TongSheng TSDZ2 making a weird noise after 10 minutes use

[tallguy]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here. I have been reading a few posts a few months back, and decided to get a TSDZ2 to fit on my commuter bike. It took forever to arrive and install with Covid, but I finally did a first 10 minute ride around the neighbourhood. The speed sensor was a bit hit and miss, but I eventually got it under control (I think). Despite this, I felt like the motor was pushing, at least a few seconds here and there, though it was hard to tell with the speed sensor jumping from 0 to 99kmh and back.
However, on day 2, the motor was basically not pushing at all anymore. I tried the walk assistance ("6kmh" as its called in the docs) and the cranks are very slowly rotating, but it doesn't have enough power to move the bike, it just stutters if I hold it back even a tiny bit.
I connected the throttle to see if the motor would then run faster, but it doesn't. It also has "hiccups" every now and then, as you can see on the video I've uploaded to my cloud: https://cloud.where.tf/s/k8qroEPCcDDWwmN

And finally the sound it makes doesn't sound at all like the videos I've seen around, so I'm not sure what is happening? Any tips would be helpful!

Thanks!
Laurent

 

[Nealh]

The joys of not buying from the UK, you will have to get back to the seller.
Sounds like a faulty controller or a bad connection but as these are basically plug and play straight out of the box it has to be the controller.

 

[tallguy]

Thanks for your reply, Nealh!
Are there some simple checks I could do to help narrow down what the issue is? If it's a controller issue, I imagine maybe a voltage is not what it should be, or something similar.

 

[Nealh]

Try checking the battery is out putting a decent voltage by using a meter to check the discharge voltage at the pins, then check the bullet connectors are firm and tight.
Other wise it means unbolting the controller to take measurements then you might get in to warrant issues with the vendor.

 

[E-Pashley]

It's hard to tell from the video, but it looked like your chain was jumping. Check that you have a good chain line.
To get an idea of the battery/controller condition you really need to use an inline meter (watts/volts/amps) Like this. Checking the battery voltage off load won't tell you much.

 

[tallguy]

The chain isn't actually jumping. I initially thought so as well, but it doesn't. It's the motor that "jumps". My first reaction was that it looks as if a clutch was catching inside when that happens, and having read about the blue gear issues, I thought this might be it...

 

[E-Pashley]

Probably not the blue gear after 10 minutes use, however if the circlips on the crank shaft aren't properly seated the drive gear could be jumping. A simple test for this would be to try pushing and pulling one pedal crank, there should be no noticeable end float (in and out), a slight (maybe 0.5~1mm) rocking up and down might be felt due to the poor manufacturing tolerances and cheap bearings used.
If the cranks are moving in and out at all that will allow the drive gear to jump. As mentioned before, starting to take the unit apart could ruin your warranty. You need to decide if you are willing and able to attack the issue yourself.
The unit is straight forward to fit on the bike, so it's hard to imagine that it's an installation issue.

 

[E-Pashley]

One more thought after reading your first post again.
You say you had trouble setting up the speed sensor. Are you sure its correct now?
The magnet should be 2-3mm from the sensor and in the middle of the "barrel" part, the round part at the end is a screw cover, not the sensor.

 

[it is i footpump]

I have the tdz2 As above if the magnet is not aligned correctly ,you will not get the correct assist level, and the speed indicated on display will be miles out.
Another thing if you have stopped for a while and display has turned off say whilst shopping . Turn on display and keep feet off the peddles while display
Powers up as this also gives lack of assist.

if this happens to me I turn off battery and then on again.

 

[tallguy]

As an update for anyone else having a similar issue, it turns out that my problem was that my motor was 48V, and my battery 52V. Somehow I had read somewhere that they would work together, but that was probably when using the OpenSource firmware. They don't with the stock firmware, apparently!

The supplier offered to sell me a replacement controller, but I instead chose to flash the 52V firmware on the controller (from what I've read, the hardware is all the same on the various controllers 36-48-52V), and it's now working perfectly.

My understanding is that the motor was initially working because the battery was about 1/4-1/3 charged, so voltage was probably low enough to be within the 48V controller's acceptable range. After charging, the battery output was about 58V, so much too high.

Sorry for wasting everyone's time, but thanks a lot for all your suggestions. I'm going to put together a little page to explain how I flashed the firmware, because I couldn't actually find a single place which had all the info, had to piece it together from lots of places.

 

[Newbie Builder]

Thank you for this! exactly my issue!

How did you fix it?

 

[ross219uk]

I have the exact same issue, makes me wonder if they sent me the wrong kit (voltage wise) as it was working fine for 70km (40miles) & after a charging of the battery I get this pulsing power with no pedal assist.

 

[ross219uk]

Just to add to my comment above, I have just connected a 36 volt battery to my motor and it spun up the wheel no problem rather that the pulsing that it was doing, youtube clip was before with the 48 volt battery fitted

Makes me think that as the 48v battery had a couple of charges it got up to full strength and was causing the issue.

But the 36v battery is fully charged and it is only lighting up one bar of charge on the display, so bar pulling the motor apart and having a look at the controller inside to check I'm not still 100% sure I have sorted this.

 

[Gavin]

But the 36v battery is fully charged and it is only lighting up one bar of charge on the display

Your 36v battery will be at approx 42v fully charged. My 48v TSDZ is at 54.6v fully charged and is pretty much "running on fumes" if it gets as low as 42v.

If you're suspecting that you have the same issue as the OP, you need to get some accurate voltage data with a multimeter or voltmeter to try and determine what voltage the problem starts and stops.

 

[ross219uk]

Just AN Other update PSWPower are sending me a new controller, here's hoping that fixes the problem

 

[vfr400]

But the 36v battery is fully charged and it is only lighting up one bar of charge on the display, so bar pulling the motor apart and having a look at the controller inside to check I'm not still 100% sure I have sorted this.

Your display still thinks you have a 48v battery, so it'll cut out when you get to whatever is the 48v cut-off and you won't be able to go far. You have to reset it.

 

[tallguy]

Thank you for this! exactly my issue!

How did you fix it?

Sorry for the delay. As I mentioned in my previous post, I ended up flashing the 52V firmware onto the controller. It's not easy, you need to get a programmer for the microcontroller, download stuff and do a bit of soldering and guesswork. If you've never done any electronics before, this is probably a bit too difficult as a first project. As an alternative, I think you can just buy a 52V controller to replace the one you have (assuming you have a 48V one), which is a bit more costly (not by very much), but probably takes a lot less time!