Varg broken out of the box Red light constant

[RJS]

Theo,

thanks for your input, i now have the bike in my lounge so i can sit and try every option thrown at me, iv charged the phone to 100% the bike was at 100% but is now at around 95%, iv left the bike on, in 4g / Wi-Fi for well over a hour and absolutely nothing changes other than the redlight is still constantly illuminated.

This morning i have been in touch with my local Stark dealer, to be honest MadPDxAbbott was correct in the fact that the dealers cant really do anything. I do feel sorry for them because they are now getting people like me calling them with problems but they did not purchase the bike from them, stark have given them absolutely no tooling, no diag equipment, no backing for advice to the dealers. Stark have stated that they will deal with any issues with customers bikes directly (but then they dont have enough staff to respond quickly, or have a simple phone call) . The dealers literally just sell the bikes and thats it.

My local stark dealer is a "electric bike dealer" for various other manufacturers so although he doesn't really know a lot about Stark he does know more than a mechanical mind like me. He has another Stark in his shop which is a Demo bike hes happy to swap the throttle assembly over just to begin a process of elimination to help me out. nice chap

Starks reply this morning was barely adequate. literally just continuing to tell me to hard reset the bike which iv done about 50x .

I really hope im being stupid and there is something so basic iv done wrong

When My bike would not exit the "neutral" mode, the Stark service response was to send me an additional mode selector button...(rather than first suggest the various restart procedures-which actually worked in my case.) I think a great deal, unfortunately, of the quality of their response depends upon exactly who in the technical department is responding. Maybe worth asking the same questions again in slightly different ways hoping for additional responses? Long shot I know.
Really feel for you on this issue, sorry to hear.
Robert

 

[chrismx72]

The only thing I can think of, is the solid red light is a normal sequence behavior all stark owners experience. When we turn our bikes off holding the power button or plugging the bike in to charge and turning it off to remove the cable. We all hear this ‘click’ which to me it some sort of relay switch which completes this circuit to allow flow of power (I hear the same switch on my Tesla wall mount).

I am curious if you hear this click? I wonder if this has failed or is stuck. Which doesn’t help you because I have no idea where to look and fix it. But it may help explain to Stark what is going on.

My thought is it cannot detect that engaged switch so it cannot move to the next sequence of steps?? But if you can hear that ‘click’ then i am still stumped.

Foss,

Stark have been incontact again today. I have a Google Meet/video call with them at 7pm this evening.

In regards to the "servo click" yeh i can hear it clicking every time i power the bike on or off. The phone vibrates and recognises that the bike is on and connects perfectly but the red light just stays on.

I have spoken to my local Stark dealer and he has been very helpful, so have Stark on his side too. Between me, stark and the local dealer we are looking to get to the bottom of this by tomorrow. Stark have allowed him to remove any parts from a bike he has in stock to try and remedy the problem on mine which i am happy with. Once iv had the video call with stark this evening (depending on how that goes) then i should be going to the dealer tomorrow to start swapping parts to decipher the problem.

 

[F451]

I hope you get this issue resolved, what a bummer. I've been reading a lot of power on/off issues with new Varge owners. And confusion around software updates.

That throttle wiring kink definitely looks suspect, I would be either removing the insulating wrap on it to see the state of the wires, or swapping it out completely (better choice). I recently purchased an emtb from a local shop, and after getting it home, it would not power up. Tried all the basic troubleshooting things, still nothing. Stopped by the bike shop and they swapped out the "power on/power mode" switch from another bike there and my bike was back to functioning normally. I was very relieved to say the least.

I realize my emtb is not the same as the Varg, but I think the swapping out parts is a good strategy if Stark can't offer a remedy remotely.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[chrismx72]

As some of you have been on this convocation since this problem occurred i thought id give you all an update on what stark said this evening in the video call. Might be some useful information for you guys in the future incase your stark decides to do the same as mine did.
I do understand some of you may not have understood how stuck i was with the "solid red light" the Stark engineer did in fact say that if you have a solid red light that doesn't "budge" from the routine resets etc then it does usually mean a major problem. He diagnosed the bike and said that it has a powertrain failure. There is no way of over riding this issue. I was very impressed how easy it was for him to determine that. Also i had made contact with my local dealer today and he was a nice chap. Hes happy to remove the power train off his Varg in the showroom and install it on mine, Stark will be reimbursing him for his time under warranty and replacing his power train.

