New GotWay Nikola 17''

[Sketch]

34 minutes ago, Nils said:

Still, with regards to LEDs I know @Tobbe84 received his Nikola with a faulty LED

My 100v Nikola has a faulty section of LED as well.  A quarter section of the ring light flickers different colors apart from the light scheme.  Jason from ewheels  was quick to send me a replacement LED strip.  I haven’t had time to open it up yet.

[Nils]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

My 100v Nikola has a faulty section of LED as well.  A quarter section of the ring light flickers different colors apart from the light scheme.  Jason from ewheels  was quick to send me a replacement LED strip.  I haven’t had time to open it up yet.

Aha, exactly the same as for @Tobbe then (he also has a 100V FWIW).

[Mike Sacristan]

3 hours ago, Nils said:

Aha, exactly the same as for @Tobbe then (he also has a 100V FWIW).

@Tobbe84 

[ir_fuel]

23 hours ago, Graniteone said:

Sure isn’t inspiring to hear of the difficulties some of the forum members are experiencing. I am putting my purchase of the 2100wh Nikola on hold till I see more long term reports, plus I ll be on an off road trip for a few weeks at the start of September so won’t have much time to play with it anyways. 

I presume the best purchases to make today are the Gotway MSX and the Tesla, the KingSong KS18XL and the Inmotion V10F. I think all of their problems (if any) are solved and there is a lot of cumulative mileage on them on this forum.

 

But you know how it goes ... do you go to the car dealer and buy the model that's been for sale for 5 years, or do you get the new version that will be there in 3 weeks?  

[mezzanine]

I'm actually surprised how little I'm tempted by most of the newer wheels.  There hasn't been a lot of meaningful improvement over the couple years I've been riding.  

[Jon Stern]

47 minutes ago, mezzanine said:

I'm actually surprised how little I'm tempted by most of the newer wheels.  There hasn't been a lot of meaningful improvement over the couple years I've been riding.  

But think of all the heated discussions on here that you're excluding yourself from!

[neurokinetik]

I fixed my LED strip tonight.  Had to remove a few LEDs before I got rid of the break, but at least I've got 95% of a ring now instead of 60%. 

The pattern makes it look like more is out, but it's just the small section above the voltage LED that is actually out.

Also removed the center sticker as it was installed cock-eyed and that was bugging me.  It didn't want to stay stuck well after I fixed the orientation, so I just left it off.  This wheel is going to get plenty of other sticker horsepower anyway.

Edited August 8, 2019 by neurokinetik

[Marty Backe]

6 minutes ago, neurokinetik said:

I fixed my LED strip tonight.  Had to remove a few LEDs before I got rid of the break, but at least I've got 95% of a ring now instead of 60%. 

The pattern makes it look like more is out, but it's just the small section above the voltage LED that is actually out.

Also removed the center sticker as it was installed cock-eyed and that was bugging me.  It didn't want to stay stuck well after I fixed the orientation, so I just left it off.  This wheel is going to get plenty of other sticker horsepower anyway.

While you're removing stickers, please please, remove the sticker from the bottom of the pedals 

P.s. Can you elaborate a bit on how exactly you fixed the LEDs.  "Had to remove a few LEDs"  creates lots of unanswered questions 

[neurokinetik]

 

3 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

While you're removing stickers, please please, remove the sticker from the bottom of the pedals 

P.s. Can you elaborate a bit on how exactly you fixed the LEDs.  "Had to remove a few LEDs"  creates lots of unanswered questions 

Lol, good point.  Though the side with the pedal sticker is also the side with the control board on it, which right now makes it easy to tell which side I need to open (which has happened more often than I've ridden so far.)

As for repairing the LEDs, I just cut the strip after the last working LED at the spots where the metal contacts are (there is actually a visible line on the strip where you are meant to cut) then cut again at the same point at the adjacent LED, removing it, then soldered the strip back together again.  I had to do this multiple times, as there were a total of three non-working LEDs, but I didn't like how the repair turned out the first try (it was intermittent and would stop working or give wrong colors when flexed), so I cut out two more and did a better job on the soldering.

