"eBike Sensor Battery Critical"

[rochrunner]

Not on the bike display, but instead this message came up yesterday on my Garmin Edge 1030+ while riding my '22 Vado SL 5.0. It eventually went away but I was wondering exactly what it meant. My main battery had just been charged to 100%, but then I was wondering if it was referring to the TCU battery somehow. Does the Mastermind TCU have a replaceable battery? The manual that came with the bike only discusses the LED-based TCU and was not updated for the Mastermind.

In any case, I doubt that the battery would be that low on a new bike without a warning appearing on the TCU display itself so will consider this message spurious for now.

 

[mschwett]

Not on the bike display, but instead this message came up yesterday on my Garmin Edge 1030+ while riding my '22 Vado SL 5.0. It eventually went away but I was wondering exactly what it meant. My main battery had just been charged to 100%, but then I was wondering if it was referring to the TCU battery somehow. Does the Mastermind TCU have a replaceable battery? The manual that came with the bike only discusses the LED-based TCU and was not updated for the Mastermind.

In any case, I doubt that the battery would be that low on a new bike without a warning appearing on the TCU display itself so will consider this message spurious for now.

there’s a separately manual for the mastermind and traditional TCU. it states that the mastermind doesn’t have a replaceable battery!

 

[kahn]

there’s a separately manual for the mastermind and traditional TCU. it states that the mastermind doesn’t have a replaceable battery!

View attachment 125706

EXCEPT that no tool or tweezer or anything could get that battery out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When my Creo's power refused to go UP or DOWN or even power off, I thought it might be that battery. I had plastic tweezers, thin Swiss Army tweezers, dental tools. NOPE. I was able to "reboot" the Creo to OFF, by pressing and holding both buttons and then power it on again, I still could not adjust the power up/down. I took the bike to the shop and that's where they discovered the Creo remote buttons were bound too tightly by the bar tape and that fixed the problem. The shop also mentioned that they had trouble removing that dime sized little battery.

So, while there's a battery, it is probably more like the Mastermind unit. It is not replaceable since it is impossible to remove it.

But I will ask, has anybody managed to remove it?

 

[rochrunner]

there’s a separately manual for the mastermind and traditional TCU. it states that the mastermind doesn’t have a replaceable battery!

That's what I thought. Spurious message then. And while searching the forums, I see that this has happened to other e-bike brands.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I have found garmin is bad about battery warnings. coming way too soon. sometimes a week or two after changing my cadence sensor battery.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

I also had this come up on my Garmin. After reading through the manual, if the battery is critical, then it will give you the waring via the red LED's. I have spare batteries, but will wait until the bike tells me rather than Garmin !!

 

[rochrunner]

It was apparently a one-time thing and hasn't repeated since then.

 

[Ngnear]

It was apparently a one-time thing and hasn't repeated since then.

New to the forum. I had the same message appear on my Garmin head unit. Eventually the bike shop, after conferring with Specialized determined a motor replacement was necessary. Motor was replaced. One week later the same message appeared. Awaiting guidance from the bike shop and Specialized. Background: I have the Creo and the first time the message appeared, there were no performance related issues. The message appeared about 3 more times over the course of 2 months (probably 30 rides over that time) and did not occur every time I rode. The last time the message appeared, the Creo totally powered off. If I powered it back on, it ran for about one mile and turned off again. Fortunately, the new motor arrived and was installed days later. Two weeks later, same message appeared. Did you have any further issues? Sorry for the long post.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

New to the forum. I had the same message appear on my Garmin head unit. Eventually the bike shop, after conferring with Specialized determined a motor replacement was necessary. Motor was replaced. One week later the same message appeared. Awaiting guidance from the bike shop and Specialized. Background: I have the Creo and the first time the message appeared, there were no performance related issues. The message appeared about 3 more times over the course of 2 months (probably 30 rides over that time) and did not occur every time I rode. The last time the message appeared, the Creo totally powered off. If I powered it back on, it ran for about one mile and turned off again. Fortunately, the new motor arrived and was installed days later. Two weeks later, same message appeared. Did you have any further issues? Sorry for the long post.

I had the message come up a few time and have ignored after doing a bit of reading. The message is coming via Garmin and not the bike. If the bike has an issue, it tells you via the LED panel, as not everyone has a Garmin. The communication with Garmin can be a bit funny at times, as it told me Ebike battery low on 80% !! Yes, some of the Garmin message can be useful and did help my Specialized store to find an issue with my bike.

I did have an issue with my bike shutting off when I was using the extender battery, but never with main battery only. Turned out it was a damaged seal on the extender batter cable which let some moisture in. After a good clean out of the port and dried out, not had that issue since

 

[Ngnear]

Thanks. I don’t have the digital screen, but when the shop hooked my bike to the diagnostic tool, they did see the “error code” which showed on the Garmin. The error code or message on the Garmin was “Ebike sensor battery critical”. This led them to replace the motor. Two weeks later, same code appeared. I took it to the bike shop yesterday and they “updated” it. I am not sure what that exactly means, but they (the shop) were working directly with Specialized via texted or phone conversation. The shop may not have updated the bike to recognize the new motor. Anyhow, when I rode it later in the afternoon, a totally different ”error” was showing on the Garmin, specifically “error code E144”. Over the course of the next 5 miles the drivetrain was acting erratically and shut off on 3 separate occasion. I made it back to the shop as they were closing and the shop owner took another look at it by hooking it up to the diagnostic software. He was puzzled and said he would contact Specialized today. In the meantime, I disconnected the Range Extender (RE) and rode the next 25 miles problem free. Maybe a coincidence, not sure. I plan on riding today without the RE to see if I have no issues. If successful, I will try again WITH the RE attached. Maybe it is a seal or something.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

