oxonchris

Hi [mention=9614]Nealh[/mention], thanks for the suggestions but I don't have wheel sensor /spoke magnet and I'm reasonably sure that the motor didn't hit the ground. The problem occurs as soon as you turn on the system at the handlebar control - one flashing LED which the manual tells me is a battery fault. Last night I reconnected my old Sunstar battery which works I'm sure (has a limited range), exactly the same fault reported.

Hi, I’m hoping there might be somebody with Sunstar ibike experience here (it’s a Japanese crank drive system that is now out of production)? My Sunstar battery only gives me a few miles range now so I bought a new x-go 24v battery from ebay and soldered it in a couple of days ago*, initially it seemed to work fine so I took it for a ride. Unfortunately I caught my rear wheel in a pothole which ripped the tyre/tube and damaged the rim so I had a long walk home! When I had the bike up on the stand at home I just tried to turn on the ibike as usual via the controller and it now doesn’t work. It shows a single flashing red light on the controller which according to the manual is a ‘Battery fault’ – so I was blaming the issue on the x-go battery. I have since swapped my old Sunstar battery back, which I know works but with poor range, and I get the same flashing light. Any thoughts on troubleshooting? I am now wondering if the ibike motor took a knock when I hit the pothole although I can’t see any obvious damage (unlike my wheel!). Many thanks, Chris

Ah OK, thanks for that. So from what you are saying its totally safe and wouldn't cause a problem, many thanks. I just found it a little surprising as I know the Sunstar battery doesn't do that. I'll add another post about my real problem then later on! Many thanks.

Hi, I have just bought a new X-Go 24V Bottle type battery from an e-Bay seller. Does anyone else think it's odd (and maybe dangerous) that when I turn the battery off I can still measure 14v on the terminals of the battery? 29v fully charged, turn it 'off' and this drops to 14v. In my book off means off! My old Sunstar battery does not exhibit this behaviour. Many thanks, Chris

Hi, I've had another look on the German forum I mentioned earlier ... it looks like the connector from the motor to the battery has 4 wires - a black and a white thick wire for power and a thin red and thin brown wire (the 5th connector on the battery holder doesn't seem to connect to a wire). And it does seem like people are saying that you can just connect the thick wires to the 3rd party battery (make sure you get the polarity right) and just bridge/short/connect the other two. I've attached a couple of pics, one showing the connector on the motor side and the other showing a project from the German forum, towards bottom center you can see the same 4 wires without the connector block and the two thin wires appear to be connected. Has anyone here tried this and can confirm it will work before I buy a battery. Cheers, Chris

No, mine is 24 v only, shame. Thanks for coming back though. My motor makes a squeaking noise after 5 miles or so sometimes, I'm wondering if this is the motor on the way out? I took it to the dealer who sold/fitted the kit who tells me they cant find anything wrong with it and also cant reproduce it. So its a question of, how much do I spend on this kit or do it 'skip' it :-( Thanks again.

Hi all, I've just found this on the german forum https://www.pedelecforum.de/forum/index.php?threads/anschlu%C3%9F-akku-an-sunstar-s03-motor.48666/#post-838424 If I open this google does an auto translate for me, it looks like others have tried to add a 3rd party battery to a Sunstar motor with mixed results, looks like one of the contributors have connected the battery with the wrong polarity (oops) and another seems to be an ex Sunstar agent in Vienna who produced some kind of gadget to allow a 3rd party battery to be used - I've messaged him for more info. So perhaps just connecting a 3rd party battery will not work on its own? Chris

Hi Nealh, The battery has 5 connectors at the bottom that plug into the holder and a wire out of that with 4 (or 5?) wires. I think some of these must be around battery management/sensing how much of the battery charge is left to display on the handlebar display? Presumably (obviously) non of the battery charge display functionality would work but you are saying as long as I get the polarity right on the 24v and ground from the new battery the power to the motor would be fine? Are you aware of anyone who has actually done this with a Sunstar on the forum perhaps? I've just seem some evidence of this on the German pedelecs forum but that will take some time to pick through and translate. Thanks for your help, Chris

Hi, I have a sunstar so3 crank drive kit (24v) on my Scott, the battery (bottle shape) is failing now so I need a replacement. As i'm sure many here know Sunstar have stopped making these kits so I'm a bit stuck. Does anyone know where I could get a battery from, ideally like for like? Perhaps someone knows where the batteries were made, I'm assuming Sunstar didn't manufacture them? I've also considered having the battery rebuilt with new cells, but this seems to be coming out rather expensive. Thanks in advance, Chris

Hi, I have a 24v sunstar ibike which is still OK but the battery (down tube bottle type) is past its best. I don't suppose yours is 24v? Also interested in the failure, did it fail without any warning or was it starting to make some sort of noise? Many thanks, Chris