[Marty Backe]

8 minutes ago, neurokinetik said:

 

Lol, good point.  Though the side with the pedal sticker is also the side with the control board on it, which right now makes it easy to tell which side I need to open (which has happened more often than I've ridden so far.)

As for repairing the LEDs, I just cut the strip after the last working LED at the spots where the metal contacts are (there is actually a visible line on the strip where you are meant to cut) then cut again at the same point at the adjacent LED, removing it, then soldered the strip back together again.  I had to do this multiple times, as there were a total of three non-working LEDs, but I didn't like how the repair turned out the first try (it was intermittent and would stop working or give wrong colors when flexed), so I cut out two more and did a better job on the soldering.

Fantastic explanation and picture. Thanks!

FYI, lay the wheel down with the headlamp pointing to the right. Remove the shell to gain access to the control board, etc. This is true for all Gotway wheels. Easy to remember: headlamp pointing right

If you need to change the tire, do the opposite to avoid having to disconnect motor cables, etc.

[Lucas Alexander Oliver]

The left side led’s stopped working on my 84v nikola not long ago.    I absolutely love riding my nikola. I haven’t ridden another wheel that felt anywhere near as good.  So cushy and comfortable but solid and so powerful.. that being said.   It sucks that my 2000$ wheel was seemingly so cheaply made.   Crap led’s. Crap control board. Crap stickers.  And so on.   I really wish they took some time and made the aesthetics as good as the internals.     No one can match GotWay in performance but damn if they don’t suck at almost everything else.  Lol....  I’m still riding my v1 control board btw. 1000 miles and still going super strong .    I’m scared to mess with it. .

[MBIKER_SURFER]

7 hours ago, mezzanine said:

I'm actually surprised how little I'm tempted by most of the newer wheels.  There hasn't been a lot of meaningful improvement over the couple years I've been riding.  

In terms of riding - you're propably right.

In terms of mileage (battery) you're wrong!

[mrelwood]

14 hours ago, ir_fuel said:

I presume the best purchases to make today are the Gotway MSX and the Tesla, the KingSong KS18XL and the Inmotion V10F. I think all of their problems (if any) are solved and there is a lot of cumulative mileage on them on this forum.

I agree, although I wouldn’t include the cracking-drooping-pedaled, overheating V10F in the list.

While the known MSX issues are not at all severe, Gotway has not fixed them in the full 12 months that was the difference with my original and replacement control board. The bugs being the mileage resetting when lifted back up after a fall, and the 35km/h tilt-back that goes away past 40km/h. Only change I’ve noticed is that the empty battery tilt-back seems to come up earlier, about 5% instead of 0%.

[Dzlchef]

I received a new board complete with fan and 2 new LED strips in the mail yesterday.  I won’t have time to open it up and swap everything until Sunday but I’m excited to get my baby back to 100%.

21 hours ago, Nils said:

Man, that sucks - glad you're OK!

I noticed some time ago that my left side LED ring stopped working, been meaning to open the wheel up again at some point to investigate, but.. there are only so many times I want to open the wheel up in any given period. Anyway, my cables are tied up in cable ties so I have a hard time seeing anything flopping around in that unfortunate manner. Still, with regards to LEDs I know @Tobbe84 received his Nikola with a faulty LED stripe on one side as well. Not disconnected like it appears yours is, but damaged at the middle. The LEDs do not appear to be  best of breed.

Anyway, I'm using my original board now as well for now. I have high confidence in that as that's been well proven over time. If you make sure everything is tightened down then hopefully you won't any additional issues.

I would open up the left side and check. That wire drapes over the control board and if it’s loose then it can easily short the board if the wire finds a “sweet” spot. 

[Nils]

18 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

@Tobbe84 

My bad! What a difference a couple of numbers make..

[Nils]

14 hours ago, Lucas Alexander Oliver said:

The left side led’s stopped working on my 84v nikola not long ago.    I absolutely love riding my nikola. I haven’t ridden another wheel that felt anywhere near as good.  So cushy and comfortable but solid and so powerful.. that being said.   It sucks that my 2000$ wheel was seemingly so cheaply made.   Crap led’s. Crap control board. Crap stickers.  And so on.   I really wish they took some time and made the aesthetics as good as the internals.     No one can match GotWay in performance but damn if they don’t suck at almost everything else.  Lol....  I’m still riding my v1 control board btw. 1000 miles and still going super strong .    I’m scared to mess with it. .

