RadCity battery not charging

[baymoon]

My wife purchased a RadCity step-through last July. The bike has 740 miles on it. Today, after charging it for four hours, the battery has not gained any charge as indicated by the bars on the controller. The battery charger displays one red light and one green light when it is connected to the battery as she attempts to charge it, the same as when the charger is not connected to a battery. I have a RadCity as well, and when my bike is charging I see two red lights on the charger, which I assume is the correct display until the battery is charged. We've swapped chargers, but that hasn't helped. Any suggestions for us? Hoping the battery has not gone south...but not very hopeful right now.

[DickB]

It is still under warranty - your best option is to call Rad.

[RadJohn]

Have you checked the 5 Amp "CHARGE" fuse on your battery? It's a bladed ATC type, under a rubber cover that can be pried out. They've been known to blow for no apparent reason and when they do, will produce similar symptoms to what you are experiencing. Rad instructions for checking/replacing battery fuses can be found here:
http://radpowerbikes.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002324673-Battery-Fuse-Replacement-Guide

[capav8r]

Well, our new last year RadRovers were acting the same way.  We had the batteries for both bike off the bikes and stored in our basement.  I completely charged them at the end of last year.  Got them out today (I know, we are late at getting out on the bikes) and pressed the battery charge meter on the battery, and they were completely dead.  Put them on the charger, looked at them 15 minutes later and the chargers for both batteries show one red and one green led, fully chaged.  I checked the battery meter again, still dead.  I am thinking, "GREAT, my batteries are toast"!  I searched the forum and found this thread.  Checked the 5 amp fuse, it is fine.  Then, it occurred to me:  THE KEY HAS TO BE ON FOR THE BATTERY METER TO WORK!!  The batteries were still fully charged after being in storage.  I hope my story helps someone else.  I feel like an idiot.

[sc00ter]

I have 2 chargers, one at the house and one at work. When I ride into work and go to charge the battery it'll go straight to "green" indicating its charged. Strange..... Anyways, if I leave it plugged in it eventually (after an hour to 2 hours) will start charging. A co-worker said the charger might not start charging because the battery was hot from being ridden wound out for 13 miles. Makes sense I guess, but I still swapped the chargers out. The problem seems to have went away now. It also hasn't been as super hot outside since swapping chargers. If I suspect anything I think it might be the plug on the battery taking a walk. Thinking of opening it up and see whats in there. Will post an update if the problem comes back or I find something weird when opening the battery up.

[bryanjclark]

THE KEY HAS TO BE ON FOR THE BATTERY METER TO WORK!!

Oh... oh my god, this fixed the issue for me! We have had a Rad Wagon for a few years, and the battery just stopped charging one time. I live near the Rad showroom in Ballard; brought it in yesterday and they weren't able to suggest anything other than "it's not the fuse, so you'll need to buy a $550 replacement."

Gahhhh it was just the key, dude! Good thing I searched here before going with their advice, but yikes, I'd expect more from their repair desk at their showroom!

[cvincross]

My battery started charging again after reseating the 5amp charge fuse on backside of battery under flap.  It wasn't blown.  But taking it out and putting it back in fixed the problem.  Worth a shot. 

[Broker]

Have the same problem with my new Radcity 5 plus. Charger shows a green light even though the battery is at 60% and won't charge even after being plugged in for several hours. My wife has a new Radmission and her charger does the same thing on my battery. No access to fuses that I can see in the semi-integrated battery. Any ideas?

[DickB]

Have the same problem with my new Radcity 5 plus. Charger shows a green light even though the battery is at 60% and won't charge even after being plugged in for several hours. My wife has a new Radmission and her charger does the same thing on my battery. No access to fuses that I can see in the semi-integrated battery. Any ideas?

Fuses are internal on the semi battery. Contact Rad if under warranty; look for posts on how to access them if not.

[gorillos]

Hello 8/28/22 Sunday I pry open the fuse cover by a tiny screwdriver and check the 5amp fuse and its busted pulled it out replace with working fuse beoawalla now its charging again.
Problem solve thanks for this forum guys thank you a quick fix on my Rad Runner Plus battery that will not charge after taking it for ride this morning.

