BMS 14.5 Ah 36v Panasonic Battery charger problem

[appyarry]

I bought the above from BMS with a BBS01 kit. It all went together like a dream. I have charged the battery about 6 or 7 times now. I always plug the charger in, switch on the mains, connect to the battery (always indoors) and as usual I get a flash as the connector arcs. It is very annoying, however today the top light didn't come on and the fan didn't run :-(

I have emailed BMS however I don't hold any great hopes as they are in China.

So, has anyone had experience of the EMC-180? It is the 36V 4A, I could use a wiring diagram if anyone knows where there is one.

I am qualified in electronics (C&G 224 Power & Control) so have a scope and the usual tools, it is a lot easier if I have a diagram though.
The charger gets hot very quickly and the output is 90v when I test it with a multimeter so it looks like it's the cooling circuit/fan that has gone. I got the Kalkhoff charger out thinking that I'd see what that put out with a view to rigging something up to charge this battery and the three connectors show only one +ve connector two -ve connectors and only 5V showing on the multimeter so probably not a good idea to try and use that :-(

If anyone has any good ideas about what I can use in the mean time I'd be grateful

Thanks,

 

[Nealh]

I have 13 & 15 ah ones but have never yet had arcing. If you need a charger then Woosh won't sell you one unless you are an existing customer but you can get one from Eclipse but will charge at about half the rate your current one does.

 

[appyarry]

I have 13 & 15 ah ones but have never yet had arcing.

Thanks for the advice, strange you don't get arcing, from what I've read previously it seems a common theme, the last flash I had was a big one.
I'll keep looking and see if I can get a better PSU by either modding an existing one or buying a "better one". I didn't want to dive in and start stripping the existing charger until I hear back from BMS.

Ta,

 

[appyarry]

Suga Wu from BMS has offered to send me a new charger for the cost of shipping $33.00 which I thought was very reasonable. My only worry is that it may be the battery management board that has blown not the charger. I checked the voltage from socket on the bottom of the battery and it was 2.7 volts :-( I didn't want to strip it down unless I had to but I might wire 3 12 volt bulbs in series and see what the charger does then. Of course it could be both the charger and the Battery management system have blown. Saying that I don't know how "clever" the battery protection system is.
Has anyone opened the case on one of these batteries?
I'm loathe to open it too soon just in case I need to return it to BMS.
Edit at 16:24 the battery is at 35.5 volts, I turned the switch on More Haste!
Ta,

 

[appyarry]

Great news, I made a 3 x 12v lamp in series load to test the battery and charger. The Battery was fine, voltage 35.6. Then I checked the output voltage from the charger, it was 91V I then connected up my 36v load and it worked fine until it blow the first lamp in the series. So I shorted out the feed to the first lamp to the second only I did it to the output side not the input and there was a small arc and then the charger fan burst into life and the red light came on. I checked the output voltage from the charger and it was 41.9V I connected the charger to the battery and it seems fine, the fan is working and both lights are now red. If I disconnect the charger the top light goes green. I checked the voltage on the battery and it has increased and is still increasing slowly. I will monitor the charging and see how we get on.
I haven't a clue what's happened but at least it's charging for the time being

 

[Nealh]

Good news then.

 

[appyarry]

Yep, all charged up and ready to roll.
I think when it arced when I was testing that the dry joint that had come unsoldered probably re-attached itself. If I have any more problems with it I will pull it apart and re-solder all the power connections e.g. caps and transistors.

Ta,