Ok, I know all about how when a prioprietary system has an issue you might wish you did otherwise, but...
I had a nice long ride in the rain last week with my older (I2C) Bionx PL350, and it worked flawlessly. The problem came when I tried to charge it. The system started powering on unbidden. I waited to charge it until later and thought all was well, but apparently it spent the night powering itself up and down endlessly.
The battery IS fully charged, and doesn't seem to beep when it's off the bike. When it's on the bike, though, it beeps every half an hour or so.
(Diagnostic mode shows a pre-charge error, but only when I leave the DC-DC converter I use for my lights in place -- with that out of the loop, entering and exiting diagnostic mode works fine.)
Of course, some other component could be soggy, but I'm betting on the battery. It hangs upside down beneath my recumbent bike, and even though there's an aluminum shroud and a Cordura bag over it, I suspect water got in through the drain at the "bottom", which in my case is at the top - and immediately above the logic board. (If I'd have known that it wasn't really sealed...) The console itself shows no indication of moisture inside.
So, what to do? Neither a hair-dryer nor a couple of days waiting seems to have made much difference. I see logic boards on eBay for the older I2C-based Bionx batteries, but Bionx tells me that while those boards handle 24-48 volts they need to be configured for the appropriate voltage and that I wouldn't have the gear to do that. Anybody know if that's true, or does the board just figure it out on its own?
Would swabbing the board throughly with rubbing alcohol likely make matters better or worse?
Or I could just destroy the sounder and ignore the issue.
I'd hate to drop big money on a replacement battery -- it's just too tempting to go for one of the new 48v systems instead. (Anybody know what the available "refurbished" batteries really are?)
Then again, if Justin had a well-integrated torque sensor working I could consider an open system...
Charlie
I had a nice long ride in the rain last week with my older (I2C) Bionx PL350, and it worked flawlessly. The problem came when I tried to charge it. The system started powering on unbidden. I waited to charge it until later and thought all was well, but apparently it spent the night powering itself up and down endlessly.
The battery IS fully charged, and doesn't seem to beep when it's off the bike. When it's on the bike, though, it beeps every half an hour or so.
(Diagnostic mode shows a pre-charge error, but only when I leave the DC-DC converter I use for my lights in place -- with that out of the loop, entering and exiting diagnostic mode works fine.)
Of course, some other component could be soggy, but I'm betting on the battery. It hangs upside down beneath my recumbent bike, and even though there's an aluminum shroud and a Cordura bag over it, I suspect water got in through the drain at the "bottom", which in my case is at the top - and immediately above the logic board. (If I'd have known that it wasn't really sealed...) The console itself shows no indication of moisture inside.
So, what to do? Neither a hair-dryer nor a couple of days waiting seems to have made much difference. I see logic boards on eBay for the older I2C-based Bionx batteries, but Bionx tells me that while those boards handle 24-48 volts they need to be configured for the appropriate voltage and that I wouldn't have the gear to do that. Anybody know if that's true, or does the board just figure it out on its own?
Would swabbing the board throughly with rubbing alcohol likely make matters better or worse?
Or I could just destroy the sounder and ignore the issue.
I'd hate to drop big money on a replacement battery -- it's just too tempting to go for one of the new 48v systems instead. (Anybody know what the available "refurbished" batteries really are?)
Then again, if Justin had a well-integrated torque sensor working I could consider an open system...
Charlie
