Just purchased Radster Road…Charger / Battery question

O

opimax

Well-Known Member
Region
USA
City
Atlanta
I paid for the bike yesterday from Conte Bikes. Ordered a 2nd charger and battery and waiting to see if I need a 3rd battery . i will be adding a mirror, suspension seat post and maybe some different grips. Hope to pick it up early next week

there is not a lot activity on this site with Rad , where do I need to go to pull them here?
 
Not much Rad here, oh well I will proceed as usual.

i have purchased the Road. It is ready for pickup. I am purchased 2 batteries from eBAY. I was going to purchase an additional charger but wanted to ask opinions or better factual knowledge of how many amps these batteries can handle charging . The Rad charger is 2 amps. I have seen 3 amp and 4 amp chargers available, can either used safely? Especially if you think the weakest link, say 1 wire is too thin…

then I as I was shopping I realized the same connector and same 2 amps 54.6 volt target are the same as my 2 Lectric bike chargers, are they really the same? and I don’t need any additional chargers.

I would be happy purchasing 2 4amp chargers so I had fast(er) charging available when I go on longer rides on any of the 3 bikes, about $40 each charger
 
The weak link is the ability of the charger jack in the battery to handle heat. With ebay packs, you never know. I'd stick with a 2A charger with them.,
 
Thx for the response , do you think Lextric brand 54.6 are safe to use on Rad?
 
I have a pair of 2a chargers.. One with, one without a fan.
I have a 4a and 5a charger, neither with a fan.
Usually those without a fan are built more robust than those without.
That said I always slide something under my charger or suspend it in air by the cord so that it has greater air flow around it. Heat is the enemy of all electronics and doing this I have yet to have one fail.
As for your Lectric charger... Check the output Voltage as that needs to match the new one.
Careful charging above 3a as some battery charging inputs are not rated above that. That is something I would confirm with the manufacturer if not stated on the new battery or if the supplied charger is not above 3a
 
Thx for the replies. i will have 3 batteries for the Rad I would like 2 chargers at least, of course 1 came with the bike. the 2 additional batteries I hope are arriving today. They are rad branded from eBay hopefully and expected legit. If the Lectric chargers I already have are acceptable then I won’t purchase anything, if I need to buy any additional I want to go to 3 amp or as high as possible. Rad (LBS where purchased) say purchase Rad charger . If I have to get a Rad charger so be it, no problem, not outrageous anyway but only 2 amp . I am not concerned about battery life . Safety is an issue as well as speed as I probably will be charging while on break when riding and as everyone know there is never enough time when riding :) .

the Rad charger is larger and heavier than the 2 different slightly different from each other Lectric chargers which are interchangeable per Lectric so I consider them the same . They have only 2 connections to the battery, center and outer same as most laptop connectors so I don’t believe there is any communication with the BMS just energy to charge. All are a rated 54.6 v .

I don’t know if there are differences in chargers in general , I thought the rest of the intelligence was in the battery only unless there are additional contacts on the battery connector . I had these on Bosch, Stromer, and Specialized.

the chargers referenced by Gion above mention 13s 48v , does 13s matter if the nominal voltage is still 48 v, when charging at 54.6? I don’t know either Lectrics or Rad configs are.
 
opimax said:
Thx for the replies. i will have 3 batteries for the Rad I would like 2 chargers at least, of course 1 came with the bike. the 2 additional batteries I hope are arriving today. They are rad branded from eBay hopefully and expected legit. If the Lectric chargers I already have are acceptable then I won’t purchase anything, if I need to buy any additional I want to go to 3 amp or as high as possible. Rad (LBS where purchased) say purchase Rad charger . If I have to get a Rad charger so be it, no problem, not outrageous anyway but only 2 amp . I am not concerned about battery life . Safety is an issue as well as speed as I probably will be charging while on break when riding and as everyone know there is never enough time when riding :) .

the Rad charger is larger and heavier than the 2 different slightly different from each other Lectric chargers which are interchangeable per Lectric so I consider them the same . They have only 2 connections to the battery, center and outer same as most laptop connectors so I don’t believe there is any communication with the BMS just energy to charge. All are a rated 54.6 v .