Thanks. I don’t have the digital screen, but when the shop hooked my bike to the diagnostic tool, they did see the “error code” which showed on the Garmin. The error code or message on the Garmin was “Ebike sensor battery critical”. This led them to replace the motor. Two weeks later, same code appeared. I took it to the bike shop yesterday and they “updated” it. I am not sure what that exactly means, but they (the shop) were working directly with Specialized via texted or phone conversation. The shop may not have updated the bike to recognize the new motor. Anyhow, when I rode it later in the afternoon, a totally different ”error” was showing on the Garmin, specifically “error code E144”. Over the course of the next 5 miles the drivetrain was acting erratically and shut off on 3 separate occasion. I made it back to the shop as they were closing and the shop owner took another look at it by hooking it up to the diagnostic software. He was puzzled and said he would contact Specialized today. In the meantime, I disconnected the Range Extender (RE) and rode the next 25 miles problem free. Maybe a coincidence, not sure. I plan on riding today without the RE to see if I have no issues. If successful, I will try again WITH the RE attached. Maybe it is a seal or something.

I don't have the digital screen either, just the coloured LED's on the TCU. Under normal conditions you will only see blue for the main battery and green for the RE. However, it does also show a red LED if there is an issue. Depending on the position of this red LED, tells you the issue, and that is what I mean about the bike telling you and not the Garmin. Ride without a magnet on the back and you will very soon see what I mean !!!!!

I does sound like you had the same issue as I had and I will bet you will have zero issues with just the main battery. It this is the case, the issue is not with the motor, but with the wire harness and being shorted out by moisture. This only happens when RE is plugged in. Check the seals on you RE cable and I bet one of the two has some damage on it, the seals are very fragile.

 

[Ngnear]

I don't have the digital screen either, just the coloured LED's on the TCU. Under normal conditions you will only see blue for the main battery and green for the RE. However, it does also show a red LED if there is an issue. Depending on the position of this red LED, tells you the issue, and that is what I mean about the bike telling you and not the Garmin. Ride without a magnet on the back and you will very soon see what I mean !!!!!

I does sound like you had the same issue as I had and I will bet you will have zero issues with just the main battery. It this is the case, the issue is not with the motor, but with the wire harness and being shorted out by moisture. This only happens when RE is plugged in. Check the seals on you RE cable and I bet one of the two has some damage on it, the seals are very fragile.

Thanks, I will check the seals on the RE cable. Hoping that is the issue. Just seemed strange that it occurred the same day that it was updated. Maybe just coincidence. Thanks again.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

Thanks, I will check the seals on the RE cable. Hoping that is the issue. Just seemed strange that it occurred the same day that it was updated. Maybe just coincidence. Thanks again.

No worries and it had me worried when mine did the same. I have never had the bike cut out with just main battery attached, other than when I forgot to put the magnet on........doh

 

[Ngnear]

I don't have the digital screen either, just the coloured LED's on the TCU. Under normal conditions you will only see blue for the main battery and green for the RE. However, it does also show a red LED if there is an issue. Depending on the position of this red LED, tells you the issue, and that is what I mean about the bike telling you and not the Garmin. Ride without a magnet on the back and you will very soon see what I mean !!!!!

I does sound like you had the same issue as I had and I will bet you will have zero issues with just the main battery. It this is the case, the issue is not with the motor, but with the wire harness and being shorted out by moisture. This only happens when RE is plugged in. Check the seals on you RE cable and I bet one of the two has some damage on it, the seals are very fragile.

I am still having some issues and I have been trying to research. Could you tell me what you mean by “Ride without a magnet on the back and you will very soon see what I mean!!!”?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I am still having some issues and I have been trying to research. Could you tell me what you mean by “Ride without a magnet on the back and you will very soon see what I mean!!!”?

The Specialized e-bike requires a magnet installed in the rear brake rotor. That magnet works with the speed sensor, which is one of the many sensors in Turbo e-bikes. If you removed the magnet (rendering your e-bike unusable), you would immediately get a serious error message on the TCU (or TCD).

The only error I am consistently getting from my Vado SL on my Wahoo screen is "MOTOR ERROR". Nothing wrong happens, so I just ignore the message.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I also had this come up on my Garmin. After reading through the manual, if the battery is critical, then it will give you the waring via the red LED's. I have spare batteries, but will wait until the bike tells me rather than Garmin !!

I spotted this message on my Garmin 530 on my ride today and wondered if it could be the RE seal as well as we encountered rain on our ride yesterday. No shutdown issues ever arose and the bike operated in the usual fashion with PAS and neither did I see the red LED show up on the TCD. Both my wife and I had the motors replaced on our MY20 Creos last year and had the dealer perform the necessary firmware updates just a few days ago.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Here’s an image of the seal on my RE cable. It’s definitely been compromised and likely was the result of the critical ebike battery sensor message that showed up on my Garmin HU. The seal on my wife’s RE seems fine.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Just a follow up to my last post. I’ve cleaned out both the area around the seals as well as the charging port with a bit of alcohol. In my case, I believe that grit worked itself inside the mechanism and the result of constant locking/unlocking partially tore the seal(s). Action is much smoother now. I’ve ordered two sets (5pack) of O-rings from my Specialized LBS as they are relatively inexpensive to replace. Part # for anyone who wishes to replace their seals is S209900061