2018 EX firmware update, then Code 35 & 36


OneLapper

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My Alta riding buddy, @Duncan, brought his 2018 EX over to my shop yesterday. We had planned on updating the FW hoping it would address a rapid charger fault issue.

Duncan and I both bought our bikes from the same dealer, a day apart. His bike never went back to the dealer for any updates before Alta shut their doors. We assumed that FW 1.2.1 would address the rapid charger showing a fault. This spring/summer the bike failed to initiate a charge if the battery was above 75% SOT. No codes were present on the dash.

The first clue something was amiss was that the MT software didn't know what version FW the bike had. It came up as "UNKNOWN". Second clue was the battery P group graph. Half of the P groups in Module 0 were .15vdc below the rest of the pack.

After the FW upgrade, codes 35 and 36 presented themselves. We decided to pull the battery and have a look.

I made some calls, sent some pictures, the general consensus is that the BRD board on the module has failed. This problem was a known issue on 2018 EXs (A pack bikes). It's not clear whether Alta officially put a recall out there, but bikes that had not shipped yet were fixed at the factory, and bikes that were at dealers had batteries that were swapped. Some delivered EXs, likes Duncan's, did not get either remedy.

Although I'm still working through this issue, it's believed that Liquid Peformance (@ayden_kry) may have purchased the spare BRD boards. Fortunately, @Rashid510 has the part number which will help Ayden to identify the part. IF Liquid doesn't have the board, we have a member here that thinks he can make a new pcb using readily available components. Some electrical engineering will need to happen but it seems doable.

Here's a pictures. Screen shot will happen later today.
 

Duncan

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Onelapper, you have been amazingly helpful, thank you.
At a time of peril, it is welcome to have fellow Alta-ites lend a hand.
Started as a problem where quick charger would not initiate charging unless at least 25% depleted.
Then I noticed reduced range.
Then charger only charged to 75%.
While uploading from 1.1.1 to 1.2.1 we got codes 35 and 36 that both said "Service required - Imbalanced module".
Also got a "Motor timing invalid" which Onelapper fixed.
We started looking at all the fine wire connections on the cells (see photo) but difficult to see if a bond is broken or not.
Glad to hear we should be able to fix this and appreciate the input.

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Mark911

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I kinda remember that some early firmware versions would not report certain faults unless they were really going to cause problems. What the owner doesn’t know won’t hurt them philosophy. The newer versions disclose everything! So the problem(s) probably we’re there all the time.
 

OneLapper

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350V pack sitting exposed in a metal shopping cart. Be careful guys! :oops:

LOL! In full disclosure, there is a wooden platform the battery is sitting on! We needed to wheel the battery to a different spot, much care was taken, @Duncan is an engineer and was overseeing the entire procedure! No beers were consumed, either.
 

Rashid510

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LOL! In full disclosure, there is a wooden platform the battery is sitting on! We needed to wheel the battery to a different spot, much care was taken, @Duncan is an engineer and was overseeing the entire procedure! No beers were consumed, either.

FYI the radsock plug on the bottom usually handles 350ish pack volts....safety third!
 

F451

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Well, the shopping cart would be handy for rolling it out of the shop in the event of massive arcing leading to an insanely intense runaway lithium battery fire.

If you happened to be wearing a full fire suit at the time.

And you didn’t get electrocuted from the get go. Metal cart and all that.
 

Oded

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I also had to replace the BCU of my EX, but that was due to faulty contactor operation which, for some reason, shut down the entire bike.

If I recall, my VIN is 46. What's yours? I suppose my BCU was not fixed/updated prior to the time I purchased the bike.
 

Oded

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VIN 54.
How did you get a new board?

Unfortunately A boards are very hard to find.
With the help of some great members of this forum, I purchased a new complete A pack from a guy who had a spare one, and had the board taken out and shipped to me (I live in Israel).
 

Rashid510

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To be clear the solution on A pack BCUs is going to be a challenge. R pack PCBAs were the latest parts. A Pack bike population issues are lower compared to the R packs. In this case we are aiming to replace one of the BRD's not the BCU.
 

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