Known Issues & Problems with Juiced Bikes Products + Help, Solutions & Fixes

[JMuir]

My battery is getting so hot that the plastic around the female part of the battery that fits into the male part of the locking mechanism is melting, and then I need to use a hammer to knock the battery out of the lock mechanism because the molten plastic hardens around the male part of the locking mechanism. I have the Cross Current S largest/widest 48 V battery. Has anyone experienced this? The plastic is melting down into one of the negative terminals. I'm considering getting a drill bit to drill out this plastic and hope that takes care of the issue.

 

[ctbaz]

My battery is getting so hot that the plastic around the female part of the battery that fits into the male part of the locking mechanism is melting, and then I need to use a hammer to knock the battery out of the lock mechanism because the molten plastic hardens around the male part of the locking mechanism. I have the Cross Current S largest/widest 48 V battery. Has anyone experienced this? The plastic is melting down into one of the negative terminals. I'm considering getting a drill bit to drill out this plastic and hope that takes care of the issue.

I would contact juiced and see what the issue is.

 

[hurricane56]

My battery is getting so hot that the plastic around the female part of the battery that fits into the male part of the locking mechanism is melting, and then I need to use a hammer to knock the battery out of the lock mechanism because the molten plastic hardens around the male part of the locking mechanism. I have the Cross Current S largest/widest 48 V battery. Has anyone experienced this? The plastic is melting down into one of the negative terminals. I'm considering getting a drill bit to drill out this plastic and hope that takes care of the issue.

I have the exact same problem and I'm waiting for a response from Juiced. There is another thread on EBR, regarding batteries not seating properly, thus causing a loose connection, electrical arcing and connector melting. If you have an earlier build battery, this is probably caused by a combination of two different causes. Juiced has documented a batch of early batteries that have a manufacturing defect where the electrical connection pins are recessed too far into the plastic housing. The other issue that I don't think anyone has discussed is the part changeover in the plastic battery cap that connects into the locking pin.

I have an early build 48v battery from the HF1000 released in December 2017. Upon comparing my 48v battery to a new build 52v battery, I noticed that the receiver hole for the locking pin is larger. Measured with calipers, it's .567" wide vs the new 52v battery that has a rounder shape and is .52". This oval shape is large enough to cause the battery to rattle and arcing to happen. I'll see what Juiced says, I'm hoping they will treat this like an automotive recall where there is still some support to non-warranty bikes and batteries.

 

[hurricane56]

The latest update from Juiced bike is they are offering a battery inspection and repairs charged by the hour. This is a welcome improvement, as when I originally entered a service ticked about electrical contacts, they suggested buying a new battery. It would be a shame to just junk a perfectly good battery due to a $2 plastic part. I'm hoping they will get me a new battery cap that has the modified smaller lock pin hole. That would solve the root cause of my problem.

 

[dAz63]

On my Ocean current I was getting less range slowly, the bike was 18 months at that point until one day the bike shut down halfway through a ride, anyway after checking for loose connectors etc, I found it was the battery connector pins, if the battery rattles even a little bit in the frame then arcing will occur in the connector.

My 48v 17ah connector didn't melt, but it was dusty and dirty from the arcing, I carefully scraped the worst crusting off the pins, then polished the pins and socket with Autosol, cleaned the connectors with alcohol and thoroughly dried everything.

I then wrapped a wide Velcro strap several times around the battery and frame tightly, I got my range back, no shut downs or weird glitches.

I checked the battery connections a week ago after 5 months, pins and sockets are still bright and clean, so preventing the battery from moving in the frame is the answer.

A friend's bike used a 36v bottle battery, the connector was two thick spring loaded pins pressing into shallow cups on the back of the battery case, incredibly stupid design, any movement of the battery just causes arcs in the connection, even if you clean it, the first pothole causes the bike to shutdown, strapping the battery down helped, eventually he bought a new battery with screw in connectors, no more arcing.

 

[hurricane56]

On my Ocean current I was getting less range slowly, the bike was 18 months at that point until one day the bike shut down halfway through a ride, anyway after checking for loose connectors etc, I found it was the battery connector pins, if the battery rattles even a little bit in the frame then arcing will occur in the connector.