So all in all..... im still annoyed at how long this took to decipher and how many back and fourth emails it took... but at least it wasn't something i had done to create the problem and once stark actually had a call with me the problem was found very quickly.
Apparently changing the power train is a 3hr job. Over here in the UK its a bank holiday weekend friday and monday off so im hoping he has enough time to change them over tomorrow so i can spend the weekend finally getting some laps in.

Id like to thank Foss and anyone else who gave me some constructive advice. Your a good bunch of guys. Be in touch with some riding photos (hopefully at the weekend). thanks again

 

[Beagle]

Great news!
There are issues, hard to grasp how prevalent they are but from everything I've read so far (inverter, powertain, battery failure...) the warranty seems rock solid.
Remote diagnosis is also sci-fi level for a dirtbike.

 

[mike61]

Wow! Nice to read that you can enjoy VARG riding soon.

Let us know about your fun.

Really impressive that this worldwide over the air sevice is possible and works.
Hopefully Starkfuture can hold this standard in customer support and service.
My wish for the factoy and all riders.

 

[Foss]

As some of you have been on this convocation since this problem occurred i thought id give you all an update on what stark said this evening in the video call. Might be some useful information for you guys in the future incase your stark decides to do the same as mine did.
I do understand some of you may not have understood how stuck i was with the "solid red light" the Stark engineer did in fact say that if you have a solid red light that doesn't "budge" from the routine resets etc then it does usually mean a major problem. He diagnosed the bike and said that it has a powertrain failure. There is no way of over riding this issue. I was very impressed how easy it was for him to determine that. Also i had made contact with my local dealer today and he was a nice chap. Hes happy to remove the power train off his Varg in the showroom and install it on mine, Stark will be reimbursing him for his time under warranty and replacing his power train.

So all in all..... im still annoyed at how long this took to decipher and how many back and fourth emails it took... but at least it wasn't something i had done to create the problem and once stark actually had a call with me the problem was found very quickly.
Apparently changing the power train is a 3hr job. Over here in the UK its a bank holiday weekend friday and monday off so im hoping he has enough time to change them over tomorrow so i can spend the weekend finally getting some laps in.

Id like to thank Foss and anyone else who gave me some constructive advice. Your a good bunch of guys. Be in touch with some riding photos (hopefully at the weekend). thanks again

Not a problem man, with my past posts I was starting to hint towards this direction needing to leverage a dealership or shop because these guys would be more technologically inclined in troubleshooting and repairing the bike with a warranty claim. Stark probably will ask for the old motor back seeing they should look further into what caused the issue (or send it to me lol, I have the knowledge base). Stark has been great covering costs accrued. And I agree, this type of repair is literally taking the whole bike apart. I’d ask for the new motor to be honest and not settle for the demo bike motor. You are basically getting the latest motor with any unknown fixes addressed; but that is my 2¢.

 

[chrismx72]

Hi guys,

So as a little update - bike has now been repaired I collected it yesterday. With the lots of help from my local dealer “the English electric motorcycle company” and the stark country manager - I finally got a bike that’s useable, see attached photos of a little rip around my home track yesterday.
Me and my daughter are going testing today in our race UTV’s so I’m taking the varg with me for mid session 2 wheeled fun.

 

[Travelingmike]

Stuck red light. I had interesting- embarrassing situation at my first race. I have 7 moto days on the bike- Saturday practice- no problem. I came out Sunday for practice- did my morning 4 laps. Went to ride bike up and check moto order. Solid magenta- not able to shut down. Saw video- about can bus/ hold red button(with reconnect ) hard shut down. Turned off, but now solid red after can bus reconnection and power on. Can hear click and running coolant- no fan. Now solid red light that would not turn off without can bus disconnect . I tried several times and eventually missed my moto. I then did the load up and drive out of shame . Light still solid red after 1 hour of trying to reset system to normal. Announcer “ there goes the only Stark Varg “- he is good guy and I smiled. I have been having fun on the bike and looking forward to races-pulling on trailer with Model Y. About 30” later I pull over and bike “ fixed” wtf. I drive another hour home and bike working normal. Have video call Wednesday- not sure what we can diagnose? Looking forward to racing/50$ fee and 1.5 hr drive each way- so a little frustrating.

