Non Existent Customer Support For A Newbie

Question

Although my issue of the 300mv imbalanced battery issue is not a new topic, it happened to me after the first use only and there seems to be no customer service email link to address what is likely a defective battery or unit. I have followed all the recommendations but the charger keeps blinking 6 times red with one second pause. I only used the JD robot once to set it up and try a few moves, then as soon as it gave me the "battery running low warning" I shut it off, let it sit for and hour then tried to recharge and here I am. Robot sitting lifeless on my desk. I would prefer not to just return it to store but unless someone has a helpful thought, I don't even know how to get to Ez robot customer service.

fredebec · Answer

At the bottom of the web site (on the left) click on "Contact Us", then click on "Product Warranty" and fill the form... I can confirm that they are still in business

CochranRobotics · Answer

The instructions say to charge the battery before it's first use. This is why it is stated that way. Lipo batteries will likely be damaged if they are run down below their minimum allowed voltage.

Darius · Answer

The instructions say to charge the battery before it's first use. This is why it is stated that way. Lipo batteries will likely be damaged if they are run down below their minimum allowed voltage. Of course I charged it first (Not a technology newbie). To clarify, I charged it per instructions, used it once, then it would not charge again. So if we are being fully technical, fully charged, discharged and then unable to re-charge. Also, per the instructions you should shut it off immediately after the low battery warning starts which I did therefore keeping in line with the requirements to not allow the drop in voltage.

Darius · Answer

At the bottom of the web site (on the left) click on "Contact Us", then click on "Product Warranty" and fill the form... I can confirm that they are still in business Thanks, That was helpful

Darius · Answer

To be fair, They have responded to my inquiry for help but need to still go through same steps with voltage report if I can connect to it.

Nomad 6R · Answer

see below on your left is contact us ,then next page you see warenty

CochranRobotics · Answer

Making sure that you clearly state what happened and in what order is important. EZ Robot has never had an issue replacing defective parts. I am sure you will be taken care of.

CochranRobotics · Answer

https://synthiam.com/About/LiveChat.aspx I just had a chat with James here. He is support for EZ-Robot and he responded quickly. This is another option for you.

Darius · Answer

James has responded and I will try to get him the voltages. I do appreciate all the response and help. I love the little robot in the time I got to play with it and want to use it as a learning experience for me and my 6 year old son, just bummer to use it once and down for nothing I did incorrectly. I absolutely read instruction manuals and even watched allthe videos on the website before building the JD. Looking forward to playing with some AI options.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

@darius Maybe next time give them chance to help you before you cry fowl and get your back all up... You will earn more credibility here as well...

Nomad 6R · Answer

darius you doing fine,take your time for it.

Darius · Answer

@darius Maybe next time give them chance to help you before you cry fowl and get back all up... You will earn more credibility here as well... I do appreciate your advice, but unfortunately I have found that in most cases, this is not the case and one requires to stir a bit to get a quick response. I do admit that in this case I might be wrong, but after having been the head electronics buyer for a very well know new product catalog for years (no longer) out of the box burnout in my book is not really something a newbie should have to go through an extensive review of an (at cost) potentially $4 battery to get his brand new item operating at the expected (full retail) capacity. I actually have considerable experience with LIPO's as I fly small to larger scale remote control planes with multi cell batteries and have not had one issue with them in the past 5 years of flying. If the lead was longer from the JD, I would have rather used my very reliable charger which I use for a multitude of different size LIPO's I own. I would have gladly spent my time looking and learning and joining the community if I was able to get it to work. So I anticipate that you will look at my response with a negative bent, but please understand that it will have been 4 days that this brand new little guy is sitting on my desk for no reason of my doing and my 6 year old keeps asking me why I cant make it dance again and I wanted a quick response to resolve the matter. Also, a return to the store means most likely a stockback to the manufacturer which IU was trying to avoid. Now let's keep the lessons to technical matters which I will gladly absorb like a newbie sponge when it comes to matters of robotics but no lessons on etiquette and you will ultimately find me a valuable addition to a board once I learn enough not to do damage.

Nomad 6R · Answer

darius to exstend the charging wire,here's a link free chipping. a 3 wire is calt 2S there is an ab clip to prevent pulling out a wire.  ab clip

Darius · Answer

Greatly appreciated, that is an excellent suggestion. My work computer doesn't have speakers, so I'll have to listen to audio later but thank you for that.

