Bearprint bike problems

[canbestupid]

Hi Everyone. Great to find so many experienced E-Biker folk here. Jim from Alien Ocean recommended I come and join this forum and was confident that someone will know the solution to my problem.

I have an 18 month old Bearprint 500 Watt 36v !6Ah mountain bike. Recently the bike would turn on but then cut out as soon as I started pedalling. It wouldn't then turn on again unless it was turned off at the battery and turned on again. Over the past few weeks that has deteriorated and now it will turn on but won't engage the motor (it starts but then immediately fails.) The bike has done about 2000 miles but the battery still holds it's charge quite well giving me 4 indicator lights over an 8 mile commute. (When it eventually runs). Jim from Alien Ocean said he thought it was bad cells in the battery that might be to blame. Does anyone else agree with that or have any other ideas?

Bearprint seem to have disappeared. I have looked online for a replacement 36volt 16 amp battery and just can't find one. I don't know if there is some leeway with amperage and whether a battery with a lower or higher amperage would be okay. Can anyone advise?

Or maybe this is time to look for a new kit? I'd be interested in something lighter and 500 Watts isn't a necessity. (The pedal assist keeps trying to throw me into the back of slow moving traffic if I forget to turn off the motor.) I'd rather have more uphill power than speed. Style wise the BionX and OxyDrive look stunning and quite possibly easier to fit than the older style conversion kits. Does anyone have any recommendations there, too?

Sorry, this ended up beng much longer than I intended. I'd very much appreciate some guidance here if anyone has a moment to spare. Thanks!

 

[JuicyBike]

Hi CBS
I'm not sure the problem lies with the battery. It seems more like a controller issue to me.
if you were near to us (South Manchester / Peak District) you would be welcome to come and try one of our 16AH batteries in place, to see if that solved your issue.

We don't have any 500Watt controllers I'm afraid, but may be able to source one for you.
Many Freego Dealers may well have a similar battery to that used by Bearprint. So if you are near to any of those that might be a good place to try and eliminate or prove the suspect battery.

 

[canbestupid]

Thanks for that Bob.

Maybe not the battery then, hmm. I'm in Christchurch on the South Coast so unfortunately not near enough to take you up on that offer. If a battery has some bad cells would it still be able to hold it's charge reasonably well?

My first thought is that it was something to do with the pedal assist censor as it cut out when I started pedalling. Then I found a work around by getting up some speed BEFORE turning the motor on and that seemed to solve it, it kept running, which made me think there was some kind of safety cut-out involved because the motor was cutting out when it was under load, in pulling away mode. Yesterday, whether it's a coincidence or not I don't know, I tried the throttle only, without pedalling, and the motor kept running. Then I tried it with the throttle on and pedalling and it stayed running but noticed a drop in power (and no difference in power if I switched to the medium and high modes) so turned it off in case I was doing worse damage. Forgot to mention, it looks like the bike runs on an 8FUN but there look to be at about 8 wires going in and out of the connector between the hub and the controller (and looking at wiring diagrams for 8Fun it looks like normally there are only three - unless there is a difference between 500 and 250 watt versions, or different year versions.) So, does any of that offer any further diagnostic ideas?

I'm not opposed to the idea of installing a new kit because even if it isn't the battery this time the battery will be nearing the end of it's life. Not sure which is the best way to go.

Any ideas will be gratefully appreciated. And thanks, Bob, for taking the time to respond, too. You've been a great help!

Stella

 

[canbestupid]

Just discovered some of the previous posted threads about Bearprint. Weirdly, these didn't show up the first search I made but there is a lot of great info there. Thanks to Barry and Alan. Freego seem to be the only shop that offer the 36V 16 Ah battery but at £570 it makes you wonder if it's worth further investment given that the bike has already had a controller fail and gone through two sets of crank bearings. (Just for anyone else's interest the crank bearings haven't failed since they were packed in loose instead of being in a race/cage.) Mine is the 500 W bike so parts are going to be even more scarce. Think it could be time to fit a new kit and start again. The bike itself is reasonably light and nice to ride. More thought needed I guess.

 

[JuicyBike]

If you popped into a Freego dealer and tried a 16ah battery you could at least identify whether that was the issue.
If it is the controller a replacement should be easy to source from abroad, if not from Uk. Cost should be around £30.
There are lots of Freego dealers down south...

 

[canbestupid]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for that. Yes, there's a Freego Dealer in Southampton which isn't far away. If it wasn't the battery a new controller replacement would buy more time.

I'll give it a go.

Thanks again.

Stella

 

[johnc461165]

I had an identical problem with my Alien Aurora a couple of months ago, as the bike was still under guarantee I returned the battery to Alien Ocean and they diagnosed failed cells. A new battery was supplied and it works fine now, so trying a new battery is a good first step.

