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Rad City battery is ?iffy?

Started by Grebd, June 01, 2023, 11:47:23 AM

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Grebd

I live in a cold climate, so my battery was removed from the bike, charged fully and stored inside for 6 months.  Put it on the bike in May and have had some confusing signals.  It has worked - almost perfectly.  Problem is the LED indicator on the battery gives me one blink and goes out, no matter the charge status.  Other problem was even when the battery indicator on the UI showed full charge, it died on me completely.  Makes me nervous about going for a very long ride.

handlebar

I think it may be out of balance, meaning that while it sat, some cells ran down more than others. The trick is to get the low cells charged. I believe Radpower says to charge it 12 hours, ride it a few miles, and repeat the cycle twice more.

For several months, my Radrunner has been my backup bike. A week ago, my log showed that I'd last charged it in October and ridden it only 35 miles. It still showed 46 volts, but the controller would often cut the motor off. Apparently some cells were too low to supply the required current.

I charge with a timer and a Kill-A-Watt meter. I like that brand because it shows power down to 0.1 Watt. With a charged battery, the charger pulls 2 watts or less, but now it was pulling several watts with the green light on. I considered that to mean it was balancing. If I got it down to 2 watts and I let it sit, when I turned the charger back on it would pull a lot more. I considered that another sign that it was balancing. After a couple of days of on-and-off charging, I put the battery back on the bike. After a few miles, I'll see how it charges.

inoxa

#2
Read your Rad manual on battery storage and performance.  The RadRover 5 I have says to not store the battery fully charged but only half charged. The newer battery versions may not have same storage requirements as mine.

Good luck

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