help, battery not charging

[joanna]

Hi

I have just bought a second hand powacycle sailsbury (for husband), which seemed great when we cycled it for a couple of days. We let the battery run down, as we were told it was new and that would help and now cannot get any charge into it. It is a lythium polymer 26v.
When plugged in there is a green light on the powerpack that has the plug wires on, so power must be gettig through, but there is nothing on the battery.
We tried charging with the battery turned off and turned on, for plenty long enough, but nothing!
There are red lights when the battery is switched on, so it is responding, but the instructions tell us it should turn green when charged, which it hasn't, and if put in the bike it does nothing - there is no power at all.
It seems strange as I might expect to loose power fast, being second hand, but not a complete lack of charge.

 

[Alex728]

I haven't looked inside mine as its still in warranty but inside the battery are safety fuses like the ones found in a car fusebox.

This thread may help, but fuses blow for a reason so it would be worth checking the charge current as suggested in the thread below.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/battery-faqs/2033-help-salisbury-lpx-battery-not-taking-charge.html

I'd tread carefully if you or your husband aren't confident about working with electricity, as low voltage high current devices can get very hot and start fires if faulty...

 

[joanna]

lights

If a fuse is blown, would the indicator lights still come on?

 

[Alex728]

which indicator lights? the ones on the battery, or the charger?

on my charger what normally happens is when you plug it in (with the battery connected) after a few seconds the charger light turns red (and there is a audible "click", probably a relay inside the charger) - once the battery is charged the charger light turns green again...

bear in mind there are two fuses, one for the charge input (downstream of the socket that looks like the mic socket off a 1980s CB radio), and a bigger one for the output - the chap in the other thread had the input one blow but not the output one...

 

[joanna]

lights and fuses

There is a green light on the charger(which fades when un plugged from the battery), and when turned on red lights on the battery where the power level is indicated.

I have just opened the battery and the fuses look fine (useful thing to do anyway as I know now I can easily get replacements if that goes wrong!).

 

[Alex728]

the green light on the charger should turn to red when the battery is actually charging.

have you checked the charger fuse with a multimeter?

Should the charger be dodgy, I think you can get replacement chargers from Powacycle...

 

[joanna]

hmmm

I think you might be right. I don't have a multimetre (had to check what one of those was, always called it an OHM metre), but may get one. I don't want to spend £60 (inc postage) on a charger if that is not the problem.

I have contacted powacycles and will see what they say.

 

[PED-AL]

I think you might be right. I don't have a multimetre (had to check what one of those was, always called it an OHM metre), but may get one. I don't want to spend £60 (inc postage) on a charger if that is not the problem.

I have contacted powacycles and will see what they say.

Hello Joanna

I have just seen these posts regarding the charging on the Salisbury and am sorry to read that you are experiencing problems.

I sold you the bike as you know in "As new" condition having only covered 15miles max.

I charged the battery with the charger for approx 3hrs before I used it and everything worked fine.

As I remember the green light on the charger came on as I switched on when connected to the battery and when I checked approx 3 hrs later the light was not showing and the battery was showing all the red lights (I.E. fully charged).

I do not understand why it does not charge now.

I did note that the charger plug connection to the battery seemed a little vague when I plugged it in and wondered why there was a threaded ring on the plug with nothing on the battery to screw it on to.

I am not very knowledgable regarding electronics and note that others more knowledgable than me are making good suggestions.

The bicycle is only months old and has a 2 year guarantee.
I have the original receipt from the lady that I bought it from, if this would be helpfull I can email it to you.

With my limited knowledge I would suspect the plug to battery connection for what it is worth.

If powacycle will not repair / replace the charger under warranty if it is faulty please let me know as I have a friend who could check it out for me and if necessary I will pay for a replacement.

Please keep me posted.

Allan

 

[Alex728]

Hello Joanna

I did note that the charger plug connection to the battery seemed a little vague when I plugged it in and wondered why there was a threaded ring on the plug with nothing on the battery to screw it on to.

This isn't anything to worry about. As described in an earlier post, the connector is the sort often used for microphone connections on two way radio equipment about 20 years ago (particularly CB radios).

The ring would screw on to the connector found on the battery if the hole was around it was big enough for you to get your fingers round - but normally you just push the connector on (like a DIN connector, anyone remember them?) and it charges up.

I read somewhere that Powacycle didn't want to use the design (found on other e-bikes) of using a IEC connector for the battery, lest some fool were to accidentally connect it directly to 230V mains so this must have been a late stage design change.

Perhaps the charger design has also changed, as mine definitely has a (more logical) bi-colour LED...

 

[PED-AL]

Hi

I have just bought a second hand powacycle sailsbury (for husband), which seemed great when we cycled it for a couple of days. We let the battery run down, as we were told it was new and that would help and now cannot get any charge into it. It is a lythium polymer 26v.
When plugged in there is a green light on the powerpack that has the plug wires on, so power must be gettig through, but there is nothing on the battery.
We tried charging with the battery turned off and turned on, for plenty long enough, but nothing!
There are red lights when the battery is switched on, so it is responding, but the instructions tell us it should turn green when charged, which it hasn't, and if put in the bike it does nothing - there is no power at all.
It seems strange as I might expect to loose power fast, being second hand, but not a complete lack of charge.