I don’t know if there are differences in chargers in general , I thought the rest of the intelligence was in the battery only unless there are additional contacts on the battery connector . I had these on Bosch, Stromer, and Specialized.

the chargers referenced by Gion above mention 13s 48v , does 13s matter if the nominal voltage is still 48 v, when charging at 54.6? I don’t know either Lectrics or Rad configs are.
Click to expand...
All 48v batteries are 13s. S = Series ( cells in series) and that determines the total voltage.
Where a 48v battery can vary is the number of cells in P (parallel) which determines its capacity to deliver current.
A larger 48v battery will have more cells in parallel but will always be 13S.
 
1st let me give an update after having the bike for a week and receiving the 2 batterries. It still has 2 miles on the odometer from them testing and then my 1 mile ride around inside their large sells floor test area.

i cant ride the damn thing , I broke my foot Saturday! :) I am in a walking boot , as far as breaks go not too bad

the additional batteries are the previous gen slightly smaller capacity and are not the extra safe but getting 2 for the price of 1 makes it worthwhile to me to loose 1 mile of estimated on highest power. I say estimate cause see above lol. the charger topped off the 2 batteries and the led went green when completed. According to Rad tech support both batteries and charger are compatible so all good so far .

when I plug in the Lectric charger to any of them it starts charging and does not seem to recognize they are fully charged. It may be a small or large discrepancy but I don’t wish to find out and have decided to get an additional charger.
i plan on being slightly brave and order 1 with description being for Rad but I want the 3 amp version.

a month from now when I able to ride i will be ready to go
 
I bought one of these. I like the metal housing and the fan is an added bonus. When the fan stops, I check the charger. I also have a watt meter in the wall socket. I can see the current flow. At first, I see 1.5A, then it slowly drops as charging is complete. When the charger first goes green, slow charging starts at roughly .85A. I usually see it around .33 amps when charging in complete.

I do realize that with the watt meter in the wall socket, I won’t see the actual current flowing from the charger to the battery. I’m only seeing the current from the wall socket to the charger. Still a good reference.
 
Slaphappygamer said:
I bought one of these. I like the metal housing and the fan is an added bonus. When the fan stops, I check the charger. I also have a watt meter in the wall socket. I can see the current flow. At first, I see 1.5A, then it slowly drops as charging is complete. When the charger first goes green, slow charging starts at roughly .85A. I usually see it around .33 amps when charging in complete.

I do realize that with the watt meter in the wall socket, I won’t see the actual current flowing from the charger to the battery. I’m only seeing the current from the wall socket to the charger. Still a good reference.
Click to expand...
If I had to throw a dart.... I'd say the charger has an 85% efficiency rating....
And when I checked the specs on A_spress that's what it says.
Screenshot_20250227_175237_Chrome.jpg
About average for this type of device. So if you're into math you can figure it out and be in the ballpark.

My DIY smart charge adapter has a watt metter between the charger and battery and does the math for me 🙃

PXL_20241103_185848111.jpg
 
Last edited:
opimax said:
1st let me give an update after having the bike for a week and receiving the 2 batterries. It still has 2 miles on the odometer from them testing and then my 1 mile ride around inside their large sells floor test area.

i cant ride the damn thing , I broke my foot Saturday! :) I am in a walking boot , as far as breaks go not too bad

the additional batteries are the previous gen slightly smaller capacity and are not the extra safe but getting 2 for the price of 1 makes it worthwhile to me to loose 1 mile of estimated on highest power. I say estimate cause see above lol. the charger topped off the 2 batteries and the led went green when completed. According to Rad tech support both batteries and charger are compatible so all good so far .

when I plug in the Lectric charger to any of them it starts charging and does not seem to recognize they are fully charged. It may be a small or large discrepancy but I don’t wish to find out and have decided to get an additional charger.
i plan on being slightly brave and order 1 with description being for Rad but I want the 3 amp version.

a month from now when I able to ride i will be ready to go
Click to expand...
If your handy and can slap together something like this... It adds multiple layers of safety as well as letting you charge to any % you want.
 
No longer handy , old and not motivated, especially for 30$ , not enough time left :) , my biking gets my money, thx for the thought
 
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