Juiced support is on the ball!

Reid

Well-Known Member
I got an error message


and it is already being diagnosed by Juiced, ten minutes after opening a support ticket.


Will post results soon.
 
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Reid, I also had the error 30 code on a brand new RCS.

Here is what Luis sent me to trouble shoot:
"Here we add a detailed pretrip inspection ( that will also help maintain your bike ). Its the quick guide all of our customers use to check connections ( error 30)
1- Please go through the Pre trip maintenance ( attached) as normal use will cause some connectors or mechanical items to get loose ( you can skip the cadence sensor inspection)
Here we add a quick connector guide video
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x9x00y842qf8fx0/AABHzUtla5ZElNshjkRi2gzXa?dl=0
2- during inspection please make note of any wire damage or mechanical damage as well.
3- You can use a can of compressed air ( pc duster) to clean up the connections
4- after inspection you can do a quick test and let us know how the bike behaves"

How to reach the controller to wire harness plug video & manual:
https://www.juicedbikes.com/pages/controller-removal-current-series-e-bikes

Error codes:
The most common codes seen are:
  • Error 4 - Open Throttle Fault - The throttle is blocked from returning to the closed position at start up. Check to see if someone is touching the throttle.
  • Error 8 or 9 - Hall of Phase cable fault - The motor may be disconnected.
  • Error 30 - Communication error. Normally the 1-4 Cable has come lose, damages of corroded.
Below are all of the codes which are possible on the LCD display:




It also helps to use a hair dryer on low setting to warm up the connectors if they will not separate easily.
 
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It is best I send 1-4 cable and controller and display to Juiced for them to troubleshoot.

Meanwhile I will get fitter than I otherwise would, grin!

Thank you Glenn-rod for the help. I have compressed air, a warming oven, jewelers loupe and have dried and tried reconnections without any change. The controller and display and 1-4 cable were warmed for a day at 130F with no change in behavior.

The parts are packed and going to the post office...
 
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Reid, I think your on track with that action. My bike had 5 miles on it when it did the code 30 error. I too could not find any connection problems and the battery worked fine. My wrote it off to damage in transit since the box arrived ripped open on the end and top. I filed a damaged return claim and have shipped it back.
I'm starting to think maybe there is wire harness defect or controller defect? Please keep us posted on what you find out.
 
Communication fault can also be hall sensors in the motor. Not just a connection or wire issue.
 
Communication fault can also be hall sensors in the motor. Not just a connection or wire issue.
Hopefully not. Bafang error 30 is generally error between display and controller. First check is wire continuity. Check pins to see if any are bent or misaligned. If wires check out, generally this is a controller issue which is not an easy fix.
 
Hopefully not. Bafang error 30 is generally error between display and controller. First check is wire continuity. Check pins to see if any are bent or misaligned. If wires check out, generally this is a controller issue which is not an easy fix.
It's usually that, BUT, hall sensors are part of the control circuit as well. I'm fighting an issue with a Bafang geared hub motor. Sent it to the guy that repairs Sondors motors. Told me it was cold solder joints on the Hall sensors. Rode it less than 10 miles and it coded out again. 2 days latter it works in my garage. No codes showing today, but won't trust that thing on a ride after being stranded 6 miles from my van on a 96 degree day, on a 60 pound single speed fat bike!
 
It's usually that, BUT, hall sensors are part of the control circuit as well. I'm fighting an issue with a Bafang geared hub motor. Sent it to the guy that repairs Sondors motors. Told me it was cold solder joints on the Hall sensors. Rode it less than 10 miles and it coded out again. 2 days latter it works in my garage. No codes showing today, but won't trust that thing on a ride after being stranded 6 miles from my van on a 96 degree day, on a 60 pound single speed fat bike!

I'm not Juice bashing, but after looking at the Juice Support video "How to reach the controller to wire harness plug video" I see many 'points of failure' with the various connectors, some of which don't appear to have sufficient mechanical security to take the rigors of an e-bike. I'm also troubled by the external connectors that appear to run along chain stay.

