Mahle X35 malfunction

[Alberto]

For the pleasure of @bikes4two here is my feedback after 6 months.

I called the customer service, they were pretty nice and they understood what was my issue as soon as I told them my battery serial number is corrupted to 45454545454545454545.

They told me for this issue they apply 6 months extended warranty, which was not enough for me since I had it since 2 years and 7 months (I couldn't fix it in warranty for one month).

So the only solution would be to buy a new battery pack and ask the local shop to reprogram it with my bike's original s/n, if you don't do it you cannot use the system, it will not work.

Currently I still didn't change the battery because even though the bike says it's always at 90%, with a multimeter I can actually measure the battery voltage from the charging pins, and with the charger I'm still able to charge it up to 48V.
Then I can use the bike normally even though it will not tell me when it is close to be dead. When I feel the assistance is not that strong anymore I recharge it. If I wait too much it will give me intermittent assistance. Which is the final signal the battery is dead and need a charge.
The bike doesn't go off if I hold the button for 3 seconds as it should. It blinks like of it is going to turn off but the the iWoC remains white. Only way to turn it off is to hold it 30secs.

I've the feeling a software update might fix it but I didn't want to spend 150€ for a programmer without being sure it can help. For sure flashing the battery controller would help (I could do it since I'm an engineer how works with embedded systems every day) but to do it I'd need to access the programmer header on the BMS inside the battery which is sealed and very difficult to access.

Of course since the problem occurred the bike is not saving data anymore such as odometer etc, even do speedometer and level of assistance still work in the app.

I use it every day to go to work and it's still alive, but still I wouldn't recommend it to who wants to purchase it because the whole ebikemotion x35 system is not that mature. I bought this bike when it was 6 months and I paid it 1000€ so for this price I would still buy it, otherwise I'd go for the x20. Especially because I also had a problem on the freehub which seems to be super common and the free hub cannot be changed but a whole part of the motor needs to be replaced for that.

So that's it, aesthetics very good, but not that practical.

[bikes4two]

Thanks for taking the time for the feedback Alberto and it's interesting to read how you still manage to ride the bike even with those fault conditions.

I came across a YT video of someone doing a 'hack job' on an X35 system bike - in effect he scrapped everything except the motor which according to him has a straight forward rear hub motor with the standard 9 pin motor connector that can be used with a generic KT controller and display.

Their video isn't a great example of DIY but for those who are knowledgeable in DIY conversions, it is interesting to note that the motor can be re-used in some way.

The YT link is HERE

[stodd]

If anyone considers bikesfour2 suggestion of replacing everything but the motor, I suggest that as well as viewing that video you discuss what you are about to do at the pedelecs forum; before you start buying the bits. I've already plugged the forum once this thread. There will be lots of suggestions on the most appropriate KT controller/display to use, and help avoiding potential pitfalls.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums ... cussion.2/