Quote:
Originally Posted by Philip
Error 42 is a communications fault between the Extra Battery pack and the Main Board. I don't know what the other two errors are, but they also likely relate to the same area (or they are examples of the % battery charge, interchanging with the display of the error code).
The usual cause of Error 42 is that your Extra Battery has come loose against the Stem, so the connection between the pack and the board is intermittently disconnecting while riding, (or permanently disconnecting). This can cause arcing between the pins and sockets, carbonisation of the metal, and damage to the connector/plug itself...and ultimately permanent damage to either the pack or the board. Light carbonisation can often be cleaned up successfully.
Even if the two 3mm hex fasteners that attach the Extra Battery to the Battery Bracket are tight, you also need to tighten the three 2.5mm hex fasteners that hold the Bracket to the Stem. I suggest applying fresh thread-locker compound (eg Loctite) to these 5 threads.
The main cause of loosening of these bolts is riding the KickScooter too enthusiastically!
Are you riding over a lot of rough surfaces, such as chip-seal road or concrete paths with loses of joins? Check the User Manual - the design spec for the width and height of gaps/thresholds is probably smaller than you are encountering. Slow down so that you strike these gaps/thresholds with less force, and check that your rider+cargo weight does not exceed the design spec. Otherwise your entire KickScooter is going to wear out relatively quickly (in the same way as a person who drives their car hard and fast is going to burn through tyres, etc).
Fast wear of your front tyre within 100-200 km suggests a lot of skidding has been occurring.
One cause of rapid wear is through slight lifting of the front tyre with every "kick" - this most often occurs when the rider is kicking to assist the KickScooter while riding up steep hills. If every kick causes a little lift and thus a little slip of the wheel, then this will skid away your tread rather rapidly. Like, within a couple of hundred km's (or even less). These brief little skids happen even more readily in wet conditions, of course. Modify your riding style so as to prevent these split-second skids every time you kick. Also, lighten up on the throttle response so you're not causing wheel slip during acceleration (again, enhanced if you tend to pull back on the handlebars and skid the front wheel as you take off).
Some owners are able to get a couple of thousand kilometres - or further - of good, safe use from a front tyre on an ES-series before they need to replace it due to wear. Others....not so far. The difference mostly comes down to riding style, and some comes down to the road surface and slope, and rider weight.
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You are exactly right as I have already found exactly what you describe:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ninebot/com...tm_name=iossmf
The app was only seeing the internal battery and should have said “Battery 1” and “Battery 2” at the top of the screen instead of just “Battery.” The labels work like tabs to bring up the other battery’s info but since it only saw one battery it was just a header with no context for how it should look with a second battery. I didn’t know what I was supposed to see until last night. I have since updated the IMGUR gallery linked in the OP.
Here’s how it went: I called Segway yesterday and they asked me to call back after I remove the battery, charge the scooter, and attempt to ride without the battery. I took it to the workshop I have been setting up since the tornado but couldn’t get that far as I have not found my hex keys from the tornado-damaged house yet and the one Segway included was only enough to take the pack off. The rail prevents charging without the pack and takes a smaller hex. The two I did remove were plenty tight but the rail was able to move a tiny bit (nothing I would’ve noticed if not looking for it).
Since I couldn’t go any further without a set of hex keys I decided to clean the contacts and put it back together. I used a cotton swab with PUREtronics Electronics Cleaning Grade 99.9% isopropyl alcohol on the smaller four pins, avoiding the other two because they were the high amp contacts and I didn’t want to short them. I couldn’t get too deep since the swab was too thick but I did see enough black oxidation on the swab that I knew the contacts needed cleaning. Though I barely touched it, the swab looked like a blackened cotton swab you might get after cleaning an old video game cartridge. I pulled most of the cotton off so that I could get between the four smaller pins a bit better then put dielectric grease over the corresponding holes in battery pack and wiped off the excess in a way that left the holes plugged with grease and installing it would push the grease in. Even without contact cleaner I have seen dielectric grease completely restore bad electrical connections in everything from car headlights to scratchy volume pots to PC VGA ports. That’s why they sell it as “bulb grease” at auto parts stores.
Anyway, it worked flawlessly! I plugged it in to charge and got no errors. I fired up the app and noted that it now shows both batteries. I charged it up and the power was restored.
The majority of riding has been on smooth streets. There is a railroad crossing but I always walk across even though it is downhill. I occasionally cross a brick crosswalk/intersection but slow down and push there too.
As mentioned elsewhere when I have discussed the excessive wear, I learned not to kick while giving it power on my very first ride... so I don’t think that’s causing my tire wear. Though the wheel spins freely, I have to wonder if the suspension is scraping it while in motion. You see, I’ve been very mindful of preventing wheel slipping, especially since I noticed the wear within days of buying the scooter... well before the central rib was gone. It’s gone along with the rest of the tread only a few weeks later. Considering how often I use the foot brake on the rear tire I would expect to see severe wear there, if anywhere, and yet it still looks new. I will have to see if there is anything I can do about that. I recently began to run alongside the scooter and then hop on instead of kicking but it hasn’t slowed the wear at all.
I hope the wear is related to stem wobble. I will get that corrected and change the tire to see if the problem remains. Thanks! I am happy to see that the call center resumed operation and the battery fix was relatively easy but I am still concerned with them closing out open support tickets after asking you to wait for an answer, the premature tire wear, the stem wobble, and the problem where it powers on automatically if you leave it on charge. One step at a time. I may yet keep it if I can take care of some of these other issues.
