please help me identify the ks model and verify the charger

[John Eucist]

 

Okay yes, as founder of this forum, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I haven't ridden a euc for over a year and I forgot for certain if these wheels are KS-14D. Can someone verify this based on the photo?

Additionally can someone confirm if these are the appropriate chargers to charge these wheels? I was charging them but the charger got real hot and the LED on the charger was intermittently switching between red, green, and off so something is wrong. I'm not certain these are the right chargers because I have a lot of chargers from all my previous eucs.

Lastly, should I upgrade the firmware or is whatever the firmware was about 15 months ago okay?

Tagging @Jason McNeil in case nobody else answers.

Edited November 19, 2019 by John Eucist
added last two sentences

[houseofjob]

15 minutes ago, John Eucist said:

Okay yes, as founder of this forum, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I haven't ridden a euc for over a year and I forgot for certain if these wheels are KS-14D. Can someone verify this based on the photo?

KS14D's have the thin, high side pads, while these KS14S's in your picture have the bigger side pads.

Both use the same 67V GX16-3 chargers in your picture. Perhaps the battery packs fell out of cell balancing between packs(?).

Haven't heard of any issues with firmware regarding these wheels off late, but I imagine KS has slowed down with firmware updates to these older wheels now (like they did with my former KS18S), so I imagine the latest and greatest is fine to update to. I'd just make sure the firmware wheel model matches with KS14S. 

[Chriull]

47 minutes ago, John Eucist said:

 

Okay yes, as founder of this forum, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I haven't ridden a euc for over a year and I forgot for certain if these wheels are KS-14D. Can someone verify this based on the photo?

They are definitely KS . And they look like my KS16S, but smaller.

Just googled - from the sidepads it seems to be a KS14S and not the 14D.

Quote

Additionally can someone confirm if these are the appropriate chargers to charge these wheels?

So 67.2V is the right voltage and on one site the charger is specified with 2A, too.

Quote

I was charging them but the charger got real hot and the LED on the charger was intermittently switching between red, green, and off so something is wrong. I'm not certain these are the right chargers because I have a lot of chargers from all my previous eucs.

Both chargers don't work on both wheels? So either both chargers went bad (and/) or both batteries?

Did you store both wheels with full batteries a year in a hot place?

It's a bit strange if both wheels/chargers (in both combinations) show the same symptoms!

You have reported battery voltage from an app? With and without charger connected.

A multimeter to measure the charger output voltage. By measuring you could verify that the voltage is at the right pins! (If someone knows the "layout" and posts it. Afair gw used the same connectors?)

But since KS has an input (polarity) protection a wrong pinning of the charger connector can should* only lead to just nothing happening.

* If there are mosfets used as "active diodes" diodes they could be destroyed by a wrong polarity (giving 2 times 67.2V...).

 

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Chriull

[Chriull]

So plug pin configuration seem to be the same for the chargers?!

 

[John Eucist]

31 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

KS14D's have the thin, high side pads, while these KS14S's in your picture have the bigger side pads.

Thanks. I just corrected my EUC field in the forum. Interesting they wouldn't actually print the model number somewhere on the euc itself.

Is the S better and/or newer than the D? So did KS make a newer 14 inch model after mine?

 

39 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

Haven't heard of any issues with firmware regarding these wheels off late, but I imagine KS has slowed down with firmware updates to these older wheels now (like they did with my former KS18S), so I imagine the latest and greatest is fine to update to. I'd just make sure the firmware wheel model matches with KS14S. 

If there is no serious issues with the older firmware I'd rather not "fix it if it ain't broke". Perhaps @Jason McNeil knows for certain.

 

34 minutes ago, Chriull said:

Both chargers don't work on both wheels? So either both chargers went bad (and/) or both batteries?

Did you store both wheels with full batteries a year in a hot place?

It's a bit strange if both wheels/chargers (in both combinations) show the same symptoms!

Both were charging fine for at least half an hour. Then later I went back and one of the wheels was doing the weird LED on charger thing and the charger was much hotter than the other one. I then unplugged both then posted this thread. After confirming I have the right chargers I plugged them both back in again and the charger LED is stable red now (charging) for both. I stored them for a year indoor and yes it was probably close to fully charged when I stored them (I know 80% charge is better for storage). 

 

38 minutes ago, Chriull said:

You have reported battery voltage from an app? With and without charger connected.

I don't even have the app. Which is another reason I'm kind of lazy/hesitant to update the firmware (if there were even an update).

By the way, is it normal that when turning on the wheel while it's charging that the self balancing mechanism does NOT kick in? I had to unplug the charger for it to self balance.
 

40 minutes ago, Chriull said:

But since KS has an input (polarity) protection a wrong pinning of the charger connector can only lead to just nothing happening.

That is good to know.
 

[Rehab1]

They certainty looks like the 14S.

 

 

 

 

 

[Unventor]

8 minutes ago, John Eucist said:

Thanks. I just corrected my EUC field in the forum. Interesting they wouldn't actually print the model number somewhere on the euc itself.

Is the S better and/or newer than the D? So did KS make a newer 14 inch model after mine?

 

If there is no serious issues with the older firmware I'd rather not "fix it if it ain't broke". Perhaps @Jason McNeil knows for certain.

