Begode T4

[Cerbera]

5 hours ago, adrianqbs said:

I'm getting only 98.5-99.0v when it stops charging.

That may be down to charger under-calibration, which seems to be a thing with recent Begode wheels.

There's a video about that (again for the Master primarily but I imagine same applies), where they show you how to trim that up to what it should be, which isn't technically hard (you are only twiddling a variable potentiometer), but it's unnerving because you have to do it on an open, powered PSU.

TBH my own impression is that getting this exactly right makes rather minimal difference to range.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Cerbera

[RolluS]

52 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

That's true. But I am slightly worried in my personal case as I'm getting only 98.5-99.0v when it stops charging. That's odd because it used to be able to go to a full 100.8v when brand new.

Running some troubleshooting now to see what happens. Have only the 2 forward packs plugged in now and going to run those down and charge them up and see if the balance.

The back 2 seem to be charging fully and balanced based on multimeter tests.

 

As you said, it's probably of no practical consequence, but it would be nice to know. Sort of eating at me now.

I think the V1 battery mux board is somewhat faulty and can prevent "topping" or balancing if a fully charged pack is out of balance regarding less charged packs.

[alexbrunoeuc]

2 hours ago, Cerbera said:

That's gonna depend quite a bit on how heavy you are and what your tyre PSI is doing. This guy's test was 220 lb / high PSI (slightly frustratingly doesn't actually mention what PSI !)

 

Thank you 👍

I guess it would be 30 miles for me cause I don't like to go lower than 25-30%. Video says 45+ miles... not bad. 

 

[Chriull]

1 hour ago, adrianqbs said:

That's true. But I am slightly worried in my personal case as I'm getting only 98.5-99.0v when it stops charging. That's odd because it used to be able to go to a full 100.8v when brand new.

Running some troubleshooting now to see what happens. Have only the 2 forward packs plugged in now and going to run those down and charge them up and see if the balance.

Running them down is not necessary. As @RagingGrandpawrote in another topic riding a nik+ with just one of two packs can overburden a single battery pack. Could be the same with the T4? As overlean limit is lower too with just one pack it seems important to ride calmly and prudent with just one pack.

If this pack(s) are only charging to this lower voltage and you want to "heavy duty balance" the best way is to:

charge till green led shows: bms has cut off due to single cell overvoltage. 

wait 1/2 to 1 hour: the balancing resistors bleed the cells with the (slight) overvoltage downto ~ 4.2V.

Or drain the battery by a short ride and just repeat this cycles.

if the final voltage at charge end (or after an hour of waiting) increases continously each cycle balancing seems effective! If not, stop after some cycles and get rid of this pack (discard, repair, strip/break it,...) and get a new one.

edit: not exactly sure of which battery configuration we are talking about? Maybe this two packs are paralleled and can be easily tested separately again?

1 hour ago, adrianqbs said:

The back 2 seem to be charging fully and balanced based on multimeter tests.

So your charger supplies correct voltage and it's definitely no

1 hour ago, Cerbera said:

That may be down to charger under-calibration, which seems to be a thing with recent Begode wheels.

and "calibrating" it would lead to overvoltage!

Bms should protect against overvoltage, but that does not lead to special caressing of the cells.

Btw - a from the symptoms similar case was just reported of a nik+ 900Wh pack which finally had a broken bms and (presumably) all cells in good condition.

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Chriull

[alexbrunoeuc]

1 hour ago, adrianqbs said:

Also, just for clarification. Based on the date and that he's referencing a street tyre, this is a range test on the BEGODE T4 V1. Also, changing to a knobby tyre on the V1 might affect the mileage as well.

V2 might or might not be similar. Don't really know yet.

 

Also noting intersting to see that although he has taken precaution to ensure the battery is fully charged and balanced, his voltage is still ecorded at 99.9v in EUC World.

 

• Is it possible to ride in rain? (without mods or with mods?) 

I'm rather hesitant to try. My friend went through a small stream on his V2 and one of his bearings now rusted and making some sounds. Fortunately, a cheap fix. And as a preventative measure, we'll be putting oil seals on our bearing so some added ingress protection as recommended by @RolluS

https://www.veryseal.com/product/60x88x8-viton-oil-seal-fkm-metric-tc-oil-seal

I have also put liquid electrical tape around the all the wires that come out of the main motherboard comparment and some extra silicone around the top cover. Will also be doing liquid gasket around the motor covers at the same time once the oil seals arrive.

