Anyone have a Gigabyke Groove???

[tdurett]

Just bought a Gigabyke Groove last week. I watched a short video on YouTube on how to unlock high speed mode as it comes stock in medium speed. I am new to ebikes/scooters and I'm not sure exactly how to do this. I tried googling a connector for the 3 speed wire that is not connected to anything inside the bike but I'm really not sure which would work and which wouldn't. In the video the guy said he was just going to cut the medium speed wire and high speed wire and twist them together. But, for one, I'm not sure which wire is which... and for two, I would rather modify it in a way that can be undone if needed. Any suggestions??? Anyone know what I am talking about, lol??? Any help would be appreciated

*Btw... I'd like to add that I am not trying to go 50mph, lol. Just maybe 24. It's a very heavy bike and even with pedal assist and full throttle it barely crawls up the hills of Pittsburgh...

 

[tdurett]

I'm sorry... did I ask my question incorrectly or something??? I've had 54 views but no responses. Or maybe not many people own a groove... I guess they are fairly new to the market... But if anyone has any information about the speed connector I would appreciate it. Also, I am trying to look for a li-ion battery to replace my sla battery that came with it. It is 48v 14ah. I know from doing a bit of research that if I got the same 48v 14ah in li-ion I would be gaining longevity but losing power. What v/ah should I get in li-ion to be able to put out enough power to be equivalent to the sla battery? Any suggestions on a website for li-ion batteries???
Thank you.

 

[kdog]

I'll try not to sound too pessimistic cause I know you've just bought one... But there's some good marketing BS in there.
Advanced? with lead acid. (20kg for 14ah!!)
Powerful ? With 750w?
And those pedals ain't worth their weight.
But it does look comfy...
Going to liion is a good step. I don't know any details about the vehicle but you need to find out what sort of controller it has in it. Chances are it's fairly standard, and will be suitable for lithium. From there you can work out whether it needs replacing ( cause it's too pissweak) or if it'll reliably handle more current. The reason you can't climb hills is your motor needs more amps ( dished out by the controller). The unlocking thing will probly be quite simple, hopefully there's not a whole bunch of proprietary software that does it.
You'll be looking at roughly a 13s or 14s li-ion battery, or a 16s lifepo battery. The AH will only affect range (and your pocket) but aim for as big as you can fit/afford/need.
They might offer a retrofit upgrade?
Use your sla's till they're shot and recycle them. Use this time to figure out your lithium up grade and don't buy more lead acid whatever you do. Keep them charged always. Don't deep discharge and you might get 6mths out of them.
Tick tock

 

[fechter]

I had to google it to see what it was.

 

[eflyersteve]

Maybe this video will help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztIDMq6hH_g

I admit I didn't listen to it (at work), but perhaps something to go on.

Good luck and let us know how it works out for you!

 

[tdurett]

Maybe this video will help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztIDMq6hH_g

I admit I didn't listen to it (at work), but perhaps something to go on.

Good luck and let us know how it works out for you!

Yes, this is the video I watched already. He doesn't give very detailed info. The only helpful thing he gave as an alternative to cutting the wires was to use speaker wire to connect the two wires...

 

[tdurett]

Now I have a much bigger problem. Today was only the third time I've ridden my bike and after about a mile it started skipping and the motor kept going in and out until it wouldn't throttle at all. I called customer service, but they were no help at all. Had me take pics of my break lines (which I already told them were all secure) and said they'd call me right back and never did. So now I'm left to deal with the issue myself and I have no idea where to start. I've tried a google search but there seems to be no information on how to fix problems with this bike. I guess that's what I get for buying something new that hasn't been out long enough for the kinks to be worked out. Any suggestions??? I know most people don't have this bike, but I'm guessing it's mechanically and technically similar to the X-Treme Cabo Cruiser and the Jetson. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[DAND214]

The problem sounds like a dead battery. Being SLAs they have no BMS that will just shut off when the battery gets low. SLAs will hit LVC (low voltage cutoff) when it does they recover a little than out than in and out till they are dead. Charge them each time you use them. SLAs DO NOT like being discharged dead or left Partially discharged. You need to keep them up.
Might not be the problem but it sounds like it.

