July 27, 20178 yr i collected a new bike yesterday. It had the wrong battery on. A 375kwh instead of the 575. Obviously this was inconvenient but my concern was the dealer swapped it for a 575 which was flat. Not just low on charge but completely depleted. Absolutely zero charge. The owners manual says never leave the battery completely discharged and that the warranty may be void if you don't care for it. Am I right to be concerned?
July 27, 20178 yr Zero charge according to the meter on it, or zero volts as measured with a voltmeter? You are correct in that if you allow lithium battery cells to discharge below around 3.3V then then start to suffer permanent damage, so in general they have a battery management circuit on board that won't allow this to happen when in use. So a 36V e-bike battery will generally be 42V when showing fully charged and around 33V will be when it shows empty. They should be stored at around 50% charge - so about 3.6V per cell (ie 36V total for a 10cell pack) - which is why they are called 36V batteries rather than 42V batteries
July 27, 20178 yr i collected a new bike yesterday. It had the wrong battery on. A 375kwh instead of the 575. Obviously this was inconvenient but my concern was the dealer swapped it for a 575 which was flat. Not just low on charge but completely depleted. Absolutely zero charge. The owners manual says never leave the battery completely discharged and that the warranty may be void if you don't care for it. Am I right to be concerned? I suppose it depends on how long the battery has been empty. If it had recently been used down to the BMS cut-off, then it shouldn't be an issue. Charge up and use. If on the other hand it's been lying around the workshop unused, and allowed to drop over time to that level, then maybe not. I would be more concerned about the dealer, firstly supplying the wrong battery, then one with zero charge and obviously neglected. Shows incompetence, and I would personally reject the bike, get my money back and go elsewhere.
July 27, 20178 yr Author Zero charge according to the meter on it, or zero volts as measured with a voltmeter? You are correct in that if you allow lithium battery cells to discharge below around 3.3V then then start to suffer permanent damage, so in general they have a battery management circuit on board that won't allow this to happen when in use. So a 36V e-bike battery will generally be 42V when showing fully charged and around 33V will be when it shows empty. They should be stored at around 50% charge - so about 3.6V per cell (ie 36V total for a 10cell pack) - which is why they are called 36V batteries rather than 42V batteries The battery was flat when connected to bike. The bikes LCD would not turn on. The battery status lights on the battery would not light either.
July 27, 20178 yr The battery was flat when connected to bike. The bikes LCD would not turn on. The battery status lights on the battery would not light either. I may be wrong, but it sounds like the dealer can't even be arsed to test and supply a working battery. Either kick up a stink or reject.
July 27, 20178 yr Personally I would return the battery and ask for a battery with charge, ideally a storage charge of 38-39v, though above 37v will be fine. Connecting a battery that doesn't even allow the lcd to turn on is not good. Even if the lvc cut off the battery the voltage would recover to allow some power. A couple of checks need to be made a voltage check from the battery pins and whether the fuse is intact. Some times the few is an internal one and not always within the scope of everyone to look without voiding any warranty. Probability is that you may have been fobbed off with a bad or old battery that has been allowed to discharge to low.
July 27, 20178 yr Author Update from Wisper support....... If the battery charged then it is fine. It did charge and seems fine.
July 27, 20178 yr Update from Wisper support....... If the battery charged then it is fine. It did charge and seems fine. I am not convinced, you don't know how many charges that battery supplied has already had, it may now be at a quarter of its life or even less, the dealer seems poor to me, what happens if you need service in the future, I wouldn't trust them from what you have already said.
July 27, 20178 yr Is this a battery which goes into a deep sleep when not used for a period of time in order to protect itself? In such a case, it needs to go through a wake up routine before it will power the bike on regardless of what the voltage of the battery is. On some batteries I believe that connecting it to the charger will wake it up.
July 27, 20178 yr At some stage David will probably come on and explain, If it has the sleep option then the issue isn't serious. Wisper have a good rep on the forum and maybe the dealer needs a little refreshment training on explaining the product he is selling. Although in the OP no name or make was given the 375 & 575wh should have rung a bell as not many offer these two size of batteries.
