PIM Battery Rebuild Resource

[PASNUBY]

I am opening this thread as a place to list companies and individuals that can help PIM owners refurbish or up grade their PIM battery packs

We had our bike battery from Polaris rebuilt and received it October 2019 and my wife never even had a chance to ride it because of the cold and snow... She maybe Road it half a dozen times in 2020 till she had a biking accident and ended up not being able to use it the rest of the year. Unfortunately when we took it out for the first ride in 2020 this year May 5th it blew a fuse within 5 minutes of having been powered on. Ebikes in Nevada refused to work on them stating that they no longer service Polaris or PIM batteries effective May 2020. I Attempted to contact Nethers and after three or four correspondence and never receiving A response gave up on them and went to High C batteries. They responded they no longer support either the Polaris or PIM batteries either... So I don't know of anybody out there that is refurbishing repairing or providing Alternatives, but if someone is aware of a reputable source that stands behind their work, I have a battery that had been rebuilt the other year that supposedly put out either 600 Watts but only lasted less than 10 runs prior to crapping out... Everybody is blaming the battery management system as the culprit. Don't know what's going on if it's the charging circuit or the rate of discharge is more than the batteries can handle, but after having spent $650 on it I'm feeling quite foolish!

 

[PASNUBY]

Nethers rebuilt my PIM battery with new Li cells, increased the Wh of storage to a little over 600 Wh. Not cheap, but this will keep my Terrain 503 in service for another ten years. I am sending a second battery tomorrow!!

Word of caution, most of the information I've received on these batteries even when you keep them indoors in controlled temperatures and recharge them Faithfully the expected life is about 3 to 3 and 1/2 years... We spent $650 to get our battery rebuilt and it didn't even last 10 runs before the battery management system failed and it started blowing the 35 amp fuse as soon as you turned on the power to the bike. I tried taking the battery out to confirm it had nothing to do with the cabling or the motor and it would still blow the fuse. Right now I'm trying to Source a reputable dealer, but Nethers has never even responded to any of my correspondence and so I'm giving up on them... Not sure how you were able to get them to respond to you but I've been unsuccessful!

 

[PASNUBY]

So how do you get Nethers to respond to your email requests? I've tried 3 or 4 times and haven't once received a response...

 

[Lithium battery rebuilder]

So how do you get Nethers to respond to your email requests? I've tried 3 or 4 times and haven't once received a response...

Sorry for the delay. call me at 740-404-9650 I am rebuilding Polaris/PIM batteries and I can get the electronics for that battery. I have a Polaris bike in my shop that I purchased for testing. That battery would get an upgrade in run time to 14 A/H capacity For $450. That includes return shipping and a 1 year warranty.

 

[JackA]

Word of caution, most of the information I've received on these batteries even when you keep them indoors in controlled temperatures and recharge them Faithfully the expected life is about 3 to 3 and 1/2 years... We spent $650 to get our battery rebuilt and it didn't even last 10 runs before the battery management system failed and it started blowing the 35 amp fuse as soon as you turned on the power to the bike. I tried taking the battery out to confirm it had nothing to do with the cabling or the motor and it would still blow the fuse. Right now I'm trying to Source a reputable dealer, but Nethers has never even responded to any of my correspondence and so I'm giving up on them... Not sure how you were able to get them to respond to you but I've been unsuccessful!

So how do you get Nethers to respond to your email requests? I've tried 3 or 4 times and haven't once received a response...

Let the forum know when you communicate with John Nethers. My experience is very much different from yours as he has been quite prompt in responding. Jack

 

[tomjasz]

So how do you get Nethers to respond to your email requests? I've tried 3 or 4 times

And it never occurred to you that a phone call might solve the contact issue? BEFORE making a poor review here. Seriously. Email can be diverted and not received. Recently my Google Mail has been sending customers requests to spam. That hadn't happened in the 6 years I've been offering support.

 

[Kak]

Sorry for the delay. call me at 740-404-9650 I am rebuilding Polaris/PIM batteries and I can get the electronics for that battery. I have a Polaris bike in my shop that I purchased for testing. That battery would get an upgrade in run time to 14 A/H capacity For $450. That includes return shipping and a 1 year warranty.

I was thrilled to find someone to rebuild my battery for my Polaris Rail. I got a prompt response from Nethers, have spoken to him on phone and am now awaiting battery arrival. It is currently on the way home from Nethers. I will leave a review once I get that bike out a few times, but so far I have been extremely pleased.

 

[PASNUBY]

Let the forum know when you communicate with John Nethers. My experience is very much different from yours as he has been quite prompt in responding. Jack

John has since contacted me regarding the repair for my battery!
As he has access to PIM's components, he's confident he'll be able to help. I'll be sending in my battery, and hopefully be able to get my wife/ bike on the road again this year! I'll update once the battery has been serviced. Thx.

