Enviolo hub not upshifting on Vado 5.0 IGH

[mfkilian]

Hi,

I have a Specialized Vado 5.0 IGH which is now a couple years old. Lately and very intermittently it will fail to upshift and I end up spinning like crazy. Sometimes applying the brakes and pedaling will fix it. Sometimes changing drive mode (for example, from ECO to SPORT) will fix it but I have not found a completely repeatable way to resolve it partly because it doesn't happen all that often.

I don't really understand it. The cadence display shows it going to infinity. I would think that pedaling with the brakes on would indicate more torque needed and would boost the motor output but I don't know how that is linked to the hub (in fact, I don't really know if any of the motor electronics are fed into the hub which I always thought was simply based on cadence). But then again, it seems as though changes to what the motor is doing does effect the shift.

Any ideas would be helpful. I will check but I believe I'm on the latest rev of the Enviolo firmware. I've calibrated the hub (multiple times). Not so sure about the Specialized firmware through the new Specialized App.

-- Mike

 

[leifg]

That's no fun, hopefully it's something easy. The new firmware self calibrates, so perhaps you are not on the latest (it came out this summer I believe). I don't think everyone is super happy with it though, because apparently some report that it calibrates too often causing user to spin fast at start.

That's odd that cadence is reading infinity -- presumably you are not spinning beyond what cadence sensor should pick up, so sounds like something isn't right with a sensor or communication perhaps. I thought the Enviolo control is mostly self contained. You can try using the Enviolo app to manually shift to see if tha always works as expected or if it gets hung up. You can also use their target cadence to decouple from Specialized, but it's a drag to pair each time and user your phone -- particularly if very intermittent.

Maybe try disconnecting/reconnecting the Automatiq hub connector at front of hub a few times in case electrical connection is intermittent.

Other thoughts are to check the magnetic sensor on wheel (clean). Along those lines, if handy, maybe pull the wheel to see if there is any binding at wheel / Automatiq interface -- maybe Automatiq is trying to shift but it can't...but that doesn't sound like the issue if cadence is reporting very high values.

 

[mfkilian]

I ended up taking this into my local bike shop. They did a couple of things:

1. Made sure all contacts were clean.
2. Upgraded the Specialized software (I was two revs behind).

So far so good. I still occasionally get the "spinning" problem but it happens more rarely and resolves more quickly. This may be a known problem with R48 on the Enviolo hub. I can live with it.

The moral of the story is that if the firmware on your bike works, maybe don't upgrade it. And if you do upgrade it, make sure everything is upgraded consistently.

I like the Automatiq hub... but I might settle with an 8 gear internal manual hub next time. One less computer to have to worry about.