X35 firmwear update.

[Lentilbake]

UPDATE: (does anyone actually care about this ).

Mahle came back and explained that:

Just on Thursday the IT team made a adjust in the patch, that's why the information is a little bit different iM2EM126 for the joystick, this doesn't change

Regarding the colours

Alternating green and red*: Generally all updates end this way. The red light on the GCU at the end of the process means that some task was ignored, not necessarily because of an error, it is because the bike does not need that specific task. The green light means that a task was applied successfully.
I was puzzled that the battery controller didn't update even after several attempts and they explained that:

All is ok
Is not a problem with the battery
The patch is made for all type of batteries that we have in the market, C, D, E, and F
The system will ignore the task that are not for the specific bike
The important thing is the firmware of the joystick.
So, there are different batteries even in very similar bikes.

So my next job was to carry out the update on my Ribble bike. The firmwares listed for my bike were exactly the same as on my wife's (Battery 45, Joystick iM2EM126, Smart controller 4107) but the battery information in the app says its some 8 months older (interesting, because I got my bike about a year after my wife's!) so I guess its a different version of the battery.

I ran the update exactly as described on the website with a freshly formatted pen drive and freshly copied installation files. The update finished with a solid green indicator on the GCU cable and when I checked in the app I had iM2EM126 and battery 51 firmwares, the smart controller stayed at 4107. Success!

Mahle also said that:

For the update is very Important:

1. pen drive or USB 32 GB or less
2. Format the pen drive to FAT32 before load any files. This is really important to do every time and for each bike
3. Unzip the files in the laptop or PC and copy and paste the files in the USB stick
4. leave in the pen drive just 17 files, no folders or additional files
5. Once you finish the update, Close app>shut off bike > turn everything on. Then pedal > Run a new diagnosis and verify if all works ok and f the firmware 126 is there

Just hoping now that the 'problems' I had with the bikes have been cured. Will report back.

Hope all this helps someone out there!

 

[youngoldbloke]

Thanks for the very useful information. I'm going to save it for if and when I need it.

 

[Lentilbake]

Well I spoke too soon. Disaster. I just ran the update one more time on my wife's bike to see if it would update the battery controller and the whole thing failed. The iWOC light is on permanently PINK and I can't read the pen drive on my PC (I think it's failed in some way). I also think the GCU cable may have failed as I've tried a new pen drive and none of the lights come on when I connect it to the power supply.

GUTTED! Don't know what to do, think I just bricked the bike and the GCU cable!

 

[youngoldbloke]

Well I spoke too soon. Disaster. I just ran the update one more time on my wife's bike to see if it would update the battery controller and the whole thing failed. The iWOC light is on permanently PINK and I can't read the pen drive on my PC (I think it's failed in some way). I also think the GCU cable may have failed as I've tried a new pen drive and none of the lights come on when I connect it to the power supply.

GUTTED! Don't know what to do, think I just bricked the bike and the GCU cable!

Oh dear, more questions to Mahle I suppose. Doesn't inspire confidence. It seems their updating procedures are in urgent need of updating.

 

[Lentilbake]

Definitely. I've taken the bike (which is stuck in Safe Mode apparently) to a local Mahle dealer who has a good technical contact at Mahle and hopefully they will find out how to fix it. I guess it will involve removing the battery power supply to reset the system in some way.

The GCU cable is definitely dead so that's going back for a refund.🙁

 

[Lentilbake]

Update: dealer says my battery is no good. Mahle say that it had an error code back in July and could have gone wrong any time even if the update had worked. Cost about £600, battery is out of warranty.

 

[Lentilbake]

[UPDATE FROM A WHILE BACK]

As previously mentioned my wife's Ribble wth X35 failed a while back and I had to replace the battery (£600 plus as it was out of warranty). The whole problem started with me updating the firmware using the Mahle CGU cable, during the update process the bike went into 'safe mode' and wouldn't come out despite the efforts of the dealer and firmware patches supplied by Mahle. The fault also destroyed the MGU cable which I had to send back for a refund! No problems since the replacement which I did myself (it's not too difficult and would cost £100 for bike shop to do).

My own Ribble with X35 has been in storage in the garage since November, I've switched it on occasionally and checked the charge which was around 80%. Temperatures in the garage have probably gone below zero occasionally but I haven't charged the bike when it has been cold. Last week I went to prep the bike for a ride and I plugged in the charger to get it up to full charge and after after a couple of hours I noticed that it hadn't gone past 90% charge (as shown on my PulsarOne display). When I unplugged the charger the bike turned off and now won't switch back on. Dealer says that the battery is dead and will need replacing, it's out of warranty so that's another £600 plus.

Can't express how gutted I am having had two bikes fail in as many years. I've found other forum sites describing exactly the same issues as I'm now having so it's not uncommon. The dealer reckons he's replaced 20 or so X35 batteries in the last couple of years. I don't have much choice so i'll probably replace the battery and if it goes again I'll convert the bike to non-electric.

In my opinion these problems are manufacturing faults in the control circuit boards or battery assembly etc and not batteries deteriorating due to misuse or charging/storing incorrectly. I could accept a battery losing it's efficiency over a long time or over many charging cycles but both mine have failed within a few years and less than 40 charge cycles. Definitely won't be going near Mahle products in the future, I wonder if the newer X20 system is any better?

Sorry I can't be of any help to others with similar problems, in my experience Mahle don't want to know if it's out of warranty (24 months) and finding information about what is causing these failures seems very difficult. The Mahle controllers/firmware etc don't seem to be amicable to 3rd party investigation of faults. I'm told that even with the dealer app you can't do much to interrogate the faults to find out what's happened, the system seems to detect a fault then shuts down and and new battery is required.

[aside]
When I put the new battery (supplied by Mahle via a local dealer) into my wife's bike and linked it with the app It displays it as the wrong bike model although the right make. I've asked Mahle and Ribble about this and both point to the other being at fault!

 

[Emanresu]

I've asked Mahle and Ribble about this and both point to the other being at fault!

A useful heads up not to buy Mahle or Ribble if that's the attitude.

 

[CXRAndy]

Sorry to hear your issue. That's why I went with non proprietary battery and motor. I can use any brand of battery with the same voltage

 

[biggs682]

Reading this thread makes me think how glad I am that I have not even thought or needed to go electric powered for my transportation