If I owned a Juiced Bike I would wrap each connector with heat shrinkable tubing to protect the connectors from whatever, plus the tubing
would add some additional mechanical security to what appear to be connectors designed for a less stressful environment then an e-bike. Also I noticed on the Error Code List, seven of the eleven Error Codes say 'Connector and or Cables' as the likely cause of failure.

Unrelated to cables and connectors, Rich C wrote....."Told me it was cold solder joints on the Hall sensors" Cold solder joints are normally a QC issue in manufacturing. Repairing them can be very difficult and since the 'problem' is intermittent there is no way to know for 100% certain if the unit has been 'repaired'.

Rich C summed up well what I described above. " Rode it less than 10 miles and it coded out again. 2 days latter it works in my garage. No codes showing today, but won't trust that thing on a ride after being stranded 6 miles from my van on a 96 degree day, on a 60 pound single speed fat bike! Good luck.

John from CT
 
I'm not Juice bashing, but after looking at the Juice Support video "How to reach the controller to wire harness plug video" I see many 'points of failure' with the various connectors, some of which don't appear to have sufficient mechanical security to take the rigors of an e-bike. I'm also troubled by the external connectors that appear to run along chain stay.

If I owned a Juiced Bike I would wrap each connector with heat shrinkable tubing to protect the connectors from whatever, plus the tubing
would add some additional mechanical security to what appear to be connectors designed for a less stressful environment then an e-bike. Also I noticed on the Error Code List, seven of the eleven Error Codes say 'Connector and or Cables' as the likely cause of failure.

Unrelated to cables and connectors, Rich C wrote....."Told me it was cold solder joints on the Hall sensors" Cold solder joints are normally a QC issue in manufacturing. Repairing them can be very difficult and since the 'problem' is intermittent there is no way to know for 100% certain if the unit has been 'repaired'.

Rich C summed up well what I described above. " Rode it less than 10 miles and it coded out again. 2 days latter it works in my garage. No codes showing today, but won't trust that thing on a ride after being stranded 6 miles from my van on a 96 degree day, on a 60 pound single speed fat bike! Good luck.

John from CT

John,

Rich was talking about a Sondors motor! not juiced bike :)
 
Dean Here. My RCS died on 5/9 and after much BS with Luis, a new ECU finally showed up today. I'll put it in later today to see if it fixes the issue.

This bike simply lost motor control when I took a short break off the bike, no event of any kind occurred. It simply ceased motor function just as I began my 3rd ride. The bike has less than 50 miles on it. There are no error codes at all on the display, in fact, the LCD and headlamp work fine, just no throttle or assist from the motor whatsoever. All cables look perfect- pins are not bent, connectors are tight, no abrasions on any wires, but this issue sure acts like a bad wire.

BTW... This bike came with a bent chainring, which I had to wait 9 days for a new one from Juiced'. I got 2 decent rides in after that event and loved it. Now this problem.

Luis has made this repair especially frustrating for me. Besides being impossible to reach, and taking days to respond to my emails, he's dragged out this repair as long as possible telling me to check cables and connectors and battery fuses multiple times. WTF does he think I've been doing for the last 3 weeks? I did most of this within 10 minutes of the bike dying. I had trouble getting the 2 battery fuses out for inspection, and was afraid I might break them, so Luis made me a video on exactly how to remove them. That's the only helpful instruction he's given me so far.

He sent me a new ECU via UPS Slowest way across the country during the holiday to here in RI where I live. He should have sent all the electronic parts that could fix this via P1 delivery. Not sure why he has been treating me like this, but he's turned Juiced's biggest fan very much off.
 
John,

Rich was talking about a Sondors motor! not juiced bike :)

Ravi,
Thank you very much for your correction on my post, I appreciate you taking the time to read through what I wrote and
comment....

At the risk of sounding defensive, which I honestly don't mean to be, after looking at the 30 second Juiced Controller removal
video I'm still troubled a bit with the connectors and their lack of robustness, if that is a word, plus the cables / connectors running along the
chain stay are a concern as well if I'm viewing the video correctly. I don't know why the video was sped up when it's purpose is to provide
detailed info.

