Bosch Battery flew down the road

[SRS]

A word of warning for all people with down tube Bosch mounted batteries.

Aimed mainly at those as stupid as myself.

Getting ready to leave work the other day, I grabbed the battery off my office charger.
Hands full, just plopped it into its down tube holder.

Locked up the offices, off with the lights and set the alarm. Wheeled bike outside. Conversation for 20 minutes with the neighbour and set off on my journey home.

You've guessed it. I had not locked the battery in place with the key. Yes the battery sticks out a bit but I had not noticed. Unfortunately if left unlocked it does still electrically connect.

4 miles later and a small bump going over the local river bridge. The battery bounced out of its holder and hit the road. Came to a stop in the opposite gutter.

Well, they are very tough.
Battle scarred with a few chunks missing, no cracks to the case and still works fine.

Just a warning.

 

[Martin@e-bikeshop]

A word of warning for all people with down tube Bosch mounted batteries.

Aimed mainly at those as stupid as myself.

Getting ready to leave work the other day, I grabbed the battery off my office charger.
Hands full, just plopped it into its down tube holder.

Locked up the offices, off with the lights and set the alarm. Wheeled bike outside. Conversation for 20 minutes with the neighbour and set off on my journey home.

You've guessed it. I had not locked the battery in place with the key. Yes the battery sticks out a bit but I had not noticed. Unfortunately if left unlocked it does still electrically connect.

4 miles later and a small bump going over the local river bridge. The battery bounced out of its holder and hit the road. Came to a stop in the opposite gutter.

Well, they are very tough.
Battle scarred with a few chunks missing, no cracks to the case and still works fine.

Just a warning.

Ian, not good!! Glad the battery is ok they are tough little ******s.
It's such a satisfying 'click' when it clicks into place too!

Martin

 

[Blew it]

The key is only needed for removing the battery, it is not required when refitting....just push it in until it clicks....then give it a wriggle to make sure.

 

[SRS]

The key is only needed for removing the battery, it is not required when refitting....just push it in until it clicks....then give it a wriggle to make sure.

Mine has always needed the key, will not click in without it. I'll take a good look at the locking mechanism tomorrow.

Thanks Martin but had it smashed to bits, I'd have bought a new one from you. Are you still sure its ok?

 

[flecc]

Don't worry, they are surprisingly tough. I had the same happen on an old Panasonic unit battery at speed and the plastic case split open. With the split seam hot welded and reinforced with duct tape it still worked fine for four more years shown here. I also has a courier air freighted battery split open on arrival, as shown here, but the same applied, after taping it closed like this it worked perfectly

 

[SRS]

Don't worry, they are surprisingly tough. I had the same happen on an old Panasonic unit battery at speed and the plastic case split open. With the split seam hot welded and reinforced with duct tape it still worked fine for four more years shown here. I also has a courier air freighted battery split open on arrival, as shown here, but the same applied, after taping it closed like this it worked perfectly

Flecc, thanks. Encouraging to think that my battery life will probably not have been reduced by this little accident.

 

[Martin@e-bikeshop]

Mine has always needed the key, will not click in without it. I'll take a good look at the locking mechanism tomorrow.

Thanks Martin but had it smashed to bits, I'd have bought a new one from you. Are you still sure its ok?

Ian,

Your battery will be fine, it will not have lost any capacity, it would have only broken a connection inside, but as its still working you will be fine.

As for the click, the battery mount can be adjusted on the frame, take the battery out.

Now use a T15 torx to undo the self tapper holding the plastic shell on.

Then you will see underneath a stell bolt threaded into the frame, this can be loosened and adjusted up and down slightly allowing the battery to be harder or easier to click in.

Have a play, I know you are good on the spanners so should be a doddle!

Regards
Martin

 

[Artstu]

The key is only needed for removing the battery, it is not required when refitting....just push it in until it clicks....then give it a wriggle to make sure.

Mine needs the key, I take it that you can push the little locking tab fully out of the way? if you can't it is more likely your top mount is too high up. Or Bosch changed the design at some point.

My key only comes out of the lock in the locked position.

 

[Blew it]

...if you can't it is more likely your top mount is too high up. Or Bosch changed the design at some point.

There is nothing wrong with my battery holder. All of the Bosch powered machines at Emotion EVC are the same, not requiring a key to re-fit the battery. There have been no battery locking revisions on the Bosch system.

It's your battery holder that is not working correctly, easily rectified using the procedure outlined above by Martin. A couple of the first KTMs arriving in Swindon required this adjustment, which I attended to without the showroom manager even knowing.

 

[Artstu]

It's your battery holder that is not working correctly

I've had another look at mine and am satisfied mine is correct. I would agree that if there is adjument in my top bracket I could get it to behave in the way yours does, however that would not in my opinion be correct or as secure.

