There is an internal 5 amp fuse! It is in series with the charge port. I would take it apart and see if that is what the issue is. If you accidentally short out the the charge jack (easy enough to do or if yo use a strong charger) it will smoke that.
Changing the 48V dolphin battery case on the Radrover. Step by step.
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
Thanks!
I might have to follow your directions to take the case apart to see what type of fuse I need to replace in the battery pack.
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
I been looking around town and on-line for someone to take a look at the ebike battery pack. No-one in my hometown of ABQ, NM, knows how to work on ebike battery packs. Most on-line repair places, like in California for example, have restrictions with shipping the pack in the mail and I would have to drop it off in person for eval/fix. Don't know how the rules are different when they shipped my two Radrovers and replacement battery a few months later from Seattle? Tons of places overseas in Europe and Asia; but, no plans to take a trip just to insert a .10 cent fuse.
You would think there would be more mom/pop places to fix ebike components since they are becoming more and more popular. Looks like it is going to be DYI for non-warranty issues.
You would think there would be more mom/pop places to fix ebike components since they are becoming more and more popular. Looks like it is going to be DYI for non-warranty issues.
I think there is a HUGE liability issue that a lot of shops just do not want to deal with. While these these are relatively safe, there remains a large amount of potential energy that can be unleashed in a very short time, causing a fire hazard. In the RC world, there is a thread where various hobbyists post there burned down homes form lipo's going south. So if a bike shop fixed your battery and a month later your house burned down because they did not put enough heat shrink on a connector or you hit some nasty bumps and wires inside chaffed and shorted, well....I been looking around town and on-line for someone to take a look at the ebike battery pack. No-one in my hometown of ABQ, NM, knows how to work on ebike battery packs. Most on-line repair places like in California have restrictions with shipping the pack in the mail and I would have to drop it off in person for eval/fix. Tons of places overseas in Europe and Asia; but, no plans to take a trip just to insert a .10 cent fuse.
You would think there would be more mom/pop places to fix ebike components since they are becoming more and more popular. Looks like it is going to be DYI for non-warranty issues.
The design is fairly safe though. Both the hot leads are fused. I do not know if the charge lead goes directly to the cells or if it connects to the BMS first though.
It really sounds to me like the input (charge) fuse has popped. He says it has voltage on the display.
tomjasz
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There's a place in Las Vegas that does builds of custom batteries for those odd bikes with special sizes and they do repairs. Call them and find out what they do to ship. THAT is the biggest problem. I agree the liability for a shop is to HUGE.I been looking around town and on-line for someone to take a look at the ebike battery pack. No-one in my hometown of ABQ, NM, knows how to work on ebike battery packs. Most on-line repair places, like in California for example, have restrictions with shipping the pack in the mail and I would have to drop it off in person for eval/fix. Don't know how the rules are different when they shipped my two Radrovers and replacement battery a few months later from Seattle? Tons of places overseas in Europe and Asia; but, no plans to take a trip just to insert a .10 cent fuse.
You would think there would be more mom/pop places to fix ebike components since they are becoming more and more popular. Looks like it is going to be DYI for non-warranty issues.
tomjasz
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- USA
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- Minnesnowta
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
I have two Radrovers and the good and bad battery works on both bikes normally, no drop in range, no error messages on the LCD, and no power issues when riding. Pretty much zero issues discharging power. I have three wall chargers (two at home, one at work) and all of the wall chargers cannot charge the faulty battery.
I will try the internal fuse thing to see if that fixes the problem. If not, I can give the Las Vegas repair folks a call to see if can ship. I do have 2 trips planned to California in April and I could make a slight detour to drop off and/or pick up if they also have shipping issues.
tomjasz
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I'm absolutely ignorant to the workings of these models. However my experience with a dozen batteries and 7 motors has taught me that one of the most valuable tools , for me, is a watt meter. I'd seen some weird situations when I did customer service. I never trust displays and error messages as much as my trusty multimeter. It mans I can confirm the battery is charging to the expected level, let's me know when a battery is getting weak and worn, helps my trace problems with brake cutouts and more. Before I had a programmable charger I was able to use it a calculate how long it took to charge to 80%. Doing that can more than double battery life. 90% is good too. I used a charger and a plug in timer. Took a few days of testing and calculating but the results were worth it.
The first thing I always do when trouble shooting is confirm the battery level and never depend on those darn "indicators". Which is exactly what is on a battery. They indicate the charge level, not gauge accurately.
An inexpensive digital readout with auto off. I'd never be without auto off features again. I nearly went broke buying 9V batteries for one of mine. Old age and a slippery brain...
I apologize, I read to fast and missed the "cannot charge", forgive me for not reading more carefully.
All the best!
Tom
The first thing I always do when trouble shooting is confirm the battery level and never depend on those darn "indicators". Which is exactly what is on a battery. They indicate the charge level, not gauge accurately.
An inexpensive digital readout with auto off. I'd never be without auto off features again. I nearly went broke buying 9V batteries for one of mine. Old age and a slippery brain...
I apologize, I read to fast and missed the "cannot charge", forgive me for not reading more carefully.
All the best!
Tom
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
Finally got around to taking the battery pack apart to check out the internal fuse. Turned out it was a blown internal .20 cent 5 amp fuse that killed a $500 battery pack. It took about 10-15 minutes to fix and I now have a 3rd battery pack for my two Radrovers. Some things I did notice were:
- the case screws were not that tight. Might need to re-tq the battery pack screws on my other two cases.
- the case didn't look 100% moisture resistant? I can see moisture/humidity seeping in from the seams where the case comes together over time (especially if the case screws and a little loose). I might look for some type of all weather clear tape to run along the seams of the case to help keep dust/dirt/moisture out.
- the case screws were not that tight. Might need to re-tq the battery pack screws on my other two cases.
- the case didn't look 100% moisture resistant? I can see moisture/humidity seeping in from the seams where the case comes together over time (especially if the case screws and a little loose). I might look for some type of all weather clear tape to run along the seams of the case to help keep dust/dirt/moisture out.
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
Brayden is RAD
New Member
Hey i figured out how to fix a dolphin pack that wont charge it happened to me and so i opened it up and there is a 5 amp blade fuse you just pull it out and put new 5 amp blade fuse there you go put it back together and put it on the charger it will charge i wwas so wxcited i did it last night in 25 minutes cheers
Yes, that charge fuse should be accessible from the outside.
Also, if you ride in wet conditions, you may do well to get the Lunacycle battery bag. Even sealed, the ports and switch will leak.
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
I was trying to make it home from my ebike commute before a rain front hit about a month ago. I was about 1 1/2 miles away from home base before I encounter the heavy rains and light hail (hail can really sting at 20 mph). The Luna bag did a good job keeping the battery dry when I got home and open the bag to plug in the charger. The bag was still a little dusty inside from all the trail riding from a few days earlier.
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tomjasz
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Electric Rider, EM3ev, and Falcon EV are bags in the $50-$60 range with better zippers and builds. Sadly none of the better bags use the zip ties.
The exact thing happened to me and I thought what a waste. I am going to try the fuse thing. Any pointers beyond what was originally posted in this thread? Has your fuse popped again?
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