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Xima Lhotz IPS 191 suddenly won't power on :(


Marcus Matos

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Purchased in November of 2015. I ride it 2-4 times a week to and from work (approximately 4 miles per day).

This morning I unplug it from the charger, step outside, press the power button, then...nothing. No lights, no sounds, just...nothing.

I opened it up in the hopes that perhaps something really simple was wrong - a disconnected battery connector. No such luck.

I grabbed my multimeter and checked each cell - each is at 4.1V (side note: I fly a variety of RC models and am familiar with battery technology/care).

I checked each of the connection points and see full voltage being supplied to the power switch and circuit boards. I test the power switch and it's fine.

So...it looks like the brain of my EUC decided it was done carting my butt around.

Any recommendations on how I could get the computer repaired or replaced?

In case there are any IPS representatives around, here's the data from the QR code on the board:

 

Model: 0810 Lhotz340 Black

Production Date: October 6, 2015

Motor: 101150923656

Main Board: 3052350730181

Battery: 2009250930001

Production: abcdefghijklm

Inspection: 123456

Maintenance: 000

Edited by Marcus Matos
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3 hours ago, Marcus Matos said:

Purchased in November of 2015. I ride it 2-4 times a week to and from work (approximately 4 miles per day).

This morning I unplug it from the charger, step outside, press the power button, then...nothing. No lights, no sounds, just...nothing.

I opened it up in the hopes that perhaps something really simple was wrong - a disconnected battery connector. No such luck.

I grabbed my multimeter and checked each cell - each is at 4.1V (side note: I fly a variety of RC models and am familiar with battery technology/care).

I checked each of the connection points and see full voltage being supplied to the power switch and circuit boards. I test the power switch and it's fine.

So...it looks like the brain of my EUC decided it was done carting my butt around.

Any recommendations on how I could get the computer repaired or replaced?

In case there are any IPS representatives around, here's the data from the QR code on the board:

 

Model: 0810 Lhotz340 Black

Production Date: October 6, 2015

Motor: 101150923656

Main Board: 3052350730181

Battery: 2009250930001

Production: abcdefghijklm

Inspection: 123456

Maintenance: 000

Can you connect the APP? What does it show in APP?

Please contact : runrui.meng@iamips.com

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On 2017/1/13 at 8:35 PM, Marcus Matos said:

I did try this as well - scanned to see if it was broadcasting Bluetooth. It appears to be completely dead.

Do you mean the app has been collapsed? Can you send me some pictures or videos? we need more information so that we can solve it quickly, thank you very much.

runrui.meng@iamips.com

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all,

I am having a frustrating time getting support from IPS, which is sad because I've purchased 2 and recommended them to others. Since I use my EUC as my daily commuter, every day I go without it is another day of frustration. 

Anyone out there been able to source a logic board?

IPS.png

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4 hours ago, Marcus Matos said:

Hi all,

I am having a frustrating time getting support from IPS, which is sad because I've purchased 2 and recommended them to others. Since I use my EUC as my daily commuter, every day I go without it is another day of frustration. 

Anyone out there been able to source a logic board?

IPS.png

Just buy a new wheel.  If you are not happy with customer support, get a different brand.  I think they tried to help, but the distance and time is too great.  And I mean, you are out of warranty, and you are 6000 miles away.:(

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2 hours ago, steve454 said:

Just buy a new wheel.  If you are not happy with customer support, get a different brand.  I think they tried to help, but the distance and time is too great.  And I mean, you are out of warranty, and you are 6000 miles away.:(

If a company can sell not one, but two unicycles to a customer 6000 miles away, they can certainly reply to emails and ship a logic board to a customer who is adamantly asking to pay for one. Your replies were not helpful in any way.

Edited by Marcus Matos
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4 hours ago, Marcus Matos said:

If a company can sell not one, but two unicycles to a customer 6000 miles away, they can certainly reply to emails and ship a logic board to a customer who is adamantly asking to pay for one. Your replies were not helpful in any way.

Yes you're right.  Did you email @rayna903? I believe he works for IPS. He seems to want to help.

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@Marcus Matos have you had any luck finding a board?  @MaxLinux knows a lot about Xima lhotz, he may know a source.  And I've read that microworks sells boards that are fairly inexpensive that I think can work in any wheel.  Also you might try amazon, ebay, or aliexpress.  But if you can find an IPS reseller on google, you could probably order one from them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update. I did finally hear back from IPS this morning with some instructions on testing the MOSFETs and already sent back a video demonstrating they test okay. A little late since I already placed my order for a new King Song 18 but maybe, just maybe I'll get this resolved and be able to keep using my favorite EUC so far.

