Como 3.0 Electrical Problem

[Ned]

Our 2 1/2 year old Como 3.0 is having a serious (potentually expensive) electrical problem. Several times recently the electrical system shut down completely. It seems to happen when the battery is half charged, or less. The motor, the ights, everything, are without electrical power. After a recharge, things are back to normal, but this has happened several time. The shop has put the bike on their computer, and it says the battery - some cells - are bad, and this is causing the problem and the battery needs replacing ($1,000). I wonder if others concure whith this diagnosis. Hate to spend $1,000 and not fix the problem. Your opinion will be much appreciated. Thank you! Ned

 

[TiCruiser]

Our 2 1/2 year old Como 3.0 is having a serious (potentually expensive) electrical problem. Several times recently the electrical system shut down completely. It seems to happen when the battery is half charged, or less. The motor, the ights, everything, are without electrical power. After a recharge, things are back to normal, but this has happened several time. The shop has put the bike on their computer, and it says the battery - some cells - are bad, and this is causing the problem and the battery needs replacing ($1,000). I wonder if others concure whith this diagnosis. Hate to spend $1,000 and not fix the problem. Your opinion will be much appreciated. Thank you! Ned

Had the same issue with the battery on another brand of bike. It was fortunately under warranty. After a full charge it would be unable to support the motor after a certain point and everything would shut down. The shut down point was very predictable in miles if you kept the power assist level the same. After I got the replacement the company did not want the battery back so I opened it enough to troubleshoot. It was a 48v and one of the 13 packs of 4 cells was not getting fully charged for some reason and was well below the level of the other packs.
Did you ask if you can return the new battery if it does not resolve the issue?

 

[6zfshdb]

I'm not sure if this applies in your case but I also had this problem with another bike brand. The problem turned out to be dirty battery contacts. The slight resistance made by the dirty contacts caused them to heat up and create a voltage drop. The low voltage then caused the controller to shut down.

I'm now in the habit of cleaning the contacts on both the battery and the bike after every 3rd or 4th charge. This is especially important if you transport the bike with the battery removed and the contacts exposed.