2 Bricked Bosch Powerpacks

[John Daley]

In the past 2 years, I have had 2 different Bosch Powerpack 400wh batteries die on me, one of which was the original battery for my Haibike Trekking RS.
Both occurred on the first ride of the year, after the battery had been stored indoors over the winter, and each one had shown a full charge. I would begin my ride and everything functioned normally, then there was a surging situation, and then the system would shut down. The first time this occurred, I took bike and battery to a local dealer where they hooked it up to a diagnostic which at that time gave me hope that the battery could be "revived," though this hope was short lived, as the battery gave up shortly. Then, a year later, the exact same thing occurred on the spare battery I had purchased through ebay (2 yr old battery; poor guy had his bike stolen- even forwarded me a copy of the batteries receipt- just over the 2 year warranty). My bike has less than 7500 miles on it, and is only 4.5 years old, batteries have always been stored inside, and bike is always garaged. I have a Powerpack 500 that functions, though it has developed a strange glitch of late where after I power up system, I have to push button on battery in order for system to function. Any thoughts, help and suggestions on any of this would be greatly appreciated. This is my 4th ebike since I started to commute via electric bike, and having sold the other 3, I wanted this one to be my last.

 

[steve marino]

I think a 5th eBike may be in your near future. This sort of electrical snafu can take all the joy, and all the money, out of cycling. There's a lot to be said for the simpler, low end eBikes. I'm on my 2nd $600 Ancheer bike (just flat wore out the first one) and it will do 20 MPH and is dead reliable. Not enough power to break anything, but has plenty for my needs. Right now it has a lot of miles on it and will soon need a new drive train and tires, and a battery at some point. So I may sell it for $300 like the last one, and roll the money into another new Ancheer w/ a warranty for only $300 out of pocket for another 2 years of trouble free eBiking.

 

[rich c]

Just some thoughts. Pretty common knowledge that for successful long term storage, the battery should be held around 50%. 7500 miles is a lot of charge cycles, especially if you ride a lot on turbo. What levels do you ride at? Do you charge at work and at home? I had a 400 pack that had the initializing problem, and for some reason it was fine after about 3 months.

 

[darlingbastard]

This is possibly not helpful but I had an electric mower, trimmer etc. with an bunch of batteries and they all died before warranty and got replaced. These all died as well and I eventually realized any battery charged on a specific charger would eventually die. I stopped using that charger and have not had a problem since. If you go through another one I'd look at exchanging the charger as well.

 

[pmcdonald]

This is possibly not helpful but I had an electric mower, trimmer etc. with an bunch of batteries and they all died before warranty and got replaced. These all died as well and I eventually realized any battery charged on a specific charger would eventually die. I stopped using that charger and have not had a problem since. If you go through another one I'd look at exchanging the charger as well.

There could be something here. I had a third party lithium vlock battery for my Blackmagic camera that died twice, both under warranty. It turned out the chargers (also replaced twice) either through coincidence or design flaw both had loose wires that were damaging the battery. Fixed that problem and the battery has been fine since.

 

[tomjasz]

It’s nearly impossible to diagnose with out knowing what the voltages are. At the startup and and when the battery drops out. But storing a battery over the winter in a warm environment at full charge is hard on a battery. The used battery could have been abused before you got it.
0.09 cents a mile on your original battery isn’t awful.

 

[Peter J]

It’s nearly impossible to diagnose with out knowing what the voltages are. At the startup and and when the battery drops out. But storing a battery over the winter in a warm environment at full charge is hard on a battery. The used battery could have been abused before you got it.
0.09 cents a mile on your original battery isn’t awful.

Isn't the cost of the PowerPacks 9 cents a mile? (My 2014, with 7000 miles, is fading away. At $600/7000 miles, that's 8.5 cents a mile.)

In big, round numbers, the cost of li-ion batteries was about $1000/kWh in 2010, and today it's getting close to $100. I sure wish Bosch would market replacement 400 Wh batteries for $300 or so, not $600. That would enable me to keep my bike running much longer.

While I'm being the proverbial beggar wishing for a horse, Bosch has improved the motor unit too. It would be great to upgrade my 2014 version to the latest (that would bolt in) for a moderate cost. I appreciate the reduction in friction.

 

[tomjasz]

Isn't the cost of the PowerPacks 9 cents a mile? (My 2014, with 7000 miles, is fading away. At $600/7000 miles, that's 8.5 cents a mile.)

In big, round numbers, the cost of li-ion batteries was about $1000/kWh in 2010, and today it's getting close to $100. I sure wish Bosch would market replacement 400 Wh batteries for $300 or so, not $600. That would enable me to keep my bike running much longer.

While I'm being the proverbial beggar wishing for a horse, Bosch has improved the motor unit too. It would be great to upgrade my 2014 version to the latest (that would bolt in) for a moderate cost. I appreciate the reduction in friction.

Their battery foolishness is what keeps me building from kits.