Giant powering off repeteadly

[ilostmypassword]

My first eBike and it was not an easy decision parting with 9.5K on a pushbike, and so far it has been a nightmare with a new Giant TRANCE X E+ 1. 2022.

1. Tube surrounding the LED panel is squashed or dented. The workmanship and finish on it is terrible.
2. Battery would not fully charge in bike. I have to keep removing it to get full charge.
3. The APP when updating failed multiple times and after many attempts it worked.
4. While under power/ load the bike powers down without notice to one or two green bars- such as taking off from traffic lights.
5. Worst of all the powering down issue has now started on the trails and tonight while navigating rocky terrain decided to turn off ALL power. I barley escaped breaking my neck. I lost count of the times it powered down to low or zero both off road and on the pavement to the trail head.

To be honest with you- I'm utterly gutted with this purchase. A total waste of 9.5K! I have a new bike that's sat in there garage as it's is a serious accident waiting to happen. I've asked for a full refund from LBS.

It's a shame as the bike while it did as I told it to do- rode really well and after 3 weeks i've just started to get used to how it rides. It was a lot of fun for a few weeks.

Blame covid and supply chain issues blah blah fucking blah. Regardless this bike is a lemon. Never had these issues on any bike I've purchased and i've been riding since the 90's. What a joke.

 

[Sefutau2020]

Sorry to hear about your woes. I use to own a Giant FastRoad EX Pro 2021 model year. I Purchased it back in February of 2022. For the initial 300 miles, it was great….torque was awesome, smooth ride, and my first 650b wheelset. Yet at around 300 miles or so the bike starting shutting off without warning. I ride roughly 50 to 60 miles at a time, and losing power on a bike and having to ride this heavy thing home was not something I was looking forward too. To my surprise, the LBS sold me the bike with the wrong key (I should have checked, but didn’t), so they couldn’t do any sort of analysis. To top it off, Giant was very, very, slow to respond, and after about 6 weeks, they notified the LBS that they did not have any spare keys to cut for my specific model, and didn’t know when they would have them. The LBS, to their credit, offered me a full refund, or a trade. I took the Trek Allant 8s, and have never looked back. I did own a 2021 Giant Roam, put 1500 miles on it, before I traded up for a Specialized Vado 4.0 SL. Never had one issue out of the Roam, nor the Giant Explore E+ 2 GTS, that I just sold.

These e-bikes are expensive, and companies have to be responsive and the QC has to be high…if they want to be on top of things. I live in the US, and there are Trek and Specialized dealers everywhere, which I think matters when it comes to customer support. Good luck to you on getting a refund.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

After four years and about 6500 miles, my 2018 Toughroad started shutting off this morning. First time for this… all of a sudden the bike feels dead and the pedals are heavy, look down and the display is off. I thought I must have bumped the power button while dropping the assist, but that doesn’t make sense since you have to hold the button for several seconds to turn it off.

Over the next twenty miles it happened again and again, and the last mile or two it was cutting off seconds after I restarted it. I hadn’t brought a battery key (won’t do that again), so when I got home I yanked the battery out, glared angrily at the connectors and put it back. Went another two miles and it was ok. So it seems to be associated with some of the above reports, and I’ll experiment with the battery seating if it pops up again. The thing about this bike is that it never gets ridden on flat terrain, so when this started up it was disturbing immediately and stayed that way for the rest of the ride. That thing is a tank when the power disappears!

 

[Sefutau2020]

I spoke with a LBS in Maryland this morning, who informed me that after months of prodding with Giant, they discovered that the “sudden shut-off” issue while riding was due to a batch of bad batteries with the wrong firmware. The LBS informed me that Giant swapped out all of the old batteries, and shipped new ones. This should be welcome news to those who have had issues with their Giant e-bikes.

 

[Kiwi_Giant]

I believe your LBS only has part of the story. Information from a UK owner who researched this problem on the EMTB Forum and worked with his Giant Dealer to solve the fault found that the problem with Giant bikes randomly switching off was related to a battery firmware issue. Basically the battery firmware in some cases is not tolerant enough to minor faults such as connection interruption, either the power connection or on the CAN-Bus. The battery management system (BMS) uses a CAN-Bus for communication, this is a Controller Area Network (CAN) connection system that uses a proprietary Giant software (message-based) protocol to allow the various electronic control units (motor, BMS, handlebar controller as well as other devices) to communicate with each other in a reliable, priority-driven way.