 

Both were charging fine for at least half an hour. Then later I went back and one of the wheels was doing the weird LED on charger thing and the charger was much hotter than the other one. I then unplugged both then posted this thread. After confirming I have the right chargers I plugged them both back in again and the charger LED is stable red now (charging) for both. I stored them for a year indoor and yes it was probably close to fully charged when I stored them (I know 80% charge is better for storage). 

 

I don't even have the app. Which is another reason I'm kind of lazy/hesitant to update the firmware (if there were even an update).

By the way, is it normal that when turning on the wheel while it's charging that the self balancing mechanism does NOT kick in? I had to unplug the charger for it to self balance.
 

That is good to know.
 

Well you should have a S/N, but that doesn't tell all story if you had the wheels moded or serviced. 

As for KS14D/S the S version have stronger motor and bigger battery pack options, hench the bulk budge on the wheel. 

As for KS and 14" wheels it has been quite for news some time. It seems market trends are moving to bigger and fatter tire formfactor. 

I guess if you have not ridden the wheels for a 1+ year, then the risk is battery could go below low voltage threshold. 

Now my service experience is little with EUCs, but some wheels can be recharged is bms looses power/reset. To do this disconnect battery and then hold power button press 20-30sec, the reconnect battery. Connect charger and if lucky you get red light indicating charging. 

[meepmeepmayer]

2 hours ago, Unventor said:

As for KS14D/S the S version have stronger motor

I thought the wheels are the same. The 14S just has a bigger battery, which results in the wider side bumps and a maybe 2kph difference in some firmware speed limits.

Anyways, they came out about the same time, so the 14D/14S is "one" model.

[Marty Backe]

The KS14D was only available in the 420wh configuration. So your white one is certainly a 14S. See the sticker (not shown in your picture) on the black for its battery configuration.

I believe the app will also tell you that it's a 14S. But the battery size tells the real story.

I would install the latest firmware if they aren't already at the latest. The original 14S had heavy speed throttling at 50% battery. They released an update which fixed this.

The chargers can get very hot, but the flickering red/green shouldn't be happening.

The KS14 series is nice in that every 67-volt charger of that time period and earlier is compatible. I have an old $300 generic 67-volt wheel and that charger would charge my 14S (and any of my 67-volt Gotway wheels). Basically, all the 67-volt wheels back in the day used the same charger configuration.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Marty Backe

[xorbe]

15 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

The KS14D was only available in the 420wh configuration

eWheels sells a 340wH model currently also.

[Marty Backe]

20 minutes ago, xorbe said:

eWheels sells a 340wH model currently also.

Good clarification.

I should have stated that the 14D is not available in any configuration above 420wh.

[Jason McNeil]

8 hours ago, John Eucist said:

charging them but the charger got real hot and the LED on the charger was intermittently switching between red, green, and off so something is wrong. I'm not certain these are the right chargers because I have a lot of chargers from all my previous eucs.

Nearly all the chargers have voltage protection, if the battery threshold falls below 40v, the charger will not output current to the device, this is a requirement of all chargers specs. There have been instances where these chargers alternate between red/green. If the battery is over the 40v & it remains in this mode without topping up the battery, then the charger is probably defective, standard procedure is to replace. 

Good to see you alive & well Mr. Eucist, get back on your Wheel!   

[Mono]

11 hours ago, John Eucist said:

Thanks. I just corrected my EUC field in the forum. Interesting they wouldn't actually print the model number somewhere on the euc itself.

Is the S better and/or newer than the D?

the S came out in 2017, the D in 2016.

11 hours ago, John Eucist said:

So did KS make a newer 14 inch model after mine?

no

11 hours ago, John Eucist said:

I don't even have the app. Which is another reason I'm kind of lazy/hesitant to update the firmware (if there were even an update).

never change a winning team

11 hours ago, John Eucist said:

By the way, is it normal that when turning on the wheel while it's charging that the self balancing mechanism does NOT kick in?

I don't know for this model specifically, but otherwise yes, it's normal for a modern wheel. I guess it prevents to try to zip away while the charger is still plugged.

 

 

[Rehab1]

14 hours ago, John Eucist said:

 I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I haven't ridden a euc for over a year

Dear John, 

[John Eucist]

Can anyone please help me with my above link/post?

Edited November 20, 2019 by John Eucist

[Marty Backe]

7 hours ago, John Eucist said:

Can anyone please help me with my above link/post?

The latest version in the Play store crashes. Pretty stupid right?

Install the 3.1.8 version of the app from here (courtesy of @The Fat Unicyclist): https://www.roll.nz/apps/com.kingsong.dlc_3.1.8.apk

Be sure to turn off auto-update on your phone, otherwise it'll be updated to the broken app within a day 

Edited November 20, 2019 by Marty Backe

[xorbe]

3.1.9 from play store crashes, 3.1.9 from KS website works!

[The Fat Unicyclist]

I'm late to this party, but just in case there is any unanswered questions;

• The pads give it away... Both of these are definitely KS-14S.
• The chargers are correct for these wheels - and also for the 14D.
• The 14S is the same as the 14D, except for "expanded" side covers to allow more battery cells to be fitted.
• The motor is the same as used in the KS-14D.
• The 14S is most likely an 840 Wh wheel, but it has also been available in a 680 Wh version.

Regarding the App... 3.19 is flaky on some phones. I have the previous version (3.18) available here if 3.19 doesn't work for you.