• How good is it on long inclines? Overheating? 

Thus far, seems good. On a sustained 30+ degree incline, my V1 with my being 70kg goes up for 65-ish celsius but drops amazingly fast once stopped. The V2 seems to run even cooler with my friend being 80-ish kg.

Don't have a video of us on our local 'overheat hill' but here are some videos of the fellers messing around on the V2.

 

Cause of that new video on Tiktok (claiming IP65) I think V2 should be good sealed, at least the motor. It is so sad that we have to do so much to make em waterproof. 

 

Nice videos😎! Incline should be fine 😃

[alexbrunoeuc]

1 hour ago, Cerbera said:

Get one of those 15L waterproof backpack covers, and put that over the entire top of the machine to avoid any water ingress from the top without ANY mods.

And silicone up your motor hubs and maybe add some marine grease sparingly around the bearing outers (no need to open covers unless you already have noises) to prevent water ingress there. If you do those things then I would say yes, you can ride that in the rain. I have done those things on its bigger brother and ridden in torrential rain without negative consequence...

Oh yeah, saw someone using a backpack cover as well. Great idea, totally forgot about it 😅. 

 

I wish it would be waterproof out of the box. 

[adrianqbs]

1 hour ago, RolluS said:

I think the V1 battery mux board is somewhat faulty and can prevent "topping" or balancing if a fully charged pack is out of balance regarding less charged packs.

Hey there!! Yes, Begode has sent us all new mux boards with 'improved balancing capabilites'. To be installed on the current T4 and Masters sold out here. 

And directly referencing my batteries, the response was to keep riding and keep charging. Over time, it should balance nicely. Hopefully. 

Hoping to figure it out. Since a few other T4 owners are experiencing the same. But not all are as fussy to go down this rabbit hole. 😂

Since the back ones are fine, we're gonna try it with just the front ones, exactly as how @Chriull has detailed above. Thanks for the excellent description. Extremely informative and will keep the precautions in mind especially with regards to the increased sag. 

I believe its 4 packs. 2 packs in series to make a pair thus 2 pairs which are then in parallel. Did I get that right? 

And yes, we have tested the charger and it's outputting the correct voltage based on the multimeter. Also tried using an Inmotion 3A charger. 

[Chriull]

28 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

believe its 4 packs. 2 packs in series to make a pair thus 2 pairs which are then in parallel. Did I get that right? 

Seems so as shown in ecodrifts teardown https://ecodrift-ru.translate.goog/2022/09/14/begode-t4-razbiraem/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=sv&_x_tr_pto=wapp

The battery packs are 50.4V, 450Wh - so 12s2p.

There are two in series and then these two in parallel, as you wrote.

If your front packs do not charge to full voltage after some cycles you could measure both voltages after charging. If one reaches the ~50.4V it's a good one and the other at some lower voltage the one to replace.

Likely the single cell overvoltage bms shutoff could lead to both packs not reaching final full voltage. So one would have to try combining with the two other, known good packs. So one should find the one and only bad pack.

[RolluS]

I was thinking (maybe by mistake) that packs are in an H fashion. We can run the T4 with one disconnected pack, I don't know in this case if we run on 2 or 3 packs.

[Chriull]

1 hour ago, RolluS said:

I was thinking (maybe by mistake) that packs are in an H fashion.

Maybe. The connectors board has quite some electronics - whatever this does or can do.

1 hour ago, RolluS said:

We can run the T4 with one disconnected pack, I don't know in this case if we run on 2 or 3 packs.

Would be interesting it can run with the upper and lower pack of different sides.

[adrianqbs]

5 hours ago, Chriull said:

Seems so as shown in ecodrifts teardown https://ecodrift-ru.translate.goog/2022/09/14/begode-t4-razbiraem/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=sv&_x_tr_pto=wapp

The battery packs are 50.4V, 450Wh - so 12s2p.

There are two in series and then these two in parallel, as you wrote.

