Merida Power Cycle 550

[minawiken]

Could anyone tell me where to find a charger and an extra battery for my Merida Power Cycle. It is not sold in Sweden anymore. Today I have a SP1 charger and a NI-Mh battery. The charger seems to be broken.

Best regards
Maria Wiklund

 

[Terrytraveller]

Try the contact page for Power-Cycle UK, its on link

Power-Cycle - Electric Bikes - Quality UK Supplier

Please let us all know what they are able to do for you -

Regards Terry

 

[flecc]

Could anyone tell me where to find a charger and an extra battery for my Merida Power Cycle. It is not sold in Sweden anymore. Today I have a SP1 charger and a NI-Mh battery. The charger seems to be broken.

Best regards
Maria Wiklund

Hello Maria. Fortunately it's possibly to buy generic chargers for NiMh e-bike batteries if you find it impossible to locate the correct one. One good source is the US company Powerstream, and with the favourable exchange rates at present the cost can be low. If you buy from them though, make sure you choose a low cost postal option and not the expensive default one.

From the site link below, use the left hand menu to choose battery chargers, then NiMh and NiCad chargers. There the ones I can recommend are part numbers PST 3PN 9545 36 or PST 3PN 9545 24 1.8 for 36 volt or 24 volt respectively.

You may need to get a suitable plug fitted for it to suit your battery on receipt of the charger.

Powerstream
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[minawiken]

Powerstream

Are you quite sure that I can use both the models you suggested
(PST 3PN 9545 36 or PST 3PN 9545 24 1.8 for 36 volt or 24 volt respectively) for my bike??

The charger I have today looks more like PST-NSP1. On the back of the charger it says
Model SN2-2050
Input AC100-240V 50-60hz, 72W
Output DC35V 2,0A 60W
Fuse 250VT4ASB

I am a complete idiot when it comes to this and before I order something from US I will be sure it is the right thin I am buying.

Can I send them a photo of the plug that I have today and they will arrange with that also??

Sorry for all my stupid questions.

Regards
Maria

 

[flecc]

Not stupid questions at all Maria. You can't use both, only the one that suits the voltage, but I showed both as I didn't know what voltage you had. The best one for you is PST 3PN 9545 36. These are quite sophisticated fan cooled chargers which have a discharge function as well, and an occasional full discharge is good for NiMh batteries for the longest life.

Powerstream say they offer a plug service, but best mail them with the photo and ask if they will fit a one-off and the additional cost first.

PST-NSP1 is similar but expensive, though that one doesn't suit your voltage. It's a type made by the Metco company of Taiwan, the one I recommend is made by the Shenzen company of China, and it's one I have experience of both personally and via many owners who use these on eZee and Giant e-bikes.

You'll see more information of them on my websites:

Lafree here

Torq here
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[minawiken]

Thank you very much for your quick answers flecc. I really appreciate that I found this forum.
Regards
Maria

 

[minawiken]

How do I know that I have 36 volt???? Nothing is written on the battery? For our electrical appliance we have 220 volt here in Sweden. Did some of the data I wrote above tell you which volt it should be???

Regards again
Maria

 

[Terrytraveller]

Hi Maria,

I am sure Flecc will confirm - he's probably having his lunch at the moment.

Your charger details will have indicated the voltage needed in Red bold.

The charger I have today looks more like PST-NSP1. On the back of the charger it says
Model SN2-2050
Input AC100-240V 50-60hz, 72W
Output DC35V 2,0A 60W
Fuse 250VT4ASB

Regards Terry

 

[flecc]

Hi Maria. I was going by the voltage in your text, but it occurs that this is probably the peak output. In this case your's would be a 24 volt system, since NiMh chargers do have to have considerable over-voltage to reach full charge on the battery. For example 36 volt chargers typically peak at around 50 volts output.

Give me a little while to find what I can about the Merida Powercycle.

OK, got the answer, your's uses a 24 volt 9 Ah battery, so the charger you want is the PST 3PN 9545 24 1.8

Sorry to have misled you, but I didn't have much to go on.

I've also found that the connector for the charger to fit the battery in the USA was an XLR type, so specify XLR when you contact Powerstream for a quote, no need for a photo, but can you tell me what you see when you look into the end of the connector, 3 pins or 3 holes for pins to go into so that I can tell you exactly what to ask for. Also, just to confirm, does your connector look like this one?

Your bike was sold in the USA so they may be familiar with it anyway, though it had a different charger there.
.

 

[minawiken]

Thank you very very much. I really appreciate all your answers. I will order the 24 volts charger then. And hopefully I can use my bike again on the lovely island of Gotland where I have my vacation house.

Best regards
Maria

 

[flecc]

Can you check the connector end on the charger as asked Maria?

If it has three pins as is likely, ask for an XLR plug to be fitted. If it has three holes for pins to go into, ask for an XLR socket to be fitted.
.

 

[minawiken]

Actually it is 4 pins in the connector but it looks exactly the same as the one you had on your picture.
Regards
Maria

 

[minawiken]

Enclosed a picture of my battery and the connector.

Regards
Maria

 

[flecc]

Thanks Maria, it's very unusual to have a 4 pin XLR, and only three of them is likely to be in use on your charger.

Since this is non standard it would be best to mail the photo with your query on having one fitted when you contact Powerstream, asking for a 4 pin XLR plug.

They may ask you to look at which wires are connected to which pins inside your plug. If so, undo the tiny crosshead screws on the cable stirrup to remove that, then undo the small crosshead screw in the main body and slide it back to see the connections. It's which colour goes to which pin number that they may want to know.
.

 

[minawiken]

Thank you again for all your kind help. I will send the photo to them when I order the charger. I will ask my son to help me with the inside connections.

Best regards
Maria Wiklund-Karlsson

 

[flecc]

If you subsequently hit any problems with them not supplying the plug fitted Maria, let me know so that we can solve that for you.
.

 

[minawiken]

No connector at Powerstream

Today I got an answer from Powerstream and they do not have the connector I need. Any other suggestions where I can find it??

Regards
Maria

 

[flecc]

Electronics components companies like RS Components are the usual source for this sort of thing Maria, but we have a retail supplier called Maplin in the UK who stock this item. If they can't supply it to you direct to Sweden for any reason, I'll get it for you and forward it. Here's the link direct to the correct item on their web pages from where you can order it:

Maplin 4 pin XLR plug

They have 110 in stock at £2.69 each.

If you know of anyone with some electrical knowledge, radio/TV repairer for example, they can examine the connections on your old charger and connect a new one the same way. Alternatively they could just swap the old plug to the new charger for you.
.

 

[minawiken]

Thank you very much. I will check with them. Last time a contacted a company to help me with the battery and charger they destroyed the battery so it was an expensive experience. We will open the connector today and check if we can do it ourselfes. My son is quite technical so he will do it.

Thank's again Flecc for all your kind help.

Regards
Maria

 

[flecc]

A pleasure Maria. I'm sure that your son will be able to do the job, since it's a quite simple soldering operation.

The web page below on one of my sites shows the soldering and the plug components on one of these connectors, the only difference being that it's a three pin version:

Charger connections
.