My 48v 17ah connector didn't melt, but it was dusty and dirty from the arcing, I carefully scraped the worst crusting off the pins, then polished the pins and socket with Autosol, cleaned the connectors with alcohol and thoroughly dried everything.

I then wrapped a wide Velcro strap several times around the battery and frame tightly, I got my range back, no shut downs or weird glitches.

I checked the battery connections a week ago after 5 months, pins and sockets are still bright and clean, so preventing the battery from moving in the frame is the answer.

A friend's bike used a 36v bottle battery, the connector was two thick spring loaded pins pressing into shallow cups on the back of the battery case, incredibly stupid design, any movement of the battery just causes arcs in the connection, even if you clean it, the first pothole causes the bike to shutdown, strapping the battery down helped, eventually he bought a new battery with screw in connectors, no more arcing.

What kind of tools did you use to clean the pins?

 

[dAz63]

What kind of tools did you use to clean the pins?

I used cotton buds/q-tips with Autosol for the pins, then micro brushes with the polish for inside the sockets, those twisted wire brushes used for cleaning between teeth would work too.

Make sure you clean all the polish off with alcohol and dry well

 

[hurricane56]

The latest update from my battery terminal and loose top cap saga is that Juiced has agreed to ship me a top cap for self-installation. They only agreed to send me the part after a number of emails and proposing I pay for the repair, but I guess they figured that it was going to cost them more in shipping to get my battery sent down to their office. I'm hoping that this will finally end the loose battery condition.

If anyone with an early build 48v wide format battery has a loose battery, they should get in touch with Juiced to fix this as it's very clear that the battery wiggling and jiggling will cause arcing and a short circuit condition. In the end, this is something that I'd consider much like a automotive recall where the manufacturer has some responsibility of covering the associated costs for repair on a part with a known issue.

 

[karmap]

The latest update from my battery terminal and loose top cap saga is that Juiced has agreed to ship me a top cap for self-installation. They only agreed to send me the part after a number of emails and proposing I pay for the repair, but I guess they figured that it was going to cost them more in shipping to get my battery sent down to their office. I'm hoping that this will finally end the loose battery condition.

If anyone with an early build 48v wide format battery has a loose battery, they should get in touch with Juiced to fix this as it's very clear that the battery wiggling and jiggling will cause arcing and a short circuit condition. In the end, this is something that I'd consider much like a automotive recall where the manufacturer has some responsibility of covering the associated costs for repair on a part with a known issue.

What is the top cap you are speaking of.

I have the disconnection issue. Apparently my battery terminal pins are getting pushed in so I am sending my battery in to be repaired or replaced. I am wondering if I should as for this top cap you are mentioning as well.

Anyone else has the terminals in the battery get pushed in? When they fixed it did it fix the issue of random disconnects?

 

[BoatFixx]

I think the HF was a pioneer effort to explore the possibilities. Cost overruns probably soured the project a bit, but I think Tora
has taken the lessons learned to improve on the current fat bike offered.

Howdy, neighbor. I've had my Hyperfat "1100" for over a year now. Not one issue and I ride everyday. I've ride often up and around Anderson Lake and out Center over the steep Egg & I up to West Valley, and no problem.

 

[hurricane56]

What is the top cap you are speaking of.

I have the disconnection issue. Apparently my battery terminal pins are getting pushed in so I am sending my battery in to be repaired or replaced. I am wondering if I should as for this top cap you are mentioning as well.

Anyone else has the terminals in the battery get pushed in? When they fixed it did it fix the issue of random disconnects?

The top cap is the plastic piece on the head of the battery that holds the power button and discharge port. The top cap also has a molded hole that receives the locking pin from the lock cylinder when the battery is mounted in the frame. Early wide format batteries have a lock receiver hole that is oversized for the locking pin by roughly .01”. This causes the jiggle or play that is responsible for a loose connection and later leads to arcing and melting of the connector.

Your best way forward is to send the battery back to Juiced and make sure they replace the top cap and discharge port. In my case, I asked them to send a top cap and discharge port. A top cap was sent free of charge even though I’m out of warranty. I also requested to have a new discharge port sent to me, but they refused.

If anyone is in the same position where they don’t want to send the whole battery to Juiced Bikes, the only solution is to partially disassemble the battery by removing the top cap, then unsoldering the discharge port. From there you can use the soldering iron the heat the battery terminals pins to soften the plastic and push them back out 2mm. Solder back the battery discharge wires and reassemble.

