Author Topic: Magic Pie 4 vector smoking  (Read 5788 times)

Offline Ag3n7

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Magic Pie 4 vector smoking
« on: October 15, 2014, 12:09:59 PM »
Hi,
Had the Smart Pie and upgraded to the MP4 vector this summer. Love it.
However this morning my MP4 started smoking on a part of the wire which I took a pic of. There is a whole that burned through from the inside out and alot of smoke come from it.
Before that happened, the bike was resting on my office wall and it started to take off on it's own for short bursts! That was when I smelled something burning. I felt my battery pack thinking that it was frying. The bike again started to take off in short bursts and then I heard the burning and it made a plastic bubble and when it popped, alot of smoke come out.
I am afraid to plug my battery back in.
Is this defective? I will create a ticket with Gary but wanted to ask if anyone else has experienced this before?

Offline Bikemad

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Re: Magic Pie 4 vector smoking
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2014, 01:43:03 PM »

Winston, you don't seem to be having a lot of luck with your conversions.  :(

This is the first time I have seen a failure of this nature within the junction unit itself, and I would not advise using the bike in this condition as it could be very dangerous if the electrical fault worsens.

You should first check that this problem has not been caused by an external short by carefully inspecting the Red, Black, Blue and Yellow wires for the headlamp and horn connections on the front harness to ensure they are not uninsulated and touching each other. Also check the short cable coming from the motor side of the junction unit which is used for the reverse and pedelec functions. If this cable doesn't have the plugs fitted, check that the Red, Black, Blue and Yellow wires are not touching each other or against any metal part of the bike (like the brake disc).

Carefully check the entire length of the harness between the motor and the controls to ensure it has not chaffed against any sharp edges or moving parts (chainwheel, chain, brake discs, suspension and tyres etc.).

If you cannot find any evidence of an external short, it's possible that the problem may simply have been caused by a poor soldered joint causing a high temperature increase inside the molded junction unit and melting the insulation on the wires within the junction unit.
Hopefully Gary will sort you out with a replacement controller which should rectify the problem.

Alan
 

Offline Ag3n7

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Re: Magic Pie 4 vector smoking
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2014, 02:44:28 AM »
Thanks Alan for your response.
Just wanted to let you and the readers know that Gary has taken great care of me and advised me that the bolts used to mount my disc brakes were actually digging into the controller. So much so that over time it made a grove and caused the controller to fail and smoke. Check out the picture.
But as I mentioned, Gary took care of me and I will mount the new controller but use shorter screws to mount the brake.

Offline Bikemad

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Re: Magic Pie 4 vector smoking
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2014, 11:18:03 AM »
I'm surprised the back wheel was able to turn with that amount of friction acting upon it. It must have made a horrible noise when you first started riding it.

At least it is now easy to to see the reason for the failure.

Alan