Motor malfunction

[Marko]

Last Friday when I left work temp was at around 32F. I turn the bike on and only ECO or OFF mode work, no REGEN. I have had this occur about two weeks earlier. I wonder if this is again some temp control thing of the Turbo - when ever temp drops below freezing, disable Turbo and regen. I reset the bike computer and the main battery, no effect. Anyway, I started riding in ECO mode and occasionally in OFF. After about 2 miles the bike works again as normal and about one mile more I fell. The bike continued to work normally and I stopped to do some shopping briefly (in limp mode I should add). On return, the bike no longer stayed on; it turned on, did the diagnosis cycle with all leds lit but turned off after about 10 secs. Only the headlight was on and even that stayed on only when pedaling.
I left the bike in room temp to dry and on the next day returned to investigate it some more. Still the same issues, bike will not stay on. I started doing some tests. I disconnected the motor, turn the bike on after which it stayed on allright (except for the headlight which went on by itself as well). Remote and and bike computer worked fine with motor offline. I also ran computer diagnosis, which reported no faults on other components but when I reconnected the motor an error code appeared for the battery. Bike computer reported short circuit and the main switch started blinking which is a sign of a short as well. As soon as I disconnected the motor and reset the battery (removed it) everything was ok again except for the headlight going on by its own. I sent my "fault diagnostics" and the report exports from the computer to Specialized via the dealer. They today responded they would send a new back wheel. Happy to hear that, as the motors are quite pricey.

 

[Brambor]

Great support.

 

[jwdkhan]

That's good news including the new replacement seat you will be getting. My recent experience was also positive when they immediately sent a replacement for my computer display.

 

[Brambor]

I had similar positive experience in summer when my tourque sensor freaked out.

 

[Marko]

Update: I got a replacement back wheel and installed it. To my disappointment it seems completeley "stuck", i.e., it does not freewheel at all. Actually it takes considerable force to make it move. And this is before connecting it electrically. After the motor is connected (still no movement), I get "BUS F" message on the remote. I presume this means bus failure. The computer diagnostics finds only the battery. If the motor is disconnected the diagnosis is ok otherwise. The rim was also warped at the outer edge when it arrived. Sorted that with a wrench. Anyway, Specialized will send another wheel still. On their request I sent them via the dealer a detailed report of the problem with images and video.


----------SBC Status Report----------
Motor Not Connected 0 No Error
Battery Connected 18 No Error
Remote Not Connected 0.0 No Error
User Interface Not Connected 0 No Error
Light Not Connected 0 No Error
Bike Speed(km/h) 45
Acceleration %(%) 600
Eco %(%) 30
Regen %(%) 100
Wheel Circuference(mm) 2210
State of charge(%) 95
Voltage(mV) 41186
Charge Cycles(times) 45
State of Health(%) 100
Temperature(℃) 21
Duration Not Charged(Days) 39
Date of last max charge(YMD) 141122

 

[Marko]

Further update:

After months, the problem has finally been solved. The part that was causing the error was the front light, or rather its partially severed cable. I had no idea that the whole system could halt just because of a faulty light. I received a replacement light from Specialized. However, the installation was far from being simple. If you look at the area of the charger socket and the light cable entry it does not look immediately clear how to get access inside in to the wiring. When you open (hex) the front light cable stop "hatch" and after hard work are able to pull out the connector and disconnect the faulty lamp, the bike-side light connector drops inside the bike body with no possibility to connect a new lamp. The solution is to open the hex bolt on the left side (opposite to the charger socket) and pull the bike main battery connector panel down. It will come out with some tricks, but not extremely easily. Then you can bring the bike-side light connector together with the light's connector out from the charger socket hole and connect them and push the cables back in.

 

[Overspeed]

Glad to hear you found the problem and good info about how to change the light

 

[Marko]

The light change should not be so hard but in my case it got overly complicated because of the short or tied internal cable. In normal situation simply opening the cable stop hex and simply pull out the connector, no sweat.

 

[JoePah]

The light change should not be so hard but in my case it got overly complicated because of the short or tied internal cable. In normal situation simply opening the cable stop hex and simply pull out the connector, no sweat.

Good stuff Marko.. Was your bike inoperable since November?

Your plight reminds me of my A2B Metro back in 2009.. The motor would cut out and they'd send me a whole new wheel/motor/controller.. Couple of months later another failure another shipment.. Then the relays, then the batteries. The warranty replacements had to exceed the price of the bike.. Ultramotor went bankrupt in 2013.. Specialized will have no such problems.

 

[Marko]

Yes, indeed, since Nov I have been trying to diagnose the bike malfunction. Basically, I have used the Specialized computer diagnosis system to try to get some idea where the problem is. If the software reports that everything else is ok but the motor is offline, my immediate conclusion is that the motor is broken. So, I get a new one under warranty. I had to get a new brake disc and a new set of screws for this one because in the last one one refused to come out. I install the new wheel, new brake disc with its new screws and it turns out it does not turn, except with considerable force. I get a second wheel. At this point I realise there is a hand written mark on the hub saying 6mm. It probably means that the screw max length. The standard brake disc screws are 1O mm, but 6 mm arent available. So the screws need to be sawn. Now the wheel at least turned. The theory is that apparently the 1O mm screws somehow jammed the rotation in the first replacement wheel. Well, the wheel change did not help; the bike was still immobile. Then the Specialized service suggested it could be the light as it was lit not full power. Ok, so I received a new light. Then a nightmare of a light change as explained above. But voilà, the bike started to work.