Problems with Intuvia

[Psychopasta]

Hi,

I charged my bike up after the winter layover. All went well. The LEDs on the battery pack lit up, and the Intuvia lit up to say 'Charging' and it showed charging progress. But, once charged and I took the charger off, the Intuvia will simply not respond. It appears dead. I have pressed the power on/off on the battery pack, and have held down the Intuvia's power button for >10 seconds, but to no avail.

I would diagnose a failed battery inside the Intuvia, except for the fact that it operates normally during charging. Any ideas, anyone?

_Pasta

[ADMIN EDIT] I agree that this could have been an expired Coin battery inside the Intuvia display unit, it sounds like you can unscrew the display with a small Phillips cross head and use a CR2016 cell like this.

 

[Fitzy]

Hi,

I charged my bike up after the winter layover. All went well. The LEDs on the battery pack lit up, and the Intuvia lit up to say 'Charging' and it showed charging progress. But, once charged and I took the charger off, the Intuvia will simply not respond. It appears dead. I have pressed the power on/off on the battery pack, and have held down the Intuvia's power button for >10 seconds, but to no avail.

I would diagnose a failed battery inside the Intuvia, except for the fact that it operates normally during charging. Any ideas, anyone?

_Pasta

If you haven't already, remove the Intuvia from its cradle and clean the terminals on both the cradle and the device with 97% rubbing-alcohol or electronic contact-cleaning spray; sounds like you may have some fine resistive/corrosive buildup.

 

[Fitzy]

Whoops...should have read more carefully; does the Intuvia not energize when you try turning it on when DISCONNECTED from the cradle?

 

[Psychopasta]

That's correct. It works correctly during charging, and not at all when not charging, whether on or off the bike. I'll be giving everything a good clean tonight

 

[Fitzy]

Good idea. I'm not sure about the battery-life and retention of the Intuvia, but it DOES have an internal Li-battery that gets charged along with everything else. Perhaps it was completely discharged in storage and needs a good dose of electrons?

Incidentally, I had some electronics glitches on my Bosch this weekend which intermittently prevented me from turning on the motor. When the Intuvia energized, it would not go through its battery-check sequence, and the speedo wouldn't show up. Oddly enough, I COULD adjust the assist mode when I plugged the charger into the side of the bike; it rode fine after that...sorta like heart-resuscitation paddles I guess. Later, when I was (of course) 5-miles from my office, and had turned of the bike to have lunch, it wouldn't turn on properly again. Since I was doing my Spring-tuneup anyway, I decided to dismantle my Intuvia and its peripherals to make sure they were dry and clean...sure enough, they were all bone-dry (it's extremely well weatherproofed). After the cleanup (including the Bosch motor), everything seems to be back to normal.

 

[Psychopasta]

Thanks Fitzy! Is the internal battery replaceable or rechargeable on an external charger?

 

[rich c]

It's replaceable if you have some electrical background and you are good with a soldering iron. It's soldered to a board. I posted a picture on this forum showing the internal battery. I don't remember the exact post, probably shows up with a search.

 

[Psychopasta]

Thanks!