I have an Emojo Caddy trike. The trike is 2 1/2 years old as is the 48v 13 ah battery. Symptoms: the motor and display shut down intermittently. It usually happens once or twice on a 2 mile round trip . I will stop, turn the key off and on and it comes back to life. The battery indicator on the display will drop back to 4 bars and several seconds later back to five. Then maybe do it again. The battery was fully charged when I left home . When I get home and hook up the charger the green light on the charger will come on after 30 minutes or so. As I was starting to remove the charger the red light came on. After several seconds the green light comes back on for an indeterminate length of time . Then the red one. And so on.The battery was charged to 52.4 v when I left home. When I got home it tested at 51.3 v . Should it lose 1v in a 2 1/2 mile 15 mph trip ?
Is it the battery ?
- Thread starter Randroid
- Start date
harryS
Well-Known Member
Max charge for a 48V li-ion battery is 54.6V. A little less is common. Your 52.4 could indicate an issue. Check your charger voltage, That should be 54.6V with nothing connected, and this will serve as a calibration of your meter,
Loss of 1 volt from full charge during a short run is typical.
Loss of 1 volt from full charge during a short run is typical.
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
Check & clean the connectors on both the bike & battery. A dirty or burned contact can cause the symptoms you describe. A fouled contact adds resistance and creates a momentary voltage drop which can cause the controller to cut out.
PCeBiker
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
I have a 48v 25 ah battery.
I charged my battery yesterday to 54.3 volts, drove exactly 1 km, and pulled over to see what my voltage was.
After a few seconds waiting for the voltage to rebound, it only went back up to 53.3 volts.
I lost an entire volt in the first few minutes of riding.
My e-bike and battery have always behaved that way.
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
You might also check for a loose or dirty contact on your charger plug. The next time you charge the battery, manipulate the connector to see if you can duplicate the red/green light condition. If so, you may need to replace the charger connector and/or cord. Hopefully, it isn't a bad connector on the battery, since that will be more difficult to replace.
PCeBiker
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
I have three batteries and three chargers, and one of my chargers behaves in the same way.
When the light turns green, the charger either switches to Constant Voltage (54.6 V) or turns off.
(I haven't checked it with my ammeter yet, but the voltage is 54.6)
When the charger stops charging, the voltage of the battery starts dropping as the voltage has time to "soak in" as I like to say.
Kinda the the opposite of the rebound effect of voltage sag.
Eventually the voltage of the battery drops down far enough that the charger turns back on.
The cycle continues until the battery is topped up enough that the battery voltage doesn't drop enough for tge charger to turn back on.
PCeBiker
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
I think that is what's going on.
A bad contact between the battery and e-bike.
Perhaps the battery/e-bike connection is momentarily disconnecting as the battery bounces around?
Unless the the battery is so far gone that there is a HUGE Voltage Sag that's enough to have the controller cut out?
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
Possible, but unlikely with a 2.5 year-old battery. Unless it was mistreated, these symptoms would occur gradually, not suddenly.
harryS
Well-Known Member
Randroid has to determine whether this is an intermittent problem or a systematic one.
It sounds though that he wisely heads home after the shutdown and puts the bike on recharge. It will take about 30 minutes and the charger goes green. THen if he goes out later, it will happen again, That's not intermittent to me.
If he tells us that sometimes he can get many miles before it happens, I'll call it intermittent,
It sounds though that he wisely heads home after the shutdown and puts the bike on recharge. It will take about 30 minutes and the charger goes green. THen if he goes out later, it will happen again, That's not intermittent to me.
If he tells us that sometimes he can get many miles before it happens, I'll call it intermittent,
I hooked up the charger and connected 2 pins to a vom. It showed a steady 54.6 v I watched it for about 10 minutes and nothing changed. I removed the battery and cleaned the connectors inside of it and also cleaned the two prongs the battery slides on to. I connected the charger and the light was green for a second and then red which it has always done. Maybe 5-10 seconds later it turned green again. I took my 2 mile round trip to Walmart and it died once.Turn off and then on and rode home. This time the battery showed 4 bars on the way home and never changed. I have only ridden the bike once long enough for the battery to display 2 bars. The owner's manual says to charge the battery every time you ride. I rarely ride more than 3-4 miles.The battery is 2 1/2 years old. I live in NW Arizona and don't know where to take the battery for an honest (I 'm surprised the word is still in the english language). appraisal. There's a company in Connecticut that says they do but shipping would be too expensive. I'm 78 and on social security. I found a battery on eBay that looks like and has the same dimensions as mine for $270. Emojo wants $ 495.
I forgot: I did wiggle the wires that are on the charger both at the charger itself and the wall plug and at the battery. I would hate to buy a new battery and the problem would be unresolved, as any one would . My dad was an excellent automotive mechanic and said there are two types of people who work on cars. The parts replacer who hopes whatever he replaces will solve the problem and the troubleshooter who takes steps to isolate the problem.
Good point harryS. It died one time before I mounted the trike at the start of my 2 mile ride
harryS
Well-Known Member
Well, you need to determine whether this is just a one-off event or if it happens every time you go out. The first case is likely a contact or connector issue. The second is systematic and is due to a faulty battery,
It's likely an unbalanced battery. If you can find a local Emojo users group and maybe borrow a battery for a test ride swap, you'll know without having to test further. Your voltage numbers already point to an unbalanced battery. The other guys here might discuss balance charging with you.
It's likely an unbalanced battery. If you can find a local Emojo users group and maybe borrow a battery for a test ride swap, you'll know without having to test further. Your voltage numbers already point to an unbalanced battery. The other guys here might discuss balance charging with you.
I see no one commented on the owner's manual saying to charge the battery after every ride. I remember thinking to myself "yeah, that way there will be more cycles and the battery will need replaced sooner than necessary" I remember reading something in 2024 : " Believe nothing you read and half of what you see".
PCeBiker
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
Well, that isn't necessary with lithium batteries but it is on my old e-bike with SLA batteries and you're supposed to fully drain Ni-Cad batteries before recharging.
Fully charging a lithium battery then letting it sit is bad for the battery.
Charge to ~70% if it's going to be sitting, then fully charge before your ride.
Yeah, if customers are fully charging their batteries then store the e-bike till next month, then they will need a new battery in no time.
Can't believe what you see either.
Unless it's live and you're there in person.
Even then, people like to lie and cheat.
Magicians don't impress me.
The deceive me and I'm supposed to praise them for it.
PedalUma
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Petaluma, CA
Try not to charge until you are down to close to the final bar. I think it is time to fully cycle the battery. It has been abused by constant top ups and then sitting on a full charge. If it has a USB port you can use that to safely and slowly take the charge down all the way, then fully charge it just before a ride. I also suspect a faulty wire or connector. For example, this week a woman's bike was intermittent because the display wire was brushing the chain.
Thanks for the tip. I'm using the USB port to charge the several devices I have. I imagine all the E-bike dealers are doing similar things like Emojo. They don't care, and why should they ? Money is more important than people. I' m 78 and find if difficult to accept the fact that you can't trust anyone.
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