Brose S-Mag failure

radvis

Finding my (electric) wheels
Sep 12, 2021
13
1
I am experiencing a serious issue with my my Specialized Turbo Levo e-bike, powered by a Brose Drive S-Mag, Gen 1 (C16162).

It has stopped working after I uploaded a third-party application to control it.

After the failure I went to an authorized Specialized service center, where they performed an in-depth diagnosis and found that the motor, battery, cables, and other accessories are perfectly fine. They performed a complete reset of the motor to factory settings, but it did not solve the issue. The motor still does not work.

Here is chronologically how the failure occurred:

1. I had the Specialized app installed and connected to the motor; everything worked fine.
2. I deleted the Specialized app and installed a third-party app (BLEvo); everything worked fine.
3. I reinstalled the Specialized app, keeping both apps connected; everything worked fine for a couple of kilometers.
4. The motor stopped working for the first time. I tried reinstalling and resetting all settings; the motor worked fine for a couple of kilometers.
5. The motor stopped working again.
6. I went to a Specialized service center, and the technician said the motor is fine but that installing the third-party app "blocked" the motor.

Can anyone please guess, based on this description, what the failure might be and how it might be fixed?

Thank you in advance.
 

matthewslack

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 26, 2021
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The cause is the BLEvo app, so the answer will likely come from its owners/authors/suppliers.

It appears to have changed settings in your system which the standard app and motor don't like. I'd be asking the BLEvo people what it changes and how to change everything back.

There's a chance they won't be able to help, so sadly your motor may be cold toast.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,940
6,518

they cover the brose motor in the uk
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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Using two bluetooth connected apps to access the same device can cause the bluetooth module in that device to crash. Happens to bluetooth printers quite often, even the expensive ones, which is why there's a dedicated reset button on many for bluetooth... and it sometimes happens anyway. Perhaps disable bluetooth on your phone and leave the motor unpowered for a few days, perhaps this will reset the bluetooth module, then try again with just one app?


6. I went to a Specialized service center, and the technician said the motor is fine but that installing the third-party app "blocked" the motor.
If both apps were making firmware parameter changes at the same time, it seems sensible for a blocking function to have been programmed into the motor controller's firmware, upon error detection.
 
Last edited:

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,940
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if a can bus system sees something wrong it bricks it and dealer software cant clear it its a fkn pita.

think off it like old motherboards if u screw up the bios and press restart same thing but the bios was socketed then and new ones have a switch to change bios.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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think off it like old motherboards if u screw up the bios and press restart same thing but the bios was socketed then and new ones have a switch to change bios.
Many of the old PC motherboards had a clear CMOS jumper, which you shorted to reset the BIOS. All the way from 086.


if a can bus system sees something wrong it bricks it and dealer software cant clear it its a fkn pita.
If he's lucky, the bluetooth module can be reset independently somehow, and if not, the shutdown has been stored in persistent memory.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,940
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ones i had never as had to put new ones in lol but they was all abit and it melted down anyway

57396

id say it is more anti tamper software kicking in but im sure peter can sort it one way or another.

:oops:
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
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well only way i got it going again was changing that chip in the brown socket and then it died and had 3 off those all go the same :rolleyes:

my server dont like bios updates unless it is the usb on the mobo.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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I've got to change a DAC to a Burr-Brown at some point, but I'm distracted by Naked News at the moment. I don't believe any other news programme, they expose the truth every time.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,940
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57397

that was it and then the north bridge died fkn thing.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
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i still have a mobo with that socket the north bridge heat sink does not even have a fan and gets so hot u cant even touch it but i think it still works.

nothing is made to last anymore or even be fixable :(
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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i still have a mobo with that socket the north bridge heat sink does not even have a fan and gets so hot u cant even touch it but i think it still works.

nothing is made to last anymore or even be fixable :(
I've never had that fail, because I have lots of air moved by six big silent fans (usually four) silently through the soundproofed case, with positive air pressure to keep dust out.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,940
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it was a abit problem and why they went bust ek is going don the shitter lol

 

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