As for the speed switch, all you need is a rocker of toggle switch, three terminal, on, off and on positions. As youtube the middle goes to the middle wire and the others to the other two.

Dan

 

[tdurett]

The problem sounds like a dead battery. Being SLAs they have no BMS that will just shut off when the battery gets low. SLAs will hit LVC (low voltage cutoff) when it does they recover a little than out than in and out till they are dead. Charge them each time you use them. SLAs DO NOT like being discharged dead or left Partially discharged. You need to keep them up.
Might not be the problem but it sounds like it.

As for the speed switch, all you need is a rocker of toggle switch, three terminal, on, off and on positions. As youtube the middle goes to the middle wire and the others to the other two.

Dan

I would have to say it is unlikely a battery issue. The battery is brand new and fully charged. Never been completely discharged. Has been charged twice. All electrical is working properly (headlight, tail light, and turn signals). My guess is that it's a wiring issue, but I'm not sure if it would be the throttle or the motor itself. Or could it be the controller???? For comparison, this model seems to be very similar to the Emmo Urban and Daymak Torino (both Canadian bikes).

This video is exactly what is going on with my bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyt_pOBOITg
This is not the same bike as I have, but it is the same exact problem.

 

[Hillhater]

...... . I know from doing a bit of research that if I got the same 48v 14ah in li-ion I would be gaining longevity but losing power. What v/ah should I get in li-ion to be able to put out enough power to be equivalent to the sla battery? Any suggestions on a website for li-ion batteries???
Thank you.

Hmmm, ? I dont know where you got that from, but the "power" is dictated by the controller and the motor, rather than the battery.
Until you give more details , pictures, etc of what motor and controller you have, its hard to give advice.
But controller change or modifications (if you have those skills) is more likely the way to start thinking.

 

[kdog]

Time to crack her open!
Given the electrics partially work you should be able to figure out where the problem lies. I'd be checking wiring first. Start with Ignition, ebrakes?,controller motor connections/ wires.
It seem Lvc was likely but if it's charged and still not going then maybe not.
Maybe you blew the controller? A few last gasps then nothing. Smell it :?
Good luck, post pics of internals if you want serious help.
K

 

[tdurett]

View attachment 2View attachment 5View attachment 7
I opened it up and took pics. I think it's the throttle wire. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about wiring, especially since it's the first time I've gotten a look at this particular wiring. But it does appear that the connector is a bit melted. At first I thought it was some kind of glue, but seeing none of the other connectors have it I'm guessing it's melted...

 

[amberwolf]

A few possibilities, but main power (battery, main power connectors, wires) is usually the cause of cutouts like you describe.



The lights and stuff usually run on a different voltage than the motor/controller, and have a DC-DC converter to step down from the battery. So even when the battery is low, lights/etc often still work even when the motor won't run.

If the battery is too low (even though it might show a full charge; have to use a voltmeter to check it, on each separate SLA), the controller's built-in LVC will prevent it from running the motor.




If the throttle connector has a problem, where either the power wire or the signal wire aren't fully connected, then it can cause the problem too, because the controller never gets commanded to do anything.

You can check for that with a voltmeter, black on battery negative, and red on each of the throttle wires in turn, first with throttle off and then throttle at max. As you turn the throttle one of the wires will have a changing voltage; that's the signal wire. If none of them do that, either the controller is off because of LVC or some other reason, or the throttle is not working or not getting power (wiring issue/etc). One of the throttle wires should read 0V, that's the ground, same as batteyr negative. The last wire should read 5v or so, if it doesn't, again the controller is off or wiring problem is preventing it from getting power from the controller.