If your front packs do not charge to full voltage after some cycles you could measure both voltages after charging. If one reaches the ~50.4V it's a good one and the other at some lower voltage the one to replace.

Likely the single cell overvoltage bms shutoff could lead to both packs not reaching final full voltage. So one would have to try combining with the two other, known good packs. So one should find the one and only bad pack.

So, in my case, as per latest testing with a multimeter. 

Front left 50.6 

Front right 50.2

Back left 50.5

Back right 50.2

Reading on the packs with a 4 packs plugged in gives 101.1v. Which is good. But the apps (begode, darknessbot, EUC world) report 98.6v. So, are the apps wrong or the multimeter wrong. Lol. All the apps probably just read the same information sent out by the wheel anyways. 

And that wouldn't explain why the app could show 100.8v previously but now doesn't. 

I'm trying not to get too laser focused on saying it's definitely a pack issue but could be something else that's reporting wrongly. Currently, will troubleshoot focusing on the packs while still allowing for the possibility the voltage readings via Bluetooth from the wheel may be incorrect. 

[adrianqbs]

1 hour ago, RolluS said:

I was thinking (maybe by mistake) that packs are in an H fashion. We can run the T4 with one disconnected pack, I don't know in this case if we run on 2 or 3 packs.

 

1 minute ago, adrianqbs said:

So, in my case, as per latest testing with a multimeter. 

Front left 50.6 

Front right 50.2

Back left 50.5

Back right 50.2

Reading on the packs with a 4 packs plugged in gives 101.1v. Which is good. But the apps (begode, darknessbot, EUC world) report 98.6v. So, are the apps wrong or the multimeter wrong. Lol. All the apps probably just read the same information sent out by the wheel anyways. 

And that wouldn't explain why the app could show 100.8v previously but now doesn't. 

I'm trying not to get too laser focused on saying it's definitely a pack issue but could be something else that's reporting wrongly. Currently, will troubleshoot focusing on the packs while still allowing for the possibility the voltage readings via Bluetooth from the wheel may be incorrect. 

Well, since everything is opened up, this should be easy to test out. Will try and let you guys know =)

Gotta fly tomorrow, so Tuesday night I guess. 

[RolluS]

40 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

Front left 50.6 
Front right 50.2
Back left 50.5
Back right 50.2

0.4V max delta seems not a big deal.
One pack charged voltage is 50.4V.

This do not explain why you have a discrepency between your meter and the app one reading. Mine are equals or very close.
 

[Chriull]

32 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

Reading on the packs with a 4 packs plugged in gives 101.1v. Which is good. But the apps (begode, darknessbot, EUC world) report 98.6v. So, are the apps wrong or the multimeter wrong.

They could both be still within their accuracy.

But both would be extrem at the border..

Or do you have some extremely accurate multimeter?

With none of the two packs the motherboard reported >100V in these tests? Only with the multimeter?

32 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

Lol. All the apps probably just read the same information sent out by the wheel anyways. 

Exactly. There is no interpretation, calculation or whatever - just the value measured and reported from the mainbord.

32 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

And that wouldn't explain why the app could show 100.8v previously but now doesn't. 

About when did the motherboard the last time report above 100V?

32 minutes ago, adrianqbs said:

I'm trying not to get too laser focused on saying it's definitely a pack issue but could be something else that's reporting wrongly. Currently, will troubleshoot focusing on the packs while still allowing for the possibility the voltage readings via Bluetooth from the wheel may be incorrect. 

A reported voltage drop grom 100.8V to 98.6V is very worrisome and should be thoroughly investigated.

 

[Ben Kim]

Does anyone have a single mileage reset issue with a T4 v2? My wheel cannot record more than 3-5 miles of single mileage in DarknessBot before it resets itself.  The app is still datalogging correctly however.  

I will try using the Begode app for mileage tracking and report back.

regarding other people's charging issues, Darknessbot reports 100.8v on full charge, euc-dash reports 101.1v.  No issues there but I only have 95 miles on my wheel.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Ben Kim

[daniel1234]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:26 AM, RolluS said:

Nicely made. I'm affraid I'll have to faceplant to have this one.
There is more connector than on V1 if I'm not mistaken? (On V1: buzzer, headlight, taillights, display, halls) do you know what there are about? Maybe USB outputs? RGB Leds?