Thanks again for correcting me,

John from CT
 
Dean Here. My RCS died on 5/9 and after much BS with Luis, a new ECU finally showed up today. I'll put it in later today to see if it fixes the issue.

This bike simply lost motor control when I took a short break off the bike, no event of any kind occurred. It simply ceased motor function just as I began my 3rd ride. The bike has less than 50 miles on it. There are no error codes at all on the display, in fact, the LCD and headlamp work fine, just no throttle or assist from the motor whatsoever. All cables look perfect- pins are not bent, connectors are tight, no abrasions on any wires, but this issue sure acts like a bad wire.

BTW... This bike came with a bent chainring, which I had to wait 9 days for a new one from Juiced'. I got 2 decent rides in after that event and loved it. Now this problem.

Luis has made this repair especially frustrating for me. Besides being impossible to reach, and taking days to respond to my emails, he's dragged out this repair as long as possible telling me to check cables and connectors and battery fuses multiple times. WTF does he think I've been doing for the last 3 weeks? I did most of this within 10 minutes of the bike dying. I had trouble getting the 2 battery fuses out for inspection, and was afraid I might break them, so Luis made me a video on exactly how to remove them. That's the only helpful instruction he's given me so far.

He sent me a new ECU via UPS Slowest way across the country during the holiday to here in RI where I live. He should have sent all the electronic parts that could fix this via P1 delivery. Not sure why he has been treating me like this, but he's turned Juiced's biggest fan very much off.

-
Just a follow up. I installed the new ECU Juiced' sent me. It did solve the dead motor issue in my RCS and the bike now runs great again (3 weeks later).

I believe the problem was due to the fact that whoever installed the original ECU into the downtube, slid it in backwards and crushed all the wires which were pulling on their solder connections inside the ECU. It was so tight, it took some effort to remove it from the downtube. This assumes that the 30 second Juiced' ECU install video shows the ECU going in the correct orientation (another reason to not speed up the video so you can show detail as someone just pointed out here).

While others here are very kind to not bash Juiced', I feel Juiced' needs a good slap upside the head. What they did to me was unjust in every way a company should treat its customers. While I now love my RCS again, the experience Juiced' (specifically Luis) put me through makes me want to put duct tape over the Juiced' logo on my bike. What a pity.

On the bright side.... Did I mention I love my RCS again? The bike is sick fast. Dean
 
@John from Connecticut

John,

I think the video shows the 1st gen ocean current - did it have a teal/blue frame?

I don't think the cables run the same way anymore on the newer frames. I believe the RCS has a channelguide on the bottom of the downtube with a rubber gusset that seals in the wires to keep them from dangling, and then has little hooks-guides the rest of the way back.

The robustness of the connectors at the ECU may be in question if the newest RCS (with in theory the newest setup and ECU) are fragile.
------

@Guitartec,

If you had checked the controller install when you first got the bike, would you have been easily tell if the controller was mounted correctly?
Was the crushed wires obvious?
Was the stress on the soder connectors only visible if you "cracked" the ECU open?

If you had checked before your first ride, do you think it was fixable -- i.e. did the vibration of riding for 30-40 miles "break" it or was it doomed from the start?

I'm glad the bike is back in working conditions.

Be safe!
 
@John from Connecticut

John,

I think the video shows the 1st gen ocean current - did it have a teal/blue frame?


I don't think the cables run the same way anymore on the newer frames. I believe the RCS has a channelguide on the bottom of the downtube with a rubber gusset that seals in the wires to keep them from dangling, and then has little hooks-guides the rest of the way back.

The robustness of the connectors at the ECU may be in question if the newest RCS (with in theory the newest setup and ECU) are fragile.
------

@Guitartec,

If you had checked the controller install when you first got the bike, would you have been easily tell if the controller was mounted correctly?
Was the crushed wires obvious?
Was the stress on the soder connectors only visible if you "cracked" the ECU open?

If you had checked before your first ride, do you think it was fixable -- i.e. did the vibration of riding for 30-40 miles "break" it or was it doomed from the start?

I'm glad the bike is back in working conditions.

Be safe!

