Power cutting out- 24v L-Ion- HELP!!

[Auldgit]

Hi all, I've a problem with my daughter's bike that's driving me !!!*** mad. It's a Headway bike, 24v L-Ion Headway battery also.Twist grip "throttle" and conventional controller/ pedal sensor (so far as I know)

It's developed a fault recently whereby it cuts out when riding on throttle, and all the leds on the twist grip go out. Switching off the battery key switch, and immediately turning back on again, restores the leds and the power, but it will then happen again in anything from ten yards to a mile or two. The problem can occur at any state of charge, but is much much worse when the battery is low (26v approx- when fully charged it's 28.2v).

When the fault is "on", I've checked the volts at the battery charging socket and it's reading 5.14v, at the battery lead to controller connectors 1.15v. Switching off/on restores all these to 26-28, and away we go again.

I can't find any wiring defects, and when it's working it goes very well. Any ideas anyone????????

Cheers AG

 

[flecc]

Sounds very much like a battery defect or battery age. When under load and especially as the charge declines, the voltage can drop below the safe minimum point and then the battery protection circuit cuts the current.

Switching off and then on again resets the cutoff circuit.

How old is the battery?

 

[Fordulike]

Hi all, I've a problem with my daughter's bike that's driving me !!!*** mad. It's a Headway bike, 24v L-Ion Headway battery also.Twist grip "throttle" and conventional controller/ pedal sensor (so far as I know)

It's developed a fault recently whereby it cuts out when riding on throttle, and all the leds on the twist grip go out. Switching off the battery key switch, and immediately turning back on again, restores the leds and the power, but it will then happen again in anything from ten yards to a mile or two. The problem can occur at any state of charge, but is much much worse when the battery is low (26v approx- when fully charged it's 28.2v).

When the fault is "on", I've checked the volts at the battery charging socket and it's reading 5.14v, at the battery lead to controller connectors 1.15v. Switching off/on restores all these to 26-28, and away we go again.

I can't find any wiring defects, and when it's working it goes very well. Any ideas anyone????????

Cheers AG

I'm no expert, and I'm sure the gurus will be along to cast their verdict, but it looks like it's a case of demand outweighing supply.
If the battery is fairly old and/or has been electrically abused, then the capacity and performance has probably dropped to an unexceptable level.
In certain situations, such as when the battery is low or giving it throttle beans on a hill, the power demanded by the controller/motor exceeds what the battery can supply.
The BMS will kick in, cutting off battery power to protect the battery.
Mine does the same when it is nearing empty, and switching the key off and on will revive it, but only for a few more yards.
The full charge battery voltage does look a bit low. Is that hot off the charger?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hi all, I've a problem with my daughter's bike that's driving me !!!*** mad. It's a Headway bike, 24v L-Ion Headway battery also.Twist grip "throttle" and conventional controller/ pedal sensor (so far as I know)

It's developed a fault recently whereby it cuts out when riding on throttle, and all the leds on the twist grip go out. Switching off the battery key switch, and immediately turning back on again, restores the leds and the power, but it will then happen again in anything from ten yards to a mile or two. The problem can occur at any state of charge, but is much much worse when the battery is low (26v approx- when fully charged it's 28.2v).

When the fault is "on", I've checked the volts at the battery charging socket and it's reading 5.14v, at the battery lead to controller connectors 1.15v. Switching off/on restores all these to 26-28, and away we go again.

I can't find any wiring defects, and when it's working it goes very well. Any ideas anyone????????

Cheers AG

To add to what Flecc said: What's happening is that the controller is demanding more current than the battery can give. There's a few common reasons this happens:
1 The battery is tired and needs replacing - if it's more than a year old.
2. The battery isn't properly charged - not in your case at 28.2v
3 Dirty/corroded battery contacts
4 Bent battery contacts (insufficient force to get a good connection
5 Bad connection at connector block between battery and controller

So, if it's not an old battery, have a look at the contacts and see if you can bend them a bit to make them tighter. If that doesn't work, have a look at the connector block. If it's a tired battery, the problem will occur mainly on hills when the throttle is fully open. If it's 4, then it'll tend to happen on bumps. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Auldgit]

Thanks for the comments so far all. General opinion seems to be that the battery pack is at fault. It's two years old and is used five days a week, so maybe that's it. I'd hoped for a longer life, but.......! I didn't want to go to the expense of a new battery only to find it was something else.

Does anyone know where I can source a new battery or get the old case rebuilt with new innards??

Many thanks for all responses.

Cheers

AG

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You should check and bend the battery connections anyway p just in case.

I haven't seen your battery, but when you bought it Flecc said that the battery was the same as a Cyclamatic. If it is, I think the one on the little Kudos folder is the same and costs £165. Perhaps you could post some photos.

 

[flecc]

Two years is a very good life for one of those batteries, especially for one used five days a week. A number of owners have had less so you've had a good run, especially as they among the lowest price batteries around.

Although the manufacturing source of the battery is the same across a number of well known makes, the base connections can vary, so as d8veh says, photos would help to identify yours.

 

[Auldgit]

Thanks for that. Good idea I'll see what I can do about photos, not done it before so might take me a day or two!

Cheers AG

 

[Deleted member 4366]

A good way to get nice clear photos is to open a Photobucket account,Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket
upload you photos and then, when you're viewing a photo, you'll see a box on the right with a heading "Links". Click in the IMG code box and it will copy a link onto your clipboard. You then only have to paste the link into your post and you'll get fantastic full detail pictures.

 

[Auldgit]

Cheers- I'll have a look at it. AG

 

[Auldgit]

Update- I managed to locate a battery from a demo bike of the same type, it's not in the first flush of youth but it's better than the one that's on now. Hopefully it will buy us a little breathing space. What it does mean is that I've got a spare case to play with, so I can maybe re-pack it myself or get someone else to do it for me. Any suggestions as to sourcing replacement cells or firms who carry out re-packing of cases??

Cheers AG

 

[banbury frank]

Hi can you post a photo off the case and batterys


Frank

 

[Auldgit]

Hi Frank, I'll have a go tomorrow.

Cheers AG

 

[aseb]

I replaced the batteries inside my X-Byke not-a-bottle battery for quarter of the cost of Powabykes replacement.
And the capacity increased from 4.8Ah (marked on the battery pack- claimed as 6Ah by powabyke) to just over 8Ah (ebay seller claimed ratings 11.4Ah- perhaps they supplied powabykes batteries?).

 

[Auldgit]

Hi Aseb, where did you get the cells from, and are they lithium ion?? Tricky to replace from what I've read on here.

Cheers AG

 

[Auldgit]

Pictures by peterclubbe - Photobucket

Hi Frank, don't know if this will work, first attempt at Photobucket, external pics of case and connections.

Cheers AG

 

[Auldgit]

It worked! Magic!