Got thrown off the GT, board took off without my command, petition to Evolve to fix remote

Ok so i own a bamboo gt had it now for nearly 2 weeks 1st problem i had was remote was stuck on white screen i did power reset and fixed that then last thursday night i went for a ride and board stopped suddenly and would not power back on so thought ok its flat i then kepted it on charge all night got up to go to work next day and board wouldnt turn on so i spent the day going to gold coast to get fixed they fixed it and all was good then on saterday i was cruiseing on eco top speed and then bang was thrown straight into the pavement split my head open grazes all over me i got up and relized the remote had gone into reverse on its own so im not very happy the remote smashed into the ground and broke the trigger off now i have no board over the xmas break and im up for a new remote that isnt very cheap has anyone else ever herd of this happening its now a scary thought for it to happen again especaily when it was only eco would hate to c where i would be if it was gt mode probebly in a coma in hospital.

 

Thanks Wiztecy - looks like a step in the right direction if not perfect yet - I got into the habit of doing the same thing "downshift when needed" and also only using as much power as needed too for whatever section of road or path or parking lot I was riding in. If you don't need the total power of GT simply don't select it - actually rode in ECO a fair bit - cheers for the update.

Sorry Jimstar for your problems - you dealt with Evolve AUS (HQ) ?

 

Yeah man aus HQ its like 2 hrs from my place and is the only place i can go they really need to get there products out and to other shops thats forsure

 

So the choppy / uneven start of acceleration issue is back... This week of riding I had to be very cautious when I'm in Fast or GT mode. At least I'm aware and prepared someone when it acts up. I wish it was fixed.

 

Man, sorry to hear that the problems still persist. I've had my CGT for exactly 2 weeks now and have put on over 80 miles. In that time I have experienced the occasional drop out when holding the remote in my right hand. I ride goofy and when i hold the renote in my left hand that particular problem seems to go away. Its crazy that such a small decrease in distance from the board can have an impact but I'm guessing the carbon fiber is really that tough to penetrate. Haven't had any other issues so far but is only 2 weeks. Even though the temp is 30 degrees Fahrenheit and below over here I still try to ride every day so long as the ground is not too wet. I have water proofed my board but I'm still not going to risk it unnecessarily.

Wiztec, how long and approx how many miles did it take for your issues to manifest?

 

The first week I got the board back I road it 40-60 miles and it was very smooth and predictable. Then the following weak it started acting up again. I may start to do some of my own experimenting as well, riding with the remote behind me and riding without the CF battery cover top, possibly making a temp one out of wood, plexiglass or fiberglass. But not sure if that's the issue or what is. Frustrating but worse of all I don't want to get thrown off and hurt again.

I had one real drop out occur and then two more drop outs which i don't think were remote related. Such as going from Fast Mode to GT mode while the throttle is still full on. You don't need to go into neutral. But when it cuts out when you in full torque mode its a scary moment there too as well, so you have to be prepared for it to do anything wacky on you.

 

Another thing I do with success so far is this. Before each ride, I re-pair the remote, then give it a quick trigger test without me on the board. What I'm looking for here is to catch a delay or in some cases no response at all. I've seen both, and when I do I re-pair again until it responds as it should. I also turn off the board and start over. Until that happens I don't hop on. Sometimes this process takes 10 seconds to as long as 90 seconds for me. Every time I re-pair my guess is it is channel hopping but of that I'm not certain. Regardless, this process has worked for me so far. I will report back when it doesn't. If you haven't already, give this a try to see if anything changes. Its a little inconvenient but it might make the ride better for you.

 

What process are you using to repair remote

 

This is exactly what my procedure is every time I ride... I pair until I get a smooth reaction from the remote to the board.

 

Press and hold left button until the antena symbol starts flashing. It will indicate that it has paired again when the battery percentage shows up. If it takes longer than 15 seconds to pair, turn off board and remote and start over again.

 

I'm waiting for my board to turn up anyday now, do you turn the board on first or the transmitter first or doesn't it matter.?

 

Not sure it matters but I believe the instructions state to turn on the board first.

 

New boards are already paired to the remote, so they're good to go. I turn on the board then the remote.

Unfortunately I have done the repairing issue many times with no success. When I test the remote before the ride it works great, then go down the road and its crap. I stop, resync/repair, and same damn thing. Thanks for the suggestion. If people need to do that there's a serious bug or flaw in the remote I say. A rider should have no need to repair a properly designed remote once the remote is paired/synced with the board. And sending out repairing instructions to me is hiding the fact there is an underlying issue. I never had any company with any other electric skateboard using a bluetooth remote to do that nor anything else that uses bluetooth. And if Evolve says don't touch the trigger when repairing, well hey Evolve, filter out that signal from the user until the remote is paired. I know that they're trying to calibrate the potentiometer / trigger, however, I think the user can get into trouble if they do have the trigger pushed into the braking direction while repairing/syncing, it would have throttle on when in neutral. But again I think all this is smoke and mirrors. How many Evolve GT owners have complained about their board turning on 1/4 or more throttle after the repair is done? None.

