Carrera CrossCity-e charger problem

[Michael Price]

Hello all,
We have the above folding ebike - it is not used much but I like to take it out for a ride every months or so to keep it working and make sure the batter pack doesn't drop charge to a bad level
Generally I take it out for a ride until the charge level on the led display is quite low
Charge it that evening - then take it out for a shortish ride the next day so it is around 75% charged - then it can be left for a while.

Anyway last winter I cocked up nd forgot - I don;t know what the charge level was last time I rode/charged it but when realised I hadn;t ridden it for months it just wouldn;t work at all
I got it recelled - better cells and more of them - and it has been fine since

Fine until yesterday.
I decided to charge it up with the intention of riding it around today.
Now - normally when I put it on charge the light on the charger turns to red - then goes green when it is fully charged,
But yesterday it just went directly to green and stayed there - I left it 'charging' for a while anyway.

I thought maybe it was fully charged, in spite of not being used to a while, so I went out for a ride today.
It started with ll the charge indicator LEDs on - but then it does tend to stay on ;full charge' for quite a long time then drop therough the levels relatively quickly.

I only rode it for about 12 miles - some uphill - but not steep - and the corresponding downhill on the way home
AT the end the charge indicator had only ONE LED left on - it would normally go for 30-40 miles on full charge

WHen I got home I allowed it to warm up and put it on charge again - and again the charger light went direct to green - wehn I knew the battery must be low.


So - anyone got any ideas what might be going on
if the charger broken or has the battery broken again?


If I get a chance tomorrow I will get the folding ebike out again (my 'big' bike if is locked up in front of it) and see what the bike says but in the meantime - any ideas?

TIA

Mike

 

[Andy-Mat]

Hello all,
We have the above folding ebike - it is not used much but I like to take it out for a ride every months or so to keep it working and make sure the batter pack doesn't drop charge to a bad level
Generally I take it out for a ride until the charge level on the led display is quite low
Charge it that evening - then take it out for a shortish ride the next day so it is around 75% charged - then it can be left for a while.

Anyway last winter I cocked up nd forgot - I don;t know what the charge level was last time I rode/charged it but when realised I hadn;t ridden it for months it just wouldn;t work at all
I got it recelled - better cells and more of them - and it has been fine since

Fine until yesterday.
I decided to charge it up with the intention of riding it around today.
Now - normally when I put it on charge the light on the charger turns to red - then goes green when it is fully charged,
But yesterday it just went directly to green and stayed there - I left it 'charging' for a while anyway.

I thought maybe it was fully charged, in spite of not being used to a while, so I went out for a ride today.
It started with ll the charge indicator LEDs on - but then it does tend to stay on ;full charge' for quite a long time then drop therough the levels relatively quickly.

I only rode it for about 12 miles - some uphill - but not steep - and the corresponding downhill on the way home
AT the end the charge indicator had only ONE LED left on - it would normally go for 30-40 miles on full charge

WHen I got home I allowed it to warm up and put it on charge again - and again the charger light went direct to green - wehn I knew the battery must be low.


So - anyone got any ideas what might be going on
if the charger broken or has the battery broken again?


If I get a chance tomorrow I will get the folding ebike out again (my 'big' bike if is locked up in front of it) and see what the bike says but in the meantime - any ideas?

TIA

Mike

That is what generally happens when the cells go below the set minimum for the battery, and charging is blocked.
Usually, the use of a "0 volt recivery charger "(strange name), will recover the cells back to normal.
I only know of one company selling them, for 36 volt batteries only, here:-

Home :: Accessories :: 0V Recovery Charger

Use this to recover your battery if it has not been used or charged over a long duration of time you only need to use this charger one time and then a normal charger can be used The 0V charger will only recover a battery with voltage from 22V to 27V cut off voltage You should measure the voltage...

starkdrive.bike

No guarantee that it will fix your problems though....
regards
Andy

 

[Michael Price]

That is what generally happens when the cells go below the set minimum for the battery, and charging is blocked.
Usually, the use of a "0 volt recivery charger "(strange name), will recover the cells back to normal.
I only know of one company selling them, for 36 volt batteries only, here:-

Home :: Accessories :: 0V Recovery Charger

Use this to recover your battery if it has not been used or charged over a long duration of time you only need to use this charger one time and then a normal charger can be used The 0V charger will only recover a battery with voltage from 22V to 27V cut off voltage You should measure the voltage...

starkdrive.bike

No guarantee that it will fix your problems though....
regards
Andy

Thanks

 

[Nealh]

Cells are likely un balanced and the BMS has probably not done it's job very well.
The charger light will be green even at a low battery charge level because the BMS won't allow the charger to charge so no Red charge light.

The battery needs opening to determine the fault using a volt meter.

When a battery isn't used for a while some rubbish BMS's bleed a cell group down , which then causes the issue as ypu have.

