Help! Pendleton Somerby E (2019+) battery charger - shows charged (red light + green light) when not connected to battery

[DennisTheMenace]

I have a 2019 Pendleton which I bought new from Cycle Rebublic.

Yesterday when I connected it to the battery, and plugged it in it showed one red ligth and one green light.

I know that the battery needed charging. as it ran out yesterday.
This morning, the lights ar the same, but the bettery is not charged.
When pressing the "show charge" button , no lights show up.


I do not have the know-how to open and test the charger.

Question - do I just but a new charger?
This site looks like a good choice: https://ebikebatteries.co.uk - £40 including shipping
MUCH cheaper than Halfords - £80 but I can get 15% discount, so £68

 

[Benjahmin]

Before spending your hard earned:
Is the bike still in guarentee?
If not, you need to test the output of the charger. For this you will need a digital volt meter, can be bought on tinternet for as little as a fiver. You are going to need one anyway to test polarity before buying a new charger,
e-bike batteries is a reliable source.

 

[Nealh]

Use a meter to test the charger voltage.
Plug the charger in the wall an turn it on, with the meter turn the dial to 200v dc .
Poke the Red probe in the middle of the charge connector and the Black to the metal outer sleeve, you will then get a voltage reading . It should read 42v, if so your charger is ok and the fault lies with the battery .
Whilst at it check the battery voltage at the discharge point of the battery, place Red probe on + and Black on - to get the battery voltage.

 

[saneagle]

You need to check the voltage on both the charger and the charger socket on the battery. if the socket has no voltage, a fuse has probably blown. If the charger has no voltage, it's a bit more complicate. Cross that bridge when we come to it. When you check the charge socket, you have to be very careful not to shorth the probes or pins. It's best to use a spare jack that has no wires on it or cut a jack off an old charger of some sort so that you can put your probes on the separated wires. You can probe the socket directly if you have a steady hand and good eyes. There's a blade at the side and a pin in the middle, which you attach the probes to, but the pin is quite close to the blade.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

SO...
I bought a digital volt meter.
But before I started fiddling about, I pressed the lights on the battery, and... they all lit up ... Whack The Frog!!!
I put the battery back in the holder and it powered the bike.
When the battery went down, I charged it up again, and all is OK!
I didn't even get the volt meter out of the box.
If I read this (rather than wrote this) I'd say "User error", but I know what I saw, and I am at a loss *?*
Oh well, it works, and that is the main thing.
Thanks all for your help and suggestions; it it goes wrogn again, I've some steps to pursue.

 

[Sturmey]

Both the older and newer versions of the instruction manuals (attached below) state
"If the battery is not used for 24 hours or longer, it will automatically go into sleep mode. Press the power button on the battery for three seconds"
This might explain although I have never seen it happen with my daughters 2017 pendleton.

PS. There is a further comment in the newer first manual that states
" When the battery voltage is enough low (33.5V for 36V pack/23.5V for 24V pack) and rest more than 24 hrs, the BMS will shut down automatically to save power. To wake up BMS, you need to insert charger into battery pack.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

So now.....
The charger is ALWAYS showing these lights again

A while ago, it woudl show the red and green lights, but after wiggling connection to the battery, it shows 2 green lights, and the battery would charge.
I'm thinking that inside the cable, either one or both of the wires near the battery connection have been moved so much that they have broken, or at least stretched so much that there is not enough wire left to transfer a charge.
Is it a simple process to openupo the cable, cut out the "dead" wires, and solder then ends together?
Or can I get a new connection end?
How do I even categorise the end? I know the polarity of the connection

and voltage and amps

but I'd need a micrometer to measure the diameter of the outer and inner of the connector.
Is there a shop that sells connectors, or even a connector and cable? (Can't see it on RS Online or Maplin.)
I'm capable of opening up the charger, and replacing the battery-side cable.

 

[Ghost1951]

The power connector may have burned contacts. The fact that wiggling the plug in the socket lets it charge normally suggests that may be the case, or that the wiring has become loose, but I think that is less likely. Just a guess guided by the symptoms.

 

[saneagle]

So now.....
The charger is ALWAYS showing these lights again
View attachment 59952
A while ago, it woudl show the red and green lights, but after wiggling connection to the battery, it shows 2 green lights, and the battery would charge.
I'm thinking that inside the cable, either one or both of the wires near the battery connection have been moved so much that they have broken, or at least stretched so much that there is not enough wire left to transfer a charge.
Is it a simple process to openupo the cable, cut out the "dead" wires, and solder then ends together?
Or can I get a new connection end?
How do I even categorise the end? I know the polarity of the connection
View attachment 59953
and voltage and amps
View attachment 59954
but I'd need a micrometer to measure the diameter of the outer and inner of the connector.
Is there a shop that sells connectors, or even a connector and cable? (Can't see it on RS Online or Maplin.)
I'm capable of opening up the charger, and replacing the battery-side cable.

