Electric Pendleton Somerby problems

[iholt0]

I am assisting a friend with his two Halford Pendleton Somerby electric bikes purchased in UK approx 8 years old and we need assistance to progress. We are not very familiar with electric bike systems but I am a electrical technician familiar with similar components. Both bikes were working until one failed, the motor did not provide any assistance. He took it to a local repairer in Spain who concluded the controller was faulty based on observations and symptoms not on any measurements but declined to assist further. The battery unit from the good bike was fitted to the faulty bike which did not fix the fault however when this battery was refitted to its original bike this bike was faulty in a similar way. Now both bikes are faulty and it would seem that the original faulty bike has a faulty controller and battery unit and the second bike has a faulty battery unit. The components of the bike are shown in pictures. To assist us can anyone advise re the following.
1. We want to inspect the battery and its BSM for any fault indications but are not able to remove the battery pack from its attached base. We cannot see any securing arrangement ie screws or clips etc but the pack cannot be removed. It does flex somewhat and I wonder if its glued. Any suggestions of how to remove please.
2. Any suggestions of further test and diagnosis methods, we would purchase a DMM if required.
3. What is the best method to source replacements for the battery and controller units.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[vfr400]

That's bad luck. Two things I can think of:
1. There's a short circuit on the faulty bike that has blown a fuse in the battery, obviously, the same would happen to any battery you connected. I can't see a fuse in the picture, byt the picture doesn't show enough detail.

2. There's a short between a battery positive and one of the data wires, which would permanently wipe out any possibility of comms. That's almost impossible to test without special equipment, though it should be possible to test the faulty bike for the short with a meter if it does indeed have a short.

Let's hope it's 1 because that's easy to fix on the good bike, then you have to find the short on the faulty one, which would be most likely a blown mosfet in the controller unless you can find anything obvious. That's easy to test with a meter..

 

[Nealh]

I would agree with the fuse option having blown on both batteries, there is no real logical reason as to why the battery has stopped working after the swap.
One assumes a fuse might be in the Black rectangular enclosure in the first pic bottom rhs.
Regarding the controller one can use meter to diagnose mosfet failure and motor hall sensor failure, if you are up to taking a few simple measurement's.

 

[iholt0]

VFR400 and Nealh thanks for your help it is very much appreciated especially for someone like me new to this technology.
Your answers give me the understanding its common for battery packs to have output fuses which is what I am hoping to find when we can discover how to get the pack out of its base. It might be a case of use a bigger lever, a bit scary!
What and where is the comms function, is some of this kit programmable?

 

[vfr400]

Yes. it's programmable, but you need special equipment and software, so only for authorised technicians, unfortunately.

 

[Nealh]

Cross polarity will blow the fuse so worth a check that V+ & V- is correct and matching on both bikes, no reason why they should be different though.
Any loose wiring shorting will also cause the fuse to blow on the battery to controller side so worth checking for anything loose or any frayed strands.

 

[iholt0]

To close my post we found the fuse on both batteries were blown, hey were replaced and work fine on the good bike. For info the batterry pack is retained in the case by double sided adhesive foam which requires substanial force to detach. Again thanks for all assistance.