 

[Michael Price]

Just checked everything out a bit more thoroughly

After a few hours on 'charge' I have reconnected the battery back to the bike
The charge display still shows only 1 led
exactly the same as when I got back from yesterdays ride

I have taken the battery out again and checked the voltage
When the battery is switched off - it registers 1.0 V
When it is switched on it shows 33.4V

I presume this is just further evidence that the above comments are valid - probably caused by a rubbish BMS not balancing the cells very well

In which case
could I replace the bms??
how?? - I presume it is somewhere inside the battery case?

I will contact the company that recelled the battery and see if I can persuade them to help!

 

[Nealh]

At 33.4v it rather suggests a cell group is below the lvc for a single cell so the reason why no charging will occur, the BMS not switching on.
The low cell group needs manually raing to the same threshold as the others , then the BMS will allow charging.
If you are competent then one can simply open the battery and carry out a few basic voltage checks, it is possible that was all that was wrong with the first battery and are cell may have been unneccessary.

After all there is no money for companies to make by rectifying a simple solution.

There is nothing mystical in side a battery case that a competent intelligent person can't check themselves, all it involves is methodology and willing to read and follow some basic simple advise on forums like this.

At most one needs a multi meter and two needles or dress maker pins to check battery cell voltage.
To remedy an issue one needs a soldering iron , solder, an old 5v phone charger and a pair of arduino pins.

 

[Nealh]

Just checked everything out a bit more thoroughly

After a few hours on 'charge' I have reconnected the battery back to the bike
The charge display still shows only 1 led
exactly the same as when I got back from yesterdays ride

I have taken the battery out again and checked the voltage
When the battery is switched off - it registers 1.0 V
When it is switched on it shows 33.4V

I presume this is just further evidence that the above comments are valid - probably caused by a rubbish BMS not balancing the cells very well

In which case
could I replace the bms??
how?? - I presume it is somewhere inside the battery case?

I will contact the company that recelled the battery and see if I can persuade them to help!

It's not so much about the rubbish BMS not balancing the cells, it 's more to do with the BMS draining a cell group after a long while of non use. Sometimes there is a residual bit of very low power or a resistor that can bleed a cell down to low.

One reason why it is advised to put a bttery on charge for 10 mins once a month or so just to wake up the BMS and to check the battery is fine.
Of course a battery with no BMS has no such issue , but needs more manual intervention.

 

[Michael Price]

At 33.4v it rather suggests a cell group is below the lvc for a single cell so the reason why no charging will occur, the BMS not switching on.
The low cell group needs manually raing to the same threshold as the others , then the BMS will allow charging.
If you are competent then one can simply open the battery and carry out a few basic voltage checks, it is possible that was all that was wrong with the first battery and are cell may have been unneccessary.

After all there is no money for companies to make by rectifying a simple solution.

There is nothing mystical in side a battery case that a competent intelligent person can't check themselves, all it involves is methodology and willing to read and follow some basic simple advise on forums like this.

At most one needs a multi meter and two needles or dress maker pins to check battery cell voltage.
To remedy an issue one needs a soldering iron , solder, an old 5v phone charger and a pair of arduino pins.

Thanks - I have contected the company that recelled it

but - just in case they do not want to help - is there a useful site/video about how to fix it myself
I have always avoided stuff like this because, in spite of spending most of my life fixing computers, I never been good at small fiddly work
and I'm a wimp about Li batteries due to stories abotu fies and stuff - probably unnecessarily!!

 

[Michael Price]

Thanks - I have contected the company that recelled it

but - just in case they do not want to help - is there a useful site/video about how to fix it myself
I have always avoided stuff like this because, in spite of spending most of my life fixing computers, I never been good at small fiddly work
and I'm a wimp about Li batteries due to stories abotu fies and stuff - probably unnecessarily!!

Yes - this is why I tend to take it out once a month or so (I normally ride my non-folding bigger bike with a Bosch system)
Then charge it again once I have ridden it down to only 1 or 2 LEDs left on

but this time it doesn't seem to have worked

 

[Nealh]

I don't know of any suitable guides probably some on utube, generally I prefer the say so experince of a forum like this or Endless sphere for good advice from folks who have carried out this sort of thing many times, mainly from experince of battery building and diagnosis.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Best wishes, I hope that you manage to get it working again, one way or another.
At least you now have some good help here on Pedelec.
Regards
Andy

 

[jundabattery]

Dear Michael,looks like the battery pack have over self-discharge after few months lay aside,some battery cell voltage is below to 0v and influnce the battery cell's performance,only can consider replace the low quality cell can be recover it,you can consider our website:www.eastebattery.com,thank you

 

[Michael Price]

Dear Michael,looks like the battery pack have over self-discharge after few months lay aside,some battery cell voltage is below to 0v and influnce the battery cell's performance,only can consider replace the low quality cell can be recover it,you can consider our website:www.eastebattery.com,thank you

Thank you - you don;t seem to have a UK shop/workshop - is this correct?

If not then I will look for someone who does - but thanks for replying