Nomad 6R · Answer

the other side of the cable are 3 pin naked,to prevent they touch the ezbv4 i put a cap on it. i pull the pins out and use it as cap. 2s cap

thetechguru · Answer

@Darius, I got a bunch of those charger extension cables (although I didn't order the cool protector things). I would be happy to drop one in the mail to you. My email address is in my profile, drop me your address and I'll send it right out. Alan

Nomad 6R · Answer

hi alan i just ordered a few more.but with the cap. i found these to after having trouble with the original jack plug. jack plug

Darius · Answer

Alan, That is really nice of you, thanks. This is quite the responsive board and it excites me to get my JD alive. I'll email you shortly and realkly appreciate it. Hopefully I can return the favor sometime. I want to run rather than walk with all the features I can cram into it, but I'll have to take it easy. I want to add som AI as soon as possible. Although I saw some questionable reviews, I saw a sale and ordered the heading add on (North south) and ultrasonic distance sensor. Not sure if allowed to mention this but Brookstone offering a buy one get one free mix and match on some EZ robot parts

DJ Sures · Answer

Would you mind editing your previous negative posts please? It would help with your integration into this very wonderful and supportive community. PS, welcome and enjoy your JD.

Darius · Answer

Which post would you like me to edit? or if you want just delete the thread.

DJ Sures · Answer

The ones were you accuse ez-robot of not being in business. This is a very nourishing community. We wouldn't want unfair acquisitions so spoil their hard work and passion for ez-robot. It would generally feel better if the tone of this thread was positive to reflect the generous amount of help you have received, despite the negative assumptions. I'd rather not delete the thread, as the battery discussion is the relevant part. Although, I'm going to probably edit the title because that spelling mistake reminds me of a bad sci-fi movie and it's getting to me lol  The hard time for all of these engaged community members is that the forum is usually where people come to "rant". Rarely do people use a forum to share positive experiences. It's tough when the very first initial contact is hostile, which implies if that's ground zero, how negative does the next escalation get? As you've seen, there is no need for hostility to get "attention". Simply ask and you will get a friendly response

Darius · Answer

I meant no harm to company and absolutely delete whatever you want. I have to admit that I am embarrassed by my spelling mistake. That's what you get for getting overly used robocorrecting. overall please understand that my primary goal is to have my new robot working which it should be out of box. I hope you understand this and will help expedite a solution. I would hope that you find it refreshing that I didn't just pack it up to the store for an immediate replacement. Please do whatever you want to the thread. It is your company and I mean it no harm. Just muted enthusiasm at this point until he's alive again

Zap Brannigan · Answer

@darius - If I have one complaint, it would be the chargers for these things. They have been problematic at times. I have a better charger that I use that allows charging through the balance port but it was something I had from my RC racing days.

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

@Zap... I would agree with that but with the original old blue rechargers only... They were not so good. EZ Robot quickly switched suppliers and the new (current) ones are awesome... I have two and they have worked perfectly for over a year now.... How have you been man? You should post more often...

DJ Sures · Answer

From what i can tell reading this thread, you have declared that your battery situation is being resolved. I will not edit your posts, i'm not the FBI - I asked if you would. If you wish not too, that's okay as well, as it was only a request to help you make friends on here. Regarding the spelling mistake, try using the Chrome browser or a newer browser with spell check, it's what I use. Type slower and spelling in-corrections will be highlighted, allowing you to right click and select a correction. I use it more than you can imagine! And don't worry, spelling mistakes happen on here often Zap, ez-robot still maintains less than 0.5% of customer support issues. The charger is less than 0.2% of those issues. Raising the price of the product to introduce a more expensive smart balance charger to accommodate 0.2% of users would result in 99.8% of negative feedback

CochranRobotics · Answer

Here is the way that I see this thread... A lot of people assume that the level of service provided by EZ-Robot will be similar to the level of support that they receive by most companies. That is simply not the case. Here is why. 1. The CEO is a very active member of the community. 2. There are many people in the community more than willing to help out anyone. 3. There are multiple avenues of support that all have been proven to work well. Until someone discovers this, it is assumed that this small company is going to be like most others that they deal with. I cant blame the op for doing this as it is the norm. There are many people, including the companies CEO and others that read every post. It isn't necessary to make an inflammatory title to get attention. This too is often not the case with many companies. After the first couple of posts, I tried to put myself in the situation of the op. He simply did what he thought would get attention to resolve the issue he was having. I don't blame him, but here it is not necessary. I wish this were the case for more companies but sadly it isn't. Really, the only thing that can be done is to allow everyone time to see the difference. @darius. Welcome to the community. Once your fixed up, I am sure that you will explore many new things with your son. It will hook you and there is no turning back! Hopefully it won't take you long to get things up and going. I look forward to seeing what you do with JD.

