INMOTION V12

[Tawpie]

59 minutes ago, techyiam said:

This my preference too. Just wondering, on the V11, did you have to put in a lot of heat to reflow those solder joints? Did you use just a regular soldering pencil, or something hotter? Thanks.

Oops... I didn't actually do this, but a buddy of mine had a MOSFET crack on his V11 and it put him down "like a sack of potatoes"—so examining all his pictures got me concerned about the mechanical puzzle they put together. It'd be very easy to pre-stress the MOSFETs and their solder joints if they're soldered prior to attaching to the heatsink, and stress applied at the leads can (but might not too) cause part/solder joint failure.

That said, there are videos of V12 MOSFET replacements done with just a soldering iron so I don't think reflow would be terribly difficult or introduce too much chance to create other problems. Just don't sit there with your iron on the joint for any longer than needed to reflow the solder.

[cooler]

Hi There, my reseller has announced that new motherboards for V12 HS are available. The change may be done by user, but I found it strange that fist I need to send them the old motherboard, and only then they will send me the new one. Is this normal? What they are going to do with these faulty old MB - I hope not to sell them...

What some users said on forums I had a feeling that they send these new MB without any conditions. It is essential for me as some HT versions with similar mosfets throwed their riders as apparently some balancing issue occured in these new MB - WrongWay from YT had such a fail for example.

So what is your experience - do you need to send MB back first? Or you just have spare MB just in case?

[Steve Evans]

1 hour ago, cooler said:

Hi There, my reseller has announced that new motherboards for V12 HS are available. The change may be done by user, but I found it strange that fist I need to send them the old motherboard, and only then they will send me the new one. Is this normal? What they are going to do with these faulty old MB - I hope not to sell them...

What some users said on forums I had a feeling that they send these new MB without any conditions. It is essential for me as some HT versions with similar mosfets throwed their riders as apparently some balancing issue occured in these new MB - WrongWay from YT had such a fail for example.

So what is your experience - do you need to send MB back first? Or you just have spare MB just in case?

definitely NOT required by eWheels. sounds like total BS to me. after all, you are the victim here. they sold you a faulty product

[Brendan "nog3" Halliday]

1 hour ago, cooler said:

Hi There, my reseller has announced that new motherboards for V12 HS are available. The change may be done by user, but I found it strange that fist I need to send them the old motherboard, and only then they will send me the new one. Is this normal? What they are going to do with these faulty old MB - I hope not to sell them...

What some users said on forums I had a feeling that they send these new MB without any conditions. It is essential for me as some HT versions with similar mosfets throwed their riders as apparently some balancing issue occured in these new MB - WrongWay from YT had such a fail for example.

So what is your experience - do you need to send MB back first? Or you just have spare MB just in case?

Some distributors (like the one I work for) have contemplated having three different options for customers.

1. The entire wheel comes back, distributor replaces board and ships it back. In some countries there is significantly more cost shipping this around than what Inmotion is offering to the distributors as a repair fee (Actually a discount on their next order). This leads to option 2.

2. Technically capable customers are instructed on how to remove the driver/main board housing to ship this back to the Distributor. This has all the benefits (for the distributor) of the delicate work done by the Distributor with much less of the cost.

3. The customer opts to install the board themselves and the distributor ships them the board direct. For the Distributor this is possibly a risky proposition since if the customer is not technically capable enough and/or fudges the install in certain ways the wheel can fail and injury and legal claims can ensure.

 

I actually really like option 2 for mechanically capable customers because it familiarizes them with the internals of the unit and should better prepare them for doing their own tyre changes and repairs. I do however understand the concern above that the distributor might be 'stealing' the driver board - ultimately they are making sure they have both driver and main (pmic) boards in a protected, easily transportable format that means they will be able to test it before shipping it back.

[Silverfish]

I'm on the waiting list for eevees to replace my board, which is being done in purchase history order. Meanwhile rainy season is tapering off so I am riding more. 100k in the past 4 days, which dwarfs my total prior usage. So it will be 'fun' to see whether my mosfets go before my repair date happens.

[enaon]

5 hours ago, Tawpie said:

If it's not done properly, it won't be your fault

correct, but it will be your face

[supercurio]

1 hour ago, Tel01 said:

My reseller said that they can ship me the new board first if I pay $450. Then as soon as they receive the old board, they will reimburse my money back. I also have to pay for shipping.

