i167 shutdown

[joebarnin]

I've got an 11-year old Segway i167. The past two weeks I've been getting safety shutdowns. Here are the current symptoms: I get on the Segway and ride. Everything's fine, full power. Within 5 minutes, I get the shutdown warning. It looks like this: sad face, vertical line moving from left to right, no power bars. The screen is not red (last week when this happened, it was red). It happens consistently - within a few minutes of getting on, it happens. If I just put a weight on the mat and lean it against the wall, it'll stay on. It only shuts down when I'm riding (moving).

What I've tried:

First thing I tried thought of was the batteries, even though they are only two years old (in 2012 I got a rebuilt set of NiMHs from MTO). I tried the technique where you lean it against the wall to discharge the batteries, and then charge it up again. Did this a couple of times - this didn't fix it.

Next, the advice from this thread: http://forums.segwaychat.org/showthread.php?t=31598 (e.g., post #4). I removed the batteries, slightly fiddled with the pins, cleaned the contacts, and reseated the batteries. I also removed the control shaft from the control shaft base, disconnected the two plugs, cleaned the contacts, and reseated. No improvement.

Questions:

* I've read that the pattern of the shutdown screen can indicate what the problem is. What does no power bars mean?

* Other discussion have talked about checking the connections in the handlebar. How does one disassemble the handlebar to do that? I couldn't figure that out.

* Any other ideas?

Thanks for any suggestions or information.

Jeff