DJ Sures · Answer

I'm only speaking up on this topic because it takes effort to overlook the active forum, active software releases, active live streaming office camera, and active social media to accuse a company of not being in business in the first correspondence attempt Hey - speaking of CEO's speaking up - i referenced it in my previous post. Have you been watching the FBI and Apple mess going on? What a gong show! I have the up-most respect for Tim, however. What it takes to stand up and say "No" - and share that with the world. I really hope this doesn't turn into a bunch of activists saying "Apple is supporting terrorism" just because they want to protect their customers.

Darius · Answer

First of all I have no issue with admitting that my guns blazing style is a tactic I have used to get attention from the big companies when a problem arises. I was Obviously incorrect with this company and glad to be wrong. DJ, I will abaolutely remove my post questioning whether your company was around as I stand clearly corrected and really meant no harm. Now I would like to leave this in the past accepting blame for the wrong approach with your company. What I would like to still have resolved is my sick robot. I will comply with your voltage check request but I do expect a quick resolve to my issue considering it's a brand new robot. I hope you agree and will either arrange to get me the appropriate part or just tell me to take it back to the store. I do look forward to becoming a part of the community and having fun with JD and hopefully all the cool things I can do, but for now. He is still sitting there. I will plan to use my balanced charger for my other lipos in the future. I also appreciate the balance of fair community responses to my behavior. I will review my posts and edit when I get home. Please help me resolve issue.

DJ Sures · Answer

Thanks You're in communication with James, which i recommend you continue doing - he is your contact for resolving the battery issue. I'm here to say hi.

OldBotBuilder · Answer

@darius, You might want to edit the title of this thread. Just say'n.

Darius · Answer

I do not see any option to edit headers or thread title, I can edit the posts. I am wiling to modify my title

Redzone · Answer

@darius, you need to be login first. Then on the left of your post is an edit button

Redzone · Answer

also I have been a member of this forum since 2012 and just to let you know , I too have in the past ranted on this forum. I learned very quickly being a little humble Is the best way, even in life. Welcome to EZB. Lol @ DJ, "FBI" I also support Apple 100%.

thetechguru · Answer

Quote:you need to be login first. Then on the left of your post is an edit button Nope, you can edit content, but only DJ (or other web admins) can edit thread titles at this time. Alan

Darius · Answer

So to re-iterate my issue. 1) Brand new JD Robot 2) Fully Charge once per instruction on charger and website 3) Setup robot 4) Play have some fun 5) Change wifi to be able to use internet at same time 6) Once more dance to entertain son 7) Battery Warning begins 8) shut off JD 9) wait around 50 minutes 10) Plug lead into charger and 6 blinking lights then pause 11) look up error, then unplug and let sit for 30 min (same 6 blinks) 12) leave it overnight, plug it in (same 6 blinks) 13) Give up and go to work 14) Start Ranting 15) Followed Jasons request for info and reported the following CPU Temp: 25.47 Celsius and Input Voltage 3.98 16) I did everything by the book 17) awaiting Jasons reply. Thank you all for your help  In the future and if this is resolved, I think My charger in the picture attached is probably the better choice or am I incorrect?

Darius · Answer

Sorry, Don't know why second photo posted upside down

Redzone · Answer

@techguru, you are correct my bad. Thanks Alan.