I got a response from the re-seller -  I am not happy again. 

- Begode dont wanna say what are other headers for. (no additional info).

- Begode told me to make wires longer if they are short (no additional info).

Obviously, a reseller is tired by now of me, and communication sucks.  Feels like, I am not worthy of effort anymore.
I am again disappointed - I was hoping it was backward compatible with V1 without any DIY solution. Even mounting holes are screwed up. I can take a drill, m4 tap, and solder iron and get to work.

To summarize my t4 experience:

- Suspension was screwed up, but fixable.
- Motor slipped (got spare qs hub in warranty).

- Board failed (t4 crashed, and somebody got hurt.  I needed to pay new board warranty doesn't cover it)

So much waiting - almost no fun. After 2 months I spend over 50 hours on that EUC -> I don't have a fully functional unit. Emotionally I don't like t4 anymore. Worst customer experience I could imagine.

Anybody, wants v2 t4 in Europe?  (as soon as I make new board fit)

[RolluS]

Wow, that is not fair from your seller.

I understand your feelings, but maybe it's time to enjoy once card installed?

[pHghost]

Those of you riding T4s, what tire pressure do you run?

[RolluS]

34 minutes ago, pHghost said:

Those of you riding T4s, what tire pressure do you run?

I was on 2 bars, so under inflated. Now I'm trying the opposite: 3.5 bars.

The (reasonably) less you inflate, the more grip you have
The more you inflate, the more control you have.
 

I love 3.5 bars (maybe I'll try lower) because the wheel is really reactive 

[RolluS]

I kept 3.5 bars but deflate suspension to 165psi (I'm 80kg/176lbs), thanks to Nylonove progressive suspension. I love this setup. I haven't bottomed out during "urban" jumps yet.

I like the way my wheel goes. I'll probablu change front bumper.

Setup:

•  Commander CNC/acrylic spiked pedals
• V1 CST 1773 tire
• V2 QS motor
• Kickstand (present from begode to V1 riders)
• Torquepads
• Clarkpad fairing and integrated front bumper
• Custom fender from Decathlon (front MTB mudguard)
• Nylonove suspension with stock shock
• Nylonove rear bumper
• V2 battery mux board, V2 short-circuit protection board, V2 DC-DC stepdown converter
• V1 12 MOSFET power board, mainboard, and display

Edited December 5, 2022 by RolluS

[Ben Kim]

1 hour ago, RolluS said:

I kept 3.5 bars but deflate suspension to 165psi (I'm 80kg/176lbs), thanks to Nylonove progressive suspension. I love this setup. I haven't bottomed out during "urban" jumps yet.

I like the way my wheel goes. I'll probablu change front bumper.

Setup:

•  Commander CNC/acrylic spiked pedals
• V1 CST 1773 tire
• V2 QS motor
• Kickstand (present from begode to V1 riders)
• Torquepads
• Clarkpad fairing and integrated front bumper
• Custom fender from Decathlon (front MTB mudguard)
• Nylonove suspension with stock shock
• Nylonove rear bumper
• V2 battery mux board, V2 short-circuit protection board, V2 DC-DC stepdown converter
• V1 12 MOSFET power board, mainboard, and display

I run 200 psi and I weigh 175 lbs (79kg?) and think the suspension is kind of stiff. Maybe I will drop suspension pressure a bit more. 

[RolluS]

Yes, suspension is stiff, but still comfy and rideable against other 16" non suspension wheels.

 

I have the Nylonove suspension arms, I love them

[buffs]

41 minutes ago, RolluS said:

I have the Nylonove suspension arms, I love them

How would you describe the difference between the Nylonove and stock suspension?

[RolluS]

As the curve is more progressive you can inflate less without bottoming out. This bring comfort for city riding.

I don't know if progressive is more wanted than linear, but actually Ireally love the "upgrade".

[alexbrunoeuc]

11 hours ago, RolluS said:

Yes, suspension is stiff, but still comfy and rideable against other 16" non suspension wheels.

 

I have the Nylonove suspension arms, I love them

Did you swap it just for extra comfort or did you bottom out with the stock arms? 

_____

Your wheel looks fantastic 🤩