Most common failure since you have owned your ebike?

Most common failure since you have owned your ebike?

  • Drop out failure

    Votes: 8 8.5%

  • Controller failure

    Votes: 22 23.4%

  • Battery bms failure

    Votes: 10 10.6%

  • Motor failure

    Votes: 9 9.6%

  • Tire failure

    Votes: 21 22.3%

  • Throttle failure

    Votes: 8 8.5%

  • The Ebike user LOL

    Votes: 16 17.0%
  • Total voters
    94
steveo

steveo

100 kW
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
1,786
Location
Woodbridge, Ontario
Hey Everyone,

I've created this poll to determine what has been your most common failure you have faced during you time using your e-bike!

I've listed anything i could think about in the poll, if you think of anything else pm me.. and i'll add it in..

once you have picked your most common failiure, post how you went about's resolving the issue of if you never did ..

-steveo
 
My controller failures/and repairs .. are probably in the 20-30 range lol ... between blowing my own & by pushing the limits .. to towing to much weight on my bike.. to running to much voltage ..

at the end of the day, the biggest thing i've learned is its all about the mosfets & how many you have in your controller .. also depending on your power needs ..
will determine what type of controller is most suitable ..

-steveo
 
My crystalyte 40x motor's aluminum had broke after 400 miles. Seeing the poor material quality, I wasn't about to fix it seeing how maintenance-prone that piece of crap would be. I moved onto greener pastures...

(RC motors. They haven't failed me yet. And if they do, it'll be a LOT cheaper to replace than a crystalyte motor.)
 
Steve, check out this thread about failures:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13757&start=0

I have had chargers fail, wiring fail all over the palce, throttles, brake handle switches, and a lot of calls due to the operator not using common sense.

And I have had 4 long term ebikes with Zero, no failures, just a flat tire.
 
#25 chain stretching... too stupid to upgrade... ended up buying chain in bulk :(
 
I've had one sudden tire and charger failure and slow-death type failures with a controller and battery pack.
After over 3500 mi (5800 km) it's a toss-up. They've all been rare occurrences.
EDIT: The replacement tire was an upgrade gift.
The charger was replaced outright. The upgrade chips were free too.
The controller was upgraded for free because there were no direct replacements in stock (and a barrel full of failed ones awaiting disposal)
The battery packs, after 13 months use, were fairly pro-rated and credited toward a replacement battery.
A good dealer covers you when things beyond your control go wrong.
 
Gone through about 6 throttles with Hall wetness issues.

Several motor failures - wet Halls. Only run Halls in wet conditions otherwise use sensorless, at least on Crystalyte motors.

One dropout spinout on geared brushed P2A.

One battery failure: Cell leakage on rectangular cells, lithium
 
Same diodes failed on three occasions once on my 36V and twice on my 48v GM Regen controllers inside of 2k miles. They were the old style units. However, the throttle died too I could not vote on both so just voted the controller. Ah fried another one seeing if the new bike would pull me and a trailer up a long steep hill if I did not pedal, it did and the controller died shortly after.
 
steveo said:
if you think of anything else pm me.. and i'll add it in..
Click to expand...

Watch out, you loose all the votes if you edit the poll. I just found that out.
 
def tyre/wheel.
on my 408 i kept breaking spokes, because i ran 1.5" wide tyres.

on my 504 I run 2.5" hookworms. I still get flats so i've now got. kevlar belt to prevent flats combined with a second tube wrapped around the old one. I also have hockey tape around the inside of the rim where the spokes are.

My last flat was because the kevlar belt overlapped itself, and due to a highspeed bump pressed into the tube enough to puncture it!


edit: i stopped blowing controllers after i moved to 48v lifepo4 insted of 84v lifepo4.
 