If the throttle also has a voltmeter in it (leds to show power, etc), then that means battery voltage is present on one of the wires, and there will be at least four of them. If a short occurs between that wire and either 5v or signal, it can destroy the throttle's hall sensor (requiring a new sensor or new throttle assembly) and/or the controller's MCU (requiring a new controller). If a short occurs between the battery wire and ground, it can have a high enough current to melt wires and connector before the system fuse blows (if it has one).


So those are a few things you can check with a voltmeter and by eye.

 

[Voltron]

What you described with the power cutting in and out until it finally completely went out was the exact way it felt as my phase wires to the motor melted down on one of my bikes.

That's been the cause on several others that I worked on, esp the scooter type where you don't actually pedal much so the motor works very hard.

It's been the throttle sometimes too, but usually it doesn't have enough power going thru it to melt the connector, like the motor or battery wires do. The smaller wires tend to back out of the plugs more, so not unusual for them to be hot glued in unlike the bigger ones.

The phase wires are the bigger, usually blue yellow and green ones​ going to the motor from the controller with one of those white plugs connecting them. They're usually bundled up with a set of 5 smaller ones on a seperate plug. Can you still disconnect the phase one? If not it's a sign it melted down internally letting the metal parts cross connect each other, which is bad.

It's moot point now until you're running again, but with the three speed plug, all you have to do is make sure you're messing with the right empty plug going to the controller, usually a three wire female small white one on that type controller, then stick a paper clip bent into a u shape (this is called jumpering it btw) into the center hole and one of the outer ones, then test it with the wheel in the air.

It's just a signal wire with low power going thru it, so never do this to something big like a head light plug or something, but with it jumpered one way it runs slow, the other way runs really fast, and no paper clip is medium. Don't jumper the two outside holes, it wont change anything. Mines been paper clipped on high for a long time, as switching it up and down wasnt important for me.

 

[Voltron]

Was just looking at that last picture harder, I think that is just a junction box for the handle bar stuff. One of those bundles is heading off to the controller itself, where the big power wires are and plug melt downs happen more. You might be in for more digging... I took one of those apart a while ago but can't remember if it was under all the battery stuff.

 

[tdurett]

I just pulled out the controller and inspected all of the wires. Nothing seemed to look or smell burnt. However, I did find a few wires that were not connected to anything. Just thought I'd ask if anyone knows what these are, if they should be connected to something, and if so where??? Here's a pic of the stray wires...

 

[fechter]

Is there anything like a model number on the controller?

There are hundreds of variations on the wiring for those thing. Many times there will be a bunch of wires that aren't connected. They are for features not used in that setup.

 

[tdurett]

Here is a link to the website that sells them...


http://www.bikeberry.com/groove-dc-motor-controller.html?keyword=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CjwKEAjwutXIBRDV7-SDvdiNsUoSJACIlTql0liRTpitnN_8PdpmWAgzA-yuRaIG6CQUwcqLb6qj3RoC6fXw_wcB

And here is a picture of the controller up close...

 

[RUSBAL!147]

Now I have a much bigger problem. Today was only the third time I've ridden my bike and after about a mile it started skipping and the motor kept going in and out until it wouldn't throttle at all. I called customer service, but they were no help at all. Had me take pics of my break lines (which I already told them were all secure) and said they'd call me right back and never did. So now I'm left to deal with the issue myself and I have no idea where to start. I've tried a google search but there seems to be no information on how to fix problems with this bike. I guess that's what I get for buying something new that hasn't been out long enough for the kinks to be worked out. Any suggestions??? I know most people don't have this bike, but I'm guessing it's mechanically and technically similar to the X-Treme Cabo Cruiser and the Jetson. PLEASE HELP!!!

I am new here ...I have a g/g had same problem when mine died . finally got through the tech, that came up with the idea to check the fuse .. got one at the auto store its round about 1in L, about 3/16 3 for 2.00 its located under the seat near the plug, snap in everything worked. hope this helps.

 

[RUSBAL!147]

posted to a old 2017 post ....lol I will learn.