 

[canbestupid]

Hi John,

Thanks for your input! Yes, I kind of wish it is the controller because it would be cheaper to replace but I'm suspicious that it's the battery. The battery is £570 to replace. I'm going to explore both battery and controller angles though. I shall investigate the controller for any obvious shorts and bad connections and I also have found someone that can investigate the battery. Ultimately though, if it is the battery I think the best solution financially is to install a new kit - a new battery is almost as expensive as a new kit and I don't mind the education. With hindsight though the electric bike is exposed to not be the cheaper transport option it first appeared. Obviously my situation is compounded by the demise of Bearprint and the disappearance of my warranty but it means that running my electric bike will have cost me at least £10 per week. It is a darn sight cheaper than running a car but expensive compared to the cycle power I ran on before. It's interesting.

Thanks for eveyone's help.

Kind regards,

Stella

 

[banbury frank]

Hi Stella

You are welcome to come to Banbury we are not that far away

We keep spare 36 volt 500 watt controllers ( Cost £100 Fitted )

We have 36 volt 10AH rack mount battery's ( cost £350 Fitted )

And can Diagnose Battery problems we Have A digital battery load tester In our R and D



We are open weekends Just give us a call

Frank

 

[NRG]

If you have access to a multimeter with a continuity test function theres a few test you can perform on the controller...IE you can check for any short circuit between the motor phase wires on the controller and also measure across the pos and neg wires into the controller, when you measure try the multimeter leads one way around (pos and neg) and then reverse and measure again...do the same on the motor phase wires...any zero ohm reading indicates a short and a controller problem.

 

[NRG]

...also Kudos are very reasonable for replacement batteries and can sell the rack and controller to go with it for far less than you have been quoted...some DIY adaptation may be needed of course!

 

[bazwaldo]

Hello Stella, sorry to hear of your problems with your Bearprint Ebike.

I bought a Bearprint in October 2010 and you note you have found some of my posts detailing my experiences with it!
After having a few technical problems with mine - all overcome with help from Bearprint initially and the kind people in this Forum, and my LBS - I have concluded that they are pretty solid and that any part can be replaced.
So far I have had 2 controllers, a pedelec sensor, 2 pedal bearings, a front wheel bearing, the steering column bearing, replaced the original brake and gear cables for stainless steel cables, the main front wiring loom, the front light bracket, and the battery replaced under warranty just before Bearprint started to have problems.
Gosh this list sounds terrible doesn't it? Actually with my mileage a lot of the replacements are just wear and tear!

I have decided that as the Freego bikes are basically the same chinese bike a local Freego dealer is the best source for help with any future technical problems.
Amongst my posts you should be able to find a thread about a battery I sourced direct from China.
I am using it at the moment and it is performing well completing my 26 mile commute today still with 4 lights showing after stopping at home! The only slightly inconvenient thing with this battery is that I have to swap the connector bottom plate and the slide rail when I swap from the warranty Li-Po battery to the LiFePO4 chinese battery. I can PM you with the details of the Chinese vendor if you like.
According to Kudos the LiFePO4 type of battery ought to deteriorate less per year and last longer than the original Li-Po battery.

It was a Freego dealer whose mechanic fixed the wiring loom problem recently and I had to pay for that of course.
I have just brought up 8000 miles in 19 months of ownership.
You surprise me with your 500W motor I didn't notice any option for that on the Bearprint website.
Which model do you have?
The difficult part is identifying where the fault is, once you can determine if it is the battery or the controller or the sensor you can probably replace the part using Freego like for like parts quite easily.
One tip with the controller is to make a note of the coloured wires going from the controller and to which wires and blocks they connect to before you swap it over. Go over it again and again until you are confident you know where each wire goes.
With the 2 controllers Bearprint sent me some of the wires were different colours but the positions where they exited the controller did the same functions.

Overall I am still glad I bought the Bearprint and currently it seems pretty sorted and ok for many more miles of commuting I hope!
I still enjoy both journeys to and from work and look forward to using my bike each day.
Good luck in getting your problem fixed.

Barry.

 

[johnc461165]

Hi Stella, It is worth considering the size of battery you really need, if your rides are not to long then maybe a lower A/H battery will cover your needs and be less costly. Hope you find a good solution to your problem. John

 

[canbestupid]

Wow! Thanks guys! That's a fantastic response! NRG I will check the Ohm readings first and look for any shorts or bad connections.

My bike has a 36Volt 16 amp battery and it's a 500 Watt motor. How important is the matching between motor, controller and battery? I mean, I am presuming that using a lower amperage battery will mean reduced mileage between charging but is a reduced amp battery an option with a 500 Watt motor? And would reduced amperage mean a weaker perfomance too?

Barry, funnily enough it was discovering your early reviews on Bearprint here that encouraged me to get the Bearprint. Your list of replacement parts is quite something. My first controller actually caught fire (that makes you jump off a bike pretty quick!), then I had crank bearings twice, broken battery plate, a mysterious clunking at speed that I fnally discovered was caused by the tyre starting to shread, even though I always made sure the tyres were the right pressure. Like you I really like the bike, it's just really the quality of the components that have caused the problems, along with wear and tear.

