BBSHD 21h error code and its "5 minute ride"....

Joined
Feb 22, 2013
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151
I already know that the infamous 21h error code means a dysfunctional speed sensor and no mph/odometer readout on my Bafang DPC-14 display, but why the 5 minute ride before the motor and display shut down. I turn it back on, and it's good for another 5 minutes, and then shuts off again. This is what I love about the googlization of electric bikes- maybe next year their come out with a BBSHD with just an on-off switch and no other high tech BS to go wrong, but I've already gone through that in a previous thread......
 
The speed sensor on mine has a LED that blinks when the magnet passes by. Does the LED blink?

I can't answer why it would run for 5 minutes then shut off.
 
Fechter, nice to hear from you. OK, I turn on the display, and the sensor lights up- after the initial pass by the spoke magnet, it goes out, but then doesn't come back on after the magnet moves on. In other words, does a half a blink (goes from on to off) and stays out. I just returned from a wonderful 10 mile round trip through the apple orchards of San Juan Bautista, and the bike operated great, except for the cut out after exactly 5 minutes of riding. This "5 minute cutout" is consistent and happens like clockwork, almost as if the hardwiring of the controller is intending it to do so. Whether this is a warning, a slow burnout, or a fluke, I don't know, but I do have 200 miles on this fantastic machine, and ride everyday, so I'll keep you posted. (this incident, error code happened after mile 185. By the way, nothing extraordinary has happened during my rides. I typically, draw about 10-15 amps on the flats, and 20-27 amps on the steep hills, on a 42T Bling Ring chainring, and a 11-34T Sunrace rear cassette. I only use the 4 highest gears. My chainline is perfectly matched up to the 4th gear, and my 1st gear has never tripped the chain, even tho the chainline is 3 cogs away from the chainline. The motor does get warm to warm-hot on the steepest hills, but my daily ride has only 4 or 5 block-long steep hills. See, this Bafang software seems to have plenty of bugs in it, and no where to go to find out why, yes?
 
It draws all the info from the speed sensor, so if that's not triggering, the bike thinks it's been turned on and sitting still, even thought the motor is going. I went thru a few test rides on a customer's bike when the hub motor internal speed sensor wasnt hooked up, and it had the same 5 min run problem.
 
Voltron, so if I choose to run this baby in this inconvenient manner, and keep re-turning it on, over and over and over again, am I doing it any harm?
 
doubledipsoon said:
Voltron, so if I choose to run this baby in this inconvenient manner, and keep re-turning it on, over and over and over again, am I doing it any harm?

No harm and if you want to prevent it from powering OFF disable the "auto-off" feature under display/dash settings.
 
You can run the BBSHD without a display. Connect a switch to 2 wires in the display connector and you have your power switch with no display. I forget which 2 pins but the pinout is readily available.
 
Ah, the auto off feature makes sense. Easy enough to disable that.

If you want to run without the display, you won't have any way to change the PAS setting. It will default to speed 1, but you can program speed 1 to be whatever you want.
 
I have a similar problem except the motor cuts out after 30 seconds without the speed sensor. I disabled the auto off. Any suggestions on how to use the bike with the speed sensor?
 
I am missing the speed sensor cable. I just ordered one. I get a speed sensor error 21h after about 30 seconds of use of the throttle. The motor will no longer function until I turn it off and on again. I tried PAS and the same behavior. I was hoping to be able to ride the bike without the speed sensor.
 
I'm not aware of a way to work around not having the speed sensor or at least having some signal going to it.
 
I have the speed sensor installed but it can't read magnets until I get the cable. The throttle or PAS won't work once I get the 21h error after about 30 seconds. The guy that I purchased it from said the BBSHD have gone through some firmware changes.
 
Ykick said:
doubledipsoon said:
Voltron, so if I choose to run this baby in this inconvenient manner, and keep re-turning it on, over and over and over again, am I doing it any harm?

No harm and if you want to prevent it from powering OFF disable the "auto-off" feature under display/dash settings.

Could you provide more details about the "auto-off" feature? Are you talking about on the display or programming the controller?
 
Ykick said:
doubledipsoon said:
Voltron, so if I choose to run this baby in this inconvenient manner, and keep re-turning it on, over and over and over again, am I doing it any harm?

No harm and if you want to prevent it from powering OFF disable the "auto-off" feature under display/dash settings.

Could you provide more details about the "auto-off" feature? Are you talking about on the display or programming the controller?

fechter said:
I'm not aware of a way to work around not having the speed sensor or at least having some signal going to it.

It's always worked for me unitl the last couple of controllers I've purchased. I've always run no speed sensor and no display. That no longer works because the motor now shuts down when it has an error 21. I really wish Bafang hadn't changed that.
 
pmack said:
I have the speed sensor installed but it can't read magnets until I get the cable. The throttle or PAS won't work once I get the 21h error after about 30 seconds. The guy that I purchased it from said the BBSHD have gone through some firmware changes.

This has been experience lately as well. Does anyone know how to bypass the speed sensor either within the controller or by programming the controller? I wish there were something that could be done.
 
In the manual, it says:
BBSHD Time out.JPG

You have to be in the programming mode to get to this screen.
I wonder if entering 0 would disable it?

Otherwise, about all you can do is provide a signal for the speed sensor. The speed sensor uses a hall effect switch so there are 3 wires, 5V, Ground, and signal. A mechanical switch, like a magnetic reed switch, will work if placed from signal to ground. If there is no way to get a sensor on the wheel, you might get away with mounting one on the chain ring. This would still fail if you coast downhill without pedaling for too long.

Another option would be to make a little pulse generator circuit using a 555 timer or similar. This could be small enough to stuff inside the controller possibly. This would be pretty easy to build by hand, or you can get them cheap enough on a small board.
Here is an example
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Adjust...sh=item5d7f44db70:g:Qv0AAOSwa~JbRxls&LH_BIN=1
This would just connect to the speed sensor cable and get powered off the 5v line. Frequency would be set at a fixed value, around 1Hz.
 
Just ordered a few pulse generators. Thanks for the idea! I'll try messing with the display settings tonight but I doubt that will help the error 21 shutdown. Maybe I'll get lucky :)
 
Just went into the programming interface of the display. No option for 0. Only 1-9. Looks like I've got to go the pulse generator route.
 
My tablet crashed on me while finishing typing the reply for this.

I found that we have to install the speed sensor with the plus sign "+" marking on the sensor pointing towards the magnet NOT upward. Otherwise it will report a 21h error code as I found on my system during the installation of this BBSHD.

Below is that useful link regarding this issue that helped to fix mine...

https://aushiker.com/bafang-bbs-error-21-fix/

I did not time it exactly but it worked fine at first after turned on then that 21H error came up and stopped functioning in about a couple of minutes every time. Very similar to your problem.

Hope this help :D

 
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