Another charger died.

[Synthman]

My 36v Sunlova charger died after 6 months, and 76 charges. Better than the first one which lasted only 2 minutes! I don't know if there's any guarantee on these things, but luckily I have a spare.

It did make funny noise when plugged in, the fan was buzzing around for the last few weeks, but the noise would eventually settle down. Today I charged my battery, and when I went to check the charger the lights were out and the fan stopped.

My original charger which came with the bike did 143 charges over the course of 11 months before failing. I wish there was some way to repair them, but I doubt it.

 

[kitchenman]

Bad luck Synthman. As your the only one I know with this bike it looks like your on your own! .. Only thing I can suggest is get more charges (if you can)

 

[flecc]

This happens from time to time with different bike models. The Panasonic charger supplied with the original Panasonic unit almost always failed and had to be replaced with different designs and a stop gap buy-in while that was being done. eZeebike suffered a large batch of HP chargers which had a faulty diode leading to sudden failure,

As you infer, they are rarely repairable and their circuits are sometimes sealed by encapsulation.

The onus is on Sunlova to quickly change to a different charger from a known manufacturer such as Shenzhen, HighPower or Metco.

 

[Synthman]

This happens from time to time with different bike models. The Panasonic charger supplied with the original Panasonic unit almost always failed and had to be replaced with different designs and a stop gap buy-in while that was being done. eZeebike suffered a large batch of HP chargers which had a faulty diode leading to sudden failure,

As you infer, they are rarely repairable and their circuits are sometimes sealed by encapsulation.

The onus is on Sunlova to quickly change to a different charger from a known manufacturer such as Shenzhen, HighPower or Metco.

The one I have now is a HighPower, which was kindly given to me by another member. Do you happen to know the serial numbers of the faulty batch(es) Flecc?

Bad luck Synthman. As your the only one I know with this bike it looks like your on your own! .. Only thing I can suggest is get more charges (if you can)

The charges are quite common, 36v with an XLR jack on the end. Shouldn't be too difficult to find. I just don't know how urgently I should find a spare!

 

[flecc]

Do you happen to know the serial numbers of the faulty batch(es) Flecc?

I'm afraid not, they were never revealed, but I'm sure the batch cropped up in late 2007 chargers.

 

[Synthman]

I'm hoping the charger wasn't from 2007, but I think it's very likely it is. Although it worked fine when I got it a few months ago, it isn't now.

The green light comes on too early. When I put my multimeter to the battery at the end of a full charge, it should read 41.7v, but the charger cuts out at between 40-41v. Checking the charger output voltage, nothing seems wrong because it is always at 42v. On the most recent charge the charger indicated it was still charging long after it should have finished. I switched it off and back on, and had to keep doing this until the battery was indeed fully charged, which was at 41.5v this time.

Is it correct that HighPower chargers need to be switched on only after being plugged into the battery? It won't charge otherwise. This was a symptom of impending failure on my first charger.

I'm worried it's going to die on me so I did a search. Cannot find any 36v lithium battery chargers, never mind one with an XLR jack. If I could find a suitable charger, I could put the correct jack myself.

 

[NRG]

Alien have a 36v charger listed here: Electric Bicycles - Online Shop - Accessories

If its the same as mine then it will be 2A / 41.9v.....You will need to change the plug though....

 

[PJM]

Have a look at Accessories there are two lithium chargers advertised for £46 odd. The Tonaro range have XLR charging sockets. Might be worth a call to Phil to get the spec.

 

[Synthman]

I visited the Electric Transport Shop today, and the guy tested my charger with a multimeter, couldn't find anything wrong with it, but swapped it with his HP charger, which is 4a, then said he'll try charging other batteries with mine to see if it's faulty. I then flattened my battery on a few hills and am now charging it. If it cuts out early then it will be a fault with my battery, if not, then my charger is faulty.

 

[Synthman]

The charging light was still on and it hanged at 41v until I switched it off and back on, then it charged completely. Today I discharged the battery about half way and charged it, it reached 41v and I checked it about 30 minutes later and it was still 41v, so I turned the charger off and back on, and I think it will reach the 41.7v mark then shut off as normal soon. The fault might indeed be my battery, but I have no idea what would be causing it

 

[flecc]

The HP chargers often do this part charging with the eZee 14 Ah battery, and I think it might happen sometimes with the same 14 Ah battery that Wisper also use. Both companies use HP chargers.

 

[Synthman]

My charger has not been tested yet, but I've been told I can keep the 4a charger, which cuts more than an hour off the charge time compared to the 2a.

The HP chargers often do this part charging with the eZee 14 Ah battery, and I think it might happen sometimes with the same 14 Ah battery that Wisper also use. Both companies use HP chargers.

I think that sounds like what's happening to me. The 2a HP charger suffered not only from the green light coming on too early, but the amber light staying on indicating a charge when it had stopped, requiring turning it off and on many times. The 4a only stops once at 41v, with the amber light still on. Only needs one reset though.

I could live with that, and use an electricity monitor to see when it cuts out so I lose less time, but with multiple appliances on it's hard to tell. I think the way to go would be to get a plug-in monitor for the charger only, and to find a non HP charger and see if it does a full charge in one go.

 

[Synthman]

Got a nice plug-in monitor that gives a wealth of useless information, along with the amps/watts being drawn, time on, and watts used.

Well the chager starts off about 160 watts, quickly climbing to 195 watts, then gradually starts decreasing. When it gets to about 115, it drops down to 40 watts. This is where the battery stops charging for some reason. So I have to reset it and it goes back to 115 for a while, and drops back to 40, then towards the end of the charge it gradually decreases again until the green light comes on.

At this point, the label on the side of the charger recommends to leave it on for an hour. So that's what I do. The charger is pulling 15 watts, gradually decreasing, and about 40 minutes later it is pulling less than 5 watts, the same as the charger would with no battery attached, so I finally switched it off.

I don't understand what it's doing for that last bit, but it does increase battery voltage very slightly, about 0.2v.