Specialised Vado 4SL EQ. TCU not switching on

[Marlo]

Hi
I have a vado4 - just a year old. Just had its service a fortnight ago.
I cannot switch it on and have referred to the manual to reboot but no lights flicker- the TCU display is dead i.e no error codes.
When I plug in my charger there is nothing indicating the power is going through.
Has any other owner had this problem?
Cheers

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Have you replaced the 1620 button battery in the TCU?
The TCU battery usually lasts for a year. The indication of the battery becoming low is a red-blue pattern on the TCU until the battery goes totally flat. When it is flat, the e-bike will not work at all.

 

[Marlo]

Have you replaced the 1620 button battery in the TCU?

Hi Stefan- thanks for the response- no I have not- I wondered about it from the manual but chose not to do it on the basis that the manual gave me the impression that there would be an error code but it's possibly completely dead?
Do you think it's worth doing for a start? Cheers

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hi Stefan- thanks for the response- no I have not- I wondered about it from the manual but chose not to do it on the basis that the manual gave me the impression that there would be an error code but it's possibly completely dead?
Do you think it's worth doing for a start? Cheers

Please read an edit in my earlier post. Yes, you should have got a LED pattern on the TCU before the battery went dead.
Replacing the battery is highly recommended as it would eliminate one of the possible failure causes.

A little bit tricky process...

Replacing The Coin Battery In the Specialized SL TCU Gen 1

Whenever you get this error message on your SL TCU Gen 1: (The blue and red bars far apart, the red LED flashing) then you need to replace the CR1620 coin battery. Which is not the easiest task. Prepare: A fresh CR1620 battery The T10 Torx key Tweezers A thin, long and sharp object such as...

forums.electricbikereview.com

Please read one of the latest posts in the thread: someone found the way to make the process go easy

 

[GeraldS1]

Did you come right?

My SL has a similar problem. I have changed the battery. I never got the red flashing light bars.

My problem is the bike does not switch on. I have to disconnect and reconnect the green y connector and it works. It’s annoying to have to unscrew the TCU every time I use the bike.
Any ideas how to resolve this?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Did you come right?

My SL has a similar problem. I have changed the battery. I never got the red flashing light bars.

My problem is the bike does not switch on. I have to disconnect and reconnect the green y connector and it works. It’s annoying to have to unscrew the TCU every time I use the bike.
Any ideas how to resolve this?

Are you still on the warranty, Gerald? Nobody can resolve it, only a Specialized dealer.

 

[GeraldS1]

Grrr . I hate not being able to solve something myself. And no, out of warranty, I bought it secondhand with 1100km on it

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Grrr . I hate not being able to solve something myself. And no, out of warranty, I bought it secondhand with 1100km on it

Specialized warranty is transferable. (Except for 'lifetime frameset warranty').
Proprietary electronic systems are not for self-repair.
I think the user @MartsEbike has returned his Vado SL to the dealer for a similar reason, and now he is waiting for the matter to be resolved.

 

[MartsEbike]

Specialized warranty is transferable. (Except for 'lifetime frameset warranty').
Proprietary electronic systems are not for self-repair.
I think the user @MartsEbike has returned his Vado SL to the dealer for a similar reason, and now he is waiting for the matter to be resolved.

Yep, something similar to this happened to my bike. I'm not 100% sure of the cause of the issue. Luckily, it is under warranty, and Specialized are supplying a new harness to (hopefully ) fix it. Unfortunately, they sent the wrong harness the first time, so I'm waiting for another to be delivered to the dealer. That said, I hope to have my bike back any day now.

 

[GeraldS1]

Thanks for the comments. I will approach the dealer

 

[PedalUma]

Mine has the same problem so as a temporary fix I put dielectric grease on the battery contacts and wrapped the lower battery about 15 times with bungee. Today it went out again and I kicked its underside for the quick fix. I am so busy working on everyone else's bikes. It will at least get a new chain today as part of accelerated maintenance. First I stripped the new chain of all packing sticky yuck with degreaser in the heated ultrasonic cleaner, rinsed and dried. Then I immersed it and shook in melted paraffin. And hung it to dry on a chopstick in a vice. Yes do I have admittedly some odd vices. It will make the chain super quiet and smooth whilst saving a peta-googol of watts, adding to the life of the drivetrain.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Mine has the same problem so as a temporary fix I put dielectric grease on the battery contacts and wrapped the lower battery about 15 times with bungee. Today it went out again and I kicked its underside for the quick fix. I am so busy working on everyone else's bikes. It will at least get a new chain today as part of accelerated maintenance. First I stripped the new chain of all packing sticky yuck with degreaser in the heated ultrasonic cleaner, rinsed and dried. Then I immersed it and shook in melted paraffin. And hung it to dry on a chopstick in a vice. Yes do I have admittedly some odd vices. It will make the chain super quiet and smooth whilst saving a peta-googol of watts, adding to the life of the drivetrain.

He has a Vado SL, and you have a Vado. Different e-bikes. Please do not mislead users.