2020 Giant Fathom E+ 3 Will Not Turn Off

Kiwi Giant

Active member
Feb 11, 2020
119
134
New Zealand
Hi all. A strange one today that I cannot explain and hopefully someone can help me with. When I went out to the garage this afternoon to take my 2020 Giant Fathom E+ 3 29er I found all the LED's on my RideControl One (5 white battery level LED's, 5 white assist level LED's & the centre white LT/Auto LED) powered on white and I couldn't turn the RideControl One off. I had to remove the battery to get it to shutdown. As soon as I refitted the battery I had the same thing happen, all the same white LED's came on.

After numerous attempts it all seemed to come right, however as soon as I switched the RideControl One off I would get the normal shutdown LED for 3 sec and all lights off, then again all the LED's would come on white.

Battery was showing full so I decided to go for a ride and got home with approx 40%. As soon as I switched off I couldn't switch on again. After a battery removal/refit I again had the all LED's on white again.

I decided to charge the battery and pull the inline connector from the RideControl One out of the frame and give it a clean with contact cleaner. It looked OK with no moisture in it. I reconnected everything wiggled the wire IAW the Service Manual instructions. Still no improvement. As a last resort I took my daughter's hairdryer to the inline connector, the RideControl One buttons/LED's and the battery connector fitting on the frame.

After a time with the hairdryer playing on all the components mentioned above I refitted the charged battery and it now all seems to have come right. All very strange. Has anyone else had this? I did clean the chain about 4 days ago, I did turn it on after the clean and it was OK at the time.

I can only assume I have somehow managed to get some water into something that I shouldn't have and it is causing this issue. I've now got the bike in front of a fan heater so hopefully any moisture is being dried out.

Any help appreciated and if you have had an issue like this can you let me know the fix.

Thanks - Kiwi
 
Last edited:

Tony.OK

Active member
Mar 20, 2019
191
234
Napier, New Zealand
Hi all. A strange one today that I cannot explain and hopefully someone can help me with. When I went out to the garage this afternoon to take my 2020 Giant Fathom E+ 3 29er I found all the LED's on my RideControl One (5 white battery level LED's, 5 white assist level LED's & the centre white LT/Auto LED) powered on white and I couldn't turn the RideControl One off. I had to remove the battery to get it to shutdown. As soon as I refitted the battery I had the same thing happen, all the same white LED's came on.

After numerous attempts it all seemed to come right, however as soon as I switched the RideControl One off I would get the normal shutdown LED for 3 sec and all lights off, then again all the LED's would come on white.

Battery was showing full so I decided to go for a ride and got home with approx 40%. As soon as I switched off I couldn't switch on again. After a battery removal/refit I again had the all LED's on white again.

I decided to charge the battery and pull the inline connector from the RideControl One out of the frame and give it a clean with contact cleaner. It looked OK with no moisture in it. I reconnected everything wiggled the wire IAW the Service Manual instructions. Still no improvement. As a last resort I took my daughter's hairdryer to the inline connector, the RideControl One buttons/LED's and the battery connector fitting on the frame.

After a time with the hairdryer playing on all the components mentioned above I refitted the charged battery and it now all seems to have come right. All very strange. Has anyone else had this? I did clean the chain about 4 days ago, I did turn it on after the clean and it was OK at the time.

I can only assume I have somehow managed to get some water into something that I shouldn't have and it is causing this issue. I've now got the bike in front of a fan heater so hopefully any moisture is being dried out.

Any help appreciated and if you have had an issue like this can you let me know the fix.

Thanks - Kiwi
Had same prob with mine, seems to be one of the plugs by the motor gets a bit of moisture inside. After paying labour costs to fix under warranty I've ordered a spider socket so I can get to plugs myself and seal the all with liquid tape.
 

simonk

SLayer ?
Jan 27, 2020
337
423
Exeter
It’s generally a water ingress into the Ride Control module issue. With any luck now you’ve dried it out that’ll be the end of it. Corrosion can set in, in which case you’ll need a new controller which should be covered under warranty.
Have you ridden it in the rain or washed it with a hose? Try to keep water well away from the controller at any rate.
 

oldmanmx

Member
Jan 19, 2020
57
47
Camden NSW
Hi all. A strange one today that I cannot explain and hopefully someone can help me with. When I went out to the garage this afternoon to take my 2020 Giant Fathom E+ 3 29er I found all the LED's on my RideControl One (5 white battery level LED's, 5 white assist level LED's & the centre white LT/Auto LED) powered on white and I couldn't turn the RideControl One off. I had to remove the battery to get it to shutdown. As soon as I refitted the battery I had the same thing happen, all the same white LED's came on.

After numerous attempts it all seemed to come right, however as soon as I switched the RideControl One off I would get the normal shutdown LED for 3 sec and all lights off, then again all the LED's would come on white.

Battery was showing full so I decided to go for a ride and got home with approx 40%. As soon as I switched off I couldn't switch on again. After a battery removal/refit I again had the all LED's on white again.

I decided to charge the battery and pull the inline connector from the RideControl One out of the frame and give it a clean with contact cleaner. It looked OK with no moisture in it. I reconnected everything wiggled the wire IAW the Service Manual instructions. Still no improvement. As a last resort I took my daughter's hairdryer to the inline connector, the RideControl One buttons/LED's and the battery connector fitting on the frame.

After a time with the hairdryer playing on all the components mentioned above I refitted the charged battery and it now all seems to have come right. All very strange. Has anyone else had this? I did clean the chain about 4 days ago, I did turn it on after the clean and it was OK at the time.

I can only assume I have somehow managed to get some water into something that I shouldn't have and it is causing this issue. I've now got the bike in front of a fan heater so hopefully any moisture is being dried out.

Any help appreciated and if you have had an issue like this can you let me know the fix.

Thanks - Kiwi
I've had the same problem. If you look around this forum you'll find plenty that have had the same issue. They changed the design of the controller but it still gives problems. Luckily in OZ we don't have a lot of wet weather. Best thing for these things is to try and keep them as dry as possible. If you are out in the bush and need to take a leak make sure you're standing at least 20 metres from your bike to avoid moisture issues
 

Kiwi Giant

Active member
Feb 11, 2020
119
134
New Zealand
It doesn't appear to be the controller. After playing around I think I had some moisture in the battery compartment area, after my post yesterday I was still having intermittent issues so today I placed a fan heater aimed at the battery compartment & motor area (not to close) and left it there for 4 hours. Since then no further problems. I had a long ride this afternoon and everything is operating OK. Lesson learned, it doesn't like moisture. Thanks everyone for your posts.
 

Kiwi Giant

Active member
Feb 11, 2020
119
134
New Zealand
Had same prob with mine, seems to be one of the plugs by the motor gets a bit of moisture inside. After paying labour costs to fix under warranty I've ordered a spider socket so I can get to plugs myself and seal the all with liquid tape.

I think you are right Tony, this would be the long term fix.
 

oldmanmx

Member
Jan 19, 2020
57
47
Camden NSW
If anyone takes their bike apart to get to the whats causing the problem could they take some pics and post them here for future reference
 

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