I was reading on reddit about this and posted most of this with a guy that has the same problem with stripped screws from trying to keep the tsdz2 maintained. I am pretty sick of this motor now.
I hope this is a warning to anyone thinking of getting a TSDZ2 for the poor quality of the motor and how it can easily break.
I bought a year and a half ago a TSDZ2 for the torque sensor after using a Bafang BBS01. I much prefer the TSDZ2 for the torque sensing its a great ride feel compared to the Bafang cadence sensor. Never had any problems with the Bafang but just about every problem you can have i have had with tsdz2.
To fit the tsdz2 I had to get my engineering friend help machine a custom bracket iron bar to extend its length so it would bolt on to the bottom bracked.
TSDZ2 worked fine until it rained a few months later and then water go into the motor. One of the hex bolts got loose and so a small gap around the motor for water to get in. The motor made a strange noise when spinning. I opened the motor to find the grease around the gear watered down and so this nasty white watery sludge came out and was in the controller area. I tried to take the motor off to re grease the blue gear.
I had the same problem as this guy on reddit where the screw is stuck and the head stripped so i cant get the screw out or access to the blue gear. The screw is in so tight that it wont come out and the screwdriver stripped the head and rounded it out.
I tried a blow torch to soften the screw area from locktight as i noticed the other screws were locktigten in with this residue on the screw area that came open. It didnt work. I got the extractor drill but that didn't help so the tsdz2 motor was useless junk. I can use the spare parts from it.
So i bought a new tsdz2 motor to replace the one with the stuck screw. On the replacement i put in thermal pads and paste the cooling mod.
I took the time to open the motor with those soft screws to access the blue gear and was able to do that so pretty happy that it would be serviceable if the blue gear failed.
Well today was that day the blue gear failed with a noise and no crank movement. So I took the motor cover off and tried to take out the motor screws that came out before to inspect the blue gear. Three screws came out but the bottom screw its like its welded in there and trying to open it with the correct sized PH2 screwdriver. Its stuck in there and the soft head is now rounded and i cant get it out. Second motor is now junk. I really would like to fix it by putting in a replacement blue gear. But now its stuck thats two motors broken.
My friend who is an engineer took at look at it and said that the aluminium body has probably galvanised with the steel screw and so it will be hard to get out and he said not worth trying as its probably stuck in there even if he drills it out. He said this was a common problem with the old land rover jeeps where the frame was aluminium but the steel bolts would corrode where it connected.
I am so unhappy with this motor.
Over the last year i have had lots of trouble with this motor. As much time waiting for spare parts from AliExpress and doing repair as riding it.
So far I replaced the control unit, sprang clutch and had this intermittent power out problem. So many rides were messed up because of this intermittent problem where the motor would cut out. I found that one of the three wires that connect the motor the screw did not have any thread holding it in so the small contact screw was not holding the wire down enough and so on riding it could disconnect. It was the middle connector. (yellow/green/blue wires on top of the motor) had no contact area to screw into from the factory. Nothing there at all for it screw into the hole so it just spinned. I think the wire and the next door screws held it roughly in place. It was really just hanging there between the other two screws. How that passed QA i dont know. My engineer expert friend got a new screw that was slightly larger the kind that makes its own tapping thread and so it held in there and made the contact. Problem solved.
But before all that I replaced the controller unit as i misdiagnosed the loose screw problem as a controller problem but it still had the same problem after i replaced the controller. It was the loose screw which i later found after i opened the motor again to inspect it.
So to keep the controller area waterproof I put silicon sealant to protect it from water where the wires come out of the motor as you have to cut away the rubber bung to get the old controller out. Sealant worked to keep the water out better than the rubber but i found that the on the inside some of the silicon sealant turned to a fine white powder near the controller. I think because the motor heats up and i cant think a fine powder would be good for the blue gear and so it probably got into it. My thinking is if water can get into the blue gear why cant a fine powder could get in.
The original rubber that blocks the cables has small gaps I noticed that could let water in but at least rubber does not turn into powder.
I had to replace the screen as the speedometer stopped working. I thought for a long time it was the speed sensor and replaced it with my spare sensor and then bought another when that didnt work. Then i changed the screen and found it was the screen. The second screen had much worse problem that then no speed displayed one. It intermittently worked but then would cut out and show one bar of battery left but i know the battery was fine and fully charged. The OS firmware would not change to the different settings it was like it had a factory reset. If you turn it on/off and a quite a few times and waited maybe you got lucky and the OS firware would work again.
So then I replaced the screen with the old screen that cant show the speed but you can ride it fine.
I found the reason why the screen has problems is that its not waterproof and to protect it I put a see through plastic bag over it with elastic band. It was the bag that the screen came in the packaging. It makes the bike look like crap but at least i can ride it and not worry about water getting in. I thought the controller was the most important electronic part but it turns out the screen has a big impact too and must be kept dry for the bike to function.
A few months go by and the sprang clutch went so i had a job to replace it. Good thing i had a spare motor. You would pedal but it would not turn the crank. If you do a reverse revolution and then forward again it maybe catch and you can pedal again. But that trick only works for a few rides then it had to be replaced. That was a pain to fix you need special circlip tools and quite tricky to do. Have to wait weeks for the parts to arrive.
Honestly this motor is fun to cycle and great when it works. But its a total disaster for quality and to keep it maintained. I think i have spent as much time doing research and repairs and waiting for spare parts to arrive as i have done cycling with it.
Now i got to figure out what to do next. I still have the old Bafang BBS01 but i dont like the cadence and prefer torque sensing. I maybe buy one of the new photons motors but need to make sure its UK legal at 250 watts. I think they are quite expensive and I wonder what the quality of the photon is like. Maybe i should buy an integrated ebike but i hate how overpriced they are.
