Five Beeps of Death?

[Electrobent]

I finally got my new bike put together after the old one had an encounter with a Volvo that failed to yield and turned left in front of me.  Its a 25 C day.  I ride up a hill and it takes everything the motor and I have.  I get to the top and start coasting down, put on the regen brake and the thing starts beeping.  Five loud beeps.  I turn it off.  The bike won't coast smoothly.  I unplug the three phase wires and ride home.  Get out the voltmeter 50 volts.  Hook things back up--5 loud beeps.  Its on the charger now but the cut-out voltage should be 39 volts and 50 is way above that.  So I am thinking its fried--over-heated going up the hill.  

It looks like they are selling the cables with the controllers now.  At least I can find now way to buy a cable by itself anymore.  Can anyone confirm if this is true?  A new controller with an interface cable delivered for $90 bucks would not be too bad.

I have done this ride many times before.  The only difference this time is that my controller was screwed to an aluminum plate that may have blocked some wind--but on the other hand its all attached to a lot of aluminum that should be a pretty good heat sink. Maybe I need to goop it up with heat sink goop.

The other thing that was different was that this time there was a really buff roady who could keep up with me and we pushed each other up the hill.  He was grateful to have someone who could go a little faster than him (at least until my bats died down a bit.  He passed me near the top of the hill.  

Update a couple of hours later.  With bats fully charged I still get five beeps.  The beeps seem louder than the horn beeps did. 

[Bikemad]

Eric, you're not having a lot of luck with your bike are you?

The five beeps is usually indicative of a failed controller. I think the high regen current/voltage generated from your 20" wheel, combined with an already heated up controller, may have been responsible for the death of your controller.
As your controller is less than 12 months old, email tom@goldenmotor.com and ask him to send you a replacement controller.

I've just looked on the GM website and the interface cable is still available on its own for $33 (plus shipping) and can be found in the "Motor Controller" section of the site. I also noticed it only costs $20 (with no extra shipping) if purchased at the same time as a kit! It might be worth asking Tom how much it would cost to have a USB cable supplied and sent at the same time as the replacement controller.

Please let us know how you get on.

Alan
 

[Electrobent]

Thanks Alan, as for luck, I am still alive after meeting up with that Volvo.

I sent an email to Tom which should document the date.  They are probably not eager to give me anymore warranty service.  I expressed interest in paying for the cable so it could ride in the same box as the replacement controller.  That will probably make it close to a break-even proposition for them, they got to be making about $27.50 on each of those cables!

And thanks, Alan, for pointing out that all that grief was less than a year ago.  I bought the now failed controller in late March of 2010.  I guess it was a lot better than the first one I bought which was dead out of the box only I had sat on the box for more than a year. 

--Eric

[Electrobent]

--because if they did, they could take over the world.

How am I supposed to get attention paid to my warranty claim?

I have learned that pitching a fit eventually works, but I don't really have the energy for that right now.

I would have bought this controller from GM USA but they were slow to respond to an email asking to buy something.

This is like doing business with deadheads.  I think there is room in the ebike market for a Volkswagen or Toyota type of quality made basic product and at least acknowledging that you have customers.

[GM Canada]

--because if they did, they could take over the world.

How am I supposed to get attention paid to my warranty claim?

I have learned that pitching a fit eventually works, but I don't really have the energy for that right now.

I would have bought this controller from GM USA but they were slow to respond to an email asking to buy something.

This is like doing business with deadheads.  I think there is room in the ebike market for a Volkswagen or Toyota type of quality made basic product and at least acknowledging that you have customers.

Hi Electrobent,

Glad you survived your incident. The methods are the same as you last tour through here. Email tom@goldenmotor.com . No one at GM actually reads the forum so complaining in here usually takes alot more time then a directly contacting whoever sold you your product. In your case its GM HQ at +8651982080666.

[Electrobent]

I don't speak any Chinese--do they have someone there who speaks English? And I don't want to imagine my Sprint Bill for that call.

Emails to Tom are like letters to Santa Claus--they fall into a deep black hole.

They could really make a lot of money if they had even mediocre customer service.

Last time, at least I got emails from Tom telling me I was wrong.  Now I get nothing at all. Its not Chinese New Year or something is it? 

[GM Canada]

I don't speak any Chinese--do they have someone there who speaks English?

Emails to Tom are like letters to Santa Claus--they fall into a deep black hole.

They could really make a lot of money if they had even mediocre customer service.

Of course they speak english there. Do you actually think the rest of the world learns chinese before dealing with them? Quite often It is Philip himself that answers the phone.
 
Any pictures of the new bike? I guess the old ones a mess? Were you hurt. How was the car after?


BTW Any letter mailed in canada to santa claus with the postal code of HOHOHO will recieve a reply by a team of volunteers. Its been that way for a long time.


Gary

[Electrobent]

Yeah, at least it was only my controller that died!

Here is the new bike sporting its new 11-32 8 speed rear cassette and new rear wheel.  The recumbent chain is long enough that it is a true 24 speed:  you can ride in all 8 rear gears in each of the 3 front ones.

[Electrobent]

and here is the frame from the old bike

(actually a newer Turner recumbent than my "new" bike)

[Electrobent]

and when I retire, I think I will move to Canada and winter in Mexico. I always wanted to use the name of a season as a verb!

[Electrobent]

Still no acknowledgment from Tom.

Looks like I will have to call or say to hell with Golden Motors for now.

I am hearing on endless sphere that the GM motors are held in much higher esteem than their controllers. So if I have to spend money, it won't be with GM.

[Electrobent]

Still nothing from GM.

The only way I got noticed last time was to defame them here.

[Electrobent]

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17683

Seems easily worth the extra $40.

[MonkeyMagic]

Gee thanks alot man everytime I see a link to a post in ES I haven't seen I end up there for hours !!!

Lol makes you just wanna spend money

[Electrobent]

Yeah, but it is not that much more money.

I think that a good e-bike recipe is to buy the external controller 48V 1000W GM wheel, One of these Lyen modded Infineon controllers, and then build yourself a 72V battery-pack.  Three 24V LiFePos in series would work but I am having good luck with physically separated NiMH cells.  I had two 36V stock heat-shrunk packs and built two 24 volt packs with the cells sandwiched between two pieces of plastic.  The air-gap between the cells allows them to cool. Now I am wishing I had built two 36V packs.  NiMH does not need any fancy BMS for regen. 

So $300 for the wheel delivered
       200 for the controller delivered
     1000 for a very nice battery

$1500 for a screamer, plus the bike of course.