Charging issue.

John Dombrowski

John Dombrowski

Active Member
So I am noticing an issue charging my new Turbo S. It only reaches 98% and then the lights just start flashing and the charger lights flash red/green. Sounds like I might have a problem. Will call my dealer today.
 
So I went to the dealer today and they did some diagnostics on the bike and everything checked out normal. They are sending the diag file to Specialized to see what they say. The thing I noticed today that if I keep the bike powered up while charging, it gets up to 100% and then the bike powers down and the lights and charger lights start flashing again. And then when I unplug it and power it up, the display shows only 98% again. At this point I want them to give me a new battery and charger.
Thoughts?
 
So the Specialized tech said my battery needed upgraded to the latest firmware. The bike shop did that and still charges to 100% and the lights just start flashing again and the charger never shuts off or the lights won't stop flashing. Then if you unplug the charger the battery only shows 98%. So now they called the tech again and they are saying it is a bad wiring harness and are sending a new one to my dealer.
Not a happy camper for a $7000 bike.
 
Did you try charging with the battery off of the bike. I usually charge mine that way and have no problem getting to 100%. But I have a base Turbo
 
It gets to 100% while it's charging but as soon as I unplug it it shows 98. But why do I want to charge it off the bike anyway. It's supposed to be able to charge on the bike and shut off by itself. The 98% thing doesn't really bother me, I just want it to charge and then shut off by itself but it wouldn't do that and the charger gets so hot to the touch I am afraid of it catching fire.
 
My question is does it shut off when charged off the bike? If so, then the issue is in the firmware/wiring in the bike, not in the battery. If the failure to shut off at full charge is there when charging off the bike, the issue is in the battery.

By the way, I almost always charge off the bike so that the lights are not being driven by the charger. I place the charger and battery on a wooden work bench so that there are no induction issues.

Doug
 
@John Dombrowski When they did the fw update, did they check the battery health %. If it was less than 100, I would already based on that demand a replacement battery. My battery has already about 3000 miles on it and it is a MY13 and only now it is starting to show some minor signs of "aging". Like after a charge to 100% it may have after a day have dropped to 98% without having even powered it up after the charge. I don't think my charger even gets warm during charge and it is 4A without a fan but with cooling ridges.
 
My bike is brand new less than 100 miles on it. The main issue was that the charger would not shut off after charging to 100% and the lights would just start flashing. They did the battery FW upgrade first but that didn't help so they sent my dealer a new wiring harness. If I still have issues after this I am requesting a whole new bike.
 
John, did your shop try charging the bike with a different charger? Cause it sounds like a charger problem imo.
 
Well after further review, a new bike it is.
So after changing out the wiring harness it still was acting the same way. So I told them at this point, no more trying to fix it and just get me a new bike. And of course they sold the other L frame model they had, so they are going to have to find me another one. I can still ride mine in the mean time so now I wait for a new one. Bad thing is I will have to remove all my upgrades when I swap out the bikes and put them all back on the new one. But, better safe than sorry. Just have a feeling I just got a lemon and don't want to take a chance at something else going wrong.
 
Well after almost 3 weeks my dealer finally got another Turbo S direct from Specialized. They unboxed it and put it together. Then they charged it up and it is doing the exact same thing as my first one. It charges to 100% and then the lights start flashing and the charger won't shut off and gets steaming hot to the touch. I am afraid it is going to catch fire.
I am about ready to get my money back and buy a Stromer for less money.
 
flymeaway said:
Yikes!......I can understand 1 bike being a Lemon.
Click to expand...

Yep and all I get is from the dealer is "the Specialized techs are baffled and cant figure out whats wrong" and it is a bad batch they shipped from Taiwan so I have to wait until end of May when they ship the next batch out here. At this point I don't know what to do.
 
I am a bit skeptical that the next shipment will fix this if there is some error in the battery or its software. But yes, maybe you could wait for that shipment and if even then you still experience the same problem then run away.
 
Last edited:
John, still interested in whether this occurs when charging the Turbo S battery off the bike or just on the bike. That would affect those of us considering buying the 691Wh battery for our base Turbos. It would also help point out whether the issue is in the battery or in the bicycle.

I have had no issues with charging my base Turbo w/468Wh battery on or off the bike.
 
Douglas Ruby said:
John, still interested in whether this occurs when charging the Turbo S battery off the bike or just on the bike. That would affect those of us considering buying the 691Wh battery for our base Turbos. It would also help point out whether the issue is in the battery or in the bicycle.

I have had no issues with charging my base Turbo w/468Wh battery on or off the bike.
Click to expand...

Doug,
Trust me when I say we/they (Specialized), have tried everything. Does the same thing on or off the bike. No issues with my wife's $4000 cheaper base Turbo either.
It's got to be some kind of electrical problem because I have noticed 3 problems during all of this:
1.) when it fully charges, the lights just start flashing and the charger won't shut off and gets extremely hot to the touch.
2.) it only charges to 98%.
3.) the odometer keeps zeroing out.

So I will just wait and see come next month when they ship the next batch to the US from Taiwan. If I can't get one that works properly, that Stromer is looking better and better.
 
I think I've said if before already, but it would be good to have a more direct line to the people who are responsible for the software development. I am skeptical that any message or bug report left to the help desk will ever reach the developers now.
 
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