This has solved my battery connection issue on my HF1000. I do wish that Juiced Bike would have just sent over all the parts @Tora Harris @Luis Mtz

 

[niltohams]

Ugh. JUST received my new CCX today and the battery is definitely loose. If I hold it against the connector (to the right), it powers up fine. But as soon as I let go, the display goes off. Waiting for support to respond to me.

UPDATE: After working with support, it turns out the retainer nut on the bike side of the battery connector was loose. Turning that about half a turn was enough to resolve the issue completely. For those with this issue, fair warning: it's a metal nut on plastic threads. So don't over-tighten the nut thereby stripping the threads.

 

[CCSColorado]

For all of you who are having the loose battery issue I am having the same as are plenty of other CCS owners with the extended range battery.

My battery is back with Juiced for its second warranty service. Furthermore, the arc faults or voltage fluctuations have fried the controller. Juiced has, with some protestations, agreed to replace the controller and repair the battery. But regardless I'm now without my bike for over two months out of the 14 months I've owned it, which is frustrating.

Juiced has not mentioned any "battery top cap" replacement in its solutions for me. I have used shims in the mounting hardware along with tie wraps to secure the battery but it was not sufficient to prevent this failure. For winter, I am going to switch to velcro straps to allow me to remove and charge the battery in a warm house instead of a cold garage.

Juiced mentioned to me that the 19.1ah battery is too big for the CCS frame, but would not admit that this is a design flaw when pressed.

There's an extensive (now locked) thread on the topic available here:

CCX intermittent power

This is a new CCX bike with just 100 miles. The battery locks in place with the usual click and operates normally. Biking on a bumpy road the display goes off. A gentle hit with the palm of the hand on the left side re-establishes the power, after the power-on sequence (pressing the display...

electricbikereview.com

If (when) I see any instances of arc faulting following this current repair I may try to retrofit the battery and frame with a free-floating connector that won't be subject to the battery's movement relative to the frame.

@niltohams I also originally fixed this issue by tightening that retainer nut but it was only temporary. You should add straps to your battery as well to prevent additional issues.

 

[john peck]

For all of you who are having the loose battery issue I am having the same as are plenty of other CCS owners with the extended range battery.

My battery is back with Juiced for its second warranty service. Furthermore, the arc faults or voltage fluctuations have fried the controller. Juiced has, with some protestations, agreed to replace the controller and repair the battery. But regardless I'm now without my bike for over two months out of the 14 months I've owned it, which is frustrating.

I bought a 1st edition CCS which came with a '21ah' battery. 6000 miles, no battery problems, But I've worked on every thing else.
Okay, a lot of that was my fault, But I'm not so enamored of Juiced as I was for the first couple thousand. It just wasn't designed
To be what I had hoped. It's a pretty fair commuter, but for $1299 I just bought what I consider an all-around bike, 10 pds.
lighter, fits on a bus rack, & pedals really well even without power. I did have to swap our the bars to get it to fit. It's not
quite so fast as my CCS, but far more versatile. In light of the $3500 I've thus far sunk into the CCS, & unrealistic hype I
bought from juiced, the new bike is a real bargain. Thus far I've found but one negative engineering flaw that was an easy
fix. Fixes for the CCS have not been so easy. I've had it 3 years not counting about 4 mos. of down time.

 

[hurricane56]

For all of you who are having the loose battery issue I am having the same as are plenty of other CCS owners with the extended range battery.

My battery is back with Juiced for its second warranty service. Furthermore, the arc faults or voltage fluctuations have fried the controller. Juiced has, with some protestations, agreed to replace the controller and repair the battery. But regardless I'm now without my bike for over two months out of the 14 months I've owned it, which is frustrating.

Juiced has not mentioned any "battery top cap" replacement in its solutions for me. I have used shims in the mounting hardware along with tie wraps to secure the battery but it was not sufficient to prevent this failure. For winter, I am going to switch to velcro straps to allow me to remove and charge the battery in a warm house instead of a cold garage.

Juiced mentioned to me that the 19.1ah battery is too big for the CCS frame, but would not admit that this is a design flaw when pressed.