Its funny, Evolve had posted a video showing how to properly repair the remote to the board. They go to the effect of saying that after it was paired that the throttle was very smooth ans the accelerated the GT. And they kept on saying it over and over. Watching it I had to laugh quite a bit, sorry, but its crazy. One thing I must note, the remote in the video was held about 5" from where the control board / Bluetooth antenna is located in the rear of the board. So they are not putting the rider's body in the way of the signal, which is known to filter the RF signal. Also the CF battery cover filters the RF signal, so moving it over top of the BT antenna will ensure you have a strong signal. Secondly it was done inside a warehouse. So I too can make my board run smooth that way too. Take it out into the rear world environment with real world RF interference and you have a totally different result.

But still if they're having so many people who need to keep on resyncing /pairing the remote there's an issue, you can't just sweep it under the rug and call it user error.

So in my case Evolve replaced the motor controller. I will say it is better than before I sent it out to Evolve for repair, however the issue is still there, but not as bad. However with this issue it is still dangerous and has to be fixed to be safe. I WILL NOT allow anyone else ride this board for that I do not trust it. I also would never let my child, if I had one, ride this thing. Its very dangerous and I can't stress that any harder from my 1st hand experience. I'd like to not say that and say this board rocks, it does when it works properly, but when its unpredictable it can cause harm.

Anyways.... I did the resync of the remote many times which didn't help. So what... is this another faulty motor controller? Is this due to bad blue tooth reception? Or what? I really don't want to send my board out again, pack it up, ship it, have Evolve mess with it again, and then cross my fingers the issue has been fixed (again).

Also a person posted you can transition from FAST mode to GT mode and back without having to put the trigger in neutral. I tested that and it does work. I like it and have been using it since I've been always starting off in ECO mode, then shifting into FAST then GT while going down the street as well as "downshifting" when I need to slow down. That way I'll most likely be in ECO when something unexpected happens. Being prepared that this board can do anything at anytime has kept me from landing on the ground again and seriously injuring myself again. Getting back... so I've been riding, starting in ECO putting the trigger in neutral, shifting to FAST then hitting the GT button while full throttle and not dropping into neutral. You can feel the GT mode hit hard and you have to lean forward for it. However I've had my board cut out twice when doing this which is very BAD!!! Curious, does anyone else experience this issue? Is this another issue with my board that could show some sort of fault or is it all boards? Only thing I can see is that the huge surge of power causes the voltage to drop from the battery and the board shuts down the power. However my battery was at around 94% on the board when it cut out both times. If I start power up again its good to go. If I take it easy during the shift reducing the throttle it won't cut out. Doesn't cut out every time either, but its reproducible. Doesn't seem like a remote drop out at all. Be CAREFUL, if this happens its quite dangerous since you're in full torque and leaning hard forward. When the board cuts power on you right there you're prone to fall forward and crash.

 

Yup I agree that we shouldn't have to be doing any of these tweaks. Evolve better be working on a new remote design and offering current users who want one a free replacement. One thing I hate in particular is how fragile the remote itself is. I fear dropping this thing or sitting on it accidentally and snapping off the trigger.

 

...then its odd that I have perfect days with this board like this morning where the remote and throttle response was good. Didn't do any repairing from yesterday when it was acting berserk.

 

Well I didn't get mad at the board today However it decided to get mad at me. Threw me off again by going into reverse on its own in ECO mode. Another forum member reported the same thing. I and he were not messing with any buttons and were just moving forward when this happened.

I really am fed up now.

Board braked / jumped into reverse on its own in ECO mode

 

Worth a try removing the CF battery cover and seeing if the board improves:

Evolve Suggestion - No more connection issues due to wood instead of carbon deck

 

Hi guys,


Here is my experience with my recently bought Evolve GT Bamboo.

During the first week, I have experienced the same scary and dangerous behavior of the flaky remote control that most of you are reporting in this thread.
I captured some obviously poor performance and delayed response of the board and its remote in this video:


Good news:
After showing the video to Calikites in San Francisco where I bought the GT, they replaced the remote control with a similar one that got shipped to them by Evolve more recently than the board (better batch maybe?).
It's been 1 week with the new remote now and 4 or 5 long rides of ~10 miles each, everything has been working perfectly with no glitch and no drop-outs.

Now that my Evolve Bamboo GT runs properly, I can tell you that it's an awesome skateboard!

Hopefully I won't have to come back here to report new problems but so far so good.
Although I did not hurt myself yet, this first week of troubleshooting and online research about the remote control issue has scared me enough to teach me how important it is to ride carefully and wear protection gear.

Good luck everyone, have fun and ride safe!

 

Hey W.Jordan..Out of your riders group of 150, how many of them had problems that "tossed them off the board unexpectedly" due to remotes not working properly? I could care less about any defect or problem that does not cause injury, my main concern is a defect/bug that could cause me to fly off the board for reasons out of my personal control. Any stats about this specific matter within your group?