I received my Zilla Z1K-LV from EVComponents last month and had a similar issue. My laptop would not communicate to the Hairball via the serial interface. I returned it and it was fixed by Travis and others (thank you again!) and shipped back to me just before the meltdown. It works perfectly now. I would suspect you haven't set up your options yet on the hairball and that might be giving you the error light. Maybe borrow another Zilla serial cable adaptor and try it. Travis indicated that was the issue with mine. My factory default settings would not allow the Zilla to work. I hope this helps.


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## maxdooley (Sep 14, 2009)

The contactor wires were not placed in the diagram however the two wires to the hairball are wired in. Sorry for the oversight in the diagram. I'm in the process of setting up my laptop to read/set the hairball. Since the start of this thread I have been able to get in contact with Travis. He is currently trying to help me through it. Once I get the laptop hooked up and reading error codes I can go from there. Travis inquired about the adapter for the serial datta wire. Appearently they shipped some defective ones and he thinks I may have one. I sent him a picture of the connector for him to tell for sure. 

I do want to thank everyone for their input as my experience is short and this is all new to me really. I have worked on cars alot and you all are aware that this is different. If you think, of anything else please continue to let me know. This has really been helpful.

Thanks again


Max...


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