rwent1 Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Just got my second wheel, an Inmotion V5F, for Christmas and the external power charging brick just died after a couple of weeks of use. I'm surprised, since I've never seen a charging brick fail. I presume ewheels will replace it since I'm well within their 1 year warranty period but just curious if anyone else has seen one of these fail -- anyone? Along those lines, just in case I may need to replace this at my own expense, are there any smart chargers that anyone would recommend? BTW, I did ask ewheels about their 84v Rapid Charger but they said that it wasn't compatible with the Glide 2. Thanks, everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 According to @Jason McNeil these cheap chargers (all brands) can fail quite a lot. Even though you hear little about that. Don't worry, he will definitely replace yours. I would be careful with a fast charger on a small battery like the V5F. Or maybe it is ok? No idea, @US69 can do the math for you Not sure if it is worth it, though. 13 minutes ago, rwent1 said: BTW, I did ask ewheels about their 84v Rapid Charger but they said that it wasn't compatible with the Glide 2. I believe the Solowheel-branded Inmotions have different charge ports, so I guess there's no adapter cable that works for this specialty case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwent1 Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 Thanks for the info, Meepmeepmayer! I also fly FPV drones and I only use smart battery chargers (ie, ones that I can set the charging rate and will auto shutoff at 80%). It really extends their life. I throw those cheap wall-warts in the trash as soon as they come it. I wasn't sure how "intelligent" these Inmotion branded power bricks are, especially since they are double of what 84v/1.5a chargers should cost -- but apparently they ain't too smart after all. Another reason why I was thinking of just getting a generic 84v/1.5a charger (or chance it with the ewheels' Rapid Charger) and then finding an adapter cable. Adapters are cheap. When my company upgraded our Lenovo laptops with their new proprietary square connectors (which I notice is what Inmotion is now using), I found adapters that would convert all of my old Lenovo power bricks for just $4. I could just use one of these -- once I get past the warranty period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 They just push with up to 84V and limit themselves to 1.5A. That's all they do. Couldn't be any dumber. So if you have an adapter cable with the right ends, possibly with the right pin layout if that applies (if it's a GX connector), that doesn't melt at 1.5A, any 84V charger will do. Just like the ewheels 84V charger and its adapters. Make sure the current doesn't get too high for the wheel or cable, though. Whatever too high exactly means here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwent1 Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 Good point. 126w is pretty high. I'll have to check the adapter's ratings. I may have to just build it myself. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Btw the ewheels fast charger is also dumb, only the current is higher, and it has the auto shufoff options (just voltage limits probably). There's no "smart" (whatever that means) charger of any kind for EUCs because there's no backchannel from the wheel to the charger that could supply any interesting info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwent1 Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 Are there any good charger options? $60 seems a lot what should be a $35 charger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Not sure what the AliExpress prices are. But yes, we're getting gouged Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockyTop Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 My friend and I just got the 18XL’s. My friends only worked once. Now we are having to share a charger until he gets a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofjob Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 4 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said: I believe the Solowheel-branded Inmotions have different charge ports, so I guess there's no adapter cable that works for this specialty case. I might be mistaken, but I believe it was only the V8/Glide 3 that inexplicably changed ports from GX12-3 to GX12-4. The V5F I believe stayed the same Lenovo charge standard (but different wiring from the KS-18L/KS-18XL Lenovo). @rwent1 if you're handy (and it sounds like you might be), you could borrow the Lenovo male end of the dead charger and make an adapter by soldering / wiring it to a female GX16-4, a Gotway 84V standard (1st pin is +, 2nd pin is -). Then, you can use eWheel Gotway 84V chargers, etc., more plentiful since Gotway 84V wheels are high in demand. Regarding max amps charging for the V5F, the V5F is 2p, so math says fast charge would be approx .75C = 5A, but FWIW the old eWheels "fast" charger for the V5F+ was 2.5A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inmotion Global Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 On 1/15/2019 at 3:05 AM, rwent1 said: Just got my second wheel, an Inmotion V5F, for Christmas and the external power charging brick just died after a couple of weeks of use. I'm surprised, since I've never seen a charging brick fail. I presume ewheels will replace it since I'm well within their 1 year warranty period but just curious if anyone else has seen one of these fail -- anyone? Along those lines, just in case I may need to replace this at my own expense, are there any smart chargers that anyone would recommend? BTW, I did ask ewheels about their 84v Rapid Charger but they said that it wasn't compatible with the Glide 2. Thanks, everyone! @rwent1 Hi. There are very few percecntage of power charging brick will fail suddenly. Feel free to look for help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwent1 Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 7 hours ago, Liamfind said: @rwent1 Hi. There are very few percecntage of power charging brick will fail suddenly. Feel free to look for help. Yeah, lucky me and @RockyTop to both get ones that fail during their infant-mortality phase. But, from the many posts that I'm seeing, this seems like it's more common than the norm. Maybe IM should track the failure rates and, if it's above the mean, then maybe consider a higher quality OEM than Shenzhen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inmotion Global Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 7 hours ago, rwent1 said: Yeah, lucky me and @RockyTop to both get ones that fail during their infant-mortality phase. But, from the many posts that I'm seeing, this seems like it's more common than the norm. Maybe IM should track the failure rates and, if it's above the mean, then maybe consider a higher quality OEM than Shenzhen. @rwent1 Thanks. As far as I am concerned, there is not much cases reported, which is then the normal case. But I will talk to the manunfacturer about it. It wouldn't be bad spending much more time to improve the quality of the accessories and the products. If you need any help, just let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwent1 Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 I just got two new power chargers for my Glide2/V5F and both of them heat up to 110 degrees F while charging, which I believe is far too hot for what a power charger should run at. None of my other wheel and e-scooter power chargers (from different vendors) get even slightly warm. The first power charger that came with my Glide2/V5F failed within two weeks. So either: there is a significant design flaw with the chargers causing them to over heat, or there is a design flaw with the Glide2/V5F that allows it to draw to much current, or my Glide2/V5F is faulty in that it draws too much current. Presuming such a design failure would have been identified and fixed, I'm leaning toward suspecting that there is a quality control failure in production with my Glide2/V5F. Whichever of these it its, it's not making InMotion's QC look particularly reliable or competent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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