Hello Joanna

Having just read your post again are you saying that there are three red lights on the battery when the battery is switched on ?

If there are the battery is charged !!!

Is the battery seated back into the bicycle fully and making a full connection ?

Please let me know

Allan

 

[Alex728]

I wonder if there are two versions of the charger in circulation?

Mine (from Shenzen ABT Electronics) has a big label mentioning the red/green colour change of the LED during charging - this is also repeated in the technical specifications which are on the manufacturers website...

 

[flecc]

I wonder if there are two versions of the charger in circulation?

Mine (from Shenzen ABT Electronics) has a big label mentioning the red/green colour change of the LED during charging - this is also repeated in the technical specifications which are on the manufacturers website...

That's like the one they were supplying two years ago, so I don't think it's changed, same bicolour LED.
.

 

[joanna]

it's more than just charging

I think it is more like a loose connection somewhere.

I eventually managed to get the battery to work on the bike, and thus assumed it had charged. However when I took it out I realised it kept loosing power, then re-gaining it, which sounds to me (with very little knowledge) like a loose connection - what do you think?

I reaslised that there are still 2 power bars on the battery, (I was confused as it had never changed despite quite a few miles riding, though many of them with no power) though despite charging there are never 3, so it is not charging, as well as the on, off working, I assume this is caused by the same problem.

It seems less likely to work going up hill (unfortunatly, and it is quite a climb to my house) than down hill.

Alan it would be good to have copies of the original recipts. How old is it? I am told the battery is only covered for 6 months!

Jo

 

[PED-AL]

Hello Joanna - I sent you a copy of the receipt a few days ago - please email me if you have not received it.
Please have a good look at the wires to see if anything could have been damaged on its journey in the boot of your car.
It is very strange because it fully charged the one and only time I charged it and was extremely willing up the hills from Oakham up Brooke hill which is a killer and back to Oakham from Braunstone also hilly.
Have you spoken to Powacycle about it ?
Allan

 

[flecc]

Joanna, it's possible the charger might not be charging the battery and it's fairly flat now.

My reason for saying that is the way your bike works. When A to B reviewed the identically powered Windsor, they commented on the unusual cut out method when the battery emptied. Most bikes just cut out finally when the battery empties on the road and stay that way, but the Salisbury/Windsor cuts out at end of battery content under load but reconnects motor power if the workload is reduced.

That could give the power on and off that you are getting, and would also mean it would cut out completely on a climb.

So I suspect it may be the either the charger is at fault or it's not making connection in some way to charge the battery.
.

 

[joanna]

solved

hi

I sent the battery back to powacycle, the charger was at fault. I have bought a new one, and it all seems fine now.

Jo

 

[RedSkywalker]

The exact same thing has just happened to me - same bike, same battery! I,ve had the bike from new and it can only have covered about 100 miles top.

I haven't really used it much last few months because of the dark and wet weather but I did give the battery a boost couple of weeks back and everything seemed normal - when you plug the charger into the battery the light on the charger goes red while it's charging then turns green when the charge is complete which is what it did and I put the battery back into storeage in my flat.

Today is lovely and sunny so I decided to take the bike out - put the battery on the bike and nothing - completely dead! Put it on the charger and the light immediately went green [instead of the usual red while its charging].

I have checked the blade fuses inside the battery casing and they are both ok so I'm going to leave it plugged in for a few hours to see what happens but I'm not feeling very confident about the result - seems a bit of a coincidence that 2 Salisburys are showing the same fault?

 

[Pearl]

Hello all, I hope I am posting this in the right place - apologies if not.

I am pretty sure I have blown one or both of the fuses in the battery of my Salisbury and it won't take any charge now, although the battery is only half full.

My question is, how easy is it to open up the battery, take out the blown fuse(s) and replace them? I can easily buy the replacement fuses from Maplins once I have the old ones to match, but I am a bit wary of opening up the battery casing and doing further damage, or not being able to close it up again, or getting a big electric shock or something!

I would be really grateful if anyone could advise before I embark on this. If it's going to be difficult I am happy to pay someone else to do it, but I'm not sure who does this sort of thing, as the shop I bought it from isn't nearby and my local bike shop doesn't do electric bikes. So any ideas on what kind of tradesperson I might approach would also be welcome.

Many thanks

 

[flecc]

Hello Pearl. In the past I've opened up many of the former NiMh Salisbury batteries to use the cell packs in other bikes.

The current lithium battery uses the same case which is easy to open up, but it will have more complexity inside. Basically you'll see a pack or two of cells, but in addition there will be some sort of electrical circuit which is the battery management system (BMS).

The fuse will either be in line with the wiring at some point or just possibly on the circuit board.

You won't get any electrical shocks, but take great care not to short any wires or connectors together which can produce a very large spark and burns.

So if you remove the case screws, lift off one case half carefully and proceed with care, you should be ok. If you can't see the fuse then, just close it up again.

You'll see some photos of one type of li-ion battery internals on this link.

In most areas there are auto-electricians shown in Yellow Pages under the title "Car Electrics". One of them will possibly help if it's only a fuse replacement.
.

 

[Pearl]

Thank you so much for this helpful reply Flecc. I will pursue the auto-electricians route rather than having a go myself, as this all reminds me of a recent ipod battery replacement misadventure, except bigger . . . .