Levo Gen 2 Turbo Levo motor doesn't restart after descent

[Chris Florence]

After descending a long hill and the bike speed drops below 32km/h, (the speed at which the assistance should kick back in again) when I start pedaling again the motor does not restart. While descending I do not pedal, as the speed is over 70km/h. The only way to get the motor to assist again after the descent is to cycle the power off and on again, and then things work again as they should. The bike is brand new, a 2021 model Levo Comp. The motor is a 24 Nov 2020 build (as per the serial number) and the motor firmware is 7.4.2. Does anybody have any ideas on how to rectify this? Ideas will be much appreciated

 

[BushLevo]

After descending a long hill and the bike speed drops below 32km/h, (the speed at which the assistance should kick back in again) when I start pedaling again the motor does not restart. While descending I do not pedal, as the speed is over 70km/h. The only way to get the motor to assist again after the descent is to cycle the power off and on again, and then things work again as they should. The bike is brand new, a 2021 model Levo Comp. The motor is a 24 Nov 2020 build (as per the serial number) and the motor firmware is 7.4.2. Does anybody have any ideas on how to rectify this? Ideas will be much appreciated

I have exactly the same problem on my 2019 Expert. Original motor built Mar 2019 3200km, firmware 7.4.2, never had any problems until the last month. The problem only happens on one particular descent. The first part of the descent is flat and when I pedal, assistance is there. The next part of the descent is about 800m long and I coast without pedalling at 65-70km/hr. At the bottom I wait for the bike to slow to below 25km/hr (the limit here in AU) then when I pedal, nothing. The TCU looks fine - still in ECO mode - and BLEVo reports everything looking fine, assistance at 35% etc, but the motor puts out ZERO watts. So I stop, cycle power off then on and everything is good again.

I tried an experiment: Just before I start the descent, cycle the power off then on, then start the descent. This seems to work.

It is really weird because I have done this descent many times in the last 2 years with no problems. Even with the current version of BLEVo (updated 9 June) and motor firmware (updated 7 April), I haven't had any problems until now. I do plenty of long descents in other locations and everything is fine. The only thing about this particular descent is I generally have a 5 minute rest just before I begin, whilst leaving the bike turned on. I haven't altered this pattern for a long time, since there was never a problem. So now I am trying different conditions to see if I can reliably reproduce the fault.

Your motor is newer than mine, yet is still doing the same thing. Could be a really odd bug in the motor firmware?

 

[Chris Florence]

I have exactly the same problem on my 2019 Expert. Original motor built Mar 2019 3200km, firmware 7.4.2, never had any problems until the last month. The problem only happens on one particular descent. The first part of the descent is flat and when I pedal, assistance is there. The next part of the descent is about 800m long and I coast without pedalling at 65-70km/hr. At the bottom I wait for the bike to slow to below 25km/hr (the limit here in AU) then when I pedal, nothing. The TCU looks fine - still in ECO mode - and BLEVo reports everything looking fine, assistance at 35% etc, but the motor puts out ZERO watts. So I stop, cycle power off then on and everything is good again.

I tried an experiment: Just before I start the descent, cycle the power off then on, then start the descent. This seems to work.

It is really weird because I have done this descent many times in the last 2 years with no problems. Even with the current version of BLEVo (updated 9 June) and motor firmware (updated 7 April), I haven't had any problems until now. I do plenty of long descents in other locations and everything is fine. The only thing about this particular descent is I generally have a 5 minute rest just before I begin, whilst leaving the bike turned on. I haven't altered this pattern for a long time, since there was never a problem. So now I am trying different conditions to see if I can reliably reproduce the fault.

Your motor is newer than mine, yet is still doing the same thing. Could be a really odd bug in the motor firmware?

I have just had the speed sensor replaced by the local specialised shop, as they believe it is the problem. I haven't had a chance to test the bike on the hill on which the fault occurs, and will only be able to do the test on Monday morning. I will post a reply on the forum to report if the new speed sensor has solved the problem. I am not convinced it is a speed sensor issue, but Monday will tell all...........

