Originally Posted by
2old
You might consider some type of plastic covering (like a plastic bag covering the area) in case you get caught in another severe downpour. Just make sure that you remove it at home so it doesn't trap any water that might have seeped in.
The battery itself is encased in hard plastic. Nothing going to get through that. The weak point is at the bottom of the mounting platform where the battery tilts onto the mounting platform. That is where the electrical connector plug is. Perhaps a 2"wide rubber-band around the crack where the two join might be of some help in preventing water ingress providing of course I can find something like that somewhere.
Once again today I had to cancel the planned start time of my ride because of rain in the area. Turned out to just be a quick sprinkle and the roads really never even got all that wet. Afterwards I decided to do a more prolonged night ride since the roads were dry. With all the batteries on all my devices fully charged I carried my bike down stairs and proceeded to turn on all my lights. Last but not least I turned on the e-bike battery. That was when I got a troubling surprise. The battery turned on but the control module on the handlebars didn't . If the control module doesn't turn on you're not going anywhere as the module controls the motor. After a couple unsuccessful attempts at rebooting ( turning the battery on/off ) I ran upstairs to get the key to the battery platform ( battery is designed to lock onto the mounting platform. Will not come off unless you have the key. )
Now I've had the module fail to come on before but usually only for a moment. This time was much different. After I took the battery off the mount I did a quick inspection and then remounted the battery. This time the module came on and booted. Since I was troubled that I had to go through all this I decided to take the key with me just in case I needed it. I hadn't ridden more than 300 ft. when suddenly the module went dark, albeit only for a moment . Once again it rebooted, this time by itself. This I find very troubling but at least it came back on and continued to run. After seeing this I decided it best not to venture too far from home so that pretty much nixed my planned longer ride. I continued to ride and ended up riding about 13 miles. I had no further problems with the module. That said I'm not particularly happy about all this as it ruined my plans and could end up being a continuing problem. Last thing I want to happen is to get 15 miles away from my car or home and suddenly have the electrical system on the bike fail.
The connectors on the platform which the battery tilts onto resemble a four prong AC plug only the four male prongs are embedded into the base mount. The battery itself has four slots that when tilted slide over top of the four prongs. I am not particularly pleased with the design.
Anyway, after I got home I cleaned the four prongs on the base and plan to clean the female connectors as well. So far it seems to be working but if I see this happen again me and the LBS where I bought this bike are going to have a conversation.