Darius · Answer

DJ, Up to you to edit thread title. How about Newbie needs help with JD battery Charging issue. I am still rather upset about this all and hope for a quick resolve.

thetechguru · Answer

That's a nice looking charger. Nothing wrong with the EZ-B provided chargers in general, but they are cheap, so if you have a really good one, no reason not to use it. Probably just got a bum battery, and based on your symptoms, EZ-Robot will certainly take care of you. Showing 3.98 volts, certainly looks like a bad cell. Alan

DJ Sures · Answer

It can be resolved as quickly as it takes James to arrange your support issue and the length of time for a battery to be sent -or- connect your charger to the JD and charge the battery. All the LiPo needs is a little kick in the butt with a charge. The EZ-Robot charger isn't cheap, it's smart. It doesn't balance, but it has many safety precautions to ensure LiPos are safe and do not get damaged. It's documented in the tutorial. However, i can expand. LiPo batteries do not like to be drained pass a specific threshold. Once they do, there is only one way to recover, and that is with a smart balance charger. A smart balance charger connects not only the charging leads, but also the wires inside the robot. This type of charger will drain/charge cells separately. Now, the EZ-Robot charger, for obvious reasons, does not balance charge - that would require you to take the robot apart every time you wish to charge the battery. So instead, the voltage monitor is configured to warn the user that the battery is low to prevent it from dropping below the charge. Why not try your charger? It might just give the battery what it needs to get past the threshold

Darius · Answer

I am willing to try my charger, but would still prefer to have a fresh battery replacement when Jason replies. Thanks

Darius · Answer

also, what charge current would you use for the JD battery I can charge from .05A - 3A

thetechguru · Answer

It is of course frustrating to get something brand new and have it fail, but that is the nature of mass produced goods. Sometimes something misses getting caught in QA or gets damaged in transit. The sign of a good company is that they warrent the product and take care of you as quickly as possible. To give a little perspective, I have two tales.. 1) Verizon Wireless used to have a market research group called the Verizon Customer Council. There were about 50 active members, and we would receive new phones amd other devices (the first Android Tablet and the first MiFi device) a few days before public release, but after Beta. Of the 50, at least 2 and more often 3 or 4 would have outbof box failures or major problems. These were retail ready devices from the largest phone manufacturers packaged for the largest cell phone carrier. 4-8% out of box failures. DJ has shared that they have a 0.5% warranty claim rate. We know that is relatively accurate because we know that 10's of thousands of units have been sold, and to make a warranty claim, you need to post on the forum to try to get community support (where we help identify user error). There have been a few bad batteries, a few bad servos, a few bad cameras, and I think 3 bad EZ-B controllers. The first batch of ROLIs to ship had the H-bridge mis-wired, which the community figured out, saving the need for returns, and were missing 2 servos, which EZ-Robot shipped to all Roli purchasers whether they made a claim or not. 2) I am in the process of recovering my basement from a catastrophic plumbimg related flood. I had a lot of furniture there, and because of good insurance I am replacing about $5k worth of furniture and accessories. So far, a clock we ordered arrived that would not keep time, a coffee table arrived cracked, and an ottoman arrived in the wrong color. About 4% of the purchases. The two furniture item were replaced for free. The clock I needed to pay return shipping although they did replace it. I will continue to buy from the two furniture companies involved. I will not be buying again from the company that sent the broken clock.

Zap Brannigan · Answer

I start mine at 1A This is the charger I use. I think it is discontinued now. I like the display because I can see the voltage of the battery, the charge rate as it a approaches peak, the mAh that is going in the battery, and I can set a max mAh so that it does not overcharge. At the time I got it, it was a $75 charger. It charges and balance charges through the balance port.

thetechguru · Answer

Oh, one more thing... You may have noticed that EZ-Robot has some passionate members of the community who are quite protective of the company. Please don't take anything any of us said as insulting your knowledge or right to complain if something isn't right, or us lecturing you on how to interact with a company. It is just a sign that EZ-Robot has been a really great company to work with (heck, the CEO has participated in this conversation) and has earned our respect (and some of us - cough @Richard R cough are just sarcastic by nature). Hopefully they will earn yours too and you will be just as passionate as the rest of us. Alan

Darius · Answer

Alan, I appreciate your view on things and do understand that stuff happens and also learn from the experience I've encountered on this board. I now understand this group, appreciate it but will reserve my last judgement on my experience with the company for how quickly my customer service issue is resolved (which I hope all can agree is the ultimate sign of of a companies actions). Per DJ, I am trying to charge the battery with my charger, but I it still shows it as not lit its constant voltage indicator. I will without question still use my original tactic on big companies as coincidentally it worked wonderfully in getting Verizon to replace a defective phone with a newer model and offer me a discount on service, as well as get Sony to reimburse me and discount a camera which their customer service rep was not fully honest about shipping times. Everybody here has been great, I admit jumping the gun a bit now it's the companies turn to resolve a defective battery issue (I hope that is all it is, and I wouldn't know any better because this is my first real robot). I hope my future posts are trying t figure how to get the orientation add on or sonic distance add on as well as set up some AI for fun. This is why I bought this robot and this is why I was so excited and then so bummed that it's lying there. Hope all understand.

