So I got problems with my motor about a month ago now. I started the RMA process on the Enertion site 4th of July. In the beginning of this week (18th) it was still pending so I sent an email out monday that has not yet been responded to (it has been 18 days since my initial contact).
I know @onloop and the others over at Enertion have a lot on their plate at the moment but this response time is starting to become unacceptable and my feeling when reading about support errands with Enertion is that most people get very good help which makes me feel my case has gotten lost or something. I mean @onloop even came to the thread where me and another user described our problems but I get zero response when opening RMA or emailing.
What is your experience, does it usually take time or what is going on?
(Absolutely not aiming to do any badmouthing about Enertion. I have bought lots of things and I am very pleased over all but this support time is making it hard to not say something bad)
Usually get a reply within 48hrs except for weekends which is understandable.
Nothing but great costumer service for me, unfortunate delays in getting stuff during the expansion, but still great communication.
I have thought about trying to fix it myself but not sure I will succeed and have therefore not wanted to tamper with it before talking with support.
Edit: As you can see the wires are touching and have shorted out/gone black there. Board slams on breaks when riding so have not dared to ride since for the sake of myself and not screwing the VESC up.
The fix is for this issue is fairly quick, need to get more heat shrink tube and cover these exposed lengths of copper wire inside the motor, that will fix the problem. If you have epoxy you could also glue the wires in place to prevent the vibrations.
to open the motor you only need to remove one circlip. so you will need circlip pliers. You will also need some heat shrink tube.
Shrink tube is easy to find, something like this pack is a good idea
So I opened up the motor just now and other from the part that itās impossible to move the stator from the rest of the motor itās all goodā¦
I might still be able to fix it, but itāll take time and honestly I have more fun things to do in my tiny amounts of spare time. I feel like Iāve bought a faulty crap china product for shitloads of money. Like who thought it was a good idea the cables could move around freely and not be isolated?!
Sending it around Europe is probably useless, itād be cheaper to buy another motor off hobbyking and throw this crap out in the yard for insects to live in.
I too have the exact same problem and honestly am feeling the same way. This is clearly something thatās an issue on all of the motors and should be fixed before these are sent to customers.
@massy and @Haick - I understand your frustration. But even with good QC - things get past testing. Iām expecting those motors spun and passed, but may not last long w/ wear. MTBF is a bitch and applies to all electronics.
Iāve always found Enertion support to be really fast and theyāve gone the extra mile a few times getting things to me quickly.
If you have the disposable $ to chuck them out the window - iād give them to another e-boarder here to fix and useā¦ no need to be wasteful. I know this is you venting your frustration, but give them (enertion) a chance to help and fix.
If you donāt want to take a minute or two to fix a small issue (easily done w/ steps given) - perhaps DIY isnāt for you? . And if that quick fix doesnāt work - i trust they will make it right.
And if DIY isnāt for you - thereās always the new Boosted coming out you could look at getting
I hear you loud and clear and feel the same for the most part.
DIY is most definately for me, that said however doesnāt mean I necessarily enjoy spending hours and buying tools for the specific cause of repairing a part I bought assembled and ready to go. This is most certainly not a few minutes task (if you know how to do this in minutes, please explain).
I understand wear and tear is a thing but if this is a problem with many motors it will eventually come back and kick Enertion in the ass as well when people get thrown off, lots of motors need to be recalled etc, etc. The cables are moving freely like 5-10cm at the motor entrance for christ sake, if these doesnāt move to short the thing out eventually Iād say youāre incredibly lucky. Itās just not viable in the long run or for the sake of peoples safety in a commercial product like the Raptor.
And itās not like Iāve worn this one out for long time. Got the motor in Feb/March, built the board, tested in April/May. Got everything up and running by the end of May. Rode 20 km a few times and āthis motor is now fucked and tried to kill me several times because the factory doesnāt know how to isolate a cableā.
I have put the thing in the freezer (which should help according toā¦folks?) and will try to get the stator off again tomorrow (which by the way is not a few minutes work. Especially if you donāt have an arsenal of tools). Now however: sleep time.
It depends on your setup (you could have strained the motor), but from my point of view it looks like Enertion is not being professional with customer support. We donāt know the real cause of the problem, but letās put that aside for a moment. You contact the company that sold you the product youāre having trouble with not so long after buying it and you get no reply in two weeks - thatās bad customer care. Even worse is this: ābecause we have a lot on our plateā and āthings at Enertion HQ have been very crazy for last two monthsā (which onloop continually says everywhere). Why the big āFā should that concern me after buying a product for 150-200 bucks? And Iām not even saying that the product is bad (we donāt know), but after a paying customer asks something - you should answer fast, your reputation is at stake.
PS: I donāt know the whole story and I didnāt buy anything from Enertion myself, but iām seeing a lot of things like this from others lately. @onloop, if you run a business, be professional about customer support. Excuses donāt cut it!
PPS: I think iāve cut Enertion too much slack. If several people ahre having the came problem, it can really be the providerās fault. Also answering something like āyou can fix it yourselfā instead of āIām sorry we lost your email, please do so an soā¦ā feels cheap.
you sound like you can do a much better job buddy! what your business called?
donāt have one? well go start your own business, small-scale manufacturing, serving the entire world with custom made parts and see how well you goā¦ then have a new baby enter your life, also add 1400% growth, 4 new staff members to train, 100-200 emails each dayā¦ & try to scale your systems to during the process, do all this from your garageā¦
please donāt remove the stator, all you need is a circlip plier, if you donāt have that use normal pliers but you might then need a new circlip.
otherwise, we need to get the motor sent half-way across the globe, back to Australia, Iāll take the circlip off & Iāll put the shrink tube on the wires, then i ll send the motor back across the globe.
this will take around 2-4 weeks. cost probably $200 in shipping fees.
happy to offer that if you canāt work it out.
please note, I am not trying to be a dick, i am just trying to save time & money by giving you advice on how to fix it yourself.
Poor thing, Did I hurt your feelings?
Thing is I never meant to, youāre not mature enough to run a worldwide business if you take everything as a personal offence.
Learn to take constructive criticism (especially if your products are not the best, which you will not admit) and stop making excuses. Good enterpreneurs donāt whine about how hard their life or business is.
PS: I do run en escape room business for two years, as Iāve mentioned in other thread. This business is the reason I tell you to ante up customer support, Iāve gone through this already.
I should have been more fair. Jason from enertion has been incredibly helpful every step of the way for each and every question Iāve asked. In fact, thatās why I messaged him directly first. I donāt have a problem having to desolder each bullet connector after already pulling the motor apart just to shrink wrap the motor wires that should have already been heat shrinked and not exposed from the manufacturer. Itās such a small cost savings and a huge corner to cut on a part that clearly is bound to fail very fast! I donāt think this at all seems unreasonable. I still 100% support enertion and understand this could be a problem with growing pains. But I find it hard to justify something thatās so easy and cheap to do right in the manufacturing process that clearly was a way of cutting corners. Iām fully aware Enertion doesnāt build the motors himself so if I was him Iād either have the manufacturer fix it, or find a new motor manufacturer who wonāt cut the smallest of corners. Or obviously add the wire coverings himself. I donāt regret the purchases Iāve made at all. I am satisfied with everything Iāve bought from enertion. However, this one just seems like such an obvious no brainier that could have been so easily fixed.