Your reseller gets the board for free and $100 from Inmotion for repair & shipping costs, like everybody else.

That's an absolutely horrible deal they're asking you to agree to right here, not acceptable IMO.
Which reseller is that?

Edited May 27, 2022 by supercurio

[supercurio]

Thanks @Tel01 for the details, I see that they also list V12 replacement boards in their webshop, which doesn't seem right at a time where supply is not enough to cover all replacements worldwide yet.

If your memory is right and the person told you they had to buy the board from Inmotion, that was a lie, no question about it.
I expect this reseller wants to get back the old board to salvage components to use in future repairs, which is a good approach instead of creating e-waste.

What your reseller is expected to do is:

• Send you the V12 replacement board for free, or install the board themselves as many other distributors are working very hard at doing these past few days.
• Send you a label so you can send them the old board they, which they expect to benefit from later on.

Know that several distributors refund the $100 to their customers if they are willing to do the work themselves instead of shipping/repairing in their workshop.

Now that you have a sense of expectation from what everybody else in the industry is doing, I would recommend you to wait.
Ask again later, something tells me that this horrible deal will not last very long and magically improve 😉

Edited May 27, 2022 by supercurio

[taiguy]

On 5/24/2022 at 10:32 AM, Flying W said:

I've become a K66 fan boy! Any 14in (actual motor size) wheel I own or will get is having a K66 installed until something even better comes along. 

I can't thank @mrelwoodenough for turning towards the K66. 

Keep in mind it is heavy though, it's a scooter (vespa type scooter) all season tire. It handles dry pavement to off road very well. Only thing it doesn't do is deep sand and mud, I don't recommend riding in mud and deep sand isn't very fun on any tire anyway. 

Buying a K66 takes time and shipping is not cheap but it's worth every penny. I have 1k miles on the one on my RSt and it barely shows any wear too so the longer change cycles make up for the cost difference.

Which K66 model fits the V12?

[Flying W]

2 hours ago, taiguy said:

Which K66 model fits the V12?

If it's tight I would go with the 80/80/14. I could fit the 80/90 on my RSt but my riding is mostly steep trails so I went with the shorter one to keep the most torque.  

[supercurio]

43 minutes ago, Flying W said:

If it's tight I would go with the 80/80/14.

@Flying W the V12 has a 12" rim, it's not gonna fit. Does the K66 also exists in smaller dimensions?

[Steve Evans]

FWIW, i just put this tire in my V12: 16x3" Tire, Chao Yang H666

it carves so much better now and no more train-tracking. very happy with the upgrade.

purchased the tire from ewheels

steve

 

[techyiam]

4 minutes ago, evans036 said:

FWIW, i just put this tire in my V12: 16x3" Tire, Chao Yang H666

it carves so much better now and no more train-tracking. very happy with the upgrade.

purchased the tire from ewheels

steve

 

Really good to hear. 

Have you had a chance to ride it above 50+ km/h yet? I am curious about stability, and emergency braking induced wobbles.

[Steve Evans]

1 minute ago, techyiam said:

Really good to hear. 

Have you had a chance to ride it above 50+ km/h yet? I am curious about stability, and emergency braking induced wobbles.

it seems more stable at speed and acceleration. i think it might be more wobbly under brakes. not sure yet

so far only got to 30mph or so.

hope this helps,

steve

 

[taiguy]

57 minutes ago, evans036 said:

FWIW, i just put this tire in my V12: 16x3" Tire, Chao Yang H666

it carves so much better now and no more train-tracking. very happy with the upgrade.

purchased the tire from ewheels

steve

 

Ewheels has been backordered forever it seems. Can't find anywhere online the that has the h666 still.

[Tawpie]

I believe the h666 was discontinued in all sizes, but eWheels put in a special order for 18”ers… sadly the 16” is pretty much unobtanium 

[Flying W]

4 hours ago, supercurio said:

@Flying W the V12 has a 12" rim, it's not gonna fit. Does the K66 also exists in smaller dimensions?

 

My mistake, tired brain saw V11 not V12 haha. I don't think the k66 comes in a 12in size. 

[fbhb]

1 hour ago, Tawpie said:

I believe the h666 was discontinued in all sizes, but eWheels put in a special order for 18”ers… sadly the 16” is pretty much unobtanium

I have made many a purchase from Wheel Tech Store on Ali and some months back put a mate of mine on to them to get hold of a Chao Yang H666 for his V12, so I can highly recommend their sales and service.

