Rad Rover Motor Cuts Off Going Up Very Bumpy Trail

[Donavan Tom]

Sometimes, I will be riding up a very bumpy (rocky) trail and the motor will cut off for some reason. I am not going 20 mph. This only seems to happen when the bike is getting jared by the terrain. The LCD display is fine, however the motor will not re engage until I turn the bike off and then back on.

Whats the deal?

 

[mrgold35]

Are you getting any error codes on the LCD when the motor cuts out?

 

[Barkme Wolf]

Are you getting any error codes on the LCD when the motor cuts out?

Sounds like a loose connection maybe.

 

[Donavan Tom]

Are you getting any error codes on the LCD when the motor cuts out?

No error codes, except for one time #25 which indicates I may have hit the hand break during all the jarring causing the motor to shut off.

According to Electric-Bike Blog:

If your BBS02 shuts off itself after a lot of hard climbing and won’t turn back on until you disconnect the battery and reconnect the battery then you either

1. Hit the low voltage shutoff
2. The controller overheated

This may have happened.

 

[Donavan Tom]

Went for a ride today in the Oakland and all was well riding up to the hills to the Joaquin Miller Park until I hit the single track trails. I had just started on the trail with no major bumps however still roots and stuff, then the motor cut off on the uphill stride with no error codes. Just as it did a few days before on a rocky fire road in the Berkeley Hills. However, in a few seconds the throttle worked again as before.

Again on the uphill stride, the motor cut off again and the LCD went blank. I turned the battery off and tried to restart. The battery power button light went blue, however the LCD would not power up or start. Tried several times to no avail.

Called Rad Power Bike technical support line. We disconnected the battery and checked connections. The battery indicator showed a red light with three green bars (full power) and all connections good. We reconnected battery and power button light went blue, however the LCD would not power up or start, then the battery power button light went off. Let sit for a bit and the same thing would happen.

Rad Power Bike technical support said the battery may be bad or the cells may be unbalanced. Recommended to recharge battery for at least 8 hours and see what happens.

I am currently in the process of recharging and update tomorrow.

Has this happened to anyone else?

This sucked because I was dead in the middle of a single track trail and had to ride a long way back on manual.

 

[Donavan Tom]

I let the battery charge for a good 12 hours. All systems are go!

However, I have lost confidence in this battery pack. I am afraid the battery will cut off again and go dead when it gets just slightly jostled on an upaved trail. Was it really unbalanced cells or loose cells within the dolphin pack provided by Rad Power Bikes?

What can I do to prevent this from happening again?

 

[mrgold35]

I usually see error code 30 flashing (Abnormal Communication) when the brakes are accidentally applied with power. It only shows code 30 flashing and Maintain on the LCD display. I have to power down/up to get back to normal operation. I see every once in a while when I have my Bar Mitts on for my 5:30am morning bike commute. I figure the Bar Mitts are pressing against one of the brakes handles.

Sounds like the brake activated motor cutoff is extremely sensitive, controller issue, or a loose connection. That might explain the motor cutting out without any error codes?

I rode the other day with 1 bar left on my battery pack. The Radrover felt fine at PAS 1-3; but, watts would go to "000" and the motor would have zero power if I tried to use PAS 4-5. I figured at PAS 4-5, the motor sometimes drops the LCD power bars 1-3 levels depending on how much power it needs. Since I was under 20%, the battery pack didn't have the power reserves for PAS 4-5 acceleration. The LCD never turned off or give any error codes, just a lack of power.

 

[BVC]

I have noticed the same issue. I ride paved trails but sometimes I go off the paved trail to explore a little and found the rad rover had a hard time keeping constant power with just going over natures path.