Electric or motor technie geek advice?

Hi

 

Odd thing happened on way back from work today with my KTM Bosch bike.... I went over a speed bump in lane, as I do slowly every day, and within a few seconds I thought the bikewas feeling a bit odd. The dial thing was half full so battery charge not a problem and it still said 'turbo' on the dial BUT no assistamce given at all. In fact the bike is harder to cycle now than when I first ever used the bike with no power at all. I remember how well it handled with no power but this issue today has not only stopped any assistance power at all but seems to have made the bike harder to cycle with power off big time.

 

Just asking on here in case somebody had an 'eureka' moment as I hoped to carry on cycling to work again tomorrow as it is addictive.... I know Electrifyingcycle are going to contact Bosch etc and sort it out but thought I would ask on here in case somebody can suggest a solution or give clues what they think it is. oh and the dial information goes on but off very quickly again after 6 seconds which is much quicker than norm when not pedalling.

 

Appreciate any suggestions what it may be?

 

Thanks! X

It sounds like you briefly lost power on the system. I've had a similar experience when switching on with my foot on the pedal. Does it not correct itself after switching off and back on again?

Edited May 1, 201312 yr by Artstu

Nope. Still the same a couple of hours later. Took battery out and replaced and same thing

Is the rear sensor magnet still passing the censor on the rear stay in the right place?

Aha.. Now which part of sensor should magnet be 'nearest'? narrow end or blobby end? seems set well solidly in place and unlikely to have moved but worth asking? Any chance photo of correct position?

 

Ta x

If it's solid I doubt it has moved then. Mine passes it roughly central with the B on Bosch.

I had a similar thing when my speed sensor magnet mounted on a spoke got knocked out of alignment. Straightened it and all was fine. It's probably on one of the rear spokes but someone with a bike like yours will know if the speed sensor itself is OK.

 

Check your brakes if it's like this when power off too. If your wheel got slightly buckled / went out of true they might be sticking or need adjusting (Can't remember whether you have rim or disc brakes on your bike).

Have you had the battery on and off to see if that cures it. My display behaves like that when the battery is off the bike.

 

ooh edit, I see you've had the battery off as well.

 

Is the display unit still on properly. I took the screw out of mine to make it removable and it nearly fell off, I put the screw back in after that.

Edited May 1, 201312 yr by Artstu

Pic of the sensor on the Rose:

 

[ATTACH]5640.vB[/ATTACH]

Thanks fir all advice.. The magnet seems well firm but looks to be i. Diffent position to the Rose and the 'B' you mentioned earlier.

 

Here is mine:

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/iesugrist/575350c84e62661de843d1b27ef9ab74_zps5e2d320d.jpg

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/iesugrist/935f05124ca9b5b5358c6602c4bfcc40_zps6e8bc51f.jpg

 

What do you think??

I'd move it and see what that does.

Edited May 1, 201312 yr by Artstu

Right .. It works again (for now) but am kicking myself as I slightly adjusted the very very solid sensor and put in battery agai, after putting on charge. I did both at same time so cannot rule either sensor or battery out I guess.

 

having said that the dial thing did cut out after 6 seconds which is odd but the battery showed a clear 3 bars. The dial came back on for normal time when I put battery back in but I think the dial thing has its own battery so why stay 'normal'? the magnet thing moves round so motor never cuts out when it goes for a spin now does it?

 

I am leaning towards a battery issue? not sure whether to cycle to work tomorrow or not as I know how darned hatd it was pushing bike downhill earlier! Now why would the bike be slower and have more resistance than the time when bike worked normally and I switched power off. I had assumed that if power assistance went kaput the nonpower cycle ride would kick in? This time it seemed something was forcing resistance in the bike. Not brakes or dodgy wheel rims as they are fine. More of a heavy engine thing?

The sensor looked OK, and there is a fair bit of tolerance for the gap.

 

Have you checked the spade terminals in the battery holder?

 

I think someone on here had one of them bend, and because they are in an upward pointing cup the area can collect dirt.

Can I clarify something?

 

Does the sensor being misaligned also affect the 'ride' if power is say deliberately switched off?

 

Will misalignment of sensor affect the 'ride' if a battery is removed completely?

The display shows the last battery reading, so when you switch it on after charging and replacing the battery it very briefly shows the last power reading before then going to full.

 

My bike can feel really sluggish off power at times, and at other times feel more like a normal bike, I'm not sure why, possibly just because I've gotten used to the power, and the reality of un-powered is hard work.

Thanks

 

the battery terminal spades (lower area) look fine and straight and no real dirt there. Does the top connector affect charge et al at all? The lock to release top bit is a bit tight.... i think that is just a lock area though?

Can I clarify something?

 

Does the sensor being misaligned also affect the 'ride' if power is say deliberately switched off?

 

Will misalignment of sensor affect the 'ride' if a battery is removed completely?

 

Definitely not I'd have thought.