If there is a suspicion that no power is coming out of the charger's jack, use your meter to confirm it by measuring the voltage. You can stick one probe up the middle and hold the other against the sleeve while you wiggle the wires. If the voltage hoes to zero, there's your problem, but if it doesn’t, the problem is the jack socket on the battery.

Always switch on your charger before putting the jack into the battery, otherwise you can burn the jack socket and get the problem you described.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

So.. I measured the voltage across the charger connection, and it is 40V ( expected 36, but that is a different issue). To me that means the charging cable is OK after all, and the "wiggling" is just a "red herring"/coincidence / something for me to blame.
As for "switch on your charger before putting the jack into the battery", I usually do NOT do that.
I usually plug the charger into the battery, then turn on the charger. No particular reason for doing it in that order, it just felt a better way to do it.
Is it possible that the issue is with the jack socket in the battery?
If so, do you know how I can fix that? I would assume that I can get a replacement part, but I have not looked into that yet.

 

[saneagle]

I usually plug the charger into the battery, then turn on the charger......., it just felt a better way to do it.

Your charger Jack socket doesn't care about your feelings, especially after you burnt it a few times. If you want to start caring about your battery, switch on the charger before inserting the jack.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

Your charger Jack socket doesn't care about your feelings, especially after you burnt it a few times. If you want to start caring about your battery, switch on the charger before inserting the jack.

I fail to see how this helps me, I have already been given this advice.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

Can someone tell me how I can test if the jack socket in the battery is working or not?

 

[Ghost1951]

Can someone tell me how I can test if the jack socket in the battery is working or not?

Saneagle explained that in March in post #4 of the thread.

Click link and it will open at that post.

Help! - Pendleton Somerby E (2019+) battery charger - shows charged (red light + green light) when not connected to battery

I have a 2019 Pendleton which I bought new from Cycle Rebublic. Yesterday when I connected it to the battery, and plugged it in it showed one red ligth and one green light. I know that the battery needed charging. as it ran out yesterday. This morning, the lights ar the same, but the bettery...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[DennisTheMenace]

I've checked the voltage on the charger socket on the battery. It was initiall 0.65V then 0.
I took saneagle's advice and cut a jack plug off of one of the many old chargers that I should take to the recycle centre - see picture )
(ha! this one did come in handy, about 10 years after I stopped using it)
[I'd put reflective tape on the end of the battery - one small step in trying to get cars behind me to see me.]
So is the next step to source a jack socket, open up the battery, and replace the socket?

 

[saneagle]

I fail to see how this helps me, I have already been given this advice.

You don't seem to like my advice, so I'll let someone else guide you through what you can do, or you can do what feels right., though that didn't work out too well for you previously, did it?

 

[Ghost1951]

Yeah - its probably not a great idea when you need help to get snarky with the guy who spent years running an ebike workshop and spent most of his life in engineering.....

So - a couple of thoughts from me - much less qualified to advise you:

1. On Monday you told us that your charger was showing 40 volts at its output. I suggest that you look at that again because in my opinion, it should be showing 42 volts. Perhaps your multi-meter was not set on the right range and the value you told us is incorrect. If YOU have to set the range (as opposed to the self setting type) you need to set it on 200v DC and test the output of the charger.

If 40v is REALLYthe value, there is something wrong with it. It should show 42 volts. I suggest trying a different 36v charger if that is the case. You can probably borrow one from another ebike pal.

2. A few of us have hypothesised that the charge socket on the battery may be burned or otherwise damaged. This is not definitive unless established fact. I would hold off trying to buy another socket until you KNOW this is the case. Carefully examine the state of the socket internals using good bright light level and some magnification. Look for burning, or other anomalies.

Look also at the contact condition of the actual plug from the charger. Those contacts could be burned too, most likely the middle one of the pair. This might be easily sorted with the charger unplugged, you might be able to dress the middle contact if it has a problem. A needle file might help.

If the socket and plug look OK, and you have 42V at the charger plug, and you know you can do it competently, open the battery case and carefully trace the charge port wiring to the BMS to see that all the wiring is properly connected.

This is what I would do - if you open the battery, take extreme care not to short circuit anything. Measure voltages carefully on the wiring route from the BMS to the charge port. Record the values. This may give clues as to what is wrong. You could also measure the resistance of the wiring between the BMS and the tails of the plug you used to measure the voltage on the charge port. The resistance should be negligible.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

You don't seem to like my advice, so I'll let someone else guide you through what you can do, or you can do what feels right., though that didn't work out too well for you previously, did it?

I am happy to read your advice, I'm not happy with you trying to belittle people who have less knowledge in this area than you have, even if you are trying to make a joke.
As Thumper said "If you can't say soimething nice, don't say anything at all."

 

[saneagle]

I am happy to read your advice, I'm not happy with you trying to belittle people who have less knowledge in this area than you have, even if you are trying to make a joke.
As Thumper said "If you can't say soimething nice, don't say anything at all."

Did Thumper give you any advice on what to do about digging when you're in a hole?