Lucas85 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 So I’ve put a lot of miles on my Nikola. About 2400 so far. And now it will only charge up to 78.5 volts and it starts the low power tilt back at like 74 volts. So I’m getting maybe five miles of range. It’s so bad it is barely usable anymore. I just replaced the motor right before this started and I have a brand new control board. I need a economical way to keep my wheel going. Any recommendations or anything ? I’d appreciate any help. Thanks . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Marty Backe Posted February 21, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted February 21, 2020 You just replaced the motor? Control board? Why, out of curiosity? Either there's a cable connection problem with your batteries when you reassembled the wheel, or whatever happened that caused you to replace the motor and control board also damaged the batteries/BMS The battery packs can be disconnect from each other. I would do that and charge the wheel with only one battery pack and see how that performs. Then do likewise with the other battery pack. This will isolate which battery pack is bad. Highly unlikely that they have both failed, but then again I don't know what abuse you put your wheel through 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas85 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 I broke the rim by hitting a rock in the road. And had to replace that. I have not replaced the control board I just have an extra one. The one ewheeps sent out for the people who bought the first shipment Nikola like you and I marty... . I just haven’t replaced it yet. I’m still using the first issue cb. I just hate to have to get a new wheel when I have an extra board and the motor is brand new... when my friend took apart my wheel he said that one of my battery packs had came loose and was just sitting there. Able to flop around. I did beat this wheel up. It was my first high powered wheel and I learned a lot with it. Had two max speed cutoffs and several falls that taught me a lot.... so now that I am more experienced. With over 4000 combined miles on all my wheels I now am confident that My next wheel will be babied .... So if the battery pack that was loose is the only one that is messed up that would be best case scenario I suppose. How much Do replacement battery packs run ? Or can the be rebuilt ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmethvin Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 A new battery pack is going to be expensive, usually a dealer like ewheels can give you a price for it. If the battery pack was banging around the first thing to check is whether any of the wires or welds inside the pack were broken. You might be able to repair it if that is the problem. There is shrink wrap around the pack that you can carefully cut and peel off to reveal the wires and connections. Once everything is repaired just get some new battery pack shrink wrap and put it around the pack, then shrink it with a heat gun or hair dryer. Charge each pack separately and check the voltages are equal before pairing them again, otherwise the voltage difference may cause a big surge and damage one or both packs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend27 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 I think you messed something up when you installed the new motor and control board. Just my initial thought. Would you be able to post quite A LOT of pictures of all the wiring. The more detailed the better. You'll probably also have to measure the output voltage from your charger (NOT CHARGE PORT ON THE EUC!), BUT BE VERY FUCKING CAREFUL! It can very easily be messed up if you short the charger and we do NOT want that to happen. Please just be careful and give everything an extra thought. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas85 Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Right on thank you guys so much for the tips. I am off work tomorrow and am going to open niko up and see what I can figure out. I’ll post some pics and info tomorrow as I get in there. Wish me luck. Lol 🤞🏼👍🏻👍🏻 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 You could try to see which pack is damaged by only connecting one at a time and charging for a few hours. If none of them go over that voltage you probably just have a bad charger. You can test the charger output with a multimeter first to verify. Also if you reconnect the two packs together they must have the same voltage or you could melt wires and stuff could catch fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend27 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 8 hours ago, alcatraz said: You could try to see which pack is damaged by only connecting one at a time and charging for a few hours. DONT DO THAT (yet)! you're gonna go ahead get get the batteries out of balance, and that's gonna mess with it even more... It will be fixable, but atm it's just not worth to mess with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 You want him to continue ride a broken pack? If one charges fully but not the other it's a simple warranty issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas85 Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 7 hours ago, Legend27 said: DONT DO THAT (yet)! you're gonna go ahead get get the batteries out of balance, and that's gonna mess with it even more... It will be fixable, but atm it's just not worth to mess with... Yeah I’ve gotta do something I can’t barely go five miles. And I need to be able to go a minimum of 20. I’m going to take the cover off today and hopefully only one pack is messed up so I can just replace it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend27 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 6 hours ago, alcatraz said: You want him to continue ride a broken pack? He shouldn't even be riding before he has identified what the issue is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 3 hours ago, Legend27 said: He shouldn't even be riding before he has identified what the issue is. True. What would you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 To the OP. Remember not to reconnect both batteries unless they first show the same voltage connected one at a time. Very important! If you swap packs make sure you disconnect one before you connect the other. In the wheellog app you get a voltage readout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend27 Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 5 hours ago, alcatraz said: True. What would you do? Stop riding and open the side panels 5 hours ago, alcatraz said: In the wheellog app you get a voltage readout. You gotta go ahead and get a multimeter... This can be really unreliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Even if it's not calibrated you can still measure the voltage difference much more accurately than the absolute. The absolute value 84V could mean anything between say 83-85 but two packs measured the same way at the same voltage are not going to be dangerous to connect together. The delta will be approximately the same for a calibrated meter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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