Sent a Freego 36V 10A battery away for repair at a total cost of nearly £50.- for Inspection. They informed me "due to the physical dimensions of the battery case our recell packs do not fit". So I contacted Freego and asked them about this and they said their batteries are unrepairable. Any one else had this experience?
Freego battery unrepairable?
- Thread starter Seanoge
- Start date
I have never had the new Freego battery, with Samsung cells open. I have replaced switches and repaired wiring inside the old. I say this just to let you know of my experience with these batteries. The main dfference between the two batteries is the size of the new, better, smaller samsung cells. With the new cells also came with a price increase of £50 per battery.
By going to these cells, they could increase the capacity from 10.4ah to 15.8ah in the same case. This eliminated the need of changing the base plate and slider when upgrading. The inside of your old battery may not be able to take the new cells. I do not know for sure.
It would be a better option for you to simply buy a new battery. I can not speak for Freego but it wouldn't hurt to ask for a £50 discount on the new battery if that is what you want to do. Another option would be to have it recelled by a company that does this sort of thing. It was 1.5 years ago when I looked into this and at the time I think it was around £380 for a 10ah rebuild. I am sure there are others here that can point you to a receller better than I.
Hope this helps
D
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All batteries are repairable. . If you showed us which battery you have, we could give more specific advice.
I'm sure Jimmy can fix it for you:
https://ebikebatteries.co.uk/
Where did you send it for £50 not to be fixed? We need to add them to our blacklist of battery repairers.
I'm sure Jimmy can fix it for you:
https://ebikebatteries.co.uk/
Where did you send it for £50 not to be fixed? We need to add them to our blacklist of battery repairers.
If your battery isn't working and you are fairly competent diy wise and have a voltage meter then you have nothing to lose by opening it up and carrying out some basic checks yourself, certainly a lot cheaper then having paid a bandit £50 just to say sorry nothing doing.
By posting some pics we can guide you through how to check and measure cell/pack voltage and the wiring, also we can then see if the problem is charging or a discharging problem and to whether the cells are just scrap or not.
By posting some pics we can guide you through how to check and measure cell/pack voltage and the wiring, also we can then see if the problem is charging or a discharging problem and to whether the cells are just scrap or not.
You could join the 'Private Freego Owners Group' on Facebook. Lots of input there from Freego owners and Freego management.
It just goes dead. No lights on it. This is part of the report -
"It cuts out under load. The battery management system is what causes it to cut out. I opened the case up to see if it was a component or connection that could be repaired, but unfortunately it's not. Either a cell or cells are breaking down under load, which the management system senses, then cuts the connection out, but as individual cells cannot be replaced from a cell pack of this type it unfortunately means renewal of the whole battery.
I can't give a full report on the health of the cell pack as a whole i.e. it's capacity, as it cuts out under even the relatively low 4 amp load that the discharge meter applies.
It charges to 40.9 volts, where it should be charging to 42v +/- 0.2 which indicates either one or two dead cells, or a cell pack which has reached the end of it's service life".
your battery is probably unbalanced. If you open your battery case and check the voltage reading on the balance wires, you should be able to confirm the diagnosis.
Replacement BMSes are quite cheap to buy on ebay.
Replacement BMSes are quite cheap to buy on ebay.
Electric Bike Sales, I sent to their Bristol Branch. £35.- for checkup & £10.- return Postage, & it cost me £7.- to send it. This was the 1st. report -
"Your battery is faulty, unfortunately cannot be repaired, and needs to be replaced. The battery cuts out under load, so it's not possible to get a capacity reading from the battery.
Replacements are 8ah £230, 10ah £330 and 15ah £530. Plus £15 delivery.
Minus the £35 diagnosis fee you have paid".
I wrote back telling him I knew the battery was faulty that's why I sent it to them. He then produced a fuller report. Still £50.- out of pocket
"Your battery is faulty, unfortunately cannot be repaired, and needs to be replaced. The battery cuts out under load, so it's not possible to get a capacity reading from the battery.
Replacements are 8ah £230, 10ah £330 and 15ah £530. Plus £15 delivery.
Minus the £35 diagnosis fee you have paid".
I wrote back telling him I knew the battery was faulty that's why I sent it to them. He then produced a fuller report. Still £50.- out of pocket
Sounds like a decent deal to me for a like for like factory replacement.
Maybe, but I was under the impression that Batteries were repairable especially a Brand like Freego.
For the competent diyer batteries are often repairable however for a bike brand not so as it is time consuming to dismantle and repair/replace duff cells or other component parts.. Most will need a welder and all the other little bit of paraphernalia needed.
Batteries are generally mass produced unless a bespoke one is made so cells will be equal and unused.
Batteries are generally mass produced unless a bespoke one is made so cells will be equal and unused.
Is there any indication in the fuller report that they may have unintentionally done something for it to come to life ?
Keep an eye on it and let us know how it behaves.
Keep an eye on it and let us know how it behaves.
Yes, same battery case anyway. Had it out for short spins with a few hills and seems normal. Will go further when we get some decent weather. Thanks to you all for the help and advice.
Sounds like a good luck story.
But as to your original posting. .. while a battery pack is in theory repairable , one has to examine the cost benefits in doing so. .. while finally only 1 or 2 cells have faulted, the remainder will be quite old and worn. To identify the defectives means braking into the pack which is welded together , and extracting them, then replacing them and rebuilding the pack and rewelding. The action of welding puts stress on the cells.
Once done, what reliability has the new pack, considering that the majority of cells are old?
What repairer could give any guarantee?
There is a lot of labour in the task, .. it's not like demolition it's more like reclaimation. And unlike new battery pack manufacturing, there isn't the economy of scale or the use of jigs and fixtures.
But as to your original posting. .. while a battery pack is in theory repairable , one has to examine the cost benefits in doing so. .. while finally only 1 or 2 cells have faulted, the remainder will be quite old and worn. To identify the defectives means braking into the pack which is welded together , and extracting them, then replacing them and rebuilding the pack and rewelding. The action of welding puts stress on the cells.
Once done, what reliability has the new pack, considering that the majority of cells are old?
What repairer could give any guarantee?
There is a lot of labour in the task, .. it's not like demolition it's more like reclaimation. And unlike new battery pack manufacturing, there isn't the economy of scale or the use of jigs and fixtures.
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You may just have 1 cell out of balance to make it faulty. Check first voltage difference on each cell.
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