ZOOMO Zero e-bike LCD / Battery issues?

[zigzagman]

Hello all - looking for some advice! Will try to make this as brief as possible.

I currently have a Zoomo Zero [https://assets-global.website-files.com/5ef41bb456726c3a2ea9838a/630c639207ee338589ab21bd_Zoomo_Zero3 1.jpg]

It has a King-meter KM5SR LCD - https://topeparts.com/product/km5s-r-lcd-display/

I purchased this bike refurbished about 3 months ago as Zoomo was closing up shop here in Philly and their bikes were offered to current renters at a massive discount (I paid $700 for it) I use it as my main source of transportation, so everyday. I also do food delivery part time, so it gets nonstop use.

About a month after purchasing it the key mechanism for the battery broke...you turn the key but it just spins and doesn't release the battery. Battery has been in the frame ever since. I could still charge it so it wasn't an issue.

1 week ago is when things started going downhill. I was out riding and the bike died on me. After doing some inspecting I realized the battery seemed a bit loose and more than likely wasn't flush the the prongs so I was losing power. I wrapped a bungee cord around it to secure it and I was back up and running.

Now today, the LCD (pictured above) won't turn on so I can't use the bike. It started giving me odd problems sporadically last week, it randomly wouldn't turn on, i'd push the buttons a bit (power, up down, combo of all), eventually it'd come on, i'd swipe my fob and the bike would start. Once it was on it was good. Now I can't get it to turn on at all. Battery is fully charged and appears to be secure. If I take the bungee cord off and shake the bike a bit with the battery on, it'll shut off as if it was just disconnected. If I shake it with the cord wrapped around it securing it, it stays on. So there at least does seem to be a solid battery connection. I'm leaning towards it being an LCD issue but who am I.

My question is, can I simply replace the King LCD with something else with the same specs to get the bike to turn on, or do I have to get a replacement King-meter? Is it the prongs that are probably screwed from the bungee cord? Electronics problem? Sucks I can't even get the battery out either.

Looking for any advice to help get me back on the road. Nobody around here seems to work on ebikes, or at least zoomo ebikes so i'm a bit strapped. They had onsite mechanics that fixed everything at their shop but the shop is no more. Closest one is NYC.

Thanks!

[stts]

It's possible another cheaper display will work since the connector seems like all the other displays available. But I suspect that your battery is the problem. That key could be screwing everything up and it will have to be removed somehow and repaired. You will have to figure out a way to get the key mechanism and battery out to repair it. If you can't figure it out, you many have to find a skilled mechanic to help you out. Like one of the people that used to work at the zoomo store.

[carlbooze]

Dear STTS!

I am so grateful to you for responding. Now, since I've muttled things up by having two ebikes, for which bike was the above response for? The New one or the old one with the E10?

Since the new one is still only weeks new, I'm hoping that a half-charged battery, and a new one at that, wouldn't cause the display to disable the throttle and PAS? Or, would it ? It seems like an awful big problem to be the blame be placed on a battery that I was too lazy to charged since I bought it on December 10th!

Oh, the photos for the old bike are forthcoming, after I return home from the hospital due to my hip replacement. I'm due to leave here tomorrow.

[stts]

Wow. Yea, your in a bad way. I was talking about the Zoomo bike with the battery lock issue. If you can fix the lock, then the whole bike would probably be working. If it was me and all of my DIY skills, I would be using a thick screw driver to pry out the guts of that busted lock piece by piece. Maybe with some help with a drill as well. When all the insides of the lock are removed, then you can grab the moving stud inside the lock with long nose plyers and turn the lock to release the battery for removal. Then you can get at the back of the gutted lock to remove it completely for replacement. Thats what a lock smith would do. But lock smiths would be scared of the danger of messing with a battery lock. Also you can get to the battery connections that are likely going to have burnt connection issues, after the battery is removed. They can be cleaned up or even replaced with a better connector. But all that is possible when people have the skills to do stuff like that. The battery is very powerful and can be shorted out if your skills are not very good. That lock may even directly make a battery connection. So if you are too rough with the lock, you could also end up with shorting battery issues. I wish I had better news for you but the eBike scene right now is poorly staffed nationwide with service centers.

As for the bike with the E10 issue, I remember posting about it, but it seems the posts have changed or were edited? Maybe that post was another post elsewhere. I'll post about it if I find it. But if I got a second eBike and it broke quickly, I would be looking to return it. DIY fixing usually voids the warranties.

Oh, I figured it out. Your a different person than the original poster. Yea, this fix plan is for this Zoomo bike and has nothing to do with e10 issues. I'll post on that at the other post.

[zigzagman]

Thanks so much for the reply STTS

Hopefully I can find a local locksmith/mechanic willing to help me out. The same exact thing happened on another zoomo I was renting before the one I own now. Their mechanics quickly fixed it though, I remember them telling me they drilled it out like you are describing.

