Is my PINT broken?

4 January 2021, 21:56 UTC

Strange clicking motor noise coming from brand new Pint. Is it normal?

Sry in advance for the poor lighting. I just recorded it for the noise, There is no visible physical damage. Box arrived in perfect condition. I thought the sound it made was normal, but I'm only getting a mile on my front lawn. I'm 5'10" @ 195-lbs and the lawn is quite flat and well maintained. I'm just rocking side to side in the video. It's a quicktime mov cuz I use an iphone. Not worth posting to youtube.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fe7MRHrRyJDIqbvnW2Lf7OpP0CBNmq_-/view?usp=sharing

4 January 2021, 22:53 UTC

That is a normal noise if standing still and rocking the wheel back and forth. It's the motor torquing up from a dead stop or extremely slow speed. I've not heard it under normal riding conditions on my Pint. Once your riding style smoothes out I would not expect to hear that under normal riding conditions.

4 January 2021, 23:04 UTC

@RickN Thx for the reply! Unfortunately, I was hoping it was a motor issue cuz I'm getting terrible mileage straight out of the box. I can watch the battery percentage on the app drop every few seconds on a loose gravel driveway. Tire pressure is 19 psi. I fully charged the battery when when I first received it. It's been on charger when not in use. I can only manage a mile out of it on a full charge just simply scooting around on flat grass and pea gravel driveway. Using redwood. haven't been on asphalt yet.

4 January 2021, 23:12 UTC

@NotSure I'm a petite 250lb Pint rider (600mi+) but only ride improved relatively flat streets. I have no luck riding turf. Unless the turf is dry and rock hard, my weight just pushes the tire into the soil and it runs out of power. Same with loose gravel. You might try lower air pressure. On pavement it's wonderful though. Isn't redwood the first level? I'd get off that, and maybe use elevated when off-road to get the nose a little further off the ground.

4 January 2021, 23:15 UTC

@RickN Lol. Ur a monster. Thx for the advice tho!

5 January 2021, 00:49 UTC

i know that the "1 lb of PSI for every 10 lbs of body weight" is a good rule of thumb, but you might want to try increasing the PSI a bit to see if that helps. aside from that, i do agree that sounds like unusually bad mileage no matter what. you might want to contact FM just to see what they say.

5 January 2021, 05:28 UTC

@Franko Yeah I submitted a ticket last Friday. Haven't heard back yet tho. I'll try adding some tire pressure. Also read on this forum that depleting the battery on a milk crate can reset the hardware. Hoping it's not a rumor and it fixes something without having to send it back so soon after getting it. Sux for sure. If anyone could confirm that rumor, I'd appreciate it!

5 January 2021, 19:15 UTC

@NotSure i have heard about that milk crate thing, but haven't had to try it myself. as for getting ahold of FM, i can say from experience that emailing them is probably the worst way to get ahold of them -- the best way is to call them, by far. and keep trying, until you get through to an agent. sometimes their lines are busy!

5 January 2021, 20:08 UTC

Thanks for the sound advice @Franko ! I added a couple pounds of air to the tire and it does seem to roll a bit easier afterwards. I'll wait for FM to officially confirm the milk crate trick before trying it.

5 January 2021, 20:10 UTC

no problem! i hope you start getting more normal mileage with a simple fix.

5 January 2021, 20:23 UTC

@Franko yeah me too. Sending it away for a week or two would be awful...

https://youtu.be/h_LdJ67-TCo

9 January 2021, 00:25 UTC

@NotSure FM tech support confirmed to me the milk crate trick is actually a real procedure for "resetting the battery". Just thought I'd conclude my own query about it for any future readers asking the same thing. Be sure to review and/or report the diagnostics via the app before, during, and after while the board is not connected to the charger. Write them down if necessary.

9 January 2021, 08:21 UTC

@NotSure keep an eye on the controller temperature when you do the milk crate. Don't let it get to high. Let us know how hot it gets after X minutes...

9 January 2021, 21:30 UTC

@NotSure really! that's good to know. thanks for posting it here.

9 January 2021, 22:05 UTC

@NotSure Procedures like this to reset equipment make me smile.

In my work we always joke about having to do the magical "Factory Reset Dance" for phone systems and network equipment because it's never just a button press on anything worth it's weight. Glad to see similar peculiar ways of resetting hardware exist in other tech I own lol.

12 January 2021, 18:00 UTC

@stinkyface Lol about one degree Fahrenheit... I wore it down to 27% and it died then and there. LED's turned red and everything. Restarted it and the battery still said 27% for a few seconds but the LED's turned yellow then red. The milk crating took all one minute to fully drain the battery down to 0% at that point. Board shuts off. The app won't even stay connected for long at that point, so be quick with the diagnostics. Sry if you were looking forward to that data. The milk crate procedure did appear to work tho. I'll update the thread when the ticket is fully resolved.

13 January 2021, 06:04 UTC

@NotSure thanks for confirming, my experience was quite different. Glad yours was a non issue.

I had a near full charge and ran at full milk crate speed for 10mins when I noticed the controller temp at 45 Celcius...😧. I was doing it to sand the powder coat off the wheel!