Battery shipping help!

[Sophie]

Hi all, I read a post on this forum from a while ago with a similar question that unfortunately didn't help so I was wondering if there was anymore up to date help.
I have a lovely ebike that I have hardly used (became pregnant babies etc) I really want to get riding but through leaving the battery in an unheated room and irregular use the battery is dead :-( mistake number 1.
So I bought a new one online, but not from the UK. mistake number 2
i bought the wrong one 24V instead of 36V. mistake number 3

Turns out it is impossible to ship back because Lithium ion batteries are dangerous goods no courier will take it, they could with correct packaging and labelling etc but none of them will, TNT said they wouldn't as needs to be business to business.

So options,
1. Use it - but charger is 36V so will need to buy a new charger too and then not sure how it will work in the bike, any thoughts?
2. Send it as a powerpack, not battery as that is how it came, easy but doesnt feel right
3, Sell it in the UK for local collection. brand new unused condition

Also the fuse isn't in. taped on outside, does that make a difference to shipping?

I would be very grateful for any advice, im totally out of depth and worried I've just wasted a lot of money

Thank you!

 

[Mac_user82]

if you are wanting to sell the battery then i know of a courier that would take the battery for you with no problems at all

https://apc-overnight.com

i have used these in the past because i was unable to get battery shipped to my address because a lot of couriers won't touch it at all due to regulations

my suggestion either sell it on the forum or sell it on eBay or maybe try craigslist but the price won't be the same amount which you have paid for
it because of course it is second hand

what type of battery do you have it has to be the full description on what you have because people would want to know if it would work with their bike myself i have two batteries and the second battery does come in very handy when i am going places

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can't use a 24v battery in a 36v bike. What bike is it?

 

[Danidl]

Hi all, I read a post on this forum from a while ago with a similar question that unfortunately didn't help so I was wondering if there was anymore up to date help.
I have a lovely ebike that I have hardly used (became pregnant babies etc) I really want to get riding but through leaving the battery in an unheated room and irregular use the battery is dead :-( mistake number 1.
So I bought a new one online, but not from the UK. mistake number 2
i bought the wrong one 24V instead of 36V. mistake number 3

Turns out it is impossible to ship back because Lithium ion batteries are dangerous goods no courier will take it, they could with correct packaging and labelling etc but none of them will, TNT said they wouldn't as needs to be business to business.

So options,
1. Use it - but charger is 36V so will need to buy a new charger too and then not sure how it will work in the bike, any thoughts?
2. Send it as a powerpack, not battery as that is how it came, easy but doesnt feel right
3, Sell it in the UK for local collection. brand new unused condition

Also the fuse isn't in. taped on outside, does that make a difference to shipping?

I would be very grateful for any advice, im totally out of depth and worried I've just wasted a lot of money

Thank you!

Why are you assuming the original battery is dead? If it were a lead acid type then it would be,. If if it were of more recent vintage it may very well not be dead. Just at a voltage level that the intelligence in the official battery charger is unwilling to work at. What you would need is a very dumb charger producing about 30 volts and even a very low current and connect it accross the battery. The purpose of this is to raise the voltage in the original pack , and to provide minimal charging. Leave this for about 6 hrs at low level charging and then the official charger might recognise it. . I am suggesting that the new battery you got at 24v might actually do the business of jump starting the original battery connect the 24v battery accross the old battery so that the positive terminals are joined together and the negative terminals are joined together. It would be wise to include a bulb in the line between the two positives ... Any incadensent bulb will do from a flashlamp, or a car headlamp or an old domestic lamp.. not led or flouresent.The purpose of this is to restrict the current flow, while allowing a small amount to flow. You are not necessarily expecting the bulb to glow, but if it were a flashlamp type it may.

 

[Sophie]

if you are wanting to sell the battery then i know of a courier that would take the battery for you with no problems at all

https://apc-overnight.com

i have used these in the past because i was unable to get battery shipped to my address because a lot of couriers won't touch it at all due to regulations

my suggestion either sell it on the forum or sell it on eBay or maybe try craigslist but the price won't be the same amount which you have paid for
it because of course it is second hand

what type of battery do you have it has to be the full description on what you have because people would want to know if it would work with their bike myself i have two batteries and the second battery does come in very handy when i am going places

You can't use a 24v battery in a 36v bike. What bike is it?