Here's a photo of the keyring, it has to be insanely cheap. Hopefully easily defeated!

https://i.ibb.co/Nr0sXpS/IMG-20230109-221851549.jpg

[stts]

Yup, they have a million of those in china. Ebay or Aliexpress is how you get one of those. Likely a $10 part. But the other side is the most important part. Picking out a lock with the type of latch that you need.So make sure you get the part from the lock smith that gets it out for you. Lock smith can get those too, but the markup might be frightening.

[stts]

Yup, Aliexpress is a treasure powerhouse. But it takes a month to get stuff from them. So keep that in mind. You can order another display and its good for a spare, but I suspect your battery is the current problem. Once you get the battery out, you may find that the connections are cooked pretty good. And Aliexpress may have parts to fix the bad battery connection too. But also look on Ebay. They get china stuff too thru speed pak. And that arrives way quicker.

[zigzagman]

Thanks so much for the reply STTS

Hopefully I can find a local locksmith/mechanic willing to help me out. The same exact thing happened on another zoomo I was renting before the one I own now. Their mechanics quickly fixed it though, I remember them telling me they drilled it out like you are describing.

Here's a photo of the keyring, it has to be insanely cheap. Hopefully easily defeated!

https://i.ibb.co/Nr0sXpS/IMG-20230109-221851549.jpg

I'm literally finding all the ZOOMO parts on ali express haha, it's no wonder their shop was always backed up with people needing their bikes serviced! Their rentals were $30-50 a week and unlimited free service visits were included so it was sort of worth it. Only thing they charged for were flats.

Ali has the same KING LCD for $122, comes with the buttons and fobs - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32568...andl_shipto=US

I put out a few calls/messages to locksmiths in the area, no reply yet. I'm wondering if in the meantime I buy a mid range LCD off amazon and hook it up, if it would start the motor and turn on?

Would I be able swap out the KING LCD with any other that has a UART female connector, such as this https://www.amazon.com/Zeekpowa-C961...DZ/ref=sr_1_29

[zigzagman]

Thanks so much for the reply STTS

Hopefully I can find a local locksmith/mechanic willing to help me out. The same exact thing happened on another zoomo I was renting before the one I own now. Their mechanics quickly fixed it though, I remember them telling me they drilled it out like you are describing.

Here's a photo of the keyring, it has to be insanely cheap. Hopefully easily defeated!

https://i.ibb.co/Nr0sXpS/IMG-20230109-221851549.jpg

Thanks again for the replies STTS

I actually got the LED to power on today and did about 10 miles on the bike, all throttle.

So here's the thing. After messing around with it earlier today, it appears the LED will ONLY power on if the battery is at 100% WITH the charger plugged in. However it won't turn on under any other circumstances. If I unplug the charger and turn the LED off, it won't turn back on. This LED also automatically shuts off after 10 minutes of inactivity, so for example tonight I stopped in a grocery store and had to get in and out within 10 minutes lol Thank god for self checkout! But once it's on it seems to be good as long as it isn't shut off. very odd.

I've been in contact with the company and it looks like i'm going to make the 1 hr drive to their closest shop within the next week or so, i'm thinking I tell them to hold off on reinstalling the same lock, just get the battery out and i'll secure it with a bungee cord or something until I find a higher quality lock I can install. It's absolutely crazy, they charge 2.5-3K for these bikes and some of the parts are off aliexpress.

[stts]

Chinese have been making and riding these for 10 or 15 years. also using gell cell batteries. So they got tons of eBike parts of every shape and size invented long ago. And for sale dirt cheap. Nobody can compete with that so they just buy their stuff to make new eBikes with. US has been dragging its feet on favorable ebike laws. So china will be the king of eBike supply for ever probably. They got the whole infrastructure thing well established.

I would not be using that eBike until you get the battery out and get a good look at what is going on with battery connections. The more you use bad battery connections, the more things tend to cook and melt.

[zigzagman]

Thanks again for the replies STTS

I actually got the LED to power on today and did about 10 miles on the bike, all throttle.

So here's the thing. After messing around with it earlier today, it appears the LED will ONLY power on if the battery is at 100% WITH the charger plugged in. However it won't turn on under any other circumstances. If I unplug the charger and turn the LED off, it won't turn back on. This LED also automatically shuts off after 10 minutes of inactivity, so for example tonight I stopped in a grocery store and had to get in and out within 10 minutes lol Thank god for self checkout! But once it's on it seems to be good as long as it isn't shut off. very odd.

I've been in contact with the company and it looks like i'm going to make the 1 hr drive to their closest shop within the next week or so, i'm thinking I tell them to hold off on reinstalling the same lock, just get the battery out and i'll secure it with a bungee cord or something until I find a higher quality lock I can install. It's absolutely crazy, they charge 2.5-3K for these bikes and some of the parts are off aliexpress.