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I have had bad luck with support from IPS as well. Received my IPS191 with a small crack in the housing last year and was told that it was going to be covered under warranty. My concern was that the crack would grow with time (which it did) and I wanted to get it resolved before it became a problem. I first contacted them in August and was told that they would most likely send me a new housing under warranty.

Here is the response from August 21st: "Nice day! Thank you very much for your reply, that's too bad the plactic housing is cracked, are you in USA? if you need a new one i think we can ship it to you, and can you tell me when did you buy it? if it is within warranty time we can send it to you for free, if not, you have to bear it and the shipping cost. what's your idea?"

I replied with pictures, the purchase receipt, and purchase date and didn't hear back for a few weeks. They replied asking what Model IPS wheel I had, even though I had already told them and sent them the receipt. After a few weeks turned into months, the person I was dealing with eventually got back to me and told me that I was going to have to pay $110USD + shipping. Even when I had communication, the person struggled with english and I could barely make sense out of their replies. They asked for the same information multiple times as well, which I found extremely irritating. 

Here is the last response I received on November 22nd (Yes, we went back and forth for that long): "Nice day! Long time no contact you, I am sorry to reply you now. I think you will have a good holiday. Congratulations in advance. The plastic shell is expensive and the transport is difficult, so we need the price for $110 but the shipping is very expensive that I do not think it is a good price."

Now, I don't know if this person actually worked for IPS or if they were a dealer. Here is their contact info for reference: runrui.meng@iamips.com and their name was "Yueyue". If anyone needs support from IPS, they may be able to help you, but as you can see they were not much help for me. Needless to say that will be my last IPS purchase. 
 

 

Edited by EvenOdd
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On 3/15/2017 at 3:32 PM, EvenOdd said:

I have had bad luck with support from IPS as well. Received my IPS191 with a small crack in the housing last year and was told that it was going to be covered under warranty. My concern was that the crack would grow with time (which it did) and I wanted to get it resolved before it became a problem. I first contacted them in August and was told that they would most likely send me a new housing under warranty.

Here is the response from August 21st: "Nice day! Thank you very much for your reply, that's too bad the plactic housing is cracked, are you in USA? if you need a new one i think we can ship it to you, and can you tell me when did you buy it? if it is within warranty time we can send it to you for free, if not, you have to bear it and the shipping cost. what's your idea?"

I replied with pictures, the purchase receipt, and purchase date and didn't hear back for a few weeks. They replied asking what Model IPS wheel I had, even though I had already told them and sent them the receipt. After a few weeks turned into months, the person I was dealing with eventually got back to me and told me that I was going to have to pay $110USD + shipping. Even when I had communication, the person struggled with english and I could barely make sense out of their replies. They asked for the same information multiple times as well, which I found extremely irritating. 

Here is the last response I received on November 22nd (Yes, we went back and forth for that long): "Nice day! Long time no contact you, I am sorry to reply you now. I think you will have a good holiday. Congratulations in advance. The plastic shell is expensive and the transport is difficult, so we need the price for $110 but the shipping is very expensive that I do not think it is a good price."

Now, I don't know if this person actually worked for IPS or if they were a dealer. Here is their contact info for reference: runrui.meng@iamips.com and their name was "Yueyue". If anyone needs support from IPS, they may be able to help you, but as you can see they were not much help for me. Needless to say that will be my last IPS purchase. 
 

 

I think there was a reshuffle inside IPS, runrui was always very correct and helpfull and wrote in reasonable english, at a certain point yueyue started answering my e-mails.

I've given them feedback on several occasions (last time 1 year ago) on what they should change in the design to keep up with the competition, but I didn't get the impression yueyue really understood what i was talking about and didn't really seem to care.

I have a Lhotz (2015) and a T680+  (2016° and I love these wheels, very reliable and safe

but the thing is that IPS has not really innovated anything for about 2years, they have zero understanding of marketing, it looks like they're just trying to milk their old designs as long as possbile.

I plan on buying an new wheel again this year, but I very much doubt if it's going to be an IPS, them getting bad enduser reviews like yours is going the be the end

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16 hours ago, Jurgen said:

I think there was a reshuffle inside IPS, runrui was always very correct and helpfull and wrote in reasonable english, at a certain point yueyue started answering my e-mails.

I've given them feedback on several occasions (last time 1 year ago) on what they should change in the design to keep up with the competition, but I didn't get the impression yueyue really understood what i was talking about and didn't really seem to care.

I have a Lhotz (2015) and a T680+  (2016° and I love these wheels, very reliable and safe

but the thing is that IPS has not really innovated anything for about 2years, they have zero understanding of marketing, it looks like they're just trying to milk their old designs as long as possbile.

