Power issue and crackling noise

Hi all,

I am new to the ebike world, I bought an ebike at Christmas and all has been going fine until yesterday! In a nutshell... I was riding along and all of a sudden I lost power for around 10 seconds and the display was showing the voltage going up and down, literally from full to empty, full to empty over and over again, meanwhile the digits for the voltage where dropping then climbing.
I was completely gob smacked! Then tonight I switched everything on just to test it again and again the same thing. This time the bike is just sat still. I then heard a crackling sound coming from either the battery or the motor. It is a bafang mid drive motor.

Can anyone help I'm very confused and concerned also.
Thanks in advance,

Paul.

OK, Paul. How about you supply some information.

Brand name of bike, and/or store where you purchased it.

Describe the ride, weather, color of the sky, and every damn thing you can think of that was happening right before the problem first happened. Rain and/or potential apple juice attacks might be a focal point, landing a 6 foot jump, dropping the bike down some stairs, got drunk and puked on it, anything at all out of the ordinary. Think long and hard, there is very often some detail which will save a lot of people a lot of time while they are trying to help you. Some may even become quite irate when you ask on the third page whether or not dropping it into a swimming pool might matter.

Now, this has happened twice, and BOTH TIMES, it presumable stopped. What did you do? If you did the tried and true "nothing at all", how long did it take to stop and did it work normally after that?

Also, regarding the bike itself, have you made any changes to the bike, ANYTHING at all, adjustments, additions, removals, ANY CHANGE in procedure or usage pattern.

Now, check your wires and connections VERY carefully. Inspect, verify no loose pins, no nicks in the insulation, etc. Take your time, and pay attention. This is, by far, the most common cause of problems in general, and similar to yours in specifics. Also, most people have to be told to do this multiple times, before they do it once, and multiple more times before they do it again, and also frequently solves problems, on the THIRD pass thru those wires and connections.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep you posted on my findings.

Paul.

Ok I've been over all wires and connections extremely thoroughly and I cannot find any loose connections. I have however noticed that when I switch the battery on at its switch there is no crackling, the cracking only starts at the point I switch on the esc? Any thoughts?

Due to the great wealth of detailed diagnostic information you have supplied, I can categorically state with no doubt whatsoever that some sort of unidentifiable fuckup has, in fact, occurred.

Thanks for the advice Angry bob

I asked you a series of questions designed to narrow down a vast range of possibilities and approach a solution to YOUR problem.

You FAILED to answer a single one of them.

My crystal ball is in the shop this week. Maybe someone else still has a working one.

Thanks for the advice. Maybe next time reduce the levels of sarcasm. Not all people find that acceptable. Helping minus the sarcasm would be great and be a much more positive step towards people's communication with you.
I have found better help on this subject from other forums with more professional and approachable individuals.
I didn't want to be to hasty in writing this, therefore i read through your sarcastic "ADVICE" towards others on other posts you crop up on just to ensure it wasn't only me that's upset you. As expected you behave in the same way towards others.

Manners maketh man! That's a very old Proverb.
Take heed. Let's both learn something shall we.

No reply needed, ego's not necessary on this forum.

AGAIN... Thanks for your advice Angry bob

paul fortman said:

Thanks for the advice. Maybe next time reduce the levels of sarcasm. Not all people find that acceptable. Helping minus the sarcasm would be great and be a much more positive step towards people's communication with you.
I have found better help on this subject from other forums with more professional and approachable individuals.
I didn't want to be to hasty in writing this, therefore i read through your sarcastic "ADVICE" towards others on other posts you crop up on just to ensure it wasn't only me that's upset you. As expected you behave in the same way towards others.

Manners maketh man! That's a very old Proverb.
Take heed. Let's both learn something shall we.

No reply needed, ego's not necessary on this forum.

AGAIN... Thanks for your advice Angry bob

Click to expand...

To be fair, if you don't provide information or answer questions of those attempting to help you, you probably won't receive much usable advice. Hence, only one person has attempted to help you.

Angry Bob is a known troll. You can ignore his bad manners.

The crackling noise is interesting. I haven't come across that one before.
The symptoms indicate a bad connection somewhere between the battery and the motor. If the crackling noise is due to arcing, there will be a visible burn mark somewhere. It could be inside the battery.

What kind of battery are you using? I've seen plenty of the "shark" style packs fail at the contacts between the pack and the mounting plate.

Another thing to try is power on the display and physically wiggle the parts to see if you can get it to cut out. You may be able to narrow things down this way.

That's a very good point and very helpful, I will try wiggling the wires to see if anything noticeable happens with the connection. I'm using a Hailong 3 battery pack. I think that would be the shark style you mentioned?
Its very starange how it crackles though, however that only occurrs when the speed controller is switch on. Simply switching the battery on at the switch has no effect. It's very odd.

Post deleted.

Any suggestions how I can resolve the issue?

Having another battery would be a good test but I assume you don't have one.

Can you post a picture of the battery connection? It sounds like possibly there is a bad connection inside the battery around the connector. You may need to try disassembling that part of the battery and look inside.

paul fortman said:

Thanks for the advice. Maybe next time reduce the levels of sarcasm. Not all people find that acceptable. Helping minus the sarcasm would be great and be a much more positive step towards people's communication with you.
I have found better help on this subject from other forums with more professional and approachable individuals.
I didn't want to be to hasty in writing this, therefore i read through your sarcastic "ADVICE" towards others on other posts you crop up on just to ensure it wasn't only me that's upset you. As expected you behave in the same way towards others.

Manners maketh man! That's a very old Proverb.
Take heed. Let's both learn something shall we.

No reply needed, ego's not necessary on this forum.

AGAIN... Thanks for your advice Angry bob

Click to expand...

Be flexible, I'd take the joke from anyone who's taken their time trying to help you anyway. It's part of the humor. You're not paying for help.
(if you're not flexible with a little wind, a hard stem can break.).

Proper manners would dictate the OP notify others when a solution has been reached, detailing exactly what that was.