Salisbury battery

[Dave dee]

No power but 3 red lights stay on when connected to mains. Help.

 

[vfr400]

No power but 3 red lights stay on when connected to mains. Help.

can we have a little more info about what you're trying to do?

 

[Andy-Mat]

No power but 3 red lights stay on when connected to mains. Help.

Tell us your battery voltage at least, then we can possibly tell you what to look for with a voltmeter.....
Have you not used your bike for some time? Could it possibly be so discharged that it will not charge?
Is it a Li-Iion battery, or another type?
Anything else you can tell us? Age of the battery for example!
regards
Andy

 

[Dave dee]

Andy, not used for 3 years. Been plugged in for 12 hours not charging. See photo for type.
Works when switched on plugged into mains but not on battery.
Hope this helps

 

[Andy-Mat]

Andy, not used for 3 years. Been plugged in for 12 hours not charging. See photo for type.
Works when switched on plugged into mains but not on battery.
Hope this helps

I would guess that the battery is basically dead.
All the bike batteries I have seen or even have, must be charged up to about the "nominal" voltage, and never let to go below a specific setting.
For example, a 36 volt Li-ion battery, should be kept above 30 volts at all times. Usually stopping the charge at around 36 volts will be a reasonable "middle of the road" value to prevent the problem you are seeing..
Check every few weeks. You need a voltmeter to do this.
If the battery voltage drops below 30 volts, there is circuitry that will prevent charging for safety reasons. Only what is called a Zero volt charger, MIGHT recover it, but after 3 years probably not!! These chargers are "thin on the ground!"
When needed for normal usage, then a 36 volt battery is charged to 42 volts, and not a milli volt more, for the best life and full capacity!
A 36 volt battery has 10 cells in series, plus a certain number of cells in parallel, to up the available current, the actual voltages on each cell are therefore the values I mentioned, divided by 10. Easy Peasy!
If your bike has another nominal voltage than 36 volts, then the voltages I mentioned for the whole battery are easily worked out using the single cell voltages, multiplied by the number of cells in series......
My thoughts are that either you need the old battery "re-celling" or replacing.....
Any questions,just ask.
regards
Andy
PS. I only know of one company that sells that special charger, but only for 36 volt batteries.
PPS. I charged one of my batteries to 36 volts last year, and after 3 months idle, it only lost 0.9 volts! Panasonic cells are really good.

 

[Dave dee]

Andy, many thanks for all the info. The Mrs will have to pedal harder to keep up. Will troll for companies that re-cell see if that is feasible. Seen the cost of a new one and might as well buy a new bike.
Once again, many thanks.
DD

 

[Eagle]

Dave dee,

For a re-cell contact Jimmy or Cem at:
Insat International
1a Gateway Mews,
Ringway
Bounds Green
London
N11 2UT
Tel : 0208 361 1790
https://www.bga-reworking.co.uk/
https://www.bga-reworking.co.uk/contact/
https://ebikebatteries.co.uk/

 

[Andy-Mat]

Andy, many thanks for all the info. The Mrs will have to pedal harder to keep up. Will troll for companies that re-cell see if that is feasible. Seen the cost of a new one and might as well buy a new bike.
Once again, many thanks.
DD

If you decide to go for re-celling, then do make sure that the batteries used are guaranteed to be of really good quality, as there are reports of reject cells finding there way to Europe and being fitted into e-bike batteries.
I personally have only had Panasonic in both my first and current e-bikes, and can highly recommend them. I gave away my first e-bike after 6 years, having bought second hand, but I treated the battery carefully and managed to exceed 3,000 Kms most years. The battery was almost as good at the end, as it was when I bought it!!
My current bike I have two batteries, all bought new, and after one year, no problems have been seen.
Certain other "Top" makes of battery will be at least as good, and last just as long and I am sure that some here can recommend some other quality names.
My tip is, if you do not recognise the maker's name instantly, be very wary......watch out for similar names with a less than obvious "spelling errors!"
A good manufacturer sells cells in matched versions, tested to be as close as possible identical to each other.....
As you pointed out, you might be better in selling the bike on ebay, mentioning the defective battery, and buying something good with the proceeds and a bit more!
If you can find a bike shop with a "Zero volt" charging facility, to allow recovering Li-ion batteries that have been "over discharged", ask them what they would charge (pun intended!) you to try and recover the battery for you.......it probably will not work, but you never know!!
If that works, that would be your cheapest option, but does not guarantee a long battery life!
Furthermore, you will need to accept that capacity will probably be very low at first, but if you are lucky, after 10 full charge/discharge cycles, then the capacity will start to return to a still useful level.......with luck!
Do make sure that you are allowed to be present at the testing, as some will sadly, just make themselves an opportunity to sell you something new, not having tested your battery at all! If they will not test in your presence, (it will take a good hour or so!), those companies make themselves VERY suspect.
WARNING! Due to the explosive nature of Li-ion batteries, do not attempt to do anything yourself, its far too dangerous, to life and limb (not forgetting your property!)
Even the people who work on such batteries as a profession, have made remarks here on this website that demonstrates that they do not possess the knowledge, or the equipment, to correctly and safely work on e-bike batteries. Appalling!!
This is often the case when something relatively new catches on (e-bikes in this example) and experienced and knowledgeable people are difficult to find!!!
I was recently appalled at the stupidity of several members in this manner.....So do be careful who you trust.
Regards
Andy

 

[flecc]

The Salisbury battery is a 26 volt li-polymer. They aren't one of the most long lived so that one is almost certainly dead and beyond recovery.

Recelling as advised by BGA who do excellent work is the answer, since Powacycle appear to have shut up shop.
.