Hello,
Here's the YouTube link that I referred to. It was sent to the Forum.

https://www.juicedbikes.com/pages/controller-removal-current-series-e-bikes

Regarding your suggestion that 'Guitartech' should have checked if the controller was installed correctly when he first
received his bike, I have to disagree. When someone purchases a new e-bike it's assumed that the components are not
installed upside down, thus damaging the connections etc.

John from CT
 
@John from Connecticut

I didn't say he should have had to check - I asked if he had, would that have made a difference.

If the controller was not installed correctly that is clearly a "Defect".

Did you really mean to claim that a 0% defect rate is both the norm and is the only acceptable value?

I was asking @Guitartec because maybe it would be worth my while to check before my first ride, once my RCS arrives.

If a number of us all discover the same problem and notify Juiced then they can identify if someone at the warehouse or back in china is doing something wrong and they add checking for that problem to their QA checklist.


=====
/// Rambling thoughts below, beware ///

In a perfect world no bikes would ever ship out with assembly errors, but I have seen videos where even high end bikes have assembly issues. Things that a LBS maybe learns to check before letting the bike out the door.

As of last week, if I wanted to get an equivalent ebike at an LBS with a 48v ~900+ Wh battery + Torque + Cadence + throttle, I would be spending at least double the cost.

There are LOTS of advantages to purchasing through a LBS, and one of them is that they "know" their bikes & act as a secondary QA system to fix minor glitches and manufacturing errors so the customer doesn't see them.

But even with that some small percentage of bikes will get to the customer with defects, even with a LBS.

As Direct to Consumer bike owners, places like this forum are invaluable - this is OUR LBS, where we can share knowledge so that the next customer might have a better experience.

Maybe it turns out that we all will invest in some shrink tubing and a hairdryer, or black electrical tape to cover over a power button if we are in very humid conditions.

Would I rather not need to do that, of course. Is it worth $2000 to not have to do that..
 
@John from Connecticut
If a number of us all discover the same problem and notify Juiced then they can identify if someone at the warehouse or back in china is doing something wrong and they add checking for that problem to their QA checklist.

As Direct to Consumer bike owners, places like this forum are invaluable - this is OUR LBS, where we can share knowledge so that the next customer might have a better experience.
You're correct in that these forums are invaluable. They're literally a lifeline for a lot of readers. Whether it be for someone like myself trying to sift through all the information to make my first ebike purchase, or for someone who needs some troubleshooting guidance. Occasionally, we get off course and let our emotions get the best of us on a particular subject, but it's because we're passionate about ebikes. @NeilCruz , I too thought you were putting blame on @Guitartec about checking the ECU, but as I read more of your post I realized you were trying to determine if a poorly installed ECU was something other soon-to-be RCS owners could spot when they got their ride. Great idea.

With that said, what if a pre-trip checklist could be assembled for the RCS or any new popular model that contained items such as the poor installation of the ECU and other discrepancies that new owners have found. New ebike owners could come to this forum and print off the "living checklist" for their model and use it to perform their own self-inspection of their Direct to Consumer ebike. I've used these forums to see if a particular brand and/or model has a history of problems and then decide if it should stay on my list or be removed. However, once I make my purchase I'm committed and having a checklist built by other owners of the same bike would be priceless. The items don't even have to be issues right out of the box, but something to keep an eye on like a particular screw or bolt that has a tendency to vibrate loose. Thoughts?
 
I am getting same Error 30 code.

I received my RCS about a week ago. It's totally fun, but about every other morning - it throws the Error 30 code.

I used contact cleaner to clean the 1-4 connector(s) and the motor connector. I haven't done the cadence sensor connector yet, but after reading this thread that's next on the list.

I also sealed the connectors with some dielectric grease in case it was moisture getting in at night (I store the bike outside under a cover).

Luckily - so far at least, if I jiggle the 1-4, and turn off the bike and turn it back on a few times, the code goes away. I contacted Juiced Support today and they are mailing me a new 1-4. Hopefully that will solve it.

I will let people know. . .
 
