Greetings from Warwickshire

[Emily Joy]

Hello!

Some 9 years ago I was a student in Netherlands and fall in love with Gazelle bikes, but they were totally beyond my budget. I then moved to England, and didn't have nor space nor use for a bike till I moved to a remote farm house last year. I treated myself to a small (non-electric) folding bike at first, as I commute to London often and don't drive.

About a month ago I spot an electric Gazelle Orbea bike for sale. It was "new old stock" - one of early models from 2009; it was also "spares or repairs" as electric doesn't seem to work. I couldn't resist and decided it would be a cool project for summer. Now I have an almost new Gazelle in my garage.

I suspect the problem is either with the battery of with the charger or both. The display shows zero charge on the battery, doesn't recognise when I try to charge it (while connected to the bike) and also occasionally, when I ride it, shows an error message which according to the manual means "motor connection error".

So I've come here for some help and advice as to what is the best place to get a charger/battery for testing purpose with possibility to return them?

The system is Panasonic Gazelle Innergy.

I understand there is a workshop in Oxford which does service Gazelles... So this will probably be the last resort.

 

[Deleted member 22539]

Hi welcome
Good luck in your quest
Have a look around the forum and post your questions there is a lot of people dont read the introductions so much

 

[Benjahmin]

I suspect you are going to have to put some 'photo's up and you are probably going to need a digital volt meter. You can get one of e bay for 5or 6 quid.

 

[Emily Joy]

I suspect you are going to have to put some 'photo's up and you are probably going to need a digital volt meter. You can get one of e bay for 5or 6 quid.

Thanks! Is a digital voltmeter going to be more suitable for the task then the one my Father have had for the past 30 years?...

 

[Benjahmin]

So long as it reads DC on something like 2,20,and 200volt ranges, then it will be fine. Is that one of the old moving needle ones, haven't seen one of those for years?
First thing will be to measure charger output voltage and battery voltage, this is where the pics come in handy.

 

[Warwick]

Good luck with the fix from Warwick! Jimmy at BGA Reworking can recell your battery, if it comes to that.

 

[Emily Joy]

Is that one of the old moving needle ones, haven't seen one of those for years?.

Yeeeah! It still works!

One more question - it appears I will be travelling to Edinburgh for work. Does it worth to drop by Cycle Heaven in York for diagnostic? In case I won't be able to figure out what the problem is myself by then.

 

[Emily Joy]

Good luck with the fix from Warwick! Jimmy at BGA Reworking can recell your battery, if it comes to that.

Thanks! I am not quite certain which battery do I need.

I am relatively fit and easily do about 25+ miles in one go on my folding bike, it is, however, about 15kg lighter than Gazelle. My current plan for Gazelle is to use it for longer distances. Any suggestions are very welcome.

 

[Warwick]

The first thing to do is to check that the charger is delivering power using the voltmeter. Assuming it is, you then need to attempt to charge the battery and to see what voltage it delivers. Can you get from the seller whether the battery was left in-situ, uncharged since 2009? If that's the case, the likeliest suspect would be the battery.

If it proves to be the battery that's duff, you can have it re-celled, either to the original specification, or better if there is space in the battery case to fit extra cells. Someone like Jimmy, for example, would be able to tell you what he could do and how much it would be. Alternatively, new OEM batteries might still be available.

Of course, there may well be other culprits in the system and others are probably best placed to advise on that.

 

[Emily Joy]

Thanks. I have finally got around to it. The first problem is that voltmeter's (it is in fact a multimeter) needles don't appear to be thin enough to check the charger. However, the multimeter doesn't seem to respond to the battery at all - whatsoever. I did check that multimeter is OK by checking a number of other batteries/accu's. This also matches the fact that the display doesn't respond to the battery in any way, even when the charger is connected.

The question now is can re-celling help or is it better to go for a new battery -
it appears the one is available from hollandbikeshop - silver option would be £310 (including delivery).

 

[Warwick]

Well, the thing is you might fit the new battery and find it still doesn't work and be £300+ down. If you can get it somewhere to have the rest of the system checked out, that would be advisable, in my opinion. Once everything else gets the all clear, only then splash out.

What capacity is the battery you quoted? Give Jimmy a ring - he may want a photo or two of the battery case - and he can tell you how much he'd charge for a similar battery.

 

[flecc]

What capacity is the battery you quoted? Give Jimmy a ring - he may want a photo or two of the battery case - and he can tell you how much he'd charge for a similar battery.

This YouTube link will give Jimmy all he needs to know about the Gazelle Innergy battery.
.

 

[Emily Joy]

This YouTube link will give Jimmy all he needs to know about the Gazelle Innergy battery.

The battery in the video is some 8 years younger

 

[Emily Joy]

Well, the thing is you might fit the new battery and find it still doesn't work and be £300+ down. If you can get it somewhere to have the rest of the system checked out, that would be advisable, in my opinion. Once everything else gets the all clear, only then splash out.

What capacity is the battery you quoted? Give Jimmy a ring - he may want a photo or two of the battery case - and he can tell you how much he'd charge for a similar battery.

Thanks - it is all sounds very reasonable. Hopefully will have it fixed by August.