Volador - battery issues

[Vmenon]

after reading the awesome reviews on EBR and elsewhere I got a Qualisport Volador e-bike last month and been having a lot of issues with the battery. Overall the bike is well built and great to ride. I have only been using the bike for a month and less than 500mi on it now.
Anyone else having these issues ?

1. The charger plug connecter fits very loose in the battery socket. wrote to customer support and they said thats "normal"
2. Last week while I was riding the bike, the display and motor stopped working. Got home and plugged it in and the display came back on and motor is working fine.
3. Then the battery started sparking everytime I disconnect the charger cable.
4. Last time there was a big spark, parts of the charger plug and bottom of my seat kind of got sort of burned. See photo here.
   I had an extra charger at my office and that too started having the same spark issue.
   Alex wrote back "For the charging, could you plug the charger connector to the battery charging port first, then plug the charger into a socket at home, and see if there is a small spark, Generally speaking, it is normal to have a small spark in a plug."
5. Now the battery does not charge anymore. and both the chargers dont work anymore!!

Qualisport customer service so far has been amazing, they always responds within 24hrs and very helpful.
They are sending me a replacement battery and charger.
Thank you

 

[goldconch]

Sounds like either bad luck hardware fault or maybe weird voltage sags and surges at your charge spot. With the new stuff, maybe get into the habit of plugging everything in under the seat and adding the wall outlet input power last. That way, any surge/spark happens between the wall outlet and the power adapter box and not at, or inside your bike battery/controller. You could add a surge protector/line conditioner/UPS between the wall and the plug for the power adapter to be extra careful. I have a power line conditioner/power bar on my home audio/video/tv stuff and it is really incredible to see the intra-day variances, even on modern grids. Hope everything runs better for you! The bikes are fun!

 

[Vmenon]

I just got the replacement battery and the charger port on the battery is very different, i think that was the problem with the old one. Works much better now.
see photo below of comparison of battery port. customer service was great, they sent a new battery and charger.

Thank you @goldconch for your suggestions too, that makes sense. Using a surge protector.

 

[rich c]

When I had a Sondors, there was a sequence that prevented sparking and really seemed to work the best. Plug the charger into the wall outlet to charge the capacitors, unplug from the wall and plug into the battery pack, finally plug the charger back into the wall outlet until the battery is charged. If you didn't plug the charger into the wall to charge the capacitors, it sparked every time. Use the 3 step procedure and it never sparked. Without that pin in the battery, you either lost positive or negative depending on how it was wired. Usually the internal hole in the barrel connector is positive and the outside sleeve is negative. That pin may have been damaged from the start, or else you melted it from all the sparking.

 

[Vmenon]

When I had a Sondors, there was a sequence that prevented sparking and really seemed to work the best. Plug the charger into the wall outlet to charge the capacitors, unplug from the wall and plug into the battery pack, finally plug the charger back into the wall outlet until the battery is charged. If you didn't plug the charger into the wall to charge the capacitors, it sparked every time. Use the 3 step procedure and it never sparked. Without that pin in the battery, you either lost positive or negative depending on how it was wired. Usually the internal hole in the barrel connector is positive and the outside sleeve is negative. That pin may have been damaged from the start, or else you melted it from all the sparking.

Thanks Rich for the 3 step suggestion. good to know. Pretty sure the old battery had a factory defect with the pin missing or broken, I checked it, didnt seem like it melted.

 

[rich c]

Thanks Rich for the 3 step suggestion. good to know. Pretty sure the old battery had a factory defect with the pin missing or broken, I checked it, didnt seem like it melted.

Without any pin, I don't think the battery pack would have taken any charge. Without a pin, you either didn't have a positive or negative terminal. Ever jump or charge a battery without both terminals?

 

[ki11a]

Good their customer service came through for you, I had their Dolphin about a year ago.... it was a good bike before someone decided to steal it.

 

[ki11a]

Without any pin, I don't think the battery pack would have taken any charge. Without a pin, you either didn't have a positive or negative terminal. Ever jump or charge a battery without both terminals?

Yeah I think your right, I remember the Dolphin had a pin inside there...

 

[ki11a]

after reading the awesome reviews on EBR and elsewhere I got a Qualisport Volador e-bike last month and been having a lot of issues with the battery. Overall the bike is well built and great to ride. I have only been using the bike for a month and less than 500mi on it now.
Anyone else having these issues ?

1. The charger plug connecter fits very loose in the battery socket. wrote to customer support and they said thats "normal"
2. Last week while I was riding the bike, the display and motor stopped working. Got home and plugged it in and the display came back on and motor is working fine.
3. Then the battery started sparking everytime I disconnect the charger cable.
4. Last time there was a big spark, parts of the charger plug and bottom of my seat kind of got sort of burned. See photo here.
   I had an extra charger at my office and that too started having the same spark issue.
   Alex wrote back "For the charging, could you plug the charger connector to the battery charging port first, then plug the charger into a socket at home, and see if there is a small spark, Generally speaking, it is normal to have a small spark in a plug."
5. Now the battery does not charge anymore. and both the chargers dont work anymore!!

Qualisport customer service so far has been amazing, they always responds within 24hrs and very helpful.
They are sending me a replacement battery and charger.
Thank you

Check out the plug in your picture, the pin from the battery got loged inside

...which means if you were techy/ballsy enough to replace the charge adapter plug you could have another battery on hand

 

[Deleted member 4210]

Check out the plug in your picture, the pin from the battery got loged inside

good catch !

 

[Vmenon]

Check out the plug in your picture, the pin from the battery got loged inside

...which means if you were techy/ballsy enough to replace the charge adapter plug you could have another battery on hand

@ki11a No, it not logged inside the charger plug. i Cleaned out the plug after it got burned and there was nothing inside, both on the charger plug and the battery port. I am using the charger and it works fine. sorry, that photo isnt good & but thats just the inside of the plug, not pin.

@rich c Yes, its a bit strange, that without the pin either the positive or negative would not work, not sure how but it work for a few weeks before it burned.

Also I had sent the company a video of how loose the plug fits into the charger port. i was pretty certain from the get go that the middle pin was missing.
customer service thinks it was a manufacturing defect. I sent them back the old battery.

 

[goldconch]

<<runs to bike, checks battery for pin>>