Reention Dorado Battery Problem

[Sb2665]

Hello everybody. New to the forum. bought e-bike last July. I now have 1400 miles on it. The OEM battery is an 11AH Reention Dorado battery. I bought a spare 16AH Reention Dorado. Last week it left me stranded off road. These batteries have an internal charge meter with four LEDs indicating (H) High to (L) Low state of charge. The internal charge meter showed a full charge until it completely died. My dashboard charge meter showed the same. I contacted the manufacturer and am currently in a discussion for warranty repair. I was asked to send photos of battery label and voltage reading. I also included a photo of the internal charge meter display. When fully charged it shows three green LEDs. The fourth LED (L) is red. The manufacturer claims this is normal, but the OEM Dorado battery that came with my bike shows four green LEDs on its internal charge meter when fully charged. The Low (L) or fourth LED changes from green to red when the charge drops below 25%. If I look at the spare's fourth LED when not lit it is clearly a green to red LED. I don't know if this is different BMS programming or not. If anybody out there has the Reention Dorado type battery what do your LEDs look like when your battery is fully charged? Is the fourth LED red or are all four green? Images 1. Reention Dorado 2. Spare internal meter 3. OEM internal meter. Thanks

 

[Sb2665]

Also I left out the manufacturers response that the battery is normal. Never had to walk my bike out of the woods before though.

 

[rcdanner]

Aventon Pace 500 Reention Dorado Max 11.6Ah battery shows 4 GREEN LEDs when fully charged. Never seen a red led on the battery.

 

[ElevenAD]

Saber plus? it does not appear to be an actual Dorado, maybe its a compatibility issue?

 

[Sb2665]

Saber plus? it does not appear to be an actual Dorado, maybe its a compatibility issue?

Thanks for the reply. Maybe it was just a glitch. I've only charged it around 30 times. There are numerous Chinese manufacturers. I'm assuming Reention licenses the use of the case but maybe the BMS is different depending on the manufacturer. Anyway it worked fine the 30 times I recharged it...until it didn't.

 

[ElevenAD]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe it was just a glitch. I've only charged it around 30 times. There are numerous Chinese manufacturers. I'm assuming Reention licenses the use of the case but maybe the BMS is different depending on the manufacturer. Anyway it worked fine the 30 times I recharged it...until it didn't.

i thought you just purchased the back up pack and it failed, i didnt know you had successfully used it in the past.

 

[Sb2665]

Aventon Pace 500 Reention Dorado Max 11.6Ah battery shows 4 GREEN LEDs when fully charged. Never seen a red led on the battery.

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I'm wrong about the OEM battery changing from green to red. Reention is embossed into the plastic and Dorado+ printed on the charge meter. Probably the same one you have. I said 11AH but I was just rounding down. I'll have to run it down and see.

 

[Sb2665]

i thought you just purchased the back up pack and it failed, i didnt know you had successfully used it in the past.

Yeah I bought it shortly after the bike. I probably should have anticipated a problem since I had put several miles on the battery on a couple of consecutive days with no discharge showing on my dashboard meter. I was too concentrated on blasting through the woods to check before it just completely died.

 

[ElevenAD]

. I was too concentrated on blasting through the woods

lol hey it happens, hopefully you get things sorted.

 

[Sb2665]

So this casing is not Reention?

It doesn't say Reention and I couldn't find "Saber Plus" on their website.
On top right corner, I was able to search Dorado, but nor Saber http://www.reention.com/product

Yeah if you Google Reention Dorado on China's Alibaba site it appears that there are multiple manufacturers of this product. I sent an email to Reention but haven't gotten a response. I suppose they license the design since the cases are identical, but apparently that's as far as Reention's participation extends.

 

[Sb2665]

So here we are two months later and this is what I discovered. This Sabre Plus battery has a different charge indicator display than the Reention battery. Reention's display shows 4 green lights when fully charged until your charge drops below a certain state. The forth indicator then turns red. The Sabre Plus shows three green LEDs and the fourth is red when fully charged. I originally thought that the Sabre Plus charge indicator wasn't showing the correct state of charge and thus the battery was just flat out dying without any indication that it was imminent. This is not the case though. This battery is completely shutting off due to impact in an off road situation. Nothing will turn it back on until it is plugged back into its charger. This has not occurred with the OEM battery on the same trails. Do these batteries have some sort of impact protection circuit on the BMS? Unfortunately the manufacturers repair service is in Canada and the Corona Virus has shut that down. In lieu of their being able to repair this I;m going to need to carry a 48v capacitor to turn this thing back on before I have to walk this out of the woods a third time!

 

[ruffruff]

I don't know for a fact, but I would doubt any ebike batteries have a shock shutoff feature.
It sounds to me if the shock is causing a broken connection or wire to short out and shut your battery down.