There's an extensive (now locked) thread on the topic available here:

CCX intermittent power

This is a new CCX bike with just 100 miles. The battery locks in place with the usual click and operates normally. Biking on a bumpy road the display goes off. A gentle hit with the palm of the hand on the left side re-establishes the power, after the power-on sequence (pressing the display...

electricbikereview.com

If (when) I see any instances of arc faulting following this current repair I may try to retrofit the battery and frame with a free-floating connector that won't be subject to the battery's movement relative to the frame.

@niltohams I also originally fixed this issue by tightening that retainer nut but it was only temporary. You should add straps to your battery as well to prevent additional issues.

You can see in my post #641 on this thread I have a picture of both top caps that click into the locking mechanism. The early build batteries have a top cap with a lock receiver hole that is too big for the lock pin. The old design is about .565". On my bike, an early build HF1000, this caused a ton of arcing and power drop outs. The revised part is .52", so a bit smaller to have the tighter tolerance. I still run a velcro strap on my battery with the new top cap, but I feel the battery would be fine without it. Either way you should push Juiced to give you a new top cap. Also, Juiced Bike should sell replacement battery parts for out of warranty repairs.

 

[karmap]

For all of you who are having the loose battery issue I am having the same as are plenty of other CCS owners with the extended range battery.

My battery is back with Juiced for its second warranty service. Furthermore, the arc faults or voltage fluctuations have fried the controller. Juiced has, with some protestations, agreed to replace the controller and repair the battery. But regardless I'm now without my bike for over two months out of the 14 months I've owned it, which is frustrating.

Juiced has not mentioned any "battery top cap" replacement in its solutions for me. I have used shims in the mounting hardware along with tie wraps to secure the battery but it was not sufficient to prevent this failure. For winter, I am going to switch to velcro straps to allow me to remove and charge the battery in a warm house instead of a cold garage.

Juiced mentioned to me that the 19.1ah battery is too big for the CCS frame, but would not admit that this is a design flaw when pressed.

There's an extensive (now locked) thread on the topic available here:

CCX intermittent power

This is a new CCX bike with just 100 miles. The battery locks in place with the usual click and operates normally. Biking on a bumpy road the display goes off. A gentle hit with the palm of the hand on the left side re-establishes the power, after the power-on sequence (pressing the display...

electricbikereview.com

If (when) I see any instances of arc faulting following this current repair I may try to retrofit the battery and frame with a free-floating connector that won't be subject to the battery's movement relative to the frame.

@niltohams I also originally fixed this issue by tightening that retainer nut but it was only temporary. You should add straps to your battery as well to prevent additional issues.

I had the battery loose issue with melting contacts and the pins being pushed inside the battery connector.

I sent my battery in and I got it back a few weeks ago. The battery has been flawless since and I can say I actually enjoy my Juice CCS now as I don’t worry about the disconnect. I did have something weird happen last night where the battery was on and the LCD screen worked but I got no motor action. Seems to have fixed it self after ten mins or so though.

I will say that after a year of dealing with Juiced I am still not impressed with their customer service and I think all the disconnecting and weird stuff, a long with not using it as much as I would have liked, has lead to lower battery range than what it should be at 1,500 miles on it to date.

Still..when it works its a great bike.

 

[quinn]

Anyone have problems with the stock charger not recognizing the battery is depleted? Mine does not turn green when plugged into an outlet (without being plugged into the battery), and when it is connected to the battery, the light turns green indicating full charge, even though the battery is reading 50v on the display on the bike. I can buy a new charger, but wondering if anyone else experienced this and has any other ideas. Thanks!

 

[john peck]

Anyone have problems with the stock charger not recognizing the battery is depleted? Mine does not turn green when plugged into an outlet (without being plugged into the battery), and when it is connected to the battery, the light turns green indicating full charge, even though the battery is reading 50v on the display on the bike. I can buy a new charger, but wondering if anyone else experienced this and has any other ideas. Thanks!

mine did that once, charger plug loose?

 

[quinn]

mine did that once, charger plug loose?

very firmly in place. Checked all the connections and multiple outlets :-(

Update/Edit: The charger died. Ordered a new one and we're back in business!

 

[beester]

I just ordered the CCX from the Thanksgiving day special. Does anybody have any issues with the spokes and battery connections with the latest release with all the fixes? Should I still Velcro the battery to the frame?

Bee