Hey STTS - its been a little while!

I found 1 shop that was willing to look at the bike and exactly like you said, the connectors are bad, however they don't know which one (the connector ON the battery or the connector in the frame the battery attaches TO, or both!)

Despite these being very cheap parts and from what I can tell relatively easy to replace at least from watching youtube videos, the shop doesn't seem to think it's worth the repair.

What do you think?? Thanks as always.

[stts]

Well, it's not worth it for THEM to repair it. They have to pay the rent and make a buck. That is why so much of this "hobby" is DIY. There is a poor service network for these. But they cant be replaced until that battery is removed. You still don't know if the lock has a switch of its own. Maybe that's the bad connection. So find a cheap locksmith that is bored and willing to yank that lock off. Then you can better see whats really going on.

[zigzagman]

Doh, I forgot to mention they did get the battery out! Hadn't had my coffee yet lol The retention battery on my bike uses a 6 pin connection https://www.fthpower.com/collections.../fth-ep48-12-8

I found both individual male and female replacement 6 pin connectors here https://www.greenbikekit.com/e-bike-...-2p-6pins.html

But I also found a 'Plug Mount Base' with the same 6 pin male connector that that comes with a key mechanism, looks like the same one that's on my bike now that busted https://www.aliexpress.com/i/3256804...apt=4itemAdapt so you're probably right again and the lock has a switch.

Do you think i'd be able to just replace the connectors instead of the whole mount with the key mechanism and ditch the locking aspect entierly?

The 6 pin connector in the frame has a large washer around it that looks like it would be easy to swap out but I don't know as I don't have the bike back yet so can't inspect things right now. I'd rather not have a lock on the battery at all if I have to use that one, so if I can avoid that I want to, the locks are really trash! Major flaw with this companies bikes, happened to a lot of people I knew that rented/bought their bikes.

Hoping I can just replace both connectors, starting with the one in the frame 1st and then secure the battery with a bungee cord or similar apparatus. I never leave the bike outside so I'm not worried about the battery not having a lock.

Looks like replacing the connector on the battery requires some very minor soldering but i'm betting the battery is entirely fine and the connector in the frame attached to this stupid lock is the problem...but that's based off nothing just a feeling lol

[stts]

Yea, I was hoping it wasn't like that. Soldering something like that is not minor soldering. It's a little circuit board and a ton of amps going thru it. So you need a good size solder station to solder it well without charing that little circuit board. And you would have to open up the battery to get to the female side of the connector for inspection. That side could be heat damaged too.Also you need to see if the 4 smaller pins are connected to something. Usually all there is is just the 2 big pins. You need to unscrew the battery end and post pics of what wires are on the battery side connector. Also post pics of the connector on the bike side. Maybe its fixable or maybe its a melted mess that has to be replaced.

[zigzagman]

hey stts - Now that the battery is out of the frame I can access pretty much everything!

However the bad news is my battery is now shutting off after exactly 20 seconds despite being fully charged. I also can't turn it off in that time frame like I should be able to (hard press). The connector on it looks a bit singed and has that burnt electronics smell.



Connector in frame



Looks like i'm going to still have to replace the entire lock mounting base because it'd be impossible to insert the battery into the frame without it. I mean I can but wouldn't be able to get it out again!

The bike shop that drilled out the lock said there was a tiny piece of metal that broke off the locking mechanism, i'm thinking maybe it found its way in-between the connectors and caused mayhem but who knows!



Looks like it may have been a battery connector issue all along maybe. the in frame connector will be replaced regardless since it comes with the locking base, it's all in 1 piece https://www.aliexpress.com/i/3256804...apt=4itemAdapt

any idea if the burnt connector on the battery would make it automatically shut off as a safety feature? Can't even find any company info about this battery manufacturer! Good news is replacements are readily locally off craigslist, etc and aren't all that expensive. I'm wondering though if the battery is toast all together now or if replacing the socket would fix it..maybe there's a short causing it to just shut off? The battery was always very solid and only had a couple hundred miles on it. I'd hate to think it's done but for I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. As usual youtube makes everything look so simple (same brand battery different model connector replacement) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJO5XljjF6M

[stts]

Doing good so far. Good pics and good progress. The battery connector is not looking bad. I have seen worse shape connectors. Put a meter inside the 2 big hole terminals to see what the battery voltage is. I see 2 round thingies on the bike side next to the battery connector. I bet they push in springy like and they may end up being rather burned up on the other side. So remove that philips screw and any other screw that holds that whole plastic connector assembly. Then you can slide it out of the bike tube with a bunch of wires attached. Then take more pics from many angles and post them so we can see more of what you got. Because I have never had an eBike like this one. Hah.