That shock/shutdown sounds exactly like a solder point that cracked or came off.

I lost the link, so maybe someone can chime in, I know there are a couple people on the web that do battery repair/rebuilds.

 

[Sb2665]

I don't know for a fact, but I would doubt any ebike batteries have a shock shutoff feature.
It sounds to me if the shock is causing a broken connection or wire to short out and shut your battery down.

That shock/shutdown sounds exactly like a solder point that cracked or came off.

I lost the link, so maybe someone can chime in, I know there are a couple people on the web that do battery repair/rebuilds.

 

[Sb2665]

Thanks for the response. I've been back and forth with the manufacturer for the last three months regarding this. Since the manufacturer is in China I get some very strange responses from their engineer. They've inquired whether the "car" is shaken violently and indicated that it was a connection problem that could be remedied by removing and reattaching the battery. This despite my saying that nothing, short of plugging it into the charger, will turn it back on. This has never occurred on smooth surfaces. They've offered to reimburse me for the repair but have left it up to me to find someone qualified to repair this, despite its still being under warranty. These Lion batteries are not cheap and I haven't a clue who would know anything about this battery.

 

[Alex M]

It sounds to me if the shock is causing a broken connection or wire to short out and shut your battery down.

That shock/shutdown sounds exactly like a solder point that cracked or came off.

I lost the link, so maybe someone can chime in, I know there are a couple people on the web that do battery repair/rebuilds.

Yes. Sounds like an internal damage, not a built-in protection.
Whatever the Reention is licensing, this is not their product. Different LEDs and likely different everything inside. There aren't many reliable 3rd party battery makers, this one probably wasn't.

Aside from sellers of complete packs, there are also battery rebuild/refill services. You send them old battery, they refill it with new cells and BMS.
From better to worse (more-less):
https://www.hicbattery.com/
https://ebikemarketplace.com/collections/rebuilt-batteries
http://www.batteryrefill.com/index.phtml

 

[Sb2665]

Yeah, if one goes to DHgate or Alibaba you can find multiple manufacturers under Reention Dorado search. Many of them use quality cells. I did send an email to hicbattery.com. If nothing else I'll just have to stick with using this on smooth surfaces. Don't know when this lock down will end but the manufacturer seems willing to address the issue. This was a $342 16AH item where a 11AH OEM replacement was $550.

 

[ruffruff]

Call these folks

E-bike Battery Replacement, Repair, Rebuild

Call ebikemarketplace to get a quote for any ebike Battery Rebuild 888-456-9410 How to Replace an Electric Bike Battery if the Model is Discontinued

ebikemarketplace.com

Good luck getting your money back on a repair job. And I really mean good luck, not the sarcastic good luck!

 

[T4KT1KZ]

It's could be the fuse in the Reention battery. If the main fuse pops it will not allow the battery to function. Makes sense why it lights up when you connect to a charger. But as soon as you unplug it, it shuts off. It needs the fuse to complete the circuit. My Reention Dorado+ 17.5ah pack has a 45A main fuse. Super easy to replace and check. Removing the 4 phillips screws located on the top of the pack will allow you to access it.

Looking closely now I think the saber plus is just a clone of the Reention Dorado+. So who knows what bms / led colors are used. It also does not have the Reention embossed into the battery as the Dorado+ does.

My fuse is located in a black waterproof shell tucked into the wiring for the usb/LEDS. It takes a flat automotive style fuse.

Confirm its intact and seated properly into the socket.
The bms is also on the top. Mine is all glued in. This is the only markings I could find on it without completely removing all the glue etc.

Many different bike manufacturers use the Reention style packs for cross compatibility/quality/integration/aesthetic etc. However, different companies use different brands of cells arranged in different configurations to achieve different current ratings. If you had a motor/battery short, that massive instantaneous current draw could easily cause the fuse to blow in order to protect the batteries. The manufacturers use a main fuse sized appropriate to the specific battery cell configuration, and the packs rated maximum amp output. Changing the fuse for a higher rated one or eliminating it with the assumption you will get more power is 100% FALSE. it's there for a reason to protect the batteries in the event they are over discharged or shorted it will save you from destroying your battery pack.

 

[jono1331]

The contact points on this type of battery are notorious for failure. It's a design flaw. You can replace them. There are threads about "Juiced" batteries that identify the problem and replacement parts.

 

[jono1331]

The contact points on this type of battery are notorious for failure. It's a design flaw. You can replace them. There are threads about "Juiced" batteries that identify the problem and replacement parts.

ebay has them

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pcs-Reen...709529?hash=item2f3f7e5f99:g:V~0AAOSwYY1eZnmM