Charging Produces tiny motor pulses (Video) Space cell- SOLVED

I don’t think this has been happening since the beginning, but tonight I noticed a strange pulsing noise coming from my my motor while charging. Space Cell, Steez remote, Enertion motor. Check this video but turn up the sound to hear it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZomDa6Uec6U

Has anyone come across this before? I don’t think it could be a remote related issue since the remote is obviously off.

My Lcd screen is off. Vesc is off aswell when charging. It seems like yours are both turned on for some reason

Mmm curious. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it turns on to monitor the charging. I’d love to know if the screen should actually be on or not? My power switch is in the off position BTW.

if it helps, my screen is off while charging unless i power the space cell on while charging

The newer space cells have a different behavior while charging due to the new charge only bms. The on/off switch should be turned off while charging in both cases.

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Thanks, that is good to know I figured it was okay… I am just a little thrown by the fact the motor is twitching as it charges.

Hey @carl.1 @onloop, perhaps you can chime in here. What could be causing this phenomenon? Since its with a defined pattern, I am guessing that its related to the rate that the charge in coming into the system.

Can anybody assist in helping me understand whats at play here? I want to make sure there isn’t anything nefarious at play here. @onloop you know this pack and BMS better than anyone can you please offer your thoughts?

this might sound like an unrelated question, but what hand controller do you have?

Enertion Steez - which incidentally gave me problems this morning and disconnected during ride. wouldn’t connect > switched pack & remote on/off > reconnected and powered on for a few seconds and then disconnected again. Walked the rest of the way.

@onloop what do you think?

the problem is not with your battery, it’s just some noise/interference with your remote.

you could try a ferrite ring

The pulsing of the motor during charging too?

As far as the remote this morning, I am not as confident that it is an interference problem… it has been working proper without any problems up until this morning. But, I will indeed explore the ferrite ring.

turn the battery on & stop charging, does the pulse occur?

if it doesn’t you are getting some interference related to the charger.

Thanks for your thoughts so far Jason.I haven’t tested in that order and will do tonight and report back.

Interference with the charger will cause a current to be sent through to the motor? The pulsing is the same pattern over and over which feels like like when ever the charger is sending power through to the battery. Or does the charger send through constant trickle? Another thought, could it be related to the vesc having power (on this BMS) and remote receiver being tricked into thinking it receiving a signal?

Alright I have a big update and solution

Even though it was very faint, noticed that the pulsing noise was actually happening even with it unplugged and the pack on. I just with the I pulled the cover and discovered that the vesc lights pulsed in the same succession at the pulsing noise. https://youtu.be/QLsRAnbdzjU

I knew at this point that it had to be related to the remote somehow, either with the hardware or the settings. When I unplugged the receiver of the remote, the pulsing stopped.

I took the chip out and this happened. It looks like the module had started to become loose and then finally broke free. I would say this is the cause of this anomaly. Jason, should this be tossed now or do you think it could be re-soldered?

IT CAN LIKELY BE RESOLDERED :slight_smile:

add some glue too to prevent the vibrations from destroying it

@onloop would this not be a warranty job Jason? Just curious as if it was me and a circuit board fell apart after minimal use, I’d be asking for a repair or replacement. Only a question mate, I don’t want to be smashed for asking on behalf of someone else :+1: I’ve bought plenty of kit from Enertion and personally haven’t had an issue with the quality so far. Generally I’ve been impressed with enertions corrections if things don’t go to plan. Cheers mate.

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If this was a raptor we would replace it, we offer 12 months instant replacement warranty on all raptors. As this part has been installed by end user it has a limited 60 days warranty that covers DOA type manufacturing faults. I know that sucks to say but that’s the nature of DIY stuff, there is a limited amount of responsibility left in the vendors hands when they are not the ones doing the final install.

This fault above is commonly related to vibrations together with time, the solder eventually snaps as the weight of the RF chip leverages it up & down & vibrates. I have asked the factory to resolve this issue by changing their design, they didn’t really listen. So we are left up to our own to use installation methods that prevent vibration damage.

We found that using glue & a shrink tube sleeve helped make them last longer. Vibrations are actually one of the biggest killers of electronics.

I suppose If the part is returned to us we could try to fix it. There would be a return postage cost. Normally due to the massive ocean between Australia & our customers countries this is rarely a viable option. Australian based customer will do it from time to time, but there is still a postage cost.

Alternatively, it could be sent back to china to the factory that made it, they will resolder it, but postage charges make it non viable.

The good news is this can probably be fixed with some solder & hot glue.

Wow, quite the answer there. Good to know where you stand I guess. Cheers for the quick response.