Hi

 

thanks. The battery was charged to almost full this morning. Tend to use just over 1/3 to go to work and just under to come back. Ahe dial showed normal use and usual reduction to about 3 bars near home and then 'dead'. i know what you mean by slsuggishness when unpowered but this was definitely different, hardly moved in any gear. Difficult to push even. very odd and shouldn't be misaligned sensor I would have thought or a dodgy battery come to that?

 

is there any way the motor could somehow thinkit was still 'on' and stop me cycling unpowered creating resistance.. In addition to not wanting to power me (dial did say turbo but no assistance at all)

Does the top connector affect charge et al at all? The lock to release top bit is a bit tight.... i think that is just a lock area though?

 

That won't make any difference. Better to have the snug fit to the lock than some bikes that allow the battery to be fitted without the key. Mine always needs the key to fit the battery.

Is your bike still difficult to push or ppedal switched off?

 

If so, something is slowing it down - logical. The crank has a free-wheel, so nothing in the motor can do it unless the free-wheel is jammed. I'll come back to this.

 

The first thing to do is lift each wheel off the ground and turn them by hand. If you feel any resistance, we're 90% of the way to finding the problem: brakes, wheel-bearing or tyre rubbing.

 

If both wheels spin freely. it's back to the motor. If you can, slip the chain off the chain-wheel and turn the crank, otherwise put it in first gear, lift the back wheel and turn the crank. Can you feel the motor going round or any other resistance? I heard there were some problems with Bosch motors where the internals broke, so it's possible something is broken in yours.

If one of the phase wires is shorted to another, it's an electric brake, in effect.

i will be setting of in half an hour to work so will see if it happens again..

 

I turned the wheels to check anything sticking and they moved fine.

 

What is also odd if the problem was / is the motor is why would the actual dial at front go 'odd' at same time?

 

if the resistance was the motor then I guess the changes are high something like this will happen again?

 

if it wasn't the motor causing resistance and wheels turned fine by hand then what else could it be? Actually at the time I think I only turned rear wheel 'backwards' as bike too heavy with bags on for me to lift and turn pedal...

 

Puzzling.

Wissy,

The sensor in the rear wheel needs to be in line with pick up otherwise it will not sense the rotation of the wheel.

 

Apologies for the delay I was out last night, so sent you an email before I was out and checked when I got back to see if I had a reply to my email, should have checked pedelec forum. In my absence thanks to all for providing Wissy with some help.

 

In terms of resistance there should be nothing electronically from the motor that offers resistance if the motor is working correctly. Key thing is to check both wheels spin freely so the obvious things are ruled out e.g. brakes catching (which you have already done).

 

If you could let us know how you get on and if this has resolved the problem, so we can ensure you can continue to have fun on the bike.

 

I have spoken to FLI who distribute KTM in the UK. They are often in the North Wales area so could come and have a look if you are still experiencing problems. There number is 01457 873 923. Alternatively if the problem persists we would of course collect the bike free of charge and offer a free loan bike.

 

Kind regards,

David

Edited May 2, 201312 yr by Electrifying Cycles

Thought I had updated this but must have imagined it. Anyhow almost the same thing happened again. Went fine to school... Went ver speed bumps fine. Up steep hill fne. Left work end of day fine... All going hunky dorey and over a few speed bumps on return leg fine and then trouble on the very very same speed bump as the day before. now that is idd. That speed bump is 'sharper' than the others.

 

Anyhow... Assistance went but this time could cycle ok with no resistance. Couldn't see anything obvious and bike assistance was fine again once i got back on. Then dial went off. Then on again. This happened a few times but I was now within 500 metres off home and downhill also.

 

I am having excellent support from David at Electrifyincycles and we both want to see if the problem can be resolved 'remotely' so am going to test bikeout again over next couple of days to see if ai can spot anything or eliminate some things.

 

Until yesterday the had been no error codes whatsoever. The bike was left in the lounge (where it lives!) for a few hours and I thought I would switch it on to see how long dial stayed on etc but this time I had an error code... 424 which means communication error among components....

 

So... Anybody got ideas which components are likely to cause this error so I can do some checking? I have checked batter connection a few times and seems fine.... Error code not showing today when I switchdial. not been on bike today as I had chores etc to do

 

Still would appreciate a moment of your time to see if you can suggest a couple of things I can check. Would of course rather find the fault at home if possible rather than have to send bike back and all that pullavah ....

 

Ho de hum.

Well not seen the error code since. Took on test drive few minutes ago and the dial simply went out after about 30 seconds or so of edalling and assistance stopped. Switched it on and ok but same thing happened. This happened about four times so I returned home. This time no speed bumps, sensor positioned fine and battery fitted snuggly.

 

Strange that I only ever so the error code once.

All started with the speed bump... Same speed bump on two different days. On second day the cutting off started happening.

 

Thing is I cannot see anything else to check. Am I missing something obvious? Getting close now to having to return bike to get fixed which is shame and lots of hassle and expense for ELectrifyinCycles.

 

Suggestions for anything else I should check??