July 28, 20178 yr Hi guys sorry I missed this thread. Claud from Support is correct, if the battery takes and holds a charge then it will be fine. A battery damaged through its being left uncharged will not charge properly. The deep sleep mode will kick in after 24 hours of inactivity on or off the bike. It does go through a wake up routine when the bike is tuned on. If the LCD didn't come on when the battery was installed and the bike turned on the battery must still have been in deep sleep mode. Even the smallest amount of power would have turned the display on. I honestly don't think there will be any issues with the battery. However if you are worried, send it back to us and I will happily replace. When fully charged the voltage should be 41 to 41.5V the sure fire way to check the battery is OK is to check it with a meter. All the best, David
July 28, 20178 yr Author At some stage David will probably come on and explain, If it has the sleep option then the issue isn't serious. Wisper have a good rep on the forum and maybe the dealer needs a little refreshment training on explaining the product he is selling. Although in the OP no name or make was given the 375 & 575wh should have rung a bell as not many offer these two size of batteries. It does have the sleep mode.
July 28, 20178 yr Author Thanks for your response David. The battery has charged ok. The charge state the battery was in when I recieved did go against the info in the manual and the wisper warranty. I would send back but the turn around time would mean I would be without a bike for at least a week.
July 28, 20178 yr Do you ever get anywhere near Sevenoaks? I am happy to swap the battery for you at anytime in the next six moths. If you are close by we can do a swap or I could meet you half way at the weekend. All the best, David
July 28, 20178 yr As you didn't buy the bike through Bike Tart I would prefer not to get them involved. Why not do it at Autobase where you bought the bike? I am also willing to drive down and meet you half way in say Ashford? Or you can wait until next time you are this way. As I say I am sure the battery is perfect, if you get any problems I will sort it out for you. I think you maybe putting yourself to a lot of trouble for no real gain. Please let me know what suits you best. All the best David
July 28, 20178 yr Well, you couldn't ask for any better personal service than that Stapley13! David comes up trumps once again, top man
July 28, 20178 yr Autobase will be fine. OK no worries, I am pretty sure we will have already sent them a replacement for the 375Wh battery we sent in error. However I will check on Monday. All the best, David
August 7, 20178 yr Hi Mr Stapley, sorry to have missed your posts, I don't have time to read every thread on Pedelcs so please PM or email me if there is something specific you would like me to deal with. In the mean time I have put a call into Paul the new bike manager at Autobase, the check he has one there and what the state if charge is, as soon as I know I will get back to you. Many thanks, David
August 7, 20178 yr Hi again, I have Just spoken to Jakub at Autobase, he mentioned that when you took the bike you were happy to take the battery and charge it. He also said that the battery did have a holding charge in it so I can only assume the auto battery deep sleep mode had kicked in and what you saw was the battery in deep sleep. When you charged it you will have woken it up. I am now 100% certain that there is nothing amiss with the battery you have. If you would like to change it I am still happy to do so, however I would need to make a charge to deliver and collect a new battery to and from Autobase. We will test the battery when we get it back here and if it is not holding a full, as new, charge we will happily refund double the delivery and collection charges to compensate you for any "to-ing and fro-ing". All the best, David
August 7, 20178 yr Author Hi again, I have Just spoken to Jakub at Autobase, he mentioned that when you took the bike you were happy to take the battery and charge it. He also said that the battery did have a holding charge in it so I can only assume the auto battery deep sleep mode had kicked in and what you saw was the battery in deep sleep. When you charged it you will have woken it up. I am now 100% certain that there is nothing amiss with the battery you have. If you would like to change it I am still happy to do so, however I would need to make a charge to deliver and collect a new battery to and from Autobase. We will test the battery when we get it back here and if it is not holding a full, as new, charge we will happily refund double the delivery and collection charges to compensate you for any "to-ing and fro-ing". All the best, David Hi David Thanks for your help. I have had conflicting advice regarding battery care so I was obviously concerned. The battery is charging ok so I am happy to keep it. I will say that I was not "happy" to take the battery when I collected the bike but had no option as I did not have time to return To Autobase that week.
August 7, 20178 yr Author Well, you couldn't ask for any better personal service than that Stapley13! David comes up trumps once again, top man Yes, you are right. The service from Wisper is spot on.
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