Great, thanks for the suggestion I will bear them in mind, could be useful if I sell.
It's a Tranz X BL03 24 V 11A that I have

 

[Sophie]

You can't use a 24v battery in a 36v bike. What bike is it?

Oh thanks, that's good to know
EBCO UCL-10

 

[Sophie]

Why are you assuming the original battery is dead? If it were a lead acid type then it would be,. If if it were of more recent vintage it may very well not be dead. Just at a voltage level that the intelligence in the official battery charger is unwilling to work at. What you would need is a very dumb charger producing about 30 volts and even a very low current and connect it accross the battery. The purpose of this is to raise the voltage in the original pack , and to provide minimal charging. Leave this for about 6 hrs at low level charging and then the official charger might recognise it. . I am suggesting that the new battery you got at 24v might actually do the business of jump starting the original battery connect the 24v battery accross the old battery so that the positive terminals are joined together and the negative terminals are joined together. It would be wise to include a bulb in the line between the two positives ... Any incadensent bulb will do from a flashlamp, or a car headlamp or an old domestic lamp.. not led or flouresent.The purpose of this is to restrict the current flow, while allowing a small amount to flow. You are not necessarily expecting the bulb to glow, but if it were a flashlamp type it may.

Hmmm - I guess I thought it was dead because it doesn't work, although a green light does come on when charging. The manual said you should keep it above 5 degrees and it's been in an unheated conservatory over winter so I thought I'd probably damaged the cells.

Wow, thanks for the advice, not sure my skills will be up to it but I'll see if I can give it a go, probably will be worth it and I'd like to understand more about batteries!

Thanks

 

[Danidl]

Hmmm - I guess I thought it was dead because it doesn't work, although a green light does come on when charging. The manual said you should keep it above 5 degrees and it's been in an unheated conservatory over winter so I thought I'd probably damaged the cells.

Wow, thanks for the advice, not sure my skills will be up to it but I'll see if I can give it a go, probably will be worth it and I'd like to understand more about batteries!

Thanks

..
Ok let's start back a level.
What age is the bike and battery . What type of battery does it use. Depending on its age it will be either 1. Lead acid battery which will have died from lack of use 2. Nickel metal hydride. Which may be ok and maybe not or 3. Lithium ion . This should still be ok. I will assume lithium as 36v island more usual with lithium.
. When a battery is left alone it will discharge at a very slow rate .. but it will discharge. A nominal 36v battery , when fully charged should be 41 42 V and when fully discharged 32v . This is their normal working range. The battery charger expects to find a minimum of 32v and if it finds much less than that assumes that the battery is faulty and will not charge it. A nominal 24v battery could have ,on full charge , 28v to 29 V in it. Hence there might be enough voltage present in the 24v battery to bring the voltage in the battery up to the starting level.
The battery does not accept much charge to raise its voltage from very low up to the 30v charging threshold. Once it gets to that voltage , it starts to absorb charge and it's voltage increases very slowly.. the charge being stored in a special chemical bond. Once all the material capable of being charged has been converted, the voltage starts to rise quickly again and for safety reasons is not allowed exceed 42v. At that stage the battery is considered fully charged and the chargers will normally indicate this as a green light.
During the charging phase, the charger may have a red light which turns green on full. It might be useful for you to read your bike manual to see whether there should be a red light.
What I was proposing was to tickle the battery by applying a small current to try and raise its voltage up to the starting threshold.
So more questions. Is the light on the charger green when it is connected to the mains power supply but disconnected from the battery. This would indicate that the charger looks like it is working.
Is the light green when the charger is connected to the battery but disconnected from the mains power supply. This would indicate that voltage from the battery is driving the charger.
Is there a green light present only when it is connected to both mains and battery. This would indicate (assuming that there should be a red light) that the charger thinks it is fully charged.

 

[Fordulike]