Here is what I plan on doing for my pre-1st ride based on data I gleaned from videos + CCS v1, CCS v2, and the sparse RCS Info:

  • Inspect box before opening. Take pictures/video
  • Take pictures of anything while unboxing that looks like it broke in shipping
  • Inspect bike frame paint job - look for any missed spots or any thin paint coverage.
  • With tire at 1/2 minimum pressure, massage/squeeze tires to reduce chance that the tube is pinched by the bead of the tire, then fill to normal pressure
  • Check for loose spokes
  • Make sure all screw holes are clean before trying to insert a screw.
  • Be VERY careful inserting any screws, especially into aluminum frame. Bottle cage bosses included. If Screw doesn't go in smoothly, do not force. Carefully back screw out and then if there is nothing obvious, gently use a tap/die to deburr the thread.
  • Check rear derailleur for both alignment and upper and lower .. um.. shift stop I think is the term.
  • Check that all bolts are firm - especially at the rear dropout, the rack, and the crank arms
  • Check that all of the bolts for the pre-installed accessories on the handlebar are firm
  • Check all cable runs - make sure if anything rubs against metal that a) the paint is protected (i.e. tape) and b) that determine if the cable needs lubricant in order to not rub a hole in the cable.
  • Practice with battery insertion - make sure it goes in firmly and that there is a "click".
  • If I think the bike might get wet in usage, consider adding a waterproof tape over the on-off switch for the battery. (This might have been a gen 1 battery issue, will evaluate suitability)
  • Make sure both wheels are correctly seated.
  • Check if the wheels and tire are "true" both side to side and up and down. Use the "zip-tie" method to measure any wobble.
  • If the bike chain is sticky on the outside of the links, clean it
  • Add heavy slap guard to top and bottom of the frame tube where the chain runs
  • After heavy (battery load) use wait at least an hour before charging the battery (especially if its over 80F)

    New
  • Check all connectors - look for bent pins and anything loose
  • Consider "gel" style sealant for connectors -- (Not yet sure what to use especially for lines that carry power)
  • Open the battery housing and inspect the ECU installation - look for anything that looks crimped or any exposed metal.
  • Rotate battery up and down, shake very gently. Does it feel like anything is sliding around or going "thunk"
  • After the 75 miles and before 150 miles, check all spokes and do quick "true" test.
  • After 100 miles and before 250 miles do another check on derailleur. Also check chain, it probably needs lubricant.
I'm sure there are things I am missing and those of you who have been riding for years probably have a much better checklist. This is just what I have so far.
 
Superb information above!

BTW, to folks who may be new to this stuff, all greases and oils are dielectric by nature, none conduct electricity.

However, metal to metal contact is made through any oil or grease if the metal parts are brought into contact with each other. Greasing an electrical joint is therefore harmless.

A preferred general purpose and electrical connector grease,

20180531_050916.jpg20180531_050840.jpg

It will not turn hard over time, separate or stain.

A silicone grease is also ideal for electrical connectors because it is absolutely inert and non-aging.

Both types available from Amazon
 
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Superb information above!

BTW, to folks who may be new to this stuff, all greases and oils are dielectric by nature, none conduct electricity.

However, metal to metal contact is made through any oil or grease if the metal parts are brought into contact with each other. Greasing an electrical joint is therefore harmless.

A preferred general purpose and electrical connector grease,

View attachment 22356View attachment 22357

It will not turn hard over time, separate or stain.

A silicone grease is also ideal for electrical connectors because it is absolutely inert and non-aging.

Both types available from Amazon

Good to know!

So I have a small update.

It was another chilly morning and I got the same Error 30 code.

I noticed that if I pressed the “+” and power buttons at the same time it will quickly cycle to the advanced readout menu (like it’s supposed to).

Then of course it goes back to “Error 30.”

But what is interesting is that I can see all my info (charge, miles, watt hours, etc.)

The only info that was not showing was ECU (or whatever we call it) temperature. It read “0.”

After leaving the bike on (and still showing Error 30) the display finally went to normal. And I was able to watch the temperature increase from about 14.7 to 16 or so.

This makes me wonder whether it’s the temp sensor that is causing the problems?

I will know soon - when I get the new 1-4 that Juiced is sending.

Anyway, just wanted to update folks!
 
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