Charger fail

[gray198]

Hi all . Just come to use my Oxygen bike and charger is going straight to green and not charging. Battery was completely re built by Jimmy last June, so I would assume a fault in the charger. However before buying a new one I wondered if there is anyway to test the charger. I have a multimeter but not sure what to do with it. Any help appreciated

regards gray

 

[Nealh]

More often likely to be a battery issue.
Plug charger in to wall & sw on. Stick meter probes in to charger charge lead to see 42v or there abouts.

Charger going straight to green means BMS isn't switching to allow current flow so said BMS is detecting a battery issue.
Battery might have a broken sense wire , weld gone bad or blown fuse if no battery reading.
Cells out of balance even ?

 

[saneagle]

It's simple. You use a meter to measure the voltage on the end of the charger wire and in the battery charge socket. One of those measurements will indicate where the problem is. When you know where it is, you can find the cause.

 

[gray198]

Thanks for replies. But a strange thing has happened. First tried to charge battery on bike but got immediate green light, so I took battery off and tried to charge separately. Again green light immediately. Tried that several times. Same result. Have just put back on bike and now it is charging. I wonder if the battery has some sort of shutdown mechanism when it has not been charged for a while.

 

[saneagle]

Thanks for replies. But a strange thing has happened. First tried to charge battery on bike but got immediate green light, so I took battery off and tried to charge separately. Again green light immediately. Tried that several times. Same result. Have just put back on bike and now it is charging. I wonder if the battery has some sort of shutdown mechanism when it has not been charged for a while.

You use a meter to find out where the fault is, not guesses.

 

[Deleted member 16246]

You use a meter to find out where the fault is, not guesses.

What? do you not believe in tea leaf readings? How about chicken entrails?

 

[flecc]

What? do you not believe in tea leaf readings? How about chicken entrails?

Or the power of prayer?

When Gray put it back on the bike the last time he was probably unwittingly thinking "Please God let it work this time".

And it did.
,

 

[gray198]

None of those replies make sense to me. Merely stating what has happened

 

[flecc]

None of those replies make sense to me. Merely stating what has happened

Of course they don't, using a meter you can't find a fault that is no longer there.

Hopefully it won't be an intermittent fault that returns, but if it does you'll then be able to trace it with a meter. Meanwhile it's probably a good idea to give it a little charge once a month rather than leaving it idle for long periods. I charge all my lithium batteries once every two months which avoids any nasty surprises.

I doubt the Oxygen battery has a sleep mode but Saneagle may know that for certain.
.

 

[gray198]

Thanks Flecc, the battery has just been totally rebuilt by Jimmy Rustem who comes highly recommended on this forum, so is in fact not really the original battery. My first call was to Jimmy but unfortunately he is quite ill at the moment so unable to help. However it is true that I have not charged it for about six months,so maybe it needed a kick-start. If anything else develops I will update

 

[Deleted member 16246]

I once had experience of a battery which shut down and would neither charge or discharge . It was bought on a Pendleton Somersby ladies bike and sold cheap (£350) as was with a duff battery. I did something unorthodox and it all came good and now even two years later the bike is used by my partner and can take her a good 25 miles. I got told off for what I did to fix it when I related the story at the time, so I am reluctant to repeat it. It was probably one of the best buys of my life, given the price and the as new condition (battery gamble aside).

 

[saneagle]

Thanks Flecc, the battery has just been totally rebuilt by Jimmy Rustem who comes highly recommended on this forum, so is in fact not really the original battery. My first call was to Jimmy but unfortunately he is quite ill at the moment so unable to help. However it is true that I have not charged it for about six months,so maybe it needed a kick-start. If anything else develops I will update

If you insert the charger jack when the charger is switched off, you can burn the contact areas, which compromises the connection, so make sure you always switch on the charger first.