I plan on buying an new wheel again this year, but I very much doubt if it's going to be an IPS, them getting bad enduser reviews like yours is going the be the end

Yeah, they are falling behind which is a shame. I am also looking to buy a new wheel this year but will have to spend my money elsewhere. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I currently have an issue with my Lhotz and have to say that thus far they have been very helpful. Always respond to emails within 24 hrs. Occasionally the English is a little difficult to understand but their English is way better than my Chinese! I had not seen this thread before and find it puzzling as they have been extremely helpful with me over the past week. I was going to start a thread detailing how good my aftersales experience had been.

Frustratingly the wheel is just out of warranty...just my luck. I'm desperate to get it going again, the weather is nice and I really miss my wheel. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/8/2017 at 8:35 AM, Marcus Matos said:

Just a quick update. I did finally hear back from IPS this morning with some instructions on testing the MOSFETs and already sent back a video demonstrating they test okay. A little late since I already placed my order for a new King Song 18 but maybe, just maybe I'll get this resolved and be able to keep using my favorite EUC so far.

Any luck with a fix yet? Mine died last night with the same symptoms. Bought it last April, so just barely a year old. Does not respond when I push the power button, but seems to charge normally and the lights flicker on it when I plug it in which is normal. I hope it can be fixed. I would hate to have a $1000 paperweight :(

Edit: I also noticed that the wheel doesn't spin smoothly anymore when rolling it on the ground. I don't know how to describe it, but it sort of pulsates resistance as you roll it. Does your wheel to the same?

 

Edited by EvenOdd
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Update: took it apart and did some troubleshooting. I noticed that when I unhook the motor, the wheel spins freely. I have narrowed it down to the blue wire specifically that is causing the wheel to spin with pulsating resistance (even with the battery unhooked). Still does not power on at all. My guess is something on the main board has gone bad. It looks like a sealed unit. Anyone have any ideas?

My brother has a IPS191 as well, so I may do some part swapping to pinpoint exactly whats bad. 

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2 hours ago, Slaughthammer said:

Yes, that sounds as if something with the mosfets has gone wrong. You can e-mail runrui.meng@iamips.com and ask for a replacement controller, should cost you about 140$...

I sent an email to that address but last time I emailed them for another issue I didn't receive much support and there was a huge language barrier. I could hardly make sense out of their reply. 

I took the controller apart and noticed that there is a 30a fuse that was blown. I went ahead and replaced it and it immediately blew upon pressing the power button. Would mofsets cause the fuse to blow? 

One thing I noticed is that the sheathing around the motor wires coming into the housing is cut/splitting. The wires still look fine and intact but I wonder if one of them may be shorting out. Don't know if that would cause the fuse to blow though.

 

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Parroting pretty much what Slaughthammer already said, but it certainly sounds like you have a blown mosfet half-bridge, either on both sides (high- and low-side mosfet) or just one or the other and it shorts the battery when you turn the power on (either immediately or when it switches the not-blown mosfet on) and blows the fuse.

Easiest solution is a new mainboard, although you could try replacing the mosfets too, but it's always possible they've taken something else with them. Having it repaired by a professional can fast become more expensive than a new board, depending on the type of problem, but if you've got the tools and at least basic soldering know-how, you could always try yourself, the parts probably don't cost much anything. The lower powered wheels use cheap mosfets usually, probably something like around 1-2$ / piece, even the "higher end" IRFP4110's used in Gotways and GT16's are something like 3-4$/piece and the KS16S mosfets are around 8$/piece..

If you have zero experience with electronics and/or no tools, then probably not a good idea unless you want to start learning... ;)

Edited by esaj
Dollars, not euros...
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Thank you @Slaughthammer and @esaj for the info.

I have some experience but wouldn't take that kind of project on myself. I would prefer to just buy a new board, however like the OP said, it seems nearly impossible. I still need to check the mosfets (probably this weekend) per the instructions IPS sent me and will report back. 

While this isn't my primary wheel (I have an ACM 1300wh) I still use this wheel often for letting people learn on, and for letting friends ride who are too cheap to invest in another wheel (We all started out on Airwheel x3 and x8's). I paid $1000 for this thing and expected to get more than a year out of it. One of my buddies still has an x3 that is 2.5 years old and runs like a champ. In IPS's defense, my bother still has a Zima Lhotz that is a year and a half old with more usage that works fine. I guess it's the luck of the draw. 

Edited by EvenOdd
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The MOSFETs all tested pretty inconsistently with the multimeter. I had four test the same that I think were good with checking all three pins. I had four that all read 0 on all pins, and four that didn't read (OL) on all pins. I'm assuming that's bad and that they should probably read the same across the board. Is that correct? 

I don't know too much about electronics beyond what I read on the internet, checking voltage/resistance, and some poor but usually sufficient soldiering abilities.

 

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