Freego battery unrepairable?

Seanoge

Pedelecer
Jan 16, 2017
156
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Gulval, Penzance
Sent a Freego 36V 10A battery away for repair at a total cost of nearly £50.- for Inspection. They informed me "due to the physical dimensions of the battery case our recell packs do not fit". So I contacted Freego and asked them about this and they said their batteries are unrepairable. Any one else had this experience?
 

Emo Rider

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 10, 2014
659
414
Sent a Freego 36V 10A battery away for repair at a total cost of nearly £50.- for Inspection. They informed me "due to the physical dimensions of the battery case our recell packs do not fit". So I contacted Freego and asked them about this and they said their batteries are unrepairable. Any one else had this experience?
I have never had the new Freego battery, with Samsung cells open. I have replaced switches and repaired wiring inside the old. I say this just to let you know of my experience with these batteries. The main dfference between the two batteries is the size of the new, better, smaller samsung cells. With the new cells also came with a price increase of £50 per battery.

By going to these cells, they could increase the capacity from 10.4ah to 15.8ah in the same case. This eliminated the need of changing the base plate and slider when upgrading. The inside of your old battery may not be able to take the new cells. I do not know for sure.

It would be a better option for you to simply buy a new battery. I can not speak for Freego but it wouldn't hurt to ask for a £50 discount on the new battery if that is what you want to do. Another option would be to have it recelled by a company that does this sort of thing. It was 1.5 years ago when I looked into this and at the time I think it was around £380 for a 10ah rebuild. I am sure there are others here that can point you to a receller better than I.

Hope this helps :)
 

Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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If your battery isn't working and you are fairly competent diy wise and have a voltage meter then you have nothing to lose by opening it up and carrying out some basic checks yourself, certainly a lot cheaper then having paid a bandit £50 just to say sorry nothing doing.
By posting some pics we can guide you through how to check and measure cell/pack voltage and the wiring, also we can then see if the problem is charging or a discharging problem and to whether the cells are just scrap or not.
 
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MRMAC9

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May 24, 2015
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Sent a Freego 36V 10A battery away for repair at a total cost of nearly £50.- for Inspection. They informed me "due to the physical dimensions of the battery case our recell packs do not fit". So I contacted Freego and asked them about this and they said their batteries are unrepairable. Any one else had this experience?
You could join the 'Private Freego Owners Group' on Facebook. Lots of input there from Freego owners and Freego management.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
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Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
what's wrong with your battery?
 

Seanoge

Pedelecer
Jan 16, 2017
156
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78
Gulval, Penzance
what's wrong with your battery?
It just goes dead. No lights on it. This is part of the report -
"It cuts out under load. The battery management system is what causes it to cut out. I opened the case up to see if it was a component or connection that could be repaired, but unfortunately it's not. Either a cell or cells are breaking down under load, which the management system senses, then cuts the connection out, but as individual cells cannot be replaced from a cell pack of this type it unfortunately means renewal of the whole battery.
I can't give a full report on the health of the cell pack as a whole i.e. it's capacity, as it cuts out under even the relatively low 4 amp load that the discharge meter applies.
It charges to 40.9 volts, where it should be charging to 42v +/- 0.2 which indicates either one or two dead cells, or a cell pack which has reached the end of it's service life".
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,406
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
your battery is probably unbalanced. If you open your battery case and check the voltage reading on the balance wires, you should be able to confirm the diagnosis.
Replacement BMSes are quite cheap to buy on ebay.
 
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Seanoge

Pedelecer
Jan 16, 2017
156
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Gulval, Penzance
Electric Bike Sales, I sent to their Bristol Branch. £35.- for checkup & £10.- return Postage, & it cost me £7.- to send it. This was the 1st. report -
"Your battery is faulty, unfortunately cannot be repaired, and needs to be replaced. The battery cuts out under load, so it's not possible to get a capacity reading from the battery.
Replacements are 8ah £230, 10ah £330 and 15ah £530. Plus £15 delivery.
Minus the £35 diagnosis fee you have paid".
I wrote back telling him I knew the battery was faulty that's why I sent it to them. He then produced a fuller report. Still £50.- out of pocket
 

Seanoge

Pedelecer
Jan 16, 2017
156
13
78
Gulval, Penzance
If your battery isn't working and you are fairly competent diy wise and have a voltage meter then you have nothing to lose by opening it up and carrying out some basic checks yourself, certainly a lot cheaper then having paid a bandit £50 just to say sorry nothing doing.
By posting some pics we can guide you through how to check and measure cell/pack voltage and the wiring, also we can then see if the problem is charging or a discharging problem and to whether the cells are just scrap or not.
Still waiting for it to come back and thanks will be in touch.
 

Emo Rider

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 10, 2014
659
414
Electric Bike Sales, I sent to their Bristol Branch. £35.- for checkup & £10.- return Postage, & it cost me £7.- to send it. This was the 1st. report -
"Your battery is faulty, unfortunately cannot be repaired, and needs to be replaced. The battery cuts out under load, so it's not possible to get a capacity reading from the battery.
Replacements are 8ah £230, 10ah £330 and 15ah £530. Plus £15 delivery.
Minus the £35 diagnosis fee you have paid".
I wrote back telling him I knew the battery was faulty that's why I sent it to them. He then produced a fuller report. Still £50.- out of pocket
Sounds like a decent deal to me for a like for like factory replacement.
 
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Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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For the competent diyer batteries are often repairable however for a bike brand not so as it is time consuming to dismantle and repair/replace duff cells or other component parts.. Most will need a welder and all the other little bit of paraphernalia needed.


Batteries are generally mass produced unless a bespoke one is made so cells will be equal and unused.
 

Seanoge

Pedelecer
Jan 16, 2017
156
13
78
Gulval, Penzance
Strange, battery came back and all the lights lit up showing it was full. Took it out for a spin and no problems! Didn't go far but after 5 short trips up a small hill, still going. Charges up Ok.
 
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Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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Is there any indication in the fuller report that they may have unintentionally done something for it to come to life ?

Keep an eye on it and let us know how it behaves.
 

Seanoge

Pedelecer
Jan 16, 2017
156
13
78
Gulval, Penzance
Yes, same battery case anyway. Had it out for short spins with a few hills and seems normal. Will go further when we get some decent weather. Thanks to you all for the help and advice.
 

Danidl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2016
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Sounds like a good luck story.
But as to your original posting. .. while a battery pack is in theory repairable , one has to examine the cost benefits in doing so. .. while finally only 1 or 2 cells have faulted, the remainder will be quite old and worn. To identify the defectives means braking into the pack which is welded together , and extracting them, then replacing them and rebuilding the pack and rewelding. The action of welding puts stress on the cells.
Once done, what reliability has the new pack, considering that the majority of cells are old?
What repairer could give any guarantee?
There is a lot of labour in the task, .. it's not like demolition it's more like reclaimation. And unlike new battery pack manufacturing, there isn't the economy of scale or the use of jigs and fixtures.
 
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cwah

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Jun 3, 2011
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You may just have 1 cell out of balance to make it faulty. Check first voltage difference on each cell.