The 500 watt never featured in their brochure. It just happened to be in the shop at the time of my visit. I think Phil had two of them in as a trial. It has been a LOT of fun to ride, but I think the other problem is that it's classed as an off road bike, obviously, but actually isn't designed for off road. Most of my commute is down dirt tracks and unmade roads and that has probably added to the problems on circuitry. I'm quite keen to strip it down and start again. I've been wanting to change the brakes on it ever since I bought it. The motor seems fine though, it's just battery costs and availability that put a dampener on things. So, yes please to your offer of messaging me with the contact details for the battery supplier you found.

I have to say though that the power is more than I need and where things kind of fall between two stools for me is that I only really want the assisted power for going uphill but the bike is too heavy for having an enjoyable ride with the motor off. If I can resolve the problems on the Bearprint I still might sell it (I'm still tempted to sell it as is) and instead go for a 200/250 watt retrospective conversion kit to put on my GT. But I'm actually enjoying the lessons the bike is giving.

Thanks all of you again, you have been fantastic. And also thanks Frank. I shall let you know how I get on, as you say, you are fairly local to me.

Kind regards,

Stella

 

[bazwaldo]

Hello Stella, you sound as though you know what you are doing and appear to be a more "hard core" rider than I am, I stick to roads only!
I am glad you found my review useful - that was my intention to try and give impartial feedback about my experiences with the Bearprint as I was unable to locate any reviews for their bikes when I bought mine.
The only thing is I feel responsible for your having a bike which has been giving you problems!

It is interesting that you also had a battery plate break, I have had 2 of these crack and break, I always thought that the plastic was too vulnerable to any impact on it from the battery when hitting a pothole and wasn't flexible enough to absorb the impacts. When I raised this with Bearprint their reaction was that no-one else had ever had a similar problem even though I had had a 100% failure rate!
It was this head in the ground attitude which probably has contributed to them having problems with their business.

I will PM the details of the Chinese battery vendor to you although I emailed her recently with positive feedback about the battery and have not had a reply from her. I expect business over in China is very "cut throat" and probably if agents don't meet sales targets perhaps they don't keep their jobs for long, I hope this isn't the case with Emmy as she was very helpful to me with my endless emails and questions before I went ahead and purchased the battery.
Even if this is the case I would expect that the Company she worked for is still going strong and can offer a similar product to the one I have.

As you do a lot of offroad stuff one of the Haibikes would probably be a good upgrade for you although of course they are very expensive, they are certainly drool inducing!

I noticed that the Woosh ebikes on Ebay seem excellent value at under £600 and their electrics - battery, controller, etc, are likely to be a generic chinese drop-in for the components on our Bearprint bikes, having the higher power motor might complicate matters in your situation.

Best wishes to you and I hope you can keep the Bearprint going for many more miles.

Barry.

 

[canbestupid]

Ooh, I may have cracked it. I have disconnected the pedal sensor and the bike motor hasn't cut out once, even going over rough ground. Can't quite believe it. There is always the chance that as it was an intermittent fault before it might still reappear but as I could hardly keep the thing going before it actually could be the problem resolved. I am very happy!

Just out of interest does anyone know where I might get an 8Fun controller replacement from? The one on the bike is 36 volts 10 amps, maximum current 20 amps. I'd like to get hold of one just to be on the safe side. I've had a look on Ebay but there aren't any as single controllers there at the moment.

So no panic, Barry. You are not responsible I have a working bike again. There isn't anything wrong with Bearprint, I think they are nice bikes even now, it's just the usual issue of build quality and robustness when it comes to Chinese products. Yes, when my battery plate broke Bearprint told me that no one else had had that problem. You had probably had two replaced by then. They said the same when my controller failed. To be honest, I really liked Phil and believe he always tried his best. I think the problem was just that they weren't geared up to be able to cope with the maintenace/repair issues that came in with the warranties they were offering. It's a shame. There are a few design improvements that could have been made - the flimsy battery plate, crank ballbearing design, upgrading the disc brake plate to an 8 inch one, fitted battery so that it doesn't rattle, just some small things really. But I still really like the bike. And you are not really responsible for someone buying a bike when you've given something a favourable review. Reviews are always helpful.

Thanks also for messaging me the battery supplier info. I shall look into that also.

And thanks again to everyone who has offered some input. You have all been very helpful. Thanks very much for making the time for my questions.

Kind regards,

Stella

 

[bazwaldo]

Well done Stella glad to hear you have it working again.
The Freego Controllers should be the same as the Bearprint controller.
Freego list them as £47 then you probably have to add delivery, it probably is possible to find something similar at a cheaper price on Ebay.
Best wishes,
Barry.

 

[canbestupid]

Hi Barry, well, of course I cycled all the way into work with no problem (5 miles) and then all the way back until I hit the big hill just before home and half way up the hill the bike cut out. Hah! And this time it means it. It won't start again. So it's still either the controller, a fuse or the battery (ha-ha,) but I think it's the controller. But that's okay, I've learned quite a lot and everything is doable. Once it's all finally sorted I'll post to report what it was.
Catch you later.

Stella