Inmotion V11 Factory Locked due to "a safety-related hidden danger": Can anyone help unlock it?

[Carey]

My wheel was just locked by the factory for a "safety-related hidden danger". I had just charged it, turned it on, and the wheel won't move under its own power.

The App shows the wheel is locked but will not unlock by tapping the icon.  

The Battery Enable Status shows, "Disabled". Nothing on the App, that I can find, will help me unlock it. I have sent word to Inmotion through the Inmotion website, email, and WhatsApp, as well as this site.

Can anyone suggest more and/or help me in another way?

[Hellkitten]

I had a similar problem with my og v11. I had to contact inmotion the same way you did. It took a week of back and forth via email for them to run a remote diagnoses and tell me it was in fine working order. Be prepared for being up late to work with the techs in China in their time zone. One of the reasons I ended up buying a competitor’s brand for my next wheel. 

[Carey]

Thanks for relaying your experience.  This is my first wheel and I have been real happy with it up until now.  From my readings, I thought Inmotion as one of the higher quality brands with good customer service, but it seems you had a much different experience.  Which brand/model did you buy as a replacement?  I ask in case I too have to find a new (hopefully used but new to me) wheel.

 

[Hellkitten]

They did unlock it my wheel has been fine since then. They’ll just likely want to run a remote diagnostic on it. The experience made me realize I wanted a backup wheel. I decided to try a different brand mostly because I figured it would up my odds of having a functional euc. I’ve since bought one from each company. 🤣 not because I’m worried about redundancy so much as I’ve ended up like many here with an euc addiction. V11 was my first. I have an m10-4, rs, ksL, and Sherman S. Have an eye on the falcon. 

[on one]

I think it might be possible to disconnect the battery leads, then check for some kind of bios battery if there is one, After your sure that all the batteries are disconnected then you could let it sit and reset (the guinness approach - as in drink a guinness or an herbal tea if that's your pref) then after 4 hours connect all the batteries again and see if your error got cleared. This might not be advisable if there really is a danger. I'm sure other members can chime in here too.

[Carey]

Thanks Hellkitten for the list of your wheels.  I have so far resisted the desire to get a second wheel, but as I use mine for commuting, the wisdom of that approach is suggesting my wallet may soon be a bit lighter.

Thanks on one for the repair suggestion.  Do you know how one would "disconnect the battery leads, then check for some kind of bios battery if there is one"?

I was thinking of doing a factory reset, but I don't want to make things worse and I am concerned doing a reset might just do so.

Oh, and if you know of anyone in the Seattle area who has a good commuter wheel with suspensions (my 57 year old knees prefer suspension!) they want to sell, please let me know.

[on one]

Before potentially voiding your warranty @Carey, I encourage you to call the dealership that you bought your wheel from, if Amazon you can easily get your money back; try to get an RMA# to send your wheel in for warranty service. I hope you don't have to pay for shipping services because that would be adding insult to injury.

Edited July 21 by on one
typo, clarity

[Hellkitten]

You can try the factory reset. Just hold the power button down for 30 seconds till it makes a bong, bong, bong sound. I don’t think it will help in this case, but you can try. 

[Carey]

Thanks HK and OO.

I bought my wheel second hand and it was first purchased on 9-15-22, so sadly, no warranty repairs for me. :-(

I will try a factory reset if Inmotion doesn't get back to me by early next week.  I'm hoping that the lack of response is just because it is the weekend.

[Carey]

On One, I just saw that you ride a Ninebot Z10.  May I ask your opinion of it?  I have always had a soft spot for Segways.

[on one]

If you take your wheel apart to disconnect the batteries, @Carey it might be stressful and scary. Seattle is great, I love the public market, it's fab. Since Seattle is so progressive, you have lots of options of PEV repair shops and persons.

I love my Z10, it's always exciting to ride as I gain experience there is lot's of different ways to balance and steer. Lately I have been training both of my legs to be able to perform the same types of steering and accelerations. I finally broke the 20mph speed barrier and its exhilarating.

[Hellkitten]

It very likely is that. I had no response for a few days and they replied on the China timeline. 

[Carey]

UPDATE and Question:

In reviewing my "Battery Information" screen, I noticed that the "Basic Information - Voltage" reading is 81.8V while the "Battery Pack Information - Voltage" reading is 82.4V (displayed twice as I believe there are two independent battery packs).  Any chance that because the BPI voltage reading is higher than the BI voltage reading, my wheel might be fine if I leave it on and just let the batteries drain for a while?  Now, as I'm typing this, I'm beginning to feel like I'm revealing I really don't understand batteries and electricity that well, so if the above inquiry is a beyond silly question, be kind in your responses. :-)

[onewheelkoregro]

1 hour ago, Carey said:

UPDATE and Question:

In reviewing my "Battery Information" screen, I noticed that the "Basic Information - Voltage" reading is 81.8V while the "Battery Pack Information - Voltage" reading is 82.4V (displayed twice as I believe there are two independent battery packs).  Any chance that because the BPI voltage reading is higher than the BI voltage reading, my wheel might be fine if I leave it on and just let the batteries drain for a while?  Now, as I'm typing this, I'm beginning to feel like I'm revealing I really don't understand batteries and electricity that well, so if the above inquiry is a beyond silly question, be kind in your responses. :-)

