Have 36v Ecotric. Multimeter reads 41v. All guages indicated full charge. Hit throttle and bike died in a matter of feet, guages went dark. Cycled key, everything lit up again, same outcome. Battery still shows full charge. Elevated r. Wheel and all worked well. Tried to ride it and everything died again. Any ideas?
Bad battery?
- Thread starter trayn
- Start date
Catalyzt
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
If you are using an outboard multimeter, (not something built into the bike) and you are testing the battery when it's not connected to the charger, that's not good. My suspicion would be the controller, but I really don't know anything about that bike. I'm assuming customer service has been nonexistent or worthless.
Having said that, failure of a hub drive under load does suggest, at least vaguely, a bad battery. When I had exactly this symptom on my kit bike from Clean Republic-- the wheel spun when it was elevated, but failed "in a matter of feet" when I tried to ride the bike-- customer service said that my battery was probably bad. They said that battery capacity had degraded to the point where the low voltage cut-off kicked in. This would explain why when the wheel was in the air, it would still spin, but failed almost immediately when it was under load.
However-- so far at least-- in my situation, they were wrong. What had actually happened, I think, was that I had not plugged in the jack on the charger completely-- weirdly, this caused the light on the indicator to stay green. However, it being green didn't mean the battery was full, it just meant that it could not charge; it's also green when the charger is not plugged in to the battery, but is plugged into the wall. So I never did actually charge the battery. Once I pushed the jack in all the way, the light on the charger turned red (meaning 'charging') for a few hours, as usual, and when it turned green, the battery was good to go. Five rides so far and no problem.
If you're just reading a meter that's on the charger itself, this could explain the problem. I assume you've tried checking all the connections and trying to charge the battery again, but if not, you might as well try that. It's harmless. Any other advice I gave you would be crazy and dangerous, like "Try plugging the charger in to a really long extension cord, strapping the charger to your bike, and riding around the house while it's plugged in." (Do NOT do that.)
The last time I used a multimeter on that bike-- with a completely different problem, there was a loud bang, a huge spark, and a puff of blue smoke. I hate those damn things. As I often say here, if you ever see me holding a soldering iron-- or a multimeter-- don't try to reason with me, just call the fire department immediately.
My mad-scientist experiment, however, appeared to do no damage to the battery whatsoever. That was at least a year ago.
Best of luck, be careful, listen to somebody besides me if anyone chimes in, and welcome to the forum.
Having said that, failure of a hub drive under load does suggest, at least vaguely, a bad battery. When I had exactly this symptom on my kit bike from Clean Republic-- the wheel spun when it was elevated, but failed "in a matter of feet" when I tried to ride the bike-- customer service said that my battery was probably bad. They said that battery capacity had degraded to the point where the low voltage cut-off kicked in. This would explain why when the wheel was in the air, it would still spin, but failed almost immediately when it was under load.
However-- so far at least-- in my situation, they were wrong. What had actually happened, I think, was that I had not plugged in the jack on the charger completely-- weirdly, this caused the light on the indicator to stay green. However, it being green didn't mean the battery was full, it just meant that it could not charge; it's also green when the charger is not plugged in to the battery, but is plugged into the wall. So I never did actually charge the battery. Once I pushed the jack in all the way, the light on the charger turned red (meaning 'charging') for a few hours, as usual, and when it turned green, the battery was good to go. Five rides so far and no problem.
If you're just reading a meter that's on the charger itself, this could explain the problem. I assume you've tried checking all the connections and trying to charge the battery again, but if not, you might as well try that. It's harmless. Any other advice I gave you would be crazy and dangerous, like "Try plugging the charger in to a really long extension cord, strapping the charger to your bike, and riding around the house while it's plugged in." (Do NOT do that.)
The last time I used a multimeter on that bike-- with a completely different problem, there was a loud bang, a huge spark, and a puff of blue smoke. I hate those damn things. As I often say here, if you ever see me holding a soldering iron-- or a multimeter-- don't try to reason with me, just call the fire department immediately.
My mad-scientist experiment, however, appeared to do no damage to the battery whatsoever. That was at least a year ago.
Best of luck, be careful, listen to somebody besides me if anyone chimes in, and welcome to the forum.
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
I had a similar problem last year which turned out to be dirty battery terminals. The corroded terminals caused the voltage to drop under load which made the controller cut out.
It may not be your problem but it's worth checking both the battery and bike. I use a fine jewelers file and alcohol to clean mine. Just be sure you don't short any live terminals while doing it.
It may not be your problem but it's worth checking both the battery and bike. I use a fine jewelers file and alcohol to clean mine. Just be sure you don't short any live terminals while doing it.
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