CanSmart question

[Slater]

I changed my battery yesterday and now my CanSmart is not working. Denali lights are all inop. I checked what I believe is the fuse and it's fine.  Any help?

[reg26]

I can't answer your question directly but I'm pretty sure there is a procedure to follow after changing the battery. Sorry thats all I got.

[wbw6cos]

What model bike are you working on?

[Slater]

2015 1200RT. The CanSmart controls 4 denali lights and the brake light. All dead. Connected it to my laptop and ran the program, did an update and it says it has no power, I had the ignition on. All battery connections good and fuse is good. 

[dirtrider]

2 hours ago, Slater said:

I changed my battery yesterday and now my CanSmart is not working. Denali lights are all inop. I checked what I believe is the fuse and it's fine.  Any help?

Afternoon Slater

 

If it worked before the battery change but doesn't work now the battery area is the obvious place to start the troubleshooting. 

 

Are both the B+  & the ground wires from the CanSmart securely hooked to the battery terminals?

If so then__

Are both the B+  & the ground wires from the CanSmart securely hooked to the CORRECT battery terminals? (polarity correct?)

 

Try another fuse or use a test light or voltmeter to actually TEST the fuse for passing current (fuses can look good but still have an internal open).

 

 

[Cap]

The Denali CANbus controller is made by Hex, and is very similar to the EZCan.  I had similar behavior on my EZCan recently.  First, it would report no power, and then it would restart and work intermittently, and finally it started doing really strange things like flashing one of my aux lights continuously.  So, it turns out that many of these units are malfunctioning, and when I made contact with Hex tech support, they didn't hesitate to send me a replacement with their updated design.  They didn't even want the old one returned.  I thought that I was out of warranty, and would get pushback from Hex... but it turns out that these units have a 2-year warranty, and Hex will stand behind their product in any case.  

 

So, my recommendation is to send email to Hex tech support and report your problem.

 

Cap

[Slater]

Hi Cap,

 

Your issue sounds just about the same as my first CanSmart failure. I bought mine through Twisted Throttle (which by the way IMHO has about THE best customer service I have ever had to deal with with 5 year warranties) It started acting weird and my D4's wouldn't work, that was Version 1.  They sent me a newer version 2 and two new D4's.  All was fine until yesterday when I changed the battery.  The canSmart was dead.  I called twisted throttle and they said they have had quite a few of them going bad.  He said there is a packing inside the unit that is going bad due to heat and said there is a recall on them.  So without hesitation he is sending me a new one version, 2.1 with a new material inside.  So It's all disconnected (he said not to send back the wires) and it goes back Monday and I should have the new one is about a week which is fine because I am out of town all week flying anyway  

 

Ron 

[Cap]

3 hours ago, Slater said:

Hi Cap,...He said there is a packing inside the unit that is going bad due to heat and said there is a recall on them. ...

 

 

Yes, that is the same story I got... that the potting material and the exterior metal case have differential coefficients of thermal expansion.  So, in high temps, or very low temps, the circuit board gets stressed, sometimes pulling components off the board.  In my case, it seemed to work OK until it got hot, and then it went psycho.  

 

I think I would have simply designed the exterior case in two pieces, such that the potted circuit board had room for expansion and contraction.  But it wouldn't look as cool.  

 

Glad you are getting it fixed.  I really appreciate the after-sale service provided by Ted Porter and also, it seems, Twisted Throttle.  When the controller is working properly, it provides a great set of features and flexibility for our peripherals.  

 

Cap