Deviation of .6 might be the cause of the battery error. If it were me I would pull both battery packs and charge them both to full. Then reconnect them and turn the unit on. The message should go away and you will be able to ride if you do this. I don't know how handy you are or how comfortable you are working with high voltage stuff. But the v11 is one of the most intensive EUCs to tear down. A whole lotta of screws but it is doable. But if it were me that's what I would do

Edited July 21 by onewheelkoregro

[Carey]

Thanks onewheelkoregro, I'm going to wait a couple days to see if Inmotion replies.  If not, I'm going to do a factory reset.  If that doesn't work, then I will disassemble and look for anything obviously wrong.  Along the way, I will pull battery packs and charge them to full before re-installing.  As I had just charged the battery packs to full (while still connected to the EUC and charging the normal way), I'm not sure this is the problem.  But I'd rather look at every possible fix before forking over another chunk of change for a new (to me) EUC.

Can you enlighten me as to what a battery Bios problem might be and how to fix it?

:-)

[Hellkitten]

I’d do the factory reset now. It won’t wreck anything. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[onewheelkoregro]

17 hours ago, Carey said:

Thanks onewheelkoregro, I'm going to wait a couple days to see if Inmotion replies.  If not, I'm going to do a factory reset.  If that doesn't work, then I will disassemble and look for anything obviously wrong.  Along the way, I will pull battery packs and charge them to full before re-installing.  As I had just charged the battery packs to full (while still connected to the EUC and charging the normal way), I'm not sure this is the problem.  But I'd rather look at every possible fix before forking over another chunk of change for a new (to me) EUC.

Can you enlighten me as to what a battery Bios problem might be and how to fix it?

:-)

Unbalanced packs can decrease your range (the most noticeable side effect) and in the very worst case scenario cause your EUC to combust. I would stop riding it until you are able to get the packs to balance.

[Carey]

UPDATE:

Inmotion reached to me via my whatsapp inquiry this morning at 3am.  When I saw it at 6am, they were fortunately still in the office. A few quick minutes later, my wheel was unlocked.  Inmotion informed me the issue was unbalanced batteries.  They didn't tell me what caused it and suggested if it happens again I should replace the batteries.  However, at the end of our conversation they advised me to reach out to them again the next time it happens.  

A plus point for Inmotion is that they helped me and unlocked my wheel before I provided the order number for my wheel.  I am the second owner and have the original buyers order number specifically in case I needed assistance, but I was pleasantly surprised that they helped me before I had provided it.

Thanks to all of you who provided advice.  If anyone has a suggestion for a good second wheel that would compliment the V11, I may be in the mood to acquire a backup wheel after this experience. :-)

[on one]

On 7/21/2024 at 11:26 PM, Carey said:

Can you enlighten me as to what a battery Bios problem might be and how to fix it?

:-)

It would be a little flat lithium battery or a little bullet shaped lithium battery likely somewhere on the motherboard. I don't know if your wheel would have even had one anyway. But sometimes while repairing on electronics it's helpful to just make the machine forget everything by disconnecting it's power and resetting the computers memory.

Yay! I'm happy that Inmotion cleared the error! I still wonder, if Inmotion was so high tek, why couldn't your wheel just clear it's own error when the batteries got balanced? And why didn't smart BMS just do it on it's own. That's not very user friendly.

Anyhow, your wheel is happy again :-)

[Carey]

Thanks on one!

[alcatraz]

Leave it on the charger a bit longer and see if you can avoid the error from showing again.

Either the bms can't sort out the imbalance (you're out of luck) or it needs more time to balance it out. It can take several hours, maybe days on the charger.

[Carey]

To anyone still reading this thread, I am looking for a back up wheel and found a KS18XL for $400 with upgraded pads, charger, and the headlight/taillight, LED lights, trolley handle and Bluetooth speaker all working as they should. It has roughly 1,150 miles on it and body is in good shape with minimal "normal use" dings on it.  This seems like a good price to me, what do you all think?

[Hellkitten]

1 hour ago, Carey said:

To anyone still reading this thread, I am looking for a back up wheel and found a KS18XL for $400 with upgraded pads, charger, and the headlight/taillight, LED lights, trolley handle and Bluetooth speaker all working as they should. It has roughly 1,150 miles on it and body is in good shape with minimal "normal use" dings on it.  This seems like a good price to me, what do you all think?

Absolutely, a good deal if everything works as you say. I have one as a backup too. Capable wheel. The lack of suspension and narrow tire take a bit to get used to after a v11.

[onewheelkoregro]

5 hours ago, Carey said:

To anyone still reading this thread, I am looking for a back up wheel and found a KS18XL for $400 with upgraded pads, charger, and the headlight/taillight, LED lights, trolley handle and Bluetooth speaker all working as they should. It has roughly 1,150 miles on it and body is in good shape with minimal "normal use" dings on it.  This seems like a good price to me, what do you all think?

It really does suck being without a wheel. I am really glad I have more than one now. But $400 for any EUC is a good deal and the 18xl was a premium wheel 2-3 years ago, so I would absolutely say it is a good deal