Emotion EVC have it wrong.

KTM have it correct, unless someone with ill judged good intentions messes with it.

Or Bosch gave the option to set it up either way and both are correct.

 

[Blew it]

Artstu, I suggest you read the user manual that came with your machine.

Are you questioning the collective knowledge of this forum regarding re-fitting a Bosch battery....good luck with that then.

Have a nice day Sir

 

[Martin@e-bikeshop]

I've had another look at mine and am satisfied mine is correct. I would agree that if there is adjument in my top bracket I could get it to behave in the way yours does, however that would not in my opinion be correct or as secure.

Emotion EVC have it wrong.

KTM have it correct, unless someone with ill judged good intentions messes with it.

Or Bosch gave the option to set it up either way and both are correct.

Neither have it right or wrong, Bosch designed the unit to be versatile to manufacturers needs.
As for the adjustment, read my previous post regarding adjusting the battery holder at the bottom.
Its not wrong to tinker with it if its not easy to slot in and out. If you think about it the manufacturer will employ lots of staff. Once in a while the battery holder may not be adjusted correctly, i.e a new factory worker has starting working that week and is not correctly adjusting the battery as others have been.

Really it comes down to buying through a dealer, because all of these corrections are thoroughly checked as part of the PDI before the customer leaves the shop with it (At least a good dealer should be doing this correctly).

Artsu - If you need the key to position the battery in place, yours is adjusted in-correctly, you should be able to remove the battery and the key, then insert the battery back into the holder without the key, it should also make the satisfying 'click' as it locks in place.

I suggest you follow my previous post and adjust it correctly.

Regards

Martin

 

[Artstu]

Artstu, I suggest you read the user manual that came with your machine.

Are you questioning the collective knowledge of this forum regarding re-fitting a Bosch battery....good luck with that then.

Have a nice day Sir

I've read the manual, added lower down. I wasn't aware you represented the collective knowledge of the forum. Two of us in this thread are now clearly shown to be correct.

I have better things to do than point out your error.

 

[Artstu]

Really it comes down to buying through a dealer, because all of these corrections are thoroughly checked as part of the PDI before the customer leaves the shop with it (At least a good dealer should be doing this correctly).

Really

Artsu - If you need the key to position the battery in place, yours is adjusted in-correctly, you should be able to remove the battery and the key, then insert the battery back into the holder without the key, it should also make the satisfying 'click' as it locks in place.

I suggest you follow my previous post and adjust it correctly.

Regards

Martin

Have you actually read the manual?

Anyone reading would clearly take the view that the two people who appear to be involved hands on in bike shops selling these bikes would know better than someone who just owns one of these bikes.

But the manual clearly states the key is needed when refitting the battery.

Over to our experts.

 

[Martin@e-bikeshop]

Really

Have you actually read the manual?

Atrstu - Of course, I know in the manual it says to have the key in the holder to insert the battery, just trying to be helpful in the fact that all of mine you can insert with out the key. I'm sure with the key inserted you will not get that click sound as you are manually moving the locking mechanism.

Hey I'm sure your bike manual says to check all bolts are correctly torque'd and the spoke tension is set prior to riding, do we honestly all do that??

Regards
Martin

 

[Artstu]

Atrstu - Of course, I know in the manual it says to have the key in the holder to insert the battery, just trying to be helpful in the fact that all of mine you can insert with out the key. I'm sure with the key inserted you will not get that click sound as you are manually moving the locking mechanism.

Hey I'm sure your bike manual says to check all bolts are correctly torque'd and the spoke tension is set prior to riding, do we honestly all do that??

Regards
Martin

Even with brute force and ignorance I would not be able to get my battery in the holder without the key. Like I said before I'm 100% happy with how my battery holder is set up.

 

[barrycoll]

just a quick check on my KTM Machina Race confirms that, like Artsu, my battery will never be flying down the road, as a key is needed to open the detente on the battery holder, to position the battery

Finger pressure against the opening mechanism, without the battery in place, confirms that it won't 'give' without the key in position in the lock.

This does seem like a good fail safe option, (on the assumption that it is an option)

cheers barrycoll

 

[SRS]

just a quick check on my KTM Machina Race confirms that, like Artsu, my battery will never be flying down the road, as a key is needed to open the detente on the battery holder, to position the battery

Finger pressure against the opening mechanism, without the battery in place, confirms that it won't 'give' without the key in position in the lock.

This does seem like a good fail safe option, (on the assumption that it is an option)

cheers barrycoll

Have finally checked mine and as above, the latch does require the key to fit the battery.
There is no way that this lock was ever intended to be used without the key.

Of course mine did fly down the road but this was entirely operator error.