Mark Pace
1 mW
I bought 2 kits from seller 'Greenergy Global Store' on Aliexpress, which you can see here: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...t_main.39.719e18025tgYmY&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
One kit I ordered with the cheapy minimalist VD03 display, the other with the EKD01 display; otherwise identical. Installed one, hooked everything up, it all looked good--but then, I discovered that the motor would only do either nothing (on 0) or full blast, no matter if it was on speed setting 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 (out of 5.) Tried switching the display from the VD03 to the EKD01; same result. Also tried 3 different 48v batteries, and 2 different throttles; no change.
But here is the biggest mystery. On the EKD01, in the advanced settings, I saw the following (to me) new and strange parameters:
Speed up Character (in seconds I presume, with the symbol s)
Max Output Power (in %)
Speed Limit in Gear (in %)
Start un Angel (in °)
All 4 of these were on the default setting of 0 on their linear, left-to-right scales. The Max Output and Speed Limit both had linear scales for however many speed settings had been selected (3, 5, or 9.)
Anyway, I increased the 0 setting to just a few percent on the Max Power, and then-- I got nothing! And it gets better! Or worse: I switched the display back to its default settings--but it was (and is) still 99% dead. The head&tail lights will turn on, the speedo works, the 'walk' function will work normally, but the PAS does nothing detectable, and the throttle will do basically nothing, but sometimes will make a faint, barely audible hum and draw (according to the display) about 5W. If it hasn't been turned on in several hours, it will sometimes, initially, turn the motor at a crawl (about like the 'walk' except with almost 0 torque.)
Thinking I might have murdered the EKD01, I switched back to the VD03, but the motor now also acts as dead with it as with the EKD01, with the same surviving traits--just the 'walk' the lights, and the speedo. I'm baffled!
After all that I hooked up enough to the other, uninstalled motor to test it, and it's like the installed motor was initially: it only goes full blast (on any speed-setting except 0) or not at all, on 0. The odds of getting 2 motor kits (about 3 weeks apart, both well before the first one was installed) that are both defective in the very same way seem highly unlikely. At least, I thought so!
The seller has some good feedback on Ali saying how responsive, quick, and helpful they are, but so far that has not been my experience. Their only reply to me so far has been that "the M225 is not programmable." I replied that I don't want to program it--I just want it to work as it is supposed to work, and as it was designed to work.
I've read a few other posts regarding various odd problems with similar (but not exactly similar) bafang motors, and didn't find any that actually got resolved. I'm hoping mine will somehow be different! Previously I've installed a few Bafang 500w and 750w midrives, with no problems ever, but these are the first M225 "250W" I've seen.
Finally I should mention that these kits were CANBUS, not UART. I thought the CAN could be better in this case because the smaller connections allowed me to route the cables thru the frame, avoiding zip-ties etc on this rather nice new bike.
One kit I ordered with the cheapy minimalist VD03 display, the other with the EKD01 display; otherwise identical. Installed one, hooked everything up, it all looked good--but then, I discovered that the motor would only do either nothing (on 0) or full blast, no matter if it was on speed setting 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 (out of 5.) Tried switching the display from the VD03 to the EKD01; same result. Also tried 3 different 48v batteries, and 2 different throttles; no change.
But here is the biggest mystery. On the EKD01, in the advanced settings, I saw the following (to me) new and strange parameters:
Speed up Character (in seconds I presume, with the symbol s)
Max Output Power (in %)
Speed Limit in Gear (in %)
Start un Angel (in °)
All 4 of these were on the default setting of 0 on their linear, left-to-right scales. The Max Output and Speed Limit both had linear scales for however many speed settings had been selected (3, 5, or 9.)
Anyway, I increased the 0 setting to just a few percent on the Max Power, and then-- I got nothing! And it gets better! Or worse: I switched the display back to its default settings--but it was (and is) still 99% dead. The head&tail lights will turn on, the speedo works, the 'walk' function will work normally, but the PAS does nothing detectable, and the throttle will do basically nothing, but sometimes will make a faint, barely audible hum and draw (according to the display) about 5W. If it hasn't been turned on in several hours, it will sometimes, initially, turn the motor at a crawl (about like the 'walk' except with almost 0 torque.)
Thinking I might have murdered the EKD01, I switched back to the VD03, but the motor now also acts as dead with it as with the EKD01, with the same surviving traits--just the 'walk' the lights, and the speedo. I'm baffled!
After all that I hooked up enough to the other, uninstalled motor to test it, and it's like the installed motor was initially: it only goes full blast (on any speed-setting except 0) or not at all, on 0. The odds of getting 2 motor kits (about 3 weeks apart, both well before the first one was installed) that are both defective in the very same way seem highly unlikely. At least, I thought so!
The seller has some good feedback on Ali saying how responsive, quick, and helpful they are, but so far that has not been my experience. Their only reply to me so far has been that "the M225 is not programmable." I replied that I don't want to program it--I just want it to work as it is supposed to work, and as it was designed to work.
I've read a few other posts regarding various odd problems with similar (but not exactly similar) bafang motors, and didn't find any that actually got resolved. I'm hoping mine will somehow be different! Previously I've installed a few Bafang 500w and 750w midrives, with no problems ever, but these are the first M225 "250W" I've seen.
Finally I should mention that these kits were CANBUS, not UART. I thought the CAN could be better in this case because the smaller connections allowed me to route the cables thru the frame, avoiding zip-ties etc on this rather nice new bike.