 

[C5tor]

Stuck red light. I had interesting- embarrassing situation at my first race. I have 7 moto days on the bike- Saturday practice- no problem. I came out Sunday for practice- did my morning 4 laps. Went to ride bike up and check moto order. Solid magenta- not able to shut down. Saw video- about can bus/ hold red button(with reconnect ) hard shut down. Turned off, but now solid red after can bus reconnection and power on. Can hear click and running coolant- no fan. Now solid red light that would not turn off without can bus disconnect . I tried several times and eventually missed my moto. I then did the load up and drive out of shame . Light still solid red after 1 hour of trying to reset system to normal. Announcer “ there goes the only Stark Varg “- he is good guy and I smiled. I have been having fun on the bike and looking forward to races-pulling on trailer with Model Y. About 30” later I pull over and bike “ fixed” wtf. I drive another hour home and bike working normal. Have video call Wednesday- not sure what we can diagnose? Looking forward to racing/50$ fee and 1.5 hr drive each way- so a little frustrating.

Stage fright?

 

[Travelingmike]

Stuck red light. I had interesting- embarrassing situation at my first race. I have 7 moto days on the bike- Saturday practice- no problem. I came out Sunday for practice- did my morning 4 laps. Went to ride bike up and check moto order. Solid magenta- not able to shut down. Saw video- about can bus/ hold red button(with reconnect ) hard shut down. Turned off, but now solid red after can bus reconnection and power on. Can hear click and running coolant- no fan. Now solid red light that would not turn off without can bus disconnect . I tried several times and eventually missed my moto. I then did the load up and drive out of shame . Light still solid red after 1 hour of trying to reset system to normal. Announcer “ there goes the only Stark Varg “- he is good guy and I smiled. I have been having fun on the bike and looking forward to races-pulling on trailer with Model Y. About 30” later I pull over and bike “ fixed” wtf. I drive another hour home and bike working normal. Have video call Wednesday- not sure what we can diagnose? Looking forward to racing/50$ fee and 1.5 hr drive each way- so a little frustrating.

Had meeting to diagnose- all good. Tech said software bug- can bus did reset. But that I had poor cell service- took longer to complete the “ reset “ . Ride day after no problem.

 

[Beagle]

Had meeting to diagnose- all good. Tech said software bug- can bus did reset. But that I had poor cell service- took longer to complete the “ reset “ . Ride day after no problem.

Good on them to get back to you quite quickly.
I hope they can find a long term solution because dirtbikes are quite often used in areas with poor or no cell service...

 

[Bert]

I’m also having the same issue with the red light coming on once the bike powers on. But mine is a little different and I feel is a heating issue. And I also bought the bike from Starks website.
The bike will fire up normally and I will be able to ride for a few minutes depending on how aggressive I am on the throttle. Then the throttle completely cuts out even though the bike says that I’m in a power mode.
I turn off the bike, do hard shutdowns, and the bike will show a solid red light and I will not be able to get out of neutral after pushing the down button.
My only remedy has been to put the bike in standby mode and wait 15-30min for the bike to cool. (But the bike isn’t even hot at all)
Then I can fire it back up and everything works just as usual and then the process repeats again.
I thought it was a software issue as the bike was running an old firmware and I had the hardest time to update but finally was able to get the latest firmware. So it seems that wasn’t the issue.
So I’m going to see if I can do that CANbus reset that I saw in this thread also check the radiator for coolant. If those options don’t work then I will have to take to the dealer.

 

[Bert]

When My bike would not exit the "neutral" mode, the Stark service response was to send me an additional mode selector button...(rather than first suggest the various restart procedures-which actually worked in my case.)

Hey Robert
Which restart procedures did you do to help with this problem? I’m also having this issue with constant red light and bike not wanting to get out of neutral.

 

[Bert]

With the new firmware update today, I experienced a solid red light after a few laps. Just emailed stark to see if they can check the logging. No hijacking the thread, there might be an issue with the recent firmware update; just throwing it out there.

If a hard restart doesn’t address the issue holding both (+) and (-) for 20s or so (quick white light). Try this as a last resort.

1. Remove the spoiler assembly
2. Disconnect the CAN BUS connector from the battery (black round connector on the right side of the battery)
3. While pressing the power button, reconnect the CAN BUS connector and release the power button within 3 seconds.
4. The bike should turn ON

Foss,
Do you do this while the bike is completely shut down or while it’s in standby mode?