Help! Sakura Shopper charger

[DavidG1981]

I have a vintage electric bike, Sakura Shopper,. either s305/s307
It has a throttle
This bike is from 2002, had one careful owner than it was sold to me
The charger no longer works
The problem is sourcing a replacement, as Sakura went out of business in 2007, the shops which was bought from Fleetwood cycles ceased trading after 40 years also
Even repair shops won't repair anything smaller than a fridge, over, washer, dryer etc
So I am unable to use the bike
Any advice would be appreciated

 

[saneagle]

I have a vintage electric bike, Sakura Shopper,. either s305/s307
It has a throttle
This bike is from 2002, had one careful owner than it was sold to me
The charger no longer works
The problem is sourcing a replacement, as Sakura went out of business in 2007, the shops which was bought from Fleetwood cycles ceased trading after 40 years also
Even repair shops won't repair anything smaller than a fridge, over, washer, dryer etc
So I am unable to use the bike
Any advice would be appreciated

How do you know that it's the charger that's faulty and not something on the bike side?

Which battery do you have?

You can use any generic charger for the type of battery you have. If you had found a Sakura OEM one, it would have been ten times the price for the same thing, so you were sort of lucky.

 

[DavidG1981]

It's definitely the charger as no light comes on when attempting a charge, having an investigation one of the capacitors was loose, so a friend tried to resolder, but this has not fixed the problem,
I have also tried charging without plugged into the bike and the same problem
The bike itself takes 3 times 12V lead acid batteries

 

[saneagle]

It's definitely the charger as no light comes on when attempting a charge, having an investigation one of the capacitors was loose, so a friend tried to resolder, but this has not fixed the problem,
I have also tried charging without plugged into the bike and the same problem
The bike itself takes 3 times 12V lead acid batteries

I would measure the voltage on the charger's jack before going any further. That's the way to tell if the charger is working or not.

Take your pick. You can cut the jack off the old one and swap it to the new one:

Google Search

Pardon our interruption...

You want one with an output voltage of around 44v and about 2 amps. It's not critical. You could even use a normal charger for 36v lithium batteries (42v) without any problems.

Are you sure the batteries aren't knackered? They can't normally survive being left unused for a long time, and if you need to replace them, you'd be better off swapping them for a lithium pack, which would probably come with its own charger. Lithium is a lot lighter and would give you triple the range.

 

[DavidG1981]

Thanks
The batteries have been tested and are fine, they were brand new when I bought this second hand in June last year, I frequently use so I don't think the batteries could have soured just now
My friend did try testing the charger previously but could not determine back then, his voltage meter was playing up, I suspected a while ago the charger was suspect we would intermittently go from green to no light
This is the connector for the charger
I wonder if I could source a similar charger for a mobility scooter which would work just as well

 

[saneagle]

Thanks
The batteries have been tested and are fine, they were brand new when I bought this second hand in June last year, I frequently use so I don't think the batteries could have soured just now
My friend did try testing the charger previously but could not determine back then, his voltage meter was playing up, I suspected a while ago the charger was suspect we would intermittently go from green to no light
This is the connector for the charger
I wonder if I could source a similar charger for a mobility scooter which would work just as well

That's the co-ax type. You'll be lucky to find a charger with one these days.

The only way to test the batteries is to do a range test. Even new ones will go knackered if you leave the bike for a couple of months without charging. Personally, I'd forget those useless SLA batteries and upgrade to lithium. That's if you want to actually use the bike, or do you want to just get it going so that you can sell it on?