FitzChivalry
Active Member
On June 9, while riding my Pedego City Commuter to work (a 21-miles-each-way commute), I had the battery conk out halfway there. I thought maybe I hadn't plugged the charger in correctly, because I typically have 30-40% of my battery left when I arrive at my destination. So, I pedaled the rest of the way to work.
Once I got there, I pulled my battery and went inside and hooked up my charger, making sure the red light was on. When I checked it about 2.5 hours later, it had gone from red to green. Normally, it takes about 4 hours to charge a 60% depleted battery, so I was suspicious. I took the battery back out to my bike to see what the LCD would tell me about the amount of charge the battery had reached. When I slid the battery in, the bike powered up. Normally, I need to hit the power button on the LCD to get it to energize. The LCD indicated that the battery was at 100%.
I powered the bike down at the LCD and tried to power it back up to check if the LCD would say the same thing when the bike hadn't powered itself on with the insertion of the battery, but I was unable to get the bike to power up from the LCD.
I went back into work and, at the end of the day, prepared to head home, only to find out that the bike, while powered up, still provided no motor assist in either throttle or pedal assist mode. I rode about halfway home, at which point my wife picked my lazy butt up and drove me the rest of the way. (In my defense, the FeelsLike temperature was over 100 degrees
)
I had submitted information about the situation through the Pedego web site at lunch with a follow-up later in the day. I never heard back from those submissions.
Once I got home, I gave Pedego a call (they're West Coast time and I'm East Coast, so I was still catching them during their open hours). I spoke with Chris, who said that he knew he had some notes on the exact situation I described and promised to call me back within 10 minutes.
5 minutes later, he called me and gave me a rundown of what he thought the issue likely was based on his notes. He promised to send me a new control box (which is installed in the battery slot between the battery and the seat post) and if that didn't solve it, a new battery. He indicated that if we had to resort to Plan B, I would need to take the existing battery to a recycling center as there's no way to return the battery without me having a hazmat certification.
I got an email the next day from Chris asking me to confirm my ZIP code because my address was showing as inaccurate in their address validation system. At 3:23PM on June 11, I got an automated email with a copy of an invoice specifying what was being sent. I followed up by asking when I should expect to get the control box as I hoped to be riding again the following week. They sent me a UPS tracker that indicated I should expect the package on or about 6/18.
Once the package arrived, I had a control box with about a dozen sets of wires hanging out of it, and no instructions. Fortunately, MOST of the wires were color coded the same from the control box to the bicycle (though 2 or 3 were not, so make sure to do one wire at a time). Swapping it out was pretty simple.
Unfortunately, with my busy weekend schedules, it took a couple of weeks before I could smoke test the bike to where I would feel comfortable commuting to work again. I started riding again this week on July 9 & 10. I didn't have any problems with it!
Here's the kicker, though: On day #2 back in the saddle, I discovered that the new control box had upgraded capabilities. Where before you had to put the bike in Mode 0 (no pedal assist) to use the throttle, now the throttle works no matter what mode you're in! No more having to start out from stop signs for a half revolution on my own strength! It took care of my ONLY (very small) complaint about the City Commuter!
I asked how much a new control box would be if it wasn't covered by the warranty, and was told $68 for the City Commuter and $70 for the other cruiser (the name escapes me).
Once I got there, I pulled my battery and went inside and hooked up my charger, making sure the red light was on. When I checked it about 2.5 hours later, it had gone from red to green. Normally, it takes about 4 hours to charge a 60% depleted battery, so I was suspicious. I took the battery back out to my bike to see what the LCD would tell me about the amount of charge the battery had reached. When I slid the battery in, the bike powered up. Normally, I need to hit the power button on the LCD to get it to energize. The LCD indicated that the battery was at 100%.
I powered the bike down at the LCD and tried to power it back up to check if the LCD would say the same thing when the bike hadn't powered itself on with the insertion of the battery, but I was unable to get the bike to power up from the LCD.
I went back into work and, at the end of the day, prepared to head home, only to find out that the bike, while powered up, still provided no motor assist in either throttle or pedal assist mode. I rode about halfway home, at which point my wife picked my lazy butt up and drove me the rest of the way. (In my defense, the FeelsLike temperature was over 100 degrees
)I had submitted information about the situation through the Pedego web site at lunch with a follow-up later in the day. I never heard back from those submissions.
Once I got home, I gave Pedego a call (they're West Coast time and I'm East Coast, so I was still catching them during their open hours). I spoke with Chris, who said that he knew he had some notes on the exact situation I described and promised to call me back within 10 minutes.
5 minutes later, he called me and gave me a rundown of what he thought the issue likely was based on his notes. He promised to send me a new control box (which is installed in the battery slot between the battery and the seat post) and if that didn't solve it, a new battery. He indicated that if we had to resort to Plan B, I would need to take the existing battery to a recycling center as there's no way to return the battery without me having a hazmat certification.
I got an email the next day from Chris asking me to confirm my ZIP code because my address was showing as inaccurate in their address validation system. At 3:23PM on June 11, I got an automated email with a copy of an invoice specifying what was being sent. I followed up by asking when I should expect to get the control box as I hoped to be riding again the following week. They sent me a UPS tracker that indicated I should expect the package on or about 6/18.
Once the package arrived, I had a control box with about a dozen sets of wires hanging out of it, and no instructions. Fortunately, MOST of the wires were color coded the same from the control box to the bicycle (though 2 or 3 were not, so make sure to do one wire at a time). Swapping it out was pretty simple.
Unfortunately, with my busy weekend schedules, it took a couple of weeks before I could smoke test the bike to where I would feel comfortable commuting to work again. I started riding again this week on July 9 & 10. I didn't have any problems with it!
Here's the kicker, though: On day #2 back in the saddle, I discovered that the new control box had upgraded capabilities. Where before you had to put the bike in Mode 0 (no pedal assist) to use the throttle, now the throttle works no matter what mode you're in! No more having to start out from stop signs for a half revolution on my own strength! It took care of my ONLY (very small) complaint about the City Commuter!
I asked how much a new control box would be if it wasn't covered by the warranty, and was told $68 for the City Commuter and $70 for the other cruiser (the name escapes me).