 

[bronson]

I have had Nethers handle our PIM / Polaris batteries. Top notch service. I imagine this time of year he is busy. Pretty reasonable considering the bikes have nice components. The bikes are available now on Ebay minus the battery. New in box. $500-$600? then $450 for Nethers battery. Sweet deal.

 

[PASNUBY]

Just packed my battery up and sent it off to John, seems as though all the problems likely due to the MOSSFET are shorted to ground hence they're blowing the 35 amp fuse. So should arrive in Michigan in the next 2 or 3 days and looking forward to getting a response back from John. Thanks, Gordon

 

[Trevor Heath]

After receiving the name and phone number from PIM in Seattle we contacted John Nethers by phone today. The 48V 8ah battery is on its way to him today for rebuild and upgrade. Cost is now $475.00 plus the outward shipping cost of $49.00 by Fed X ground. This is a ton of cash to solve this issue but the bike has been faultless to date and ridden hard so we'll give this a try. What was the issue? We inadvertently left the bike on charge while out of town for two months. On return the bike showed only three out of five LED on the control panel and these expired at the end of the street when ridden. I tried to recharge twice - same issue. Our fault - expensive mistake.

 

[tomjasz]

44V? 8Ah? Newer cells ought to jump those Ah up. Is it a 36V battery 42V fully charged?

 

[Trevor Heath]

Rebuilt battery received yesterday from John Nethers (February 19th) so less than three weeks door to door.

Installed in the bike, the control panel indicated the battery was fully charged before shipment but a ride on a known 12 mile circuit indicated it was charged to somewhat less.

Will post an update in a month as to performance.

TH

 

[Trevor Heath]

Wow! A complete violation of shipping rules. That’s disappointing.

Then again, maybe I won't post an update.......

 

[LarryJT]

Just wanted to see if anyone found any good battery resources other than Nethers. I was all set to ship my battery to him about week and a half ago and got a message that he is no longer in business do to a building fire. Very sad. But now I'm not so sure there is anyone left in the country working on PIM/Polaris batteries. Does anyone know of a replacement that might work?

 

[tomjasz]

Patrick Duggan HI-C Battery.

 

[LarryJT]

I should have mentioned, I spoke with both Hi-C and Ebike Marketplace this week (after several weeks of emailing and calling) and they both said they no longer work on Polaris due to their proprietary battery management systems. I asked both if they knew of anywhere that still works on them and they said no. I got my PIM bike from an auction a few months back and I'm starting to think I'm stuck with an $800 dud.

 

[EbikeWarrior]

Let the forum know when you communicate with John Nethers. My experience is very much different from yours as he has been quite prompt in responding. Jack

Hi Jack: I live in Edmonds, WA. I have 2 Polaris ebikes; 2015 Appex and a 2015 RRT (ex police bike). I started out with five 264wh batteries. Two have died and the remaining ones have decreased range (9-10 miles). I was almost ready to work with John Nethers when he had the house fire and does not seem to be communicating any more. I'm not sure if he plans to go back in business or not. If I'm correct, did you mention that Nethers had rebuilt a Polaris/Pim battery for you and had upgraded it to 14ah? If so, do you know what all he had replaced; cell types, BMS, charger etc? My original cells are the Vision 3.7v 6ah batteries in a 12s configuration. I have been considering doing a battery rebuild myself but was curious how John had approached that. Thanks, Mike

 

[LarryJT]

Hi Jack: I live in Edmonds, WA. I have 2 Polaris ebikes; 2015 Appex and a 2015 RRT (ex police bike). I started out with five 264wh batteries. Two have died and the remaining ones have decreased range (9-10 miles). I was almost ready to work with John Nethers when he had the house fire and does not seem to be communicating any more. I'm not sure if he plans to go back in business or not. If I'm correct, did you mention that Nethers had rebuilt a Polaris/Pim battery for you and had upgraded it to 14ah? If so, do you know what all he had replaced; cell types, BMS, charger etc? My original cells are the Vision 3.7v 6ah batteries in a 12s configuration. I have been considering doing a battery rebuild myself but was curious how John had approached that. Thanks, Mike

Hey EbikeWarrior, John Nethers has gone out of business, unfortunately. But I sent my Polaris battery to Kevin at Northeast Battery Systems and am expecting it back within the next week or so. He has been super helpful and communicative. The website is https://www.northeastbatterysystems.com and his email is [email protected]. Good luck!

 

[EbikeWarrior]

Hey EbikeWarrior, John Nethers has gone out of business, unfortunately. But I sent my Polaris battery to Kevin at Northeast Battery Systems and am expecting it back within the next week or so. He has been super helpful and communicative. The website is https://www.northeastbatterysystems.com and his email is [email protected]. Good luck!

Thank you LarryJT for that info! I was hoping someone else would pickup the battery rebuilding business after John Nethers fire. I will contact them. MikeH