Yamaha Wabash motor goes dead

H

Halb

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Sep 8, 2024
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Location
SC USA
1000 miles on the bike. Purchased 9/23. Mainly road rides but some gravel as well
Battery can be fully charged or as today, about 60 percent.
Riding in various power modes and typically happens when coasting at speed and then trying to apply pedal power up the next hill
Screen goes blank/ black and all power disappears. Happened 5 times over 15 miles today. Mostly in the second half of the ride. I can turn it back on and it will work again. However it may happen again in another 10-15 minutes or so

I did tighten the 4 screws in the top plate that connects to the battery in the top of the down tube and thought it was fixed but happened 5 times today

I’m ready to take it to the Yamaha dealer for a full service and full diagnosis but wanted to see if others have had similar experiences.
Anyone???? Frustrating. This has happened many times before over previous months.
 
Very pretty little bike. According to the info page I found you have a 3 year warranty on the frame, drive unit and battery. You should take it into the shop. Perhaps to start, they could drop a different battery into it and let you go for a drive and see if it is then working properly.
Screenshot_20240909-190539_Chrome.jpg
 
It’s back at the dealer as of yesterday. Technician thinks it may be the controller itself. Perhaps a faulty head unit or loose connection. Not a battery issue. He said Yamaha is back ordered on all parts. Ugh. I’ll let you know how this turns out. Where did that price in the photo come from? Used bike?
 

Gravel E Bike Wabash RT | Yamaha E Bikes

Yamaha E bike Gravel Bicycle. The Wabash RT is the best new gravel electric bike designed and developed for cycling adventures over whatever terrain you come across – hard surfaces, dirt, and gravel. www.Yamahabicycles.com
www.yamahabicycles.com www.yamahabicycles.com
 
The system cutting in and out completely was different. Let us know what the result turns out to be. My pic was from Ebikes 508 in Plymouth ma. I think there are dealers in many states with left over inventory on higher end ebikes. I'm going to add to this to say, prices in MA. might also reflect a rebate from the state for going electric.
 
Halb said:
It’s back at the dealer as of yesterday. Technician thinks it may be the controller itself. Perhaps a faulty head unit or loose connection. Not a battery issue. He said Yamaha is back ordered on all parts. Ugh. I’ll let you know how this turns out. Where did that price in the photo come from? Used bike?
Click to expand...
Anything yet?

I would personally suspect the battery, not anything else in the electronics.

The reason is because of the sale that's going on right now. They're blowing them out for thousands below MSRP. They won't sell to NY, so I'm thinking the bike or battery is probably not 3rd safety party certified, (UL) which they now require. They may be sitting on lots and lots of eBikes, and the capacity of a Li-Ion battery decreases when it is stored more than 6 months.

I'm thinking they built a ton of these eBikes during COVID, thinking to sell them in NYC. But then some cheap Chinese eBikes without proper battery management caused some fires, which caused NY to legislate a requirement for 3rd party certification of the bike, battery and charger.

Between this and the eBike market getting very competitive, Yamaha has found themselves with a lot of eBikes with old batteries in them. The current promotion also gets the buyer a free battery. (maybe because the original ones were too long in storage and are causing problems like yours. Is this their way of addressing the fact that the batteries with the bikes were aged out? It may or may not work right, but in case not, they'll send you a new battery. And they don't even have to admit what happened.

Before they start trying to get controllers that are unobtainable, ask them to try a new battery. It's possible your eBike (and its battery) had been sitting in storage for months and months before you bought it.
 
I just ordered a Wabash RT on the sale. We'll see what kind of condition the battery is in, when it arrives. I'll look for a production date marking too.
 
The dealer had mine fully charged when I picked it up last Sunday... Yes a dealer open on a Sunday. Anyway, I put 18 miles on the bike and it still shows a full charge. The dealer said Yamaha should ship the extra battery in about 120 days or so. You don't get the battery from the dealer, Yamaha sends it out after they verify the bike has been registered which my dealer did for me.
 
wkimes said:
Have you received your bike yet? If not did they give you an ETA? - Thanks!
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No and no. They sent me a ship notice with no ETA on Wednesday; nothing since. I don't even know where it shipped from; could be Japan.
 
Thanks, I ordered mine 10/23 and have not had any response regarding shipping. I'll wait until mid week and may call them. I'll let you know if I get some kind of answer. Thanks again!
 
I purchased the Wabash RT from the website and picked it up at the local dealer in Oct 2024. The bike had no issues and I rode it for ~150 miles. Prior to the start of the following ride the display would not go On. I pulled out the battery and checked that it was fully charged, which it was. After reinstalling the battery in the bike, the problem went away and I was able to do my ride. The next time the same problem occurred with the power switch not turning On the display. Removing the battery and reseating it did not fix the problem. I then took to the dealer, which bounced the front wheel and the problem went away. It's still at the dealer for them to figure out what issue is. I'll post a solution once I get it back from the dealer. In the mean time, any additional info that can help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
This maybe neither be here nor there, but there is an interesting post on Reddit concerning someone trying to derestrict the top speed on Japanese, Yamaha bikes by changing out the magnet sensor, it's titled "Yamaha Wabash RT (Japan model) magnet tuning". It appears that the Wabash has self learning software that tries to correct itself over time in regards to the data it is receiving. Trying to trick the magnets pretty much disregulated his bike. This may explain why some people are having trouble in the middle of rides for no apparent reason. It may not be a hardware issue at all, but an ever adjusting software problem. I think there is a point where we become so sophisticated that all we do is trip over our own feet.
 
PTHammer said:
I purchased the Wabash RT from the website and picked it up at the local dealer in Oct 2024. The bike had no issues and I rode it for ~150 miles. Prior to the start of the following ride the display would not go On. I pulled out the battery and checked that it was fully charged, which it was. After reinstalling the battery in the bike, the problem went away and I was able to do my ride. The next time the same problem occurred with the power switch not turning On the display. Removing the battery and reseating it did not fix the problem. I then took to the dealer, which bounced the front wheel and the problem went away. It's still at the dealer for them to figure out what issue is. I'll post a solution once I get it back from the dealer. In the mean time, any additional info that can help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
It sounds like an electronic issue. I bet they end up replacing the controller or re-flashing it with the latest firmware from the mothership.
I'm picking mine up today, so I might have the same issue and I look forward to hearing about your resolution.
 
Halb said:
It’s back at the dealer as of yesterday. Technician thinks it may be the controller itself. Perhaps a faulty head unit or loose connection. Not a battery issue. He said Yamaha is back ordered on all parts. Ugh. I’ll let you know how this turns out. Where did that price in the photo come from? Used bike?
Click to expand...
@Halb Would you give us an update please? I'm about to take mine back to the dealer.
I emailed them a couple days ago with no response. I think I'll call them today.
Seems like a bad battery (old cells) or something either in the controller or Battery Management System (BMS).
I do know that I'm not going to give up, for this kind of money.
 
PTHammer said:
I'd like to report that the dealer fixed the problem by readjusting the battery plug on the bike. So far I've put another 100 mi without an issue. Thanks all for your recommendations.

@Halb good luck with the motor issue.
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I will look into whether it seems like this could be adjusted easily via the two external allen screws at the top of the swing-down battery cover/holder. If so, it should be an easy matter to handle at home.

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