..
Ok let's start back a level.
What age is the bike and battery . What type of battery does it use. Depending on its age it will be either 1. Lead acid battery which will have died from lack of use 2. Nickel metal hydride. Which may be ok and maybe not or 3. Lithium ion . This should still be ok. I will assume lithium as 36v island more usual with lithium.
. When a battery is left alone it will discharge at a very slow rate .. but it will discharge. A nominal 36v battery , when fully charged should be 41 42 V and when fully discharged 32v . This is their normal working range. The battery charger expects to find a minimum of 32v and if it finds much less than that assumes that the battery is faulty and will not charge it. A nominal 24v battery could have ,on full charge , 28v to 29 V in it. Hence there might be enough voltage present in the 24v battery to bring the voltage in the battery up to the starting level.
The battery does not accept much charge to raise its voltage from very low up to the 30v charging threshold. Once it gets to that voltage , it starts to absorb charge and it's voltage increases very slowly.. the charge being stored in a special chemical bond. Once all the material capable of being charged has been converted, the voltage starts to rise quickly again and for safety reasons is not allowed exceed 42v. At that stage the battery is considered fully charged and the chargers will normally indicate this as a green light.
During the charging phase, the charger may have a red light which turns green on full. It might be useful for you to read your bike manual to see whether there should be a red light.
What I was proposing was to tickle the battery by applying a small current to try and raise its voltage up to the starting threshold.
So more questions. Is the light on the charger green when it is connected to the mains power supply but disconnected from the battery. This would indicate that the charger looks like it is working.
Is the light green when the charger is connected to the battery but disconnected from the mains power supply. This would indicate that voltage from the battery is driving the charger.
Is there a green light present only when it is connected to both mains and battery. This would indicate (assuming that there should be a red light) that the charger thinks it is fully charged.

Jesus dude, that was hard reading

 

[Danidl]

Great, thanks for the suggestion I will bear them in mind, could be useful if I sell.
It's a Tranz X BL03 24 V 11A that I have

Ok have looked on line and you do have lithium ion battery in the original and should be 36 V nominal so the 24 volt unit is unsuitable.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You need to take the bike to someone that knows about ebikes and TransX systems. Some TransX use data communication between the various components, so a standard replacement battery might not work and your present one might just need a wake-up procedure to be applied.

 

[Sophie]

..
Ok let's start back a level.
What age is the bike and battery . What type of battery does it use. Depending on its age it will be either 1. Lead acid battery which will have died from lack of use 2. Nickel metal hydride. Which may be ok and maybe not or 3. Lithium ion . This should still be ok. I will assume lithium as 36v island more usual with lithium.
. When a battery is left alone it will discharge at a very slow rate .. but it will discharge. A nominal 36v battery , when fully charged should be 41 42 V and when fully discharged 32v . This is their normal working range. The battery charger expects to find a minimum of 32v and if it finds much less than that assumes that the battery is faulty and will not charge it. A nominal 24v battery could have ,on full charge , 28v to 29 V in it. Hence there might be enough voltage present in the 24v battery to bring the voltage in the battery up to the starting level.
The battery does not accept much charge to raise its voltage from very low up to the 30v charging threshold. Once it gets to that voltage , it starts to absorb charge and it's voltage increases very slowly.. the charge being stored in a special chemical bond. Once all the material capable of being charged has been converted, the voltage starts to rise quickly again and for safety reasons is not allowed exceed 42v. At that stage the battery is considered fully charged and the chargers will normally indicate this as a green light.
During the charging phase, the charger may have a red light which turns green on full. It might be useful for you to read your bike manual to see whether there should be a red light.
What I was proposing was to tickle the battery by applying a small current to try and raise its voltage up to the starting threshold.
So more questions. Is the light on the charger green when it is connected to the mains power supply but disconnected from the battery. This would indicate that the charger looks like it is working.
Is the light green when the charger is connected to the battery but disconnected from the mains power supply. This would indicate that voltage from the battery is driving the charger.
Is there a green light present only when it is connected to both mains and battery. This would indicate (assuming that there should be a red light) that the charger thinks it is fully charged.

Wow, thanks for another detailed reply! Yes it is a lithium battery, the light on the charger comes on green when the charger is connected to the mains and stays green when the battery is attached. So appears to be charged but when i put it in the bike, nothing.

 

[Sophie]

You need to take the bike to someone that knows about ebikes and TransX systems. Some TransX use data communication between the various components, so a standard replacement battery might not work and your present one might just need a wake-up procedure to be applied.

Yeah that seems like the most sensible idea! Thank you for your reply

 

[Danidl]

Yeah that seems like the most sensible idea! Thank you for your reply

Hi Dave's suggestion is very sound. There is some simple you might try first..... I found this on a tranzx site...
Attach battery , switch on
I assume your bike has what should be display for speed etc and that it is not illuminating. Press the light up button on the display for a minimum of 6 seconds. And then release. What I understand is that this is a factory reset mode and should reload parameters . Just like setting reset on a phone.

 

[Sophie]

Ah thanks, I'll definitely give that a try, thank you!