Dreaded controller lights

[MitchF]

Two days off , glorious weather and I’ve got the controller problem. As soon as I insert the battery all the lights on the controller and no power ?.
Currently it’s parked in the back garden in the sun, hopefully it’ll evaporate any moisture ??

 

[poppy]

Two days off , glorious weather and I’ve got the controller problem. As soon as I insert the battery all the lights on the controller and no power ?.
Currently it’s parked in the back garden in the sun, hopefully it’ll evaporate any moisture ??

Get your wife's hairdryer on it.

 

[MitchF]

Boom, fixed????
Going to ride to the shops to get my wife new hair dryer as hers is burnt out ????

 

[MitchF]

Spoke to soon, all lights back on, no power to motor. Turn power off, switch’s itself back on again. Dealer can’t fit it in until 03/09 ?

 

[Tony.OK]

Got caught in the rain today, charged it after ride and now doing exactly as you've described....was going to shop tomorrow to get batt shim done (at my cost....thanks Giant warranty ?).....now I'll have to get controller sorted too....getting sick of this bike fast ?

 

[MitchF]

Mine happened after it was washed , no jet wash , hose just on fine spray. Working OK now after three days. Still going to put it into the dealers to get it checked. I’m concerned about this issue going into winter ??‍

 

[poppy]

More hairdryer mate. Takes a while to evaporate the moisture. The switches suck balls. I went for a ride a while ago back when we used to get rain, pissing down, muddy as buggery, was awesome. Got back to my mates place where we hosed off the bikes and each other(insert erotic nipple tweeking, soapy sponges drizzling water down our filthy bodies)? nah scrap that, we just hosed the crap off. Took my bike home and forgot to pull the battery out and sat it in it's wheel stand. That was about lunch time. So about 4.00 my Mrs comes in to tell me my bike was up against the garage door and was making wierd noises. I shoot up off my couch and fly into the garage to see my bike lying on it's side up against the door running. What the fuck, it decided it was going into walk mode all by itself and fucking off. So i pulled the battery and dryed everything out with the hairdryer. I did tell my bikeshop owner and he had his own tail he told me not dissimilar to what i had just told him. Lesson's i learnt, alway's pull the battery when i have finished a ride, wash my bike with a plastic bag and rubber band over the controller, take a plastic bag and rubber bands with me in my camelbak just incase it rains why i am out riding. I have not had the issue since and still have the same controller.

 

[MitchF]

Yeh, I guess that’s the future , no issue with bagging it up. But for a bike that’s designed for cross country and mountain terrain it’s not good.
As for your showering habits my friend I won’t judge ???

 

[Pukmeister]

I asked my dealer about this issue when I collected my bike, he told me my bike has the new V4 controller which has better sealing to sort this problem.

(Fingers crossed.)

 

[MitchF]

Mines in next week I’ll ask about that V4. Thanks for the heads up on that ??

 

[MitchF]

Had it’s first service yesterday , new controller fitted under warranty ??

 

[Pukmeister]

I wonder if the new controllers feature ANT+ as well as the Bluetooth ? The 2020 models incorporate this as standard (unlike the 2019 bikes.)

I don't have an ANT+ compatible device to test mine.

 

[Tony.OK]

Have had mine in lbs and they dropped motor and cleaned and dried plugs, no new controller, worked fine, didn't wash it and then my shock puked its oil all over the motor so had back at lbs for shock warranty........got it home after 1st ride on new shock and gave it a very gentle wash without even doing handlebars and now back to not turning off......lbs have said nothing about controllers and don't seem to like hearing about forums ?
I like this bike but man its p*ssing me off that its proving unreliable and costing me time and money to take to shop all the time.

Vid of whats happening.....

 

[MitchF]

That’s exactly what mine was doing.
After 2 or 3 washes.
First fix was , Cleaned the battery connections with electrical contact cleaner , then used a hair dryer on the controller.

After 3 days drying out it worked OK.

When it went in for service they changed the controller for V4. GIANT dealer , they had no problem changing the part and GIANT covered it.

Not had an issue since.

 

[Evolution Stu]

You may need to change your bike shop sadly mate, these giant controllers are a KNOWN WARRANTY FIX.

Incidently, the problem seems to be with the connector 9 out of 10 times, and NOT the control unit itself.

Pull the frame grommet out and dig the connector out, bet it’s wet.
That explains why most people always say the DIDNT wet the controller, yet the problem appeared after washing.

 

[Tony.OK]

You may need to change your bike shop sadly mate, these giant controllers are a KNOWN WARRANTY FIX.

Incidently, the problem seems to be with the connector 9 out of 10 times, and NOT the control unit itself.

Pull the frame grommet out and dig the connector out, bet it’s wet.
That explains why most people always say the DIDNT wet the controller, yet the problem appeared after washing.

Ahh I wish you'd posted earlier haha, took the bike back to shop yesterday, its the only one within 200kms, if I'd known there was a plug at the top end I'dve done it myself. I thought it ran to motor.
Even getting the batt spacer put in the shop said they had to drop motor which I know isn't necessary, I'd found the official "how to" from Giant which shows shim can be put in by lifting male plug, and when checking with Giant NZ nothing was said except I'd have to pay labour as it's not the shop I purchased from (they wont even respond to me) and warranty only covers parts, and must be fitted by authorized dealer or void your warranty.
Happy days!

 

[Evolution Stu]

Sounds like you haven’t had the best experience so far mate. I really hope you just get enjoyment from it now.

 

[Tony.OK]

Sounds like you haven’t had the best experience so far mate. I really hope you just get enjoyment from it now.

Haha I've been thinking it's cursed.....when it's going its a weapon to ride, have put in a 160mm shaft into forks and just put 40mm riser fatbars on.....a beast on the downhills now.....just wanna be able to ride the thing without fear of something going wrong haha!
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated ?

 

[Rusty]

when checking with Giant NZ nothing was said except I'd have to pay labour as it's not the shop I purchased from (they wont even respond to me) and warranty only covers parts, and must be fitted by authorized dealer or void your warranty.
Happy days!

Giant New Zealand is why I would never buy another Giant. I thought the previous distributor was shit after they claimed a manufacturing fault on my carbon frame was crash damage but the new guys are just as bad - if not worse.
I know of at least 3 multi-franchise bike shops that refuse to sell Giant ebikes now after their issues with the original eMTB.

 

[Evolution Stu]

I know how you feel mate, I’ve had the free hub failure, Bar control failure and a new motor in just 11 weeks of ownership. My LBS has been very impressive though. No messing, no labour charges to me. Just fixed.

Love it now it’s all sorted but the “engineering” is a joke really to be honest. Seems they threw a motor on a bicycle without much thought as to what happens if it gets bloody wet.

Fingers crossed we both have a fun future ahead. ??