They are currently showing the H666 16x3 as being in stock, so be quick while you have the chance to grab the ONLY decent street tire out there for 12'' rims!

https://tinyurl.com/H666-16x3

Edited May 29, 2022 by fbhb

[Paul g]

On 5/26/2022 at 8:11 PM, conecones said:

The experience you are describing where the wheel remains in the tilted angle is likely attributed to the top heaviness of the V12 and not the tire. In fact the C-1488 is loved/hated for its self-straightening behaviour which is exactly opposite to what you described. Have you tried a knobby (K-262/C-168)? Those tires are known to remain in the tilted angle, especially at speed.

The feeling of riding on knife edge is both a good and bad thing. I added a clarification above noting that the tire does not send the wheel at angles it wants, its the train-tracking behaviour that causes the road surface to do this. If you actually want to control the wheel in the minutest detail, this knife edge attribute is actually what you want - it makes the ride extremely sensitive to user input and road surface. Knobby tires don't train track hence not as sensitive to road surface and user input.

H666 and C-1773 (stock tire on 2021 & newer Nikola+) are the best 16" tires. They are rounded profile and have great puncture resistance which IMO is the biggest problem with the C-1488 (along with poor mileage). 

The best motorcycle tyres are rounded not V shaped. My mind tells me it must be a reason for that.

If you believe C-1488 is good, than that is OK with me. I don’t intend to make you change your mind.

[taiguy]

15 hours ago, supercurio said:

@Flying W the V12 has a 12" rim, it's not gonna fit. Does the K66 also exists in smaller dimensions?

Just checked. I’ve found a few sizes for the 12” rim but they’re all super wide, 130mm. They don’t even list the 12” rim size on the heidenau website, but various motorcycle part dealers (like revzilla) show 12” options.

[supercurio]

After reading about various failures following the installation of replacement black board, I'd like to hear from people for for whom the swap and all riding after that has been going well.

Anybody? 🙏
How is the ride feel? What kind of distance did you ride so far? Kept it slow or couldn't resist going faster?

I feel like I have a skewed view of the success rate so far.

 

[Steve Evans]

48 minutes ago, supercurio said:

After reading about various failures following the installation of replacement black board, I'd like to hear from people for for whom the swap and all riding after that has been going well.

Anybody? 🙏
How is the ride feel? What kind of distance did you ride so far? Kept it slow or couldn't resist going faster?

I feel like I have a skewed view of the success rate so far.

 

still riding mine. probably have about 80 miles on it so far. keeping the speed <30mph. otherwise riding normally. some smooth pavement, some very bumpy pavement and minor drops.

[Cress]

Per @supercurio 's post, above.  There is too much 'noise' and not enough reliable reporting about the replacement V12 control board.  The new board is being installed by a number of different people, which introduces more variations.  My understanding is that Inmotion evaluated more than one MOSFET last year, including the Hunteck component and assembled boards for each MOSFET they evaluated.   

I will feel better about the Hunteck component with reports that the Hunteck MOSFET is O.K. on sustained inclines.  An over-heating problem should not happen with gentle use, possibly not over-heat riding at sustained 25 miles/hour but might happen on 25+ degree, sustained climb.   If I were testing my wheel and got a warning I'd end my test.

If Inmotion didn't adequately test the Hunteck board we'll know in a few days . . . . BUT . . . accurate information tells the story no matter what the story is.

 

[Jeff Earl]

3 hours ago, supercurio said:

After reading about various failures following the installation of replacement black board, I'd like to hear from people for for whom the swap and all riding after that has been going well.

Anybody? 🙏
How is the ride feel? What kind of distance did you ride so far? Kept it slow or couldn't resist going faster?

I feel like I have a skewed view of the success rate so far.

 

I successfully replaced the controller 4 days ago--so far so good. It feels good--smooth and powerful. I've been taking it easy-- trying to get accustomed to how it rides. It's been parked in the corner since the controller issues came to light months ago. The original board passed a full series of spin tests, but I never trusted it. I've probably only clocked about 20 miles on the new board and hit a top speed of around 26mph. Temperature readings maxed out around 125F @ 87F ambient. I haven't ridden any sustaind inclines. I did hit a few speed bumps but no curb drops or jumps yet.

[Paul g]

The failed board I know about was installed by technicians, not by amateurs, just in case you want to know this detail.