Dropped Battery

[Barnsleyrob]

Out for a ride on Sunday and parked the bike outside a local pub. I removed the battery and put it in my back pack but it fell out and hit the pavement. There‘s very slight cosmetic damage to the metal casing but the onboard LED started flashing alternate red and blue (the LED is only meant to illuminate when pressed to indicate the charge level). Anyway after about 15 mins, the LEDs went out and when reinstalled, the battery worked normally.

As a precaution, I plan to recharge it on the concrete garage floor as long as the outside temperature holds up. Any suggested checks worth doing ?

 

[StuartsProjects]

Any suggested checks worth doing ?

Check what the manual for the bike\battery says about why the indicator light might flash read and blue ?

 

[Barnsleyrob]

Check what the manual for the bike\battery says about why the indicator light might flash read and blue ?

Unfortunately the bike didn’t come with anything that explained the battery or motor. Bought from new March 2021 from Evans cycles but they don’t know anything about them. I suspect that’s why it had a limited run and has now been heavily discounted.

 

[Nealh]

What is the bike model ?

 

[wheeliepete]

If the damage to the case is superficial and it still works and charges as normal, then it's unlikely it has suffered any internal damage, but without opening it and inspecting the pack, one can't be certain. I can't explain the flashing lights, maybe it was expressing it's displeasure of being dropped on it's head.

 

[Michael Price]

Worth trying contacting the manufacturer and see if they have any ideas.
If they refuse you have lost nothing - if they help you might gain a lot

 

[flecc]

You probably don't need to worry they can stand a lot of abuse.

Have a look at the two in this article on my web site, both having suffered massive damage yet serving out their normal life.
.

 

[Barnsleyrob]

You probably don't need to worry they can stand a lot of abuse.

Have a look at the two in this article on my web site, both having suffered massive damage yet serving out their normal life.
.

That’s useful flecc. It really is a couple of light scratches and the case is pretty solid.

I expect the lights were exactly the fact that it registered the drop and needed to do some fault diagnosis. Tried charging it in the garage and while the LED and charger seemed to operate as normal, it was a short charge cycle for a ride that should have taken 1/3 of total capacity. The controller registered a full charge as did the battery so I guess I need another ride to be sure.

 

[Michael Price]

If everything, including the lights, are working OK then I would assume all is OK

I'd still charge it on a fireproof base though

You could contact an expert like ebike-batteries and see if they could inspect it - of course they would have a vested interest in saying there is something wrong but sometimes you have to trust them

I did see something several years ago - somewhere near York - that would take a battery apart and test each cell and give you a full report. The aim was to identify whether or not it needed a recell - but when I looked last year I couldn;t find them
ANyone know of something like that - or done something similar???

 

[GLJoe]

I expect the lights were exactly the fact that it registered the drop

How would it 'register the drop' ?

Are there battery packs out there with stuff like accelerometers in them?
I'm curious, as while it might be a good idea, I can't say I've ever heard of this being the case. Do they exist??

 

[StuartsProjects]

How would it 'register the drop' ?

Well quite.

If the LEDs flashed some random pattern\colour, and there was no specific shock detection circuit inside, then it suggests a short or open circuit of some type occured inside.

 

[matthewslack]

Well quite.

If the LEDs flashed some random pattern\colour, and there was no specific shock detection circuit inside, then it suggests a short or open circuit of some type occured inside.

The only reference I could find to flashing red and blue was 'incompatible charger'. It's a long shot, because why would it flash for 15 minutes, but perhaps the charging circuitry got powered by an intermittent contact during the drop.

We will probably never know the answer.

 

[guerney]

Out for a ride on Sunday and parked the bike outside a local pub. I removed the battery and put it in my back pack but it fell out and hit the pavement. There‘s very slight cosmetic damage to the metal casing but the onboard LED started flashing alternate red and blue (the LED is only meant to illuminate when pressed to indicate the charge level). Anyway after about 15 mins, the LEDs went out and when reinstalled, the battery worked normally.

As a precaution, I plan to recharge it on the concrete garage floor as long as the outside temperature holds up. Any suggested checks worth doing ?

Small voltage/power spike from dropped battery cells being momentarily deformed by impact, causing an error message which stopped when the cells had a little time to settle down, would be my wild guess.