Gerry

[gorillos]

I called the Rad Power toll free number this morning to complain about my battery charger that is getting really hot scared I can burn down my house on my Ras Runner plus and the lady said battery charger are not any way covered with warranty. My ebike is little over a year old purchased June 2021. Good luck guys I will never buy any Rad Power e-bikes  I dont recommend this bike bike. Bad support.

[JimInPT]

I called the Rad Power toll free number this morning to complain about my battery charger that is getting really hot scared I can burn down my house on my Ras Runner plus and the lady said battery charger are not any way covered with warranty. My ebike is little over a year old purchased June 2021. Good luck guys I will never buy any Rad Power e-bikes  I dont recommend this bike bike. Bad support.

If you called this morning, your warranty ran out in June so that's not too surprising, although an overheating charger is.  You could buy a replacement charger from Rad, but there are a number of folks here with plenty of experience who might be able to recommend an aftermarket charger from somebody else. 

In either case, if that's the only problem you have at the moment, just use it carefully for now and get a replacement charger on order.  If your charger overheats every time, when a replacement arrives and you test that it's working ok, either toss your old charger out (or give it to a techie for parts or recycling) but at a minimum cut the power cord off of it so that it can't be accidentally used in the future and cause a problem.

[JedidiahStolzfus]

The chargers get hot, all chargers generate heat, and the amount of heat generated is directly related to the amount of current they're pushing.  These chargers are pushing a lot of current therefore they're going to get hot. 

Personally, I'm not worried about the charger starting a fire.  It's the battery itself that you need to worry about.  If you are concerned about the heat from the charger, something as simple as a desk top fan blowing across it while it's charging will keep the temp down.  Have it blow across the battery too, but I doubt it'll have that much of an effect on the battery. 

[vvo]

Have you checked the 5 Amp "CHARGE" fuse on your battery? It's a bladed ATC type, under a rubber cover that can be pried out. They've been known to blow for no apparent reason and when they do, will produce similar symptoms to what you are experiencing. Rad instructions for checking/replacing battery fuses can be found here:
http://radpowerbikes.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002324673-Battery-Fuse-Replacement-Guide

Hey there, I just wanted to send a gigantic thank you, this worked perfectly for me.
Story mode for Google hunters in the future:

A few days ago, while willing to lock my battery on my Radwagon 2019, I tried to insert my key into the charging plug of the battery (wrong side!), it immediately cracked with electric sparkles and I thought "OOPSIE I just broke my 5,400 km and counting marvelous bike". But the bike electrical assistance still worked so 🤷 I thought everything was fine (silly me).

Then today I discovered that as much as I wanted it, my bike would not charge. Immediately I went to the rad power bikes website (Good bye Europe, ARGH!) to try to buy a new battery only to discover:
1. it's 500 euros (!!)
2. it's not in stock

I tried a few Alibaba searches but quickly realized my bike may be dead...

Luckily, I found your post after searching for "Radwagon no more charging". Then I went to my local supermarket, found a 5 Amp fuse, replaced it and... TADA!!! It works. You saved me man, thanks so much.

Now what I am fearing is that my battery will completely die and then I would not know where to find another one, even a third party one,

[inoxa]

I have 2 chargers, one at the house and one at work. When I ride into work and go to charge the battery it'll go straight to "green" indicating its charged. Strange..... Anyways, if I leave it plugged in it eventually (after an hour to 2 hours) will start charging. A co-worker said the charger might not start charging because the battery was hot from being ridden wound out for 13 miles. Makes sense I guess, but I still swapped the chargers out. The problem seems to have went away now. It also hasn't been as super hot outside since swapping chargers. If I suspect anything I think it might be the plug on the battery taking a walk. Thinking of opening it up and see whats in there. Will post an update if the problem comes back or I find something weird when opening the battery up.

I HAD THE same problem when I moved to Florida and found out it had to do with the battery being HOT.  Since I took that approach, I let it cool down and all it good.