BBSHD, Help with 08H code

Hello Everyone,
I had a BBSHD kit installed on my Trek bicycle about 14 months ago and love everything about it. It is my work/commuter bicycle and I ride each day 5 miles to work and 5 miles back home and sometimes 50 miles on the weekends. It is not abused by any means and has only about 4,000 miles on it. The other day the motor stopped working and the screen flashed a code 08H
Can anyone help me with this?
I find it extremely hard to believe that what I consider a new motor is now "junk"?
Thanks,
Dennis

[moderator edit to clarify title]

Code 8 is the hall sensor connector. Take the three screws out of the pod-shaped thing on the bottom right side of the motor. It'll be left hanging by the wires. You'll see a 6-way(?) connector in the side of the motor with white silicone all over it. You need to push that right in, but the silicone might stop you, in which case you have to pull the connector out and cut away all the silicone until the connector goes in cleanly.

In the worst case, a hall sensor could actually be faulty. that would take a lot more serious surgery to fix. Let's hope it's the connector.

Thank you d8veh and I did what you suggested but it does not appear to be the connector.

What would cause the hall sensor to go bad????
My motor is not that old plus I do not have the funds to buy a new motor right now.

Ideally, you'd want to measure the hall signals while turning the motor to see if they are all present. It's also possible the halls are actually OK and the controller just thinks one is bad (bad controller). Unfortunately, this is not so easy on a BBSHD, but possible. One method is to leave everything connected and try to back probe the connector with a piece of wire so you can turn on the display and feed 5v to the halls via the controller.

The other way would be to completely disconnect the hall plug and find a way to feed 5v into the black and red wires (actually you can use a 9v battery) for testing. You need to rotate the motor while watching each hall signal and see if they toggle between near zero and near 5v. If you roll the bike wheel backwards, the motor will turn.

Yes, you need to find out if the fault is a bad hall sensor or a bad controller. Your best hope is to measure the hall signal. You can just get in the back of that 6-way connector if your meter has thin probes. You need to identify which one is ground. I can't remember the colours now, but if ground isn't black, yo need to put your meter on beep (continuity) and check each pin with the other probe on the battery black to see which one beeps. Once you have that one, check between it and each other pin. Three of them should go on and off with 5v when you turn the motor. One will stay on 5v, and the other is probably fixed somewhere between 0v and 5v. You must check while the connector is powered. I'm not sure how you can turn the motor because the crank has a free-wheel. I think you have to do some dismantling first.

d8veh said:

I'm not sure how you can turn the motor because the crank has a free-wheel. I think you have to do some dismantling first.

Click to expand...

If you grab the chain ring and turn it backwards, the motor will move. Wear gloves. Alternately, just spin the rear wheel backwards and let the chain move it.

I use a piece of skinny solid strand wire to poke in the back of the connectors and extend it to my meter probes. My meter probes are too thick. Attach the negative meter probe to battery negative when measuring.

First, I just want to say that I would not hesitate to buy anything from EM3EV again. They are a great vendor with fantastic customer service!
However, I must warn you that the BBSHD may have some quality issues as per my own personal experience. I spent just over 2K for a kit and the motor went out after only 14 months of very light use. I was just told by EM3EV that the Bafang warranty on the motor ran out after 12 months so I am out of luck and without my commuter electric bicycle. I have no funds to buy another motor and if I did, why would I?
I mean to spend a few more hundred dollars to buy a motor that will only last 1-2 years?
Anyway, like I said, EM3EV is a great vendor but the Bafang BBSHD is not a top-notch unit when it comes to quality.
Dennis
West Lafayette, Indiana

PS
THANK YOU, thank you to all of you for all your suggestions but I AM NOT knowledgeable enough to run any of your trouble shooting suggestions nor do I have any of the needed tools.

I guess somebody should set up a BBSHD repair service.

They are fairly easy to work on and most of the parts that fail are available.

Another option would be to get a replacement controller and swap out the one you have. If the actual hall sensor is bad, you would still get the 08 error code and would have wasted the cost of the replacement controller (I suppose you could sell one). Not sure what a controller costs.