These minor connection issues can be any number of common problems such as battery security within the frame, the battery moving in the frame results in poor connection, this can be often be solved by adjusting the battery locking mechanism. Another is moisture contamination of the battery connectors and the frame connector. This is can be solved often by cleaning the connector with an electrical connector and applying a conductivity enhancer. Also preventing moisture ingress will help this issue.

As you can see there are a number of approaches to solving this issue. Firstly if you can solve the connection issue then that is a good solution but if this doesn’t work then you need to have the battery firmware updated by your Giant Dealer. This cannot be done via the Giant App, the battery need to go back to your bike shop and they will send it back to Giant for the firmware update.

Basically the latest versions of the BMS firmware is more tolerant to minor connection issues either on the CAN-Bus or with the power connections.

 

[Sefutau2020]

I believe your LBS only has part of the story. Information from a UK owner who researched this problem on the EMTB Forum and worked with his Giant Dealer to solve the fault found that the problem with Giant bikes randomly switching off was related to a battery firmware issue. Basically the battery firmware in some cases is not tolerant enough to minor faults such as connection interruption, either the power connection or on the CAN-Bus. The battery management system (BMS) uses a CAN-Bus for communication, this is a Controller Area Network (CAN) connection system that uses a proprietary Giant software (message-based) protocol to allow the various electronic control units (motor, BMS, handlebar controller as well as other devices) to communicate with each other in a reliable, priority-driven way.

These minor connection issues can be any number of common problems such as battery security within the frame, the battery moving in the frame results in poor connection, this can be often be solved by adjusting the battery locking mechanism. Another is moisture contamination of the battery connectors and the frame connector. This is can be solved often by cleaning the connector with an electrical connector and applying a conductivity enhancer. Also preventing moisture ingress will help this issue.

As you can see there are a number of approaches to solving this issue. Firstly if you can solve the connection issue then that is a good solution but if this doesn’t work then you need to have the battery firmware updated by your Giant Dealer. This cannot be done via the Giant App, the battery need to go back to your bike shop and they will send it back to Giant for the firmware update.

Basically the latest versions of the BMS firmware is more tolerant to minor connection issues either on the CAN-Bus or with the power connections.

Thank you for the great explanation, much appreciated.

 

[Kiwi_Giant]

Thank you for the great explanation, much appreciated.

No problem. Unfortunately the "random sudden shutoff" is not confined to just the battery (BMS) firmware issue. In July my 2021 Stance E+2 started doing exactly the same thing the RideControl switched itself off, no lights and no fault code lights.

The Giant Dealer replaced the RideControl under warranty and I got the bike back, unfortunately the fault continued. While it was at Giant my new 800Wh battery had turned up so I was able to confirm that it wasn't battery firmware as the new 800Wh had the latest firmware and the sudden off occurred with both my old 500Wh & the new 800Wh.

Back to Giant it went.....

Another long wait, but the guys there are great and extremely thorough. This time they discovered that the Motor to Battery Cable had a fault, another couple of weeks wait for a replacement part and fit. Specifically the fault appears to be in the back of the battery connector where the wires enter the battery terminal fitting, it appears that it is not uncommon for moisture to penetrate this area and corrosion to form. They had another bike with a similar problem in the shop and it was fizzing in this area. They said that on this other bike it looked like the back of the connector where the wires enter the rubber had been dumped in salt water.

Since this connector & loom was replaced I've had no further issue.

 

[Kiwi_Giant]

I should have said, that in this picture a UK owner who has had the same battery connector issue has sealed up the wires on the loom where they enter the rubber on the back of the battery connector as a precaution. Once my bike is out of warranty next year, this will be on my "to-do" list.

 

[Sefutau2020]

No problem. Unfortunately the "random sudden shutoff" is not confined to just the battery (BMS) firmware issue. In July my 2021 Stance E+2 started doing exactly the same thing the RideControl switched itself off, no lights and no fault code lights.

