battery won't charge
 

I am embarrassed, while messing around with the key for my battery, I got a spark off the charging connector, now the battery will not charge.

Bike powers up and runs fine. But won't charge

I suspect I popped a fuse or maybe a diode in the charging circuit.

Is there anybody out there doing repairs on these ? I am tempted to try it myself. I wish a schematic was available.

thanks for any ideas ?

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

Might help if you post some info about battery brand etc.

Seems like everything is computerized these days, instead of fuses or charging diodes they use logic boards in the battery management computer. I've seen posts of people who had to unplug their BMS to reset it. Wonder if that could be your issue?

Lost all my links recently or I would point you to some debug guides.


Ah, wait, give this a try

https://lunacycle.com/jumping-your-l...-battery-pack/

that was helpful, thank you. I will give it a try.

Battery is a Specialized Vado 5, I've already ordered another one ($1500) but I will rebuild this one with new cells.

thanks !

Seems like it's the charger, not the battery if the motor still runs

If you are unable to repair the charging circuit, you could disconnect it, and get an external charger of appropriate voltage.

The OP could measure the charger output first to see if it's working right. About 42V for a 36V system, and 54V for a 48V system.Besides, I believe he stuck the key into the charger port on the battery, not the charger plug from the charger.

I once totally wasted my time replacing a BMS in a battery when the problem was the wire to the charger plug had broken off. On top of that, the BMS I put in leaked voltage to the outputs when it was off. I had waited too long to install it, so the return period was over. I bought a new BMS that was worse, as it blew up. The seller pulled a fast one on me, sweet talking me until the Paypal dispute period expired, and I was stuck again. A third BMS fnally worked. They're only $20, so I wasted $60. A good learning experience. What if I had learned about the Paypal dispute window with a $300 purchase.

Does the battery have a fuse? This is a common thing with rad bikes. There's a 5amp fuse that will blow if you put your key in the charging port (or if you plug it in wrong). It's a cheap fix, just an automotive fuse, worth looking into. On rad batteries they're on the back side under rubber covers

While many batteries have a fuse for the charging circuit they are not a;ways easy to access, since they are inside the battery under that warranty sticker. Rad at least got that charge problem right when they made both fuses accessible from the outside.