Faulty charger/battery with Freego

[IzzyB]

Hi,

I bought a folding Freego a month or so ago and have discovered when I tried to recharge the battery for the first time that the charger is not working. A red light is coming on, but it should then show red/green when it's charging and the green when it's charged. I tried it for six hours and the battery did not accept any charge, and unfortunately it happened while I was away in the New Forest and so rather spoilt my trip as I ran out of power. Obviously I will contact the supplier, Ebikes Direct, for a replacement, but it looks as though something has slipped past the quality control.

I don't whether the fault is with the battery or the charger. Has this happened to anyone else, or does anyone else have experience of this company? I ordered the bike online, after having tested it at their shop in Battersea, and it is advertised as coming fully-assembled, but I had to call someone out as it wasn't.

 

[steve.c]

Hi.I have a Freego Eagle and had a lot of trouble with broken spokes and intermitant loss of power and in the end they supplied me a brand new bike (thankfully??) but had no problems with the battery at all,when charging the light goes from red to amber and then to green when fully charged so take it back to your dealer as the batterys have a 2 year warantee.

 

[IzzyB]

That's good to hear Steve. I spoke to Ebikes direct yesterday and they've asked me to send the charger back, so we'll see what happens. Do you find the 'Chinglish' User's Manual for the Freego very unhelpful - it says something different to what is written on the actual charge, with regards to the colour of light that should be showing when the battery is charging? And it doesn't give the info need for explaining the different key positions on the battery, how to take the battery out etc. And it seems to be a joint manual for several bikes including some called Currie bikes. V confusing - had to work it out for myself! I had much better instructions with my Giant. Would be a good idea if the suppliers over here could provide some more understandable instructions.

 

[steve.c]

No I didnt have a problem with the users manual and my dealer whent through everything when the bike was delivered so no problems there at all.

 

[IzzyB]

I think this charger must be different from yours, according to ebikes direct this one stays red while charging, and then goes green when charged, even though the label on the charger says R/G. V. confusing.

I'm beginning to wish that I'd bought my bike from the e-bike direct shop rather than online as I could have just taken the whole lot in and got it tested sorted sooner. It turns out the charger is OK so I'm now waiting for them to send that back to me and arrange to exchange my battery, as it looks as though the problem may be with the battery. Service is very slow - I've now been nearly 3 weeks without use of my new bike.

 

[kitchenman]

very frustrating. Hope you dont have to wait too much longer.

 

[sapper44]

Hi I have a freego eagle had a problem with my charger Phoned freego direct 0800 077 8711 they sent me a new charger no questions asked didnt even ask for the old one back.Dont know if this is the same fault as yours.Plugged the charger in a red light would come on(power on light) then would just get a clicking noise coming from the charger.Here is the link to there sight.
Contact FreeGo Electric Bikes about our Electric Bikes and Battery Powered Bikes

 

[IzzyB]

Thanks.
It wasn't qiute the same problem - the red light came on so it seemed as though it was working, but it never went green and didn't deliver any charge to the battery. It seems the fault is with the battery (tested fuses which were OK).

Freego have now contacted me directly and things seem to be moving a bit quicker now. They're delivering a new battery and charger tomorrow, so fingers crossed... I think in future I'll contact Freego directly (though hopefully I won't need to!).

 

[sapper44]

Thanks.
It wasn't qiute the same problem - the red light came on so it seemed as though it was working, but it never went green and didn't deliver any charge to the battery. It seems the fault is with the battery (tested fuses which were OK).

Freego have now contacted me directly and things seem to be moving a bit quicker now. They're delivering a new battery and charger tomorrow, so fingers crossed... I think in future I'll contact Freego directly (though hopefully I won't need to!).

Great hope it all works out OK for you happy cycling.

 

[JuicyBike]

Izzy
Did you try switching the battery on, at the "ignition" so to speak?
There are some batteries that will only charge when switched-on.
Just a thought.

 

[IzzyB]

Izzy
Did you try switching the battery on, at the "ignition" so to speak?
There are some batteries that will only charge when switched-on.
Just a thought.

Hi JuicyBike,

Yes I did try that and it didn't work.

Would you believe it Freego have replaced the battery and charger but i'm still having the same problem. I am unable to recharge this battery either, the charger is showing green immediately. So I'm beginning to think the problem is a design fault with the batteries. The charge indicators on the bike handlebars have now gone down to only 2 lights showing, but the indicator lights on the actual battery are still showing full, so communicate with the charger that its still got a full charge. Looks as though I'm going to have to contact Freego again. But it's rather worrying that the exact same fault has occurred on both batteries they've supplied.

Any other Freego owners having similar problems?

