Level of assistance changing itself

[PAB855]

Why is my level of assistance changing without me touching the display?

I have a Tong Sheng mid drive with a 48v battery and when on level one or two it remains as such usually but sometimes ramps up itself to max, ie level 5 without me touching it. It could be linked to a change in my speed or freewheeling, but if more information is required I can try to answer your questions.

I have a recumbent trike, ICE Adventure.

Cheers

[stodd]

We have a very different 2016 Bosch powered bike which sometimes does similar; either autonomously changing power level, or when I press the - power level button jumping up to max.

On that bike it seems to be down to the poorly designed removable Intuvia display, which has slightly dodgy contacts. Worth checking all the connectors on yours a clean and fully pressed home, and especially if the display is removable its contacts.

[PAB855]

Thanks stodd, it's good to know I'm not alone.

There was something else which could be a clue. When I set off, the display wasn't nearly bright enough for me to see it properly and I stopped , switched it off and on and it was as it should be for brightness but still didn't perform as it should.

I will go over everything around the screen and make sure it's all securely in position and hope something makes better contact.

Thanks again

[bikes4two]

> There are three TSDZ2 fitted ebikes in our household and none have experienced that problem before - hmmm
> When you say the power jumps up to level 5, does it indicate this in the display as well as obviously feeling it in the ride?
> Logically the problem boils down to a problem with: (1) the handlebar display (which one do you have BTW?) or (2) the controller inside the motor case or (3) interconnecting cables (being loose or suffering water ingress).
> If it were me I'd be checking cables for loose connections/water ingress, cable damage (especially looking out for overly tight cable ties possibly crushing the cable).
> Then I'd be wondering about water ingress to the handlebar controls and/or the motor casing, especially if the system has been exposed to lot of rain and water
> If all that fails to find a solution, then I'd look to swap out the display first. After that you'd start to wonder if the controller is playing up

[PAB855]

Thanks bikes4two, that's all very logical.

It's definitely not water ingress because I've had it for only a couple of weeks and only done about 20 miles on dry roads and in dry weather.
I don't know what the display is called. It's a small screen about 30mm x 20mm portrait.

I've had a poke around the cables and connections, but there's nothing obviously wrong.

I have been trying to find out as much as I can before contacting the experienced technician who put it together as a conversion from a mechanical recumbent trike to one with e assist.

I wòuld like to do more miles to see if there is any pattern of behaviour before contacting him.

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers

[bikes4two]

Are you able to answer this?

> When you say the power jumps up to level 5, does it indicate this in the display as well as obviously feeling it in the ride?

[PAB855]

Yes, in fact when it went up beyond what I had set it at, I knew before I checked that it was probably lying at level 5. I could feel the change in the response to my pedalling effort.

Does that answer your question?

Thanks for taking such an interest in my problem.

[bikes4two]

Does that answer your question?

> Indeed it does, thank you, and I'm pondering how that info might help diagnosis?
> As you may or may not know, the communications between the display and controller is via two wires know as the 'Rx' and 'Tx' for receive and transmit.
> So the display is showing level 5 which says the Rx wire to the display is working (and I'd guess that the display also shows speed too which is another signal from the controller).
> So is the controller responding to a genuine request for level 5 from somewhere, or is the controller doing its own thing?
> If the first option, where is the 'genuine request' shall we call it, coming from - the display or some sort of cable fault?
> Have you trawled the Endless Sphere forum yet? I came across a couple of things that may help diagnosis. The first one is in a post here which is part of a wider discussion where a poster mentions how a TSDZ2 motor can be enabled without a display.
> That post is interesting in two ways (1) - firstly if the method of powering up without a display works, then you could disconnect your display and see wht happens? (2) - the other interesting point is that in that link the poster says on shorting the said wires, the motor goes to 'full power' whereas for some reason I thought (from previous readings) that the motor was just powered to the first assist level. However, if the power does go to full level on shorting said wires, is this what's happening in your system?

As I said, just pondering and not having experienced a fault like yours, I'm fishing in the dark a little. Posing your problem on Endless Sphere and or Pedelecs.co.uk may reap reward?

[Manc33]

Mine does it sometimes (Bafang 850C). I usually have it on 3/5 and sometimes it goes to 4/5 without touching it. I am bombing along wondering why then see it on the display. It's happened maybe 4 or 5 times in the 3 years I have had it.

[emleyman]

I suspect it may be a sticking button on the display. I had similar with a KT LCD4 display where it would suddenly change to level 5 without any input from me. Occasionally I'd also get the display backlight switch on, which is done by holding the"up" button for a couple of seconds.
A replacement display solved the problem and it's been OK for a couple of years now.

[PAB855]

Thanks everyone especially bikes4two.

As my free time is very restricted I am going to contact the technician who put this conversion together, his full time job with many years of experience.

I was putting off because I wanted to look into it myself to learn what I could first.

After next week I hope to have answers for you, even if it's that a replacement readout was required.

Cheers