So unless I've confused things all reported LED issues are on the left side of the wheel it seems (please correct me anyone). Hmm, will have to open my up and see what's going on soon.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Nils

[Sketch]

39 minutes ago, Nils said:

So unless I've confused things all reported LED issues are on the left side of the wheel it seems (please correct me anyone). Hmm, will have to open my up and see what's going on soon.

My LED issue is on the control board side.  About a quarter of the upper ring flickers different colors randomly. 

[Nils]

3 minutes ago, Sketch said:

My LED issue is on the control board side.  About a quarter of the upper ring flickers different colors randomly. 

All right, then, thanks. I was thinking that perhaps the wiring mean that the one side was more exposed than the other, but scratch that then.

[ir_fuel]

8 hours ago, mrelwood said:

I agree, although I wouldn’t include the cracking-drooping-pedaled, overheating V10F in the list.

While the known MSX issues are not at all severe, Gotway has not fixed them in the full 12 months that was the difference with my original and replacement control board. The bugs being the mileage resetting when lifted back up after a fall, and the 35km/h tilt-back that goes away past 40km/h. Only change I’ve noticed is that the empty battery tilt-back seems to come up earlier, about 5% instead of 0%.

So that leaves us with the KS18XL?

[neurokinetik]

9 hours ago, Nils said:

So unless I've confused things all reported LED issues are on the left side of the wheel it seems (please correct me anyone). Hmm, will have to open my up and see what's going on soon.

Mine were on the right.  But mine is a 100V model, so control board is also on the right, and not up top like the 84V model.

On an unrelated note, what is the "dead" (i.e. wheel tilts completely back and no longer allows you to ride) voltage on the 100V Nikola?  Is it 79V (3.3V per cell like past Gotways) or 72.9 (3.0V per cell like King Song)?  I ask because there was some speculation that Gotway changed it on this model.

Edited August 9, 2019 by neurokinetik

[meepmeepmayer]

49 minutes ago, neurokinetik said:

On an unrelated note, what is the "dead" (i.e. wheel tilts completely back and no longer allows you to ride) voltage on the 100V Nikola?  Is it 79V (3.3V per cell like past Gotways) or 72.9 (3.0V per cell like King Song)?  I ask because there was some speculation that Gotway changed it on this model.

You can ride it down to a very low percentage to see if it drops below 79.2V.

But Marty's 84V range test gave the same result as other 1600Wh GWs. Also, besides (misguided?) wishful thinking, there's zero indication they didn't do what they always have done. So 3.3V is what I would expect.

[neurokinetik]

Sticker bombing complete.  Literally no planning or thought went into this process, and it mostly looks like it.  Was glad to find a couple of stickers in my bag of tricks that exactly fit where the GW stickers were on the sides.

[meepmeepmayer]

18 hours ago, neurokinetik said:

On an unrelated note, what is the "dead" (i.e. wheel tilts completely back and no longer allows you to ride) voltage on the 100V Nikola?

17 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

You can ride it down to a very low percentage to see if it drops below 79.2V.

Marty rode his 100V Nikola down to 0% and it showed 80V (3.33V per cell). See here. So I would strongly assume Gotway changed nothing and 0% is 3.3V on all Nikolas, just like with their other wheels.

[Nils]

Hmm, so regarding the LED strips, anyone the manufacturer/model of the current Nikolas strips? I'll open mine up again at some point, but rather stock up on some replacement strips first if needed.

[Lucas Alexander Oliver]

1 hour ago, Nils said:

Hmm, so regarding the LED strips, anyone the manufacturer/model of the current Nikolas strips? I'll open mine up again at some point, but rather stock up on some replacement strips first if needed.

I need some replacements as well. My left side of leds went out a few weeks ago.  Kinda disappointing.. but an easy enough fix I suppose .   Post where u find some plz