IzzyB

 

[JuicyBike]

Sounds like the fault is with the charger. The handlebar and battery indicators are unlikely to be in perfect sync. Good luck for when you contact freego.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

With two LEDs lit on your display, your bike should at least go. You need a meter to find out where the problem is. Checking the battery and charger is easy. Remove the battery from the bike to test. When the charger shows green, there should be between 42v and 44v on the bottomm of the battery. Remove the charger plug from its socket in the battery and test there. There should also be between 42v and 44v. If it's a three pin socket, try different combinations of two pins at a time until you get a reading.
Results:
Both rradings the same but less than 42v means the charger isn't working properly
30 -44v at the bottom and nothing at the charger socket means that the charger fuse has blown
42-44v at the charger socket and nothing at the bottom means that themain battery fuse has blown.
Both charger socket and bottom of battery show 42-44v - everything is OK with the charging.

Put the battery on the bike. If still only two lights are on the display and the bike won't go, it's a problem with the wiring or controller.
If you can test it, report back the results otherwise send the whole bike back.

 

[IzzyB]

With two LEDs lit on your display, your bike should at least go. You need a meter to find out where the problem is. Checking the battery and charger is easy. Remove the battery from the bike to test. When the charger shows green, there should be between 42v and 44v on the bottomm of the battery. Remove the charger plug from its socket in the battery and test there. There should also be between 42v and 44v. If it's a three pin socket, try different combinations of two pins at a time until you get a reading.
Results:
Both rradings the same but less than 42v means the charger isn't working properly
30 -44v at the bottom and nothing at the charger socket means that the charger fuse has blown
42-44v at the charger socket and nothing at the bottom means that themain battery fuse has blown.
Both charger socket and bottom of battery show 42-44v - everything is OK with the charging.

Put the battery on the bike. If still only two lights are on the display and the bike won't go, it's a problem with the wiring or controller.
If you can test it, report back the results otherwise send the whole bike back.

Hi,

Yes, my bike is still going on 2 bars- I rode it yesterday (showing on the handlebar indicator when static) and I expect to continue until it runs out which is what happened with the last one, but the problem is it won't recharge - it is acting as if it is already full (lights on battery show full) and won't accept the charge. I am attempting to recharge before if runs out completely as I need to test whether the replacement battery & charger sent to me by Freego are working. Thanks for your suggestion, I will see if someone can lend me a testing meter, but to be honest I don't expect to be having to do these kinds of test on a brand new battery & charger when I've paid alot of money for the bike.

Fortunately I have already had a reply from Freego and they will be trying to sort out the problem when they're back after the Xmas break.

IzzyB

 

[FreeGo]

"Good Luck??" why would IzzyB need "Luck" Bob, it is my and FreeGo,s absolute commitment to resolve any issue that a customer has, it would seem that Izzy has been unlucky with her replacement charger and I will be sending out a replacement today.
As we have many bikes in the market place there is an inevitability that we will have issues but as I explained to Izzy our absolute promise is to resolve as quickly as is physically possible, the "Luck" that has befallen Izzy is that she purchassed a FreeGo!!

 

[JuicyBike]

Sorry Martin. Didn't mean to upset you. Izzy has made an excellent choice.

 

[FreeGo]

Bob, You didnt upset me, i was being cheeky, factual but cheeky, that is why I put the smiley on.
Happy new year to all on here!!!!!!

 

[IzzyB]

It seems that it was the 1st two chargers that were faulty. This one seems to work, and I have just been out for a lovely ride with my fully charged battery - so fingers crossed all is well now thanks, though I'm hoping that perhaps Freego will start my warranty from now - as I've not really had a fully work bike since I bought it in August 2011.

Izzy

 

[tonyishuk]

Only to add that I had a similar Freego experience where the battery and charger exhibited the same faults as described above.

Turned out that both the charger and battery were faulty. Both charging quite happily for an hour, but for some reason failed a little later. Obviously "Pop" went one, taking the other with it ! (Not a fuse problem with the battery, something else in the battery housing failed.)

HOWEVER, cannot complain about the service, had the problem investigated by the supplier and a new charger and battery from Freego in under a week.

Would seem to be a batch of duff chargers from the suppliers ? My new charger has two lights now, Power (240V) and charge condition (Red / yellow /green)

Rgds

 

[golding7334]

Battery

There are 2 types of charger - one with a single light, which goes from red to amber to green when fully charged. I had one of those which stopped working showing no light at all after I used it twice!!. The replacement charger from Freego had 2 lights, red and green, both lit when charging, green only when fully charged.Am trying that one out now and hoping that there is no problem with the battery as its new.There is obviously a problem here with the chargers, am concerned now about going on an extended trip over a day or two and being left stranded. Are we few just the unfortunate ones?