New Dash, some problems (update: fixed after brake lever adjustment)

[Pace]

I got a Dash last weekend for a 40mi round trip commute (one that I can do occasionally on my road bike, but can't really manage to do multiple times per week). The first two days were awesome (half my commute is clear pavement before I get to the city so the extra speed helps). The bike handled well, though I noticed a few times where the assist seemed to drop off a bit and wouldn't assist past 14-15mph (regardless of PAS level)

I didn't use it thursday, but then today, day 3, I ran into multiple issues coming in. First, assist started dropping off and coming on again, little earlier than previous days. Then at one point I started getting a total drop of assist after using my brakes (so when I started up I'd have to pedal w/out assist for 10-15 seconds before it kicked in). Shortly after I got an E6 on the display (problem w/ brake cutoff). So I made sure everything was tight in the wiring and used less pull on the rear brake. That seemed to take care of the drop after breaking and no assist on startup. All is well for a couple of miles of 20-24mph cruising, then assist drops again (hadn't touched the brakes). I thought it totally died on me, but it was actually only assist after 14-15 mph that stopped. Below that the bike was working ok. Tried power cycling, checking wires again, etc but nothing helped. So I continued on at 14-15mph for the remaining 10+ miles. I don't know how the guys in the UK work with 25km/h limited ebikes, because these heavy bikes are not going much past their assisted threshold without a LOT of effort, and 15mph is just too slow. One section on a bike path I was struggling to overtake two grade school girls (with handlebar streamers and everything).

So in the course of three days, the Dash gave me my fastest commute (beat my best road bike time by ~10 minutes) and my worst (by more than 15 minutes)

I'm going to try and run some diagnostics on the way back, but not looking forward to plodding along at 14mph. Hopefully the assist will hang in there at least at that level, else my next option is to call for the sag wagon.

 

[JoePah]

"One section on a bike path I was struggling to overtake two grade school girls (with handlebar streamers and everything)"

Priceless!

Hopefully you contacted Currie...

 

[DashRiprock]

I would give your LBS and/or Currie a ser.# and see if you are dealing with a pre or post bb cup tightening issue bike if you haven't tightened it yourself or were told otherwise.

Beating your best time by 10 minutes gives folks an idea of just how fast this bike can be.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

I betcha the problem is in the little junction box that everything goes into right before the display, make sure there is minimal tension in the cables in that area. I've had the exact same problem you describe about 3 times.

If you enter diagnostic mode by holding the =/- button for what seems like more than 10 seconds, then 'navigate' with the Info button to code index 7 ((Link Removed - No Longer Exists)) you should see all zeros, 000 - VS - 001 when the brake is toggled, or the circuit open from strain at the junction box or display. Leaving it in diagnostic mode while you fiddle with the harness may result in a change in the code, hopefully to all zeros. This is how it went down for me the last time, in the dark 16 miles from home.

EDIT: BTW - Navigate to code index 3 (Motor Command) to watch motor power while riding, 220 is baseline and 800 max (full throttle for example). Values around and above 500 are common when things are normalized. Note there is another condition where power is temporarily reduced, this happens to me at about 3 battery bars, and after a good 30 minute cool down. This one seems to self correct after a 1/2 mile or so, I suspect something needs to warm up. I plan on documenting this soon by recording the diagnostic display.

Hope this helps! -Shea

 

[Pace]

Thanks for the all suggestions guys... I didn't see these before I headed out for home, but will give it a shot tomorrow. I managed to nurse it back averaging around 13 mph.

I had given the bike shop a call this afternoon, they weren't super helpful --- they guy that knew about the electric bikes aparently was out and they said he'd give me a call tomorrow. The bad part is they are an hour drive away (there's a another currie/izip dealer close to me that I did go to when first shopping for the bike, but they did not have as many bikes to try and didn't have any Dash models in stock, so I ended up buying from this other dealer )

On the way back I noticed a couple of other behaviors:
- brake levers no longer cut the motor when squeezed (either one)
- Motor itself seemed to be making some rattling noises

So I might have multiple issues. Just over 160 miles. Hopefully I can get it resolved quickly and reasonably because if you had asked me about the bike a couple of days ago I would have told you it was a terrific bike.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

- brake levers no longer cut the motor when squeezed (either one)

Because of the fault 7 described above, at 13 mph you were not getting any assistance, or perhaps intermittent. You can do the brake diagnostic without even riding the bike BTW.

- Motor itself seemed to be making some rattling noises

Mine did that for a while then cleared up, hopefully your does the same.

 

[Pace]

Ok, I took a look at the bike this morning and got everything squared away. Bike shop called me back too which was good, though I had kind of identified the problems by then.