 

[Chris Florence]

So just to follow up on the issue I had.
My local Specialized dealer first swapped out the speed sensor, and this didn't sort the problem.
Then they swapped out the TCU, this also didn't sort out the problem.
Finally they swapped out the motor, and the problem is fixed. The original speed sensor and TCU were put back on the bike, so the only new component is the motor, and the issue has now gone away.
Awesome service from the bike shop, they were very helpful in sorting this out.

 

[BushLevo]

Glad to see your problem got sorted. I'm still conducting experiments to see the exact conditions that cause this in my bike. So far, peak speed has to be above 68km/hr. When I know more I will contact Specialized customer support here in AUS. I've done this before with a TCU problem and they are good to deal with. My motor is covered under the 4 year extended warranty, but they will probably take convincing to swap it out. I will post again when I know more.

 

[Chris Florence]

My peak speed was always over 70km/h, due to the steepness of the hill I would descend. The only other symptom of what I assume was a slightly "sick" motor I could find was the when I was pedalling at a high cadence (over 90rpm) and with minimal power input from me into the pedals, the motor noise would change from the usual electric motor whine, to more of a whirring noise. I don't know if this was in any way associated with the fault I was experiencing, but the new motor doesn't do the whirring noise thing.
Good luck with getting your bike sorted, I hope you get the problem solved.

 

[BushLevo]

Specialized really do provide top notch service. I raised a support ticket with Specialized Australia and straight away they have offered to replace my original motor with a new one containing the improvements made since my March 2019 motor. YES!!! In the meantime, I have provided tech info for them to submit to their engineers.

My only problem is that I live in a city (Melbourne, Australia) which is just about to make the record as the longest COVID-19 locked down city in the world! I know that everyone else is laughing at us, but our lockdown 6.0 (began on August 5) is due to relax restrictions in 5 weeks time subject to 70% fully vaccinated rates. Fortunately, there is a Specialized LBS about 16km from my home, who might be able to accommodate me when their current workload allows.

 

[Chris Florence]

Specialized really do provide top notch service. I raised a support ticket with Specialized Australia and straight away they have offered to replace my original motor with a new one containing the improvements made since my March 2019 motor. YES!!! In the meantime, I have provided tech info for them to submit to their engineers.

My only problem is that I live in a city (Melbourne, Australia) which is just about to make the record as the longest COVID-19 locked down city in the world! I know that everyone else is laughing at us, but our lockdown 6.0 (began on August 5) is due to relax restrictions in 5 weeks time subject to 70% fully vaccinated rates. Fortunately, there is a Specialized LBS about 16km from my home, who might be able to accommodate me when their current workload allows.

woop woop!! Excellent news, hopefully the motor swap out sorts your problem out like it did mine. I have to agree with you on the service level offered by Specialized, I have had excellent service in all of my dealings with them to date.
In South Africa we have just relaxed our restrictions slightly after our third wave of infections seems to be slowing, but the prediction is for a fourth wave of infections to hit us soon. Luckily I have had both of my vaccine shots, so the chances of me getting a severe dose of the dreaded virus are reduced.
Good luck with the bike, I hope you get it sorted.

 

[BushLevo]

A long wait until I could test this out again on a new motor. I FINALLY got a new motor installed as well as a new TCU (in a different unrelated case) and then had to wait for the right road conditions to test this dropout problem again.

Unfortunately, the problem still remains...when you reach 70km/hr, at the bottom of the descent, the motor dropout occurs with BLEVo showing a flashing red motor status light. Cycling the power to the bike fixes this immediately.

Specialized customer support had previously got back to me (prior to motor replacement) saying that they suspected this was more likely to be a firmware problem, than a hardware issue. They may be looking into it for a future motor firmware release.

Because this only happens under rare and specific conditions, and is very quick to fix, it is not a major issue for me...just an annoyance. I'm just relieved to have a new, revised design Brose 2.1 motor in my bike. Specialized here in AUS were pretty keen to get the new motor into my bike, given the global warranty claims they were having with the original design motor.