Polaris OBark

I had a little excitement today.

I plugged in the XLR cable of my charger into my battery. It has (had) and extension on it, and where the male and female XLR chargers meet, it arced. It wasn't plugged into the mains, and fortunately I think the battery, etc, are ok (the battery charge is still present and the bike works). But this un-nerved me quite a bit; an actual battery fire would have been much worse.

I currently have this charger, which came with my battery:




I think it is ok, apart from the aluminum shield around the male XLR plug, which got some nice holes burned into it.

But I am thinking now that I am pushing my luck, and am wondering if I can get something safer/better.

What would you recommend?

There is a programmable charger available from Grin Technology that costs over $300, but 10% of the reviews on Amazon say it is problematic.

2old

Grin is an innovative company with seemingly excellent, if somewhat problematic, products which (I've heard, but can't confirm) they don't stand behind. I've also read that there are at least eight different connectors for various battery systems. I'd still recommend the Grin system if they have a connector that matches yours, but caveat emptor.

Polaris OBark

You came to the same conclusions I did (and I have heard similar things, or maybe read the same reviews).

Mine uses the default XLR connector (and I could get, or make, a connector for my wife's Bosch battery).

(I wonder if that in itself is problematic, as it is designed for balanced audio/microphone applications.)

My autopsy concluded that the problem was with an extender/connector I had bought with a straight female and 90° bent male termini. I think a wire came loose at the female end and it started to arc.

The good news is it wasn't the fault of my cheesy power supply, so I might just replace the shield on the XLR male end, at least for now.

2old

Good job diagnosing the origin of the problem and good luck.