I ran through all the diagnostics, everything looked good except the brake cut-off sensor, which was reading 001 (instead of 000). This was due to the the right brake lever not returning all the way to a fully open position after being released. In the brake lever housing there's a small set screw that determines the open position stop, it was screwed pretty far in (much more so than the left lever). Backing out that set screw several turns let the lever return fully open back into the lever housing, and the diagnostic went back to reading '000' again. The set screw must have been on the edge of too much/too little as it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing that would have changed on its own through vibration over a couple of days. In any case, that was the main culprit.

After tweaking the right lever, the pedal assist started working again in full, w/ no 14-15 limit.

There was also a noise coming from the rear wheel.... I'm pretty sure that is just some loose spokes. I tweaked a few on the rear wheel and the noise is mostly gone, I'll fiddle with that a bit more. I expected to have to keep on top of spoke tension anyway, as the city part of my commute is in Boston and the road surfaces are 'interesting'.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

Awesome!,.. easy fix. Makes total sense because the magnet for the sensor is right where the cable and lever join, pull the lever and the magnet is positioned away from the sensor, 001. RE: interesting road surfaces, put a BodyFloat on it ASAP. -S

 

[Brian(J)]

I have a similar issue from time to time as my right lever gets a little loose, solution is to tighten up the lever pivot bolt.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

Sounds like a job for the blue locktite (med). -S

 

[Brian(J)]

because procrastination.

 

[wwjd]

I had the same rattling coming from the rear wheel. It was loose spokes that came with the bike right out of the box.

I have also been getting the intermittent cut-out of power through pedal assist, and then it just cut-out altogether. All the diagnostic codes checked out fine for me, except for Code 3 when pedaling in pedal assist mode. The code is fine when using only the throttle but shows a malfunction when attempting to pedal in pedal assist mode. The value remains at 220, when it should be increasing in value as it does when in throttle mode. The problem, according to the (Link Removed - No Longer Exists), is the Bottom Bracket Spindle Sensor in the crank hub. The shop I purchased the bike from tried adjusting this sensor to make it start working again and it did for a brief moment there and at home, but then the pedal assist failed to work soon afterward. In throttle only mode it, again, works fine. A replacement sensor under warranty is being ordered and I will keep you posted on the results. I just hope the shop reads the instructions on how to properly install this thing and not just think that it is installed just like any other spindle. Things have to be torqued, set and aligned just right in order for this thing to work properly. You don’t just slap them together like any other bicycle crank and spindle. I should be more informed on the results of all this in a week or two after the shop orders the part and it is installed. Hopefully, that Code 3 in pedal assist mode will be working like a breeze.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

In a week or two! OMG What would I do - Life would fall out of balance quickly.
Hopefully yours is more stable - thanks for reporting your experience. -S

 

[Pace]

That's a bummer about the bottom bracket... it's frustrating when the bike shop is not setting things up correctly (or checking them if they get the built bikes delivered). On my Dash, there's some loose spokes but the rear wheel really needs truing. Disk rotors and pad clearance were also not set up right, even accounting for initial cable stretch (the rear rotor has a lot of wobble actually). This isn't a problem with the bike, just regular setup stuff that good shops should take care of (I've had good wheel builder lace up wheels that went on heavily loaded tandems and never had to tweak a spoke, and disk rotors on my other bikes came delivered w/out any detectable wobble). I'm going to bring mine back once to where I got it to see if they can tune up the wheel, but if it's over their heads I'll take it to one of the local shops that I know will do a good job.

 

[wwjd]

The Bottom Bracket Sensor problems are not the shop's fault. It is engineering and assembly from the factory. By all means, the shop should have initially checked the spokes, brakes and things like that after coming out of the box. Heck, even the factory should do that! But the BB sensor? Now that's a different story. I wasn't having problems with it and it didn't die on me until after about 100 miles of use. That's right. I have had this bike only for about three weeks. I decided to put it through the rigor, since I am planning to do some thirty mile or so round trips. I don't want this thing pooping out on me out in the boonies with grades and things like that. After all, as you can see by my picture, I am an older fella with a little bit of a pot belly weighing in at around 235 lbs. When this bike is functioning properly, it is absolutely awesome. It makes riding a bike for a person like me truly enjoyable (you younger guys will find that out when you too get older). My only caveat with this bike is the cogging of the motor which acts like brakes in freewheel. Who wants a bike to slow down on its own after all that pedaling? It is very frustrating, to say the least. My hope is that a motor will be designed with speed and, with torque in mind. Geared motors produce torque; gearless motors (such as this one) produce speed. And, after all, this bike (and myself I might add) have a need for speed. It's nice to know you can go a little faster at times than normal e-bikes and not be limited so much on this. My hats off to Currie for giving us the ability to pedal in pedal assist mode as fast as we can peddle. Most bikes limit you on this. Of course, only in Throttle mode the 20mph limit is set by law.

 

[wwjd]

The problem with my BB sensor has been resolved, at least for now. Please see my notes under: Blown Motor on E3 Dash with 29 Miles On It.