The Giant Dealer replaced the RideControl under warranty and I got the bike back, unfortunately the fault continued. While it was at Giant my new 800Wh battery had turned up so I was able to confirm that it wasn't battery firmware as the new 800Wh had the latest firmware and the sudden off occurred with both my old 500Wh & the new 800Wh.

Back to Giant it went.....

Another long wait, but the guys there are great and extremely thorough. This time they discovered that the Motor to Battery Cable had a fault, another couple of weeks wait for a replacement part and fit. Specifically the fault appears to be in the back of the battery connector where the wires enter the battery terminal fitting, it appears that it is not uncommon for moisture to penetrate this area and corrosion to form. They had another bike with a similar problem in the shop and it was fizzing in this area. They said that on this other bike it looked like the back of the connector where the wires enter the rubber had been dumped in salt water.

Since this connector & loom was replaced I've had no further issue.

Great information and insight. These forums are the best to resolve real life issues, fairly quickly. I pick up my second Fastroad EX Pro in 5 days. Hopefully I will not have any issues. At least, there are real answers and solutions to try. Take care.

 

[Leomac7]

i have the same problem as you but After they try to fix it with shim , today After fews day and 100 km since the bike returned from assistance the problem recurred and the bike shuts off randomly. This ebike have 3 months of life, what rights can I claim. Im really tired of this situation

Had the same problem - they sent me a plastic shim which I fitted but still had the problem so i ended up putting a piece of cardboard over the shim to kind of lodge the battery in. No more problems - its the gap at the top of the battery - it allows it to jump off the connectors I think.

 

[Kiwi_Giant]

Good that this solved you issue. As you will see there are a variety of faults that cause this issue. Your connection issue is actually a larger problem of the Giant firmware being fault intolerant.

 

[federic000]

hi all,
just googling gives me an idea I'm not alone with these issues, not that I'm comforted right now but you know it's always nice to have friends in the tough times
giant explorer 2+ GTA, 3 months after buying it I was commuting to my office just in front of S.Peter's place (this could be a sign from above, indeed) while ride control dash switches off as well as the engine, multiple times with no apparent reason. I managed to get back home, switching on and on again. Now the bike is hosted near the official LBS, since 20+ days waiting for the ride control to be replaced (this is what they told me). Do you believe this is going to solve the issue? the bike is the one with the syncdrive pro, 70nm and 500W battery. thanks for any suggestion you may have !

 

[TheEqualiser]

I just wedge a small piece of padded handlebar tape between the top of the battery and the locking mechanism when I push it into the frame. It stops the battery moving in place and temporarily losing connection which is what seems to cause a lot of the issues. I also cleaned the connections with contact cleaner and applied dielectric grease at the same time that I did it. Since then I have never lost power on a ride, before that it was doing it at least once on every commute and was getting more frequent. It would be a pain doing it if you remove your battery to charge it but if you charge it on the bike then it is a fairly simple fix.

 

[Volt Dolt]

I just found a fix that worked for me. The problem had been getting worse with time, shutting down more frequently. Had gotten to the point of not being useable. I cut two squares of UHMW and applied them to the top of the battery (see picture). Problem stopped immediately and I have ridden the bike 3 times since, about 50 miles including some very bumpy dirt trails.

I do believe the battery's firmware is too sensitive to momentary disconnects and I'd like to get my battery flashed, but too much of a hassle dealing with Giant. I'm not going to mess with that unless the problem returns.

 

[Volt Dolt]

Update: My intermittent power issue has returned. I wonder if the battery management system (BMS) has a counter that monitors how many power interruptions occur and when it hits some threshold, starts shutting down or turning on the red LED. Then with time the counter resets and the bike works fine for a while? Just speculating . . .

 

[federic000]

on my issue, they said battery has been upgraded in the firmware, this should resolve the intermittent switch off. I will take back the bike tomorrow and post an update after some Km's.

 

[Kanitfastan]

this should resolve the intermittent switch off.

No, it does`nt. My new batt. was a Christmas gift by myself 2022. Same issue as before.

 

[federic000]

No, it does`nt. My new batt. was a Christmas gift by myself 2022. Same issue as before.

sorry to hear that, mine works fine and it's about 3 months now. but honestly i can't be sure it's just a software upgrade or a shim inserted under the battery to keep it firmly installed.