# Li-Ion Bike/Cycle Battery Dead - Help please?



## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

Hello,

Mrs. TM's bike battery has died.

Not been charged since last September and when hooked up to the charger it will not accept any charge.

The supplied charger I think will not charge a completely dead battery. I have tried to trick the charger into charging by introducing some voltage at the charge point, but the battery charger only charges for a few seconds.

Any tips/Suggestions or is the battery finished?

TM


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## karlb (Feb 22, 2009)

article here

looks like a quick boost is needed then if no recovery the battery is goosed!

rregards karlb


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## javea (Jun 8, 2007)

Hi Trev,

Had the same problem with the battery on my wife's bike a couple of years ago. Apparently if you don't keep them charged up they die. Now make sure the battery for her mobility scooter is charged once a month, two years old now and battery still fine.

Mike


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## pete4x4 (Dec 20, 2006)

Normally LiIon batteries have protection boards built inside the battery, these boards prevent the battery from being over discharged however the boards themselves take a small amount of current and if left uncharged they will go beyond the point of no return.
I don't know what your battery looks like but if its shrunkwrapped then you could get to the battery side of the protection board and apply volts to that side using the charger for a short time. No idea how long depends on what the voltage is but you need at least 3.6v per cell.

I guess it all depends on how much a new battery is. The battery would be fine once you get it above its minmimum voltage.

Pete


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## brens (Aug 11, 2009)

Bought a new battery for my leccy bike in Nov £289.
It is used most days and when new needed charging after each trip for a couple of months and then weekly,my last battery lasted nearly 5 years and only deteriated when it had full sun on it several times in the Med.
It swelled up and cracked the casing  lesson learnt,do they make cool boxes for batteries?


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Karl's link says definitely don't charge if it's been below 1.5 volts per cell.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*battery replies*

Thanks for the replies folks.

The bike is a bit of a Saga and has been nothing but trouble and money. Now this.

I was hoping to be able to force 36 or so volts into it to get it back to life, seems I may have to pull it apart.

There is nothing coming out of the other end, not even .1 volt.

I will have a look when I get home.

TM


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## bob23 (Nov 13, 2009)

Hi teemyob,
I keep the address of this firm handy for when my Giant battery fails, they will send battery cells for you to fit or do the repair for you, I took their details initially of ebay.fr but there comprehensive website is at Akkuplus.de


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Battery*

New battery is £240 - £295.

Think I may spend some more time at least trying to get it back to life!

TM


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*bike*

Quick update

Sold the Bike for £80 and put it towards a replacement second hand bike with a Heinzmann retrofit kit.

Far better but it is FWD so not too good on traction and uphills. Especially when towing.

TM


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## Hezbez (Feb 7, 2009)

Could it have been affected by the severe frost we had over the winter?
When I bought my bke from Peter at AS Bikes I was told to make sure I brought my battery into the house in the winter when I wasn't using it.


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

*Re: bike*



teemyob said:


> Quick update
> Sold the Bike for £80 and put it towards a replacement second hand bike with a Heinzmann retrofit kit.
> Far better but it is FWD so not too good on traction and uphills. Especially when towing.
> TM


Hi

Glad to hear that you have another electric bike and with that in mind how are you going to look after the Lithium Ion battery this time? ...We have a pair of bikes, from Peter at AS, and we are really pleased with them..... last week at Burford we laughed ourselves silly when climbing up the hill out of the town on a back road we came across two "lycra" cyclists ploughing up the slope ..we flew past them to amazed looks :lol:

Anyway back to those batteries , after reading up all I can it seems that I should not store them fully charged or drained and if I am going to store them for a long period of time I should have them at about 40-50% charged. Otherwise I have read that they lose capacity.

So after a use I will leave them as they are as we have not managed to flatten them yet and the indicator has always said that they are above 1/2 ful after use and then if we plan an outing I will charge them as near to the time of the ride out as possible ...any opinions on my planned charge routine?

Mike


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## Telbell (May 1, 2005)

No opinions Mike but a couple of questions:

Ours are Lithium Polymer-so would that have a different charging regime? A note on the batt's just says if not used for 3 months or more charge for 2 hrs every 3months !

How do you know when they're 40/50% charged? We just have 3 led lights on & have been told that once they get to one light there won't be much left and the battery will then suddenly "die"

Trouble is on ours you can't see the lights when you're riding so I'll put a mileage thingy on the wheel :wink:


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Tel



Telbell said:


> Ours are Lithium Polymer


Well I am assuming that mine , which were new with the 26" wheel Elecrobikes bought in Feb this year , are Lithium Ion but which actual type of construction I am not sure. I don't think the AS bike batteries are Li-Polymer... it is confusing. They are marked up as LiMn2O4 and if you google there is a good chance you will be as confused as me :lol:



Telbell said:


> How do you know when they're 40/50% charged? We just have 3 led lights on & have been told that once they get to one light there won't be much left and the battery will then suddenly "die"
> Trouble is on ours you can't see the lights when you're riding so I'll put a mileage thingy on the wheel :wink:


Well the only indication I have is that the led lights have never gone down further than 2 showing even after a long ride ( but we pedal a lot) and the recharge time after those rides has always been between an hour and two hours . I did not time the recharge exactly but the instructions say that about 4 Hours is needed for a full recharge so I am just guessing really.

Mike


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Battery replies*

I don't know how you do those multi quotes in one reply so here goes....

Hezbez

Battery was inside!

Spykal

Not using Li-Ion Batteries, gone backwards to 2 x NiCads.

TM


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

*Re: Battery replies*



teemyob said:


> snipped : Spykal
> Not using Li-Ion Batteries, gone backwards to 2 x NiCads.
> 
> TM


Hi

Ah Nicads, I do know something about those ... try to use them until they are nearly flat before re-charging as if you re charge after a little use and you do it too often the capacity will be reduced as they will develop a memory of the usage.... or so they say :wink:

Mike


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## Telbell (May 1, 2005)

Mike

Batteries have "lithium Polymer" printed on plate on them. 36v varietry on 20" folding bikes purchased last week

Copy/Paste of Peter's email to me when I queried the "3 lights leds"

"Lithium is funny stuff,it does not discharge like lead acid or nickle 
metal.All other batteries slide away gently and progressive.Lithium 
does not seem to slide away,it keeps a level charge and then drops off 
the edge of a cliff like the lemmings.So when you see the first light 
go off there will only be two or three miles left.You will probably 
never see a light go out."

PS- Picked this up from Google.Different bikes but tends to support Peter's comments above
http://www.electricbikehub.co.nz/?p=919

PPS- the link also states you should keep the (Polymer) battery fully charged between "rides"


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