Do you consider a 750w bafang mid drive controller to be a consumable?

[Camerinboy]

Do you consider a 750w bafang mid drive controller to be a consumable? Diagnosis has been completed !!Just has a controller fail on a brand new fitted motor from Greenergy they said the controller unit is a consumable part and not covered under warranty. The motor was purchased over 30 days ago but only recently fitted. The motor has done less than 10 miles at 48v. I purchased a few of these and this was sitting in garage for a few months before it was fitted. Do you consider a controller to be a consumable?
https://youtu.be/SusGbd_oZKw

 

[dogman dan]

Cheap controllers, you bet. But even shit controllers should last more than 10 miles. That's not wear out, its defect.

Even decent cheap controllers should last 2 years. I have one that is from 2008, and still running. It got at least 6 years of nearly daily use.

 

[Camerinboy]

Thanks. I fitted about 14 motors and had a couple of controllers fail. They ere replaced without problem. I use various vendors but first time I've been told its a consumable.

 

[AHicks]

I wouldn't consider a Bafang controller as a "consumable" as when treated properly they'll last forever.

BUT

They are certainly easy to tear up through ignorance and/or abuse.

Not a fan of Greenergy. They're my last choice for stuff I can't find anywhere else. Most recent order took 2 weeks to ship an item showing "in stock"....

 

[spinningmagnets]

Don't throw it out. I'm curious as to which part died. Counterfeit FETs can't handle much heat, and they were likely mounted poorly with no thermal cream.

 

[Camerinboy]

already ordered some mofsets no sign of burning but not touching until i know where i stand with warrenty

 

[Comrade]

Chinese manufacturers are extremely aggressive with planned obsolescence. Designing parts not to last, but to fail. On a schedule.

As long as people put up with that pseudo subscription model, it works. :lol:

 

[docw009]

No. My Bafang BBS02 has been around since 2016. I don't ride it hard, and we haven't ridden a decent hill on it for years.

 

[onemorejoltwarden]

Don't throw it out. I'm curious as to which part died. Counterfeit FETs can't handle much heat, and they were likely mounted poorly with no thermal cream.

Would that make them CounterFETs

The controller is not a consumable at that age, for sure, if ever.
Needs a more comprehensive debug discussion of the " everything else" that you checked.
The YouTube doesn't show much. Scorched board or components?
Why did the original controller/motor fail? At what age? under what circumstances?

 

[E-HP]

already ordered some mofsets no sign of burning but not touching until i know where i stand with warrenty

Do you have the ability to take a picture of your display odometer to capture that evidence, in case the warranty becomes contentious?

 

[Camerinboy]

Its only done 10 miles. No scorch marks display no longer lights up. Motor shakes for second then stops.If wheel is turned backwards judder effect felt. Greenergy state this is a consumable part and not covered by 12 month warranty. it was purchased in march and fitted to a customer bike this last fortnight. I replaced his existing bafang 750w that had been crash damaged breaking its casing.

 

[Chalo]

Sounds reminiscent of Hall sensor failure to me. If the motor was bogged down and got hot, that might be the problem rather than the controller.

EDIT:
My hypothesis would not account for the display not working. I'd go inside and check all the plugs for condition and full insertion.

 

[Camerinboy]

the old motor has been replaced this is a full new motor with 10 miles on it. no display motor shivers /shakes power on. No sign of damage. Seller accepts faulty controller but says as post requests is a controller a consumable item. Diagnosis is not required. The fault has been established,Do you consider a 750w bafang mid drive controller to be a consumable?

 

[dogman dan]

That doesn't even qualify as a cheapo controller. I was talking about cheapo scooter stuff that you buy at 30 bucks.

Hell no, its not consumable. Its a defect. But a vendor can make the warranty anything he chooses, and you can choose to never buy from that vendor again.

There will always be a small percentage of defects that don't appear till the thing is in use, but a decent vendor prices the item high enough to cover that replacement rate. Get it low price enough, and you may have to eat that yourself.

Not sure if you got it that low priced or not, but the vendor can easily put out a real warranty, or a useless one. A real warranty would be a year on the entire kit. A good controller should easily last a year of hard use.

One function of ES is to reveal such vendors to all who read the forum. The main question is, did you know it had a 30 day warranty on the controller before you let it sit a few months?

 

[spinningmagnets]

You might also try using an external controller for a while, during the next few weeks/months of investigation.

 

[Camerinboy]

I managed to strip controller down. Removing potting compound was a pain and resulted in a two small ceramic capacitors cracking. but i got there. the mofsets are the newer type and were well seated with insulated thermal paste. testing determined that a mofset on yellow phase wire was at fault. i have both mofsets and capacitors on order. The aliexpress seller is sending a replacement controller at a cost of $22 to cover postage. if you want to know how to test i found this useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkWy1EirEu8

 

[Comrade]

How does this controller bring down battery voltage to logic level for the CPU?