Harbor Freight's cheapo voltmeter sells for $5.99, and is often free if you buy something, even if it's only a $1.99 bag of zip ties. This weekend's Chicago papers had a coupon for a free meter, except I have two or three of them, so I picked a a free LED flashlight instead, while buying a tube of bungee cords for $3.99. Yes, it's all cheap tools, but the meter is fairly accurate and the flashlights light up.

There's an HF outlet in Lafayette.

fechter said:

I guess somebody should set up a BBSHD repair service.

Click to expand...

California eBike does warranty repairs for EM3ev and repairs for the public.

fechter said:

I guess somebody should set up a BBSHD repair service.

They are fairly easy to work on and most of the parts that fail are available.

Another option would be to get a replacement controller and swap out the one you have. If the actual hall sensor is bad, you would still get the 08 error code and would have wasted the cost of the replacement controller (I suppose you could sell one). Not sure what a controller costs.

Click to expand...

Sadly they are more complex than a great number of buyers expected. As is evidenced by the poster. There are a number of poorly made components, but for the complexity and numbers built and sold they aren't the worst motor out there. Likely more durable than the 02. Bafang has dumped the DIY crowd, but those buying kits ought have done due diligence and would have found mid drives are likely to be more maintenance. Add Bafangs failure to keep an active parts supply chain and there are disappointments. A controller is around $100 plus shipping. And often in an out of stock. As i wear out my mid drives im moving towards MAC. I have a complete parts supply in my tool box and expect the BBSHD to last a few years. My bbs01's are another story, buy hopefully a new gear pinion plate and pinion will extend at least one of them. So yeah easy to work on for the experienced, but greek to a majority of the buyers,im afriad. Do stash a clutch.

Maybe this will help.
Try a dedicated tester for around 20 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hall-Sensor-Brushless-Motor-Test-Box-for-Bike-Hub-or-any-Brushless-Motors-/191945534778?hash=item2cb0d86d3a:g:qfMAAOSwU-pXr93~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBj1YUNNuYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efYFOHnXh0E


The tester makes my life easier.

tomjasz said:

fechter said:

I guess somebody should set up a BBSHD repair service.

Click to expand...

California eBike does warranty repairs for EM3ev and repairs for the public.

Click to expand...

That's quite right. Doug has been repairing the BBS motors for years and his repair service is very reasonably priced.

Dennis3346 said:

First, I just want to say that I would not hesitate to buy anything from EM3EV again. They are a great vendor with fantastic customer service!
However, I must warn you that the BBSHD may have some quality issues as per my own personal experience. I spent just over 2K for a kit and the motor went out after only 14 months of very light use. I was just told by EM3EV that the Bafang warranty on the motor ran out after 12 months so I am out of luck and without my commuter electric bicycle. I have no funds to buy another motor and if I did, why would I?
I mean to spend a few more hundred dollars to buy a motor that will only last 1-2 years?
Anyway, like I said, EM3EV is a great vendor but the Bafang BBSHD is not a top-notch unit when it comes to quality.
Dennis
West Lafayette, Indiana

PS
THANK YOU, thank you to all of you for all your suggestions but I AM NOT knowledgeable enough to run any of your trouble shooting suggestions nor do I have any of the needed tools.

Click to expand...

If you had of further discussed the matter with our support staff, they would be happy to suggest how to get the issue resolved on your out of warranty motor (and we did respond and were in discussion with steps to follow, nor did we refuse anything). We are happy to assist with any customer, including those that are no longer covered under warranty. We have since provided the details to get the motor repaired by Doug at California Ebike and we would have done so, without you going onto our Facebook page to publish a post, or coming onto ES and publishing a post on here too. Pointing out that a product is no longer under warranty, is not a refusal to support, it is just pointing out a fact and doesn't mean we wouldn't offer some way to get the issue resolved and covering some, most or even all of the cost to get an issue resolved.

This issue does not require a complete replacement motor (as you demanded in your email to us) and we would always offer some way for a 3rd party to carry out repairs on our behalf, if the buyer is unable or unwilling to attempt a repair by themselves.

For info, we have as a goodwill gesture, offered to cover repair costs on this out of warranty motor, and we would consider doing so for any customer, without them trying to leverage social media to get what they want.