I hope this is a warning to anyone thinking of getting a TSDZ2 for the poor quality of the motor and how it can easily break.
I bought a year and a half ago a TSDZ2 for the torque sensor after using a Bafang BBS01. I much prefer the TSDZ2 for the torque sensing its a great ride feel compared to the Bafang cadence sensor. Never had any problems with the Bafang but just about every problem you can have i have had with tsdz2.
To fit the tsdz2 I had to get my engineering friend help machine a custom bracket iron bar to extend its length so it would bolt on to the bottom bracked.
TSDZ2 worked fine until it rained a few months later and then water go into the motor. One of the hex bolts got loose and so a small gap around the motor for water to get in. The motor made a strange noise when spinning. I opened the motor to find the grease around the gear watered down and so this nasty white watery sludge came out and was in the controller area. I tried to take the motor off to re grease the blue gear.
I had the same problem as this guy on reddit where the screw is stuck and the head stripped so i cant get the screw out or access to the blue gear. The screw is in so tight that it wont come out and the screwdriver stripped the head and rounded it out.
I tried a blow torch to soften the screw area from locktight as i noticed the other screws were locktigten in with this residue on the screw area that came open. It didnt work. I got the extractor drill but that didn't help so the tsdz2 motor was useless junk. I can use the spare parts from it.
So i bought a new tsdz2 motor to replace the one with the stuck screw. On the replacement i put in thermal pads and paste the cooling mod.
I took the time to open the motor with those soft screws to access the blue gear and was able to do that so pretty happy that it would be serviceable if the blue gear failed.
Well today was that day the blue gear failed with a noise and no crank movement. So I took the motor cover off and tried to take out the motor screws that came out before to inspect the blue gear. Three screws came out but the bottom screw its like its welded in there and trying to open it with the correct sized PH2 screwdriver. Its stuck in there and the soft head is now rounded and i cant get it out. Second motor is now junk. I really would like to fix it by putting in a replacement blue gear. But now its stuck thats two motors broken.
My friend who is an engineer took at look at it and said that the aluminium body has probably galvanised with the steel screw and so it will be hard to get out and he said not worth trying as its probably stuck in there even if he drills it out. He said this was a common problem with the old land rover jeeps where the frame was aluminium but the steel bolts would corrode where it connected.
I am so unhappy with this motor.Over the last year i have had lots of trouble with this motor. As much time waiting for spare parts from AliExpress and doing repair as riding it.
So far I replaced the control unit, sprang clutch and had this intermittent power out problem. So many rides were messed up because of this intermittent problem where the motor would cut out. I found that one of the three wires that connect the motor the screw did not have any thread holding it in so the small contact screw was not holding the wire down enough and so on riding it could disconnect. It was the middle connector. (yellow/green/blue wires on top of the motor) had no contact area to screw into from the factory. Nothing there at all for it screw into the hole so it just spinned. I think the wire and the next door screws held it roughly in place. It was really just hanging there between the other two screws. How that passed QA i dont know. My engineer expert friend got a new screw that was slightly larger the kind that makes its own tapping thread and so it held in there and made the contact. Problem solved.
But before all that I replaced the controller unit as i misdiagnosed the loose screw problem as a controller problem but it still had the same problem after i replaced the controller. It was the loose screw which i later found after i opened the motor again to inspect it.
So to keep the controller area waterproof I put silicon sealant to protect it from water where the wires come out of the motor as you have to cut away the rubber bung to get the old controller out. Sealant worked to keep the water out better than the rubber but i found that the on the inside some of the silicon sealant turned to a fine white powder near the controller. I think because the motor heats up and i cant think a fine powder would be good for the blue gear and so it probably got into it. My thinking is if water can get into the blue gear why cant a fine powder could get in.
The original rubber that blocks the cables has small gaps I noticed that could let water in but at least rubber does not turn into powder.
I had to replace the screen as the speedometer stopped working. I thought for a long time it was the speed sensor and replaced it with my spare sensor and then bought another when that didnt work. Then i changed the screen and found it was the screen. The second screen had much worse problem that then no speed displayed one. It intermittently worked but then would cut out and show one bar of battery left but i know the battery was fine and fully charged. The OS firmware would not change to the different settings it was like it had a factory reset. If you turn it on/off and a quite a few times and waited maybe you got lucky and the OS firware would work again.
So then I replaced the screen with the old screen that cant show the speed but you can ride it fine.
I found the reason why the screen has problems is that its not waterproof and to protect it I put a see through plastic bag over it with elastic band. It was the bag that the screen came in the packaging. It makes the bike look like crap but at least i can ride it and not worry about water getting in. I thought the controller was the most important electronic part but it turns out the screen has a big impact too and must be kept dry for the bike to function.
A few months go by and the sprang clutch went so i had a job to replace it. Good thing i had a spare motor. You would pedal but it would not turn the crank. If you do a reverse revolution and then forward again it maybe catch and you can pedal again. But that trick only works for a few rides then it had to be replaced. That was a pain to fix you need special circlip tools and quite tricky to do. Have to wait weeks for the parts to arrive.
Honestly this motor is fun to cycle and great when it works. But its a total disaster for quality and to keep it maintained. I think i have spent as much time doing research and repairs and waiting for spare parts to arrive as i have done cycling with it.
Now i got to figure out what to do next. I still have the old Bafang BBS01 but i dont like the cadence and prefer torque sensing. I maybe buy one of the new photons motors but need to make sure its UK legal at 250 watts. I think they are quite expensive and I wonder what the quality of the photon is like. Maybe i should buy an integrated ebike but i hate how overpriced they are.