Darius · Answer

What should a fully charged batteries input voltage be?

Nomad 6R · Answer

somewhere between 8.00 volt and 8.30 volt

Darius · Answer

Thanks. Good to know for next battery.

Nomad 6R · Answer

hope it will arrive soon.

Nomad 6R · Answer

1 charge the batt before using the jd 2 wait 30 min after charging before using jd 3 wait 30 min before charging the batt

Darius · Answer

Nomad 6R. Do you always need to wait 30 minutes before use after a fresh charge? Thanks

Nomad 6R · Answer

yes ,before and after

thetechguru · Answer

the idea is to let the battery cool down. 30 minutes is a guideline. You can go less as long as the battery is cool. Alan

Darius · Answer

With the battery hidden inside, I guess it's hard to tell if the battery is cool? How long have you guys been getting as operating time on a full charge (medium activity)? What should the expectation be? Would be nice to have option to have him run tethered and off battery for longer sessions

Nomad 6R · Answer

i saw time 40 min ones and the batt wasn empty

Darius · Answer

Well Per Jason, in about 3-4 days I should hopefully start to ask you all more Robot related questions than battery anger. Can I make JD a battery Backpack he can carry around?

thetechguru · Answer

Quote:Can I make JD a battery Backpack he can carry around? You probably could, or maybe a front pack since he has all those wires coming out of his back. You can certainly get bigger Lithium 2S batteries, but even large ones are fairly lightweight. You'll need to make adjustments to the auto-positions to adjust his balance point so he doesn't fall over, and maybe add some scripting to the 4in1 sensor you bought to have recovery positions if it senses he is going over (there is a sample project that has him stand back up from a fall but I don't think there are any preventative samples yet). Alan

Nomad 6R · Answer

there is a backpack to get for jd on xl robots.com.

Darius · Answer

Alan, Haha, I'm clueless about what to do with the 4 in 1 sensor as of now, I just bought it because it sounded useful.. I really have no idea what to do with it initially when it arrives.

thetechguru · Answer

With a JD, the best use is fall detection and recovery. It can detect whether JD is standing, on his back, front or side, and trigger a set of auto-position moves to stand up from there. I am working on integrating mine into my Roli that has a Ping sensor on the front and adapting Rich's Ping-Roam script to use the compass rather than timed turns to change directions when it gets near an obstruction so it can wander around the house on its own. Alan

Darius · Answer

Alan, this sounds very cool, but I guess that's way down the line from an understanding point of "how to do this on my part". Soon hopefully. I'm interested in the pandorabot thing first the the Cochran Robotics Ai next. My son loves trying to ask our Amazon Echo things it can't do (which is amazing what they are adding to it daily).

DJ Sures · Answer

Have you charged JD's battery with your other charger yet?

Darius · Answer

Yes, but it never made it to the current voltage stage and the charged indicator did not light up after an hour or so, so I took it off as just out of precaution did not want to leave the battery charging overnight un-supervised. Charger is safe but you never know. I could try again tonight and upp the amps, I had charger running at 1A, should I try 1.5 or 2a charge?

DJ Sures · Answer

By "never made it to current voltage stage"... Does that mean your charger is also recognizing the battery as discharged passed the threshold? It may not be recoverable if your charger is also stating that it cannot be charged. Therefore, the only solution would be to wait until you have a replacement battery.

Aerius · Answer

Reading through this post, I wonder if the title is still appropriate?

Darius · Answer

DJ. It's only happened to me once on an old slightly puffy battery I tried to charge where it did the same. Having lost the manual. I assume it means that the charger was unable to get the voltage to an acceptable level and stopped attempting to charge the battery for safety reasons. Maybe the 1amp setting I tried didn't have enough juice. Should I try 1.5 or 2 amps?

Darius · Answer

I am fine with whatever title DJ seems appropriate

Nomad 6R · Answer

darius i wouldn not mess with the batt.iff some is wrong they are very unstable, wait till you have the new one.in the mean time you can open jd and, check the batt visually ,it has a seal on the side,or if the batt is not puffy.

Darius

Non Existent Customer Support For A Newbie

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