Battery connections or battery dying quickly due to (presumed) BMS issues. I sent both my batteries back to the supplier. Connectors: Ahh well... my fault :oops:
 
You don't have "other" so I can't vote, but my most common failure is chainrings folding up from the power of the motor, once a derailment begins due to misalignment or other issues. I have yet to actually resolve it despite several attempts to do so, each of which looked like it worked until one day, BLAM. :(
 
It’s been 10 months since I posted. All sorts of failures have occurred, but the most pesky and recent were in this order:
  1. APP: This is by far the number-one failure on the bike, and I hate these overrated connectors in just about every aspect; however I am stuck with them after having made a huge investment. Disconnects – however momentary are no fun, leading to charring, melting, and vibration disconnect, although not once has there been a short (lucky there). To reduce the problems I employed Retention Clips, Roll Pins, and where possibly reduced the number of connections. Note: Once a connector begins to char it is best to replace it altogether.
  2. Visibility: Fogging of headgear. I wear glasses so I am already handicapped. Wore goggles up until recently when I migrated to a DOT helmet and face shield which requires periodic cleaning and re-application of RainX & CatCrap, and an overt change in breathing to reduce internal fogging. Not so much a failure as it is a constant safety issue.
  3. Throttle flakiness & spring return. These cheap throttles are no good. We need something more reliable than a Hall-Effect, and better wiring to withstand vibration. :x
  4. Fender misalignment; pesky bug & irritating to say the least. A big jarring bump always seems to throw it off. :(
  5. Worn-out Chain & gear. Slipping chain, missed shifts, de-chained, and lock-up; all issues relating to maintenance and wear.
  6. Tire pressure. Safety issue mainly. Haven’t experienced a flat since the epic road trip in July 2010.
One-time critical failures in the last year have been:
  • Inadequate charging of Meanwells; resolved with a mod simple that doubled the output.
  • Fork Shocks - Part 1: Slow death with no replacement parts for original equipment.
  • Fork Shocks - Part 2: Replacement fork was result of shoddy manufacturing that led to premature drop-out failure (fortunately this occurred at about 2 mph so no injuries).
  • Bloated batteries: Not exactly sure what causes this, though it hasn’t occurred recently – possibly because I have not run out of power before charging in quite some time. Could also do with APP shorting creating excessive current demands. However after one year 17% total supply have been affected; they have been rotated out of daily use.
  • Broken spokes: Resolved to upgrade wheel system & not take ebike off-road.
  • Ebike User: Too many to list I suppose. Just about always caused by not paying enough attention to details and maintenance. :oops: :roll: :lol:
Constantly tinkering, KF
 
You missed out front end failure LOL

The forks on my bike have bent over 45 degrees. Absolutely f*cked it up.
It was only a basic mountain bike, no suspension.

But yeah, I'm going with rear hub motors from now on. :mrgreen:
 
Tires and Battery. With Tires, just stopped riding on verge of bridges/overpasses. Too much junk there. Haven't had a flat since. With the battery, had to send back twice for failed pouch. But working OK now.
 
I take back my earlier response. Instead I think I go with Drunkskunk's answer. Brain failure (mine) has to be the most common source of failures on my projects. :oops:
 
Controller failure. I run 20S/84V @ 40amps with a 5303. I smoked a 12 fet (first ride) then a 18 Fet (first ride), then moved to the 24 Fet high current controller and haven't looked back. I can tow my two kids in a trailer up steepish hills and the controller barely gets warm. Now my weakpoint is the Andersons (45amps). Yesterday towing my kids up a hill the andersons on the phase wires melted and lost contacts fusing together but not connected. I had to push the bike and trailer with two kids all the way home... I am in the process of moving to 150amp bullet connections now....
 
the biggest ebike problem I've had was axle spinouts. It's a problem that should not happen again.
Second is controller failure. Third, a busted spoke. Battery packs, Aotema motors and throttle have been nearly trouble free.
 
I put motor failure down, built up the wheel with nice SS spokes and a rhyno-lite rim and my lyen 18-fet is running great, only problem so far has been this 5304's phase wires getting frayed at the axle exit, dropouts and dropout plates getting mangled, followed by wheel de-attachment (Tadpole trikes FTW) and the axle nuts stripping out. I fixed most of these by fabricating some clamping dropouts and re-machining a deeper axle groove. As well as pressing the old axle out and machining in 2 1/4" keyways before hardning it in used motor oil and pressing it back in. That seems to have solved most the issues.
 
i had to put tires. occur in waves. almost always rear. none since i added a slime tire liner.

until i switched to bullets, anderson powerpoles melted regularly. that was so annoying.

been through a few motors and controllers, pushing 3kw.

only one throttle failure, cheapo came off in hand.
 
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