Whalesmash Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) After I got back from my ride this morning (I rode the wheel down to 30%), I plugged in my S18 to get a full charge in. Immediately I noticed that the LED on the charging brick was green and stayed green when I plugged the wheel in. When I looked at darkness bot, I noticed it was drawing very little wattage and amperage. Two hours later, the wheel has "charged" by 2% which is more than likely just rebounding off some voltage sag, so I checked the charger and measured 83.3V with a multimeter. A bit low, but that should be fine. Does this mean my motherboard or some of my cells are bad? I do not even have 300 miles on the wheel, and it's never had any falls above 10 mph. I do trail ride my S18, but isn't this the kind of riding it's meant for? Not really sure what to do here. Is it perhaps time for surgery and a call for some warranty support? Edits: Should not be a battery problem: Measured voltage on both front battery packs, came in at 68.2 and 68.3v respectively Rear packs measured at 38 and 38.1V Edited December 21, 2020 by Whalesmash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Whalesmash Posted December 21, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2020 For anyone in the future who might encounter this issue, it turns out it was not a very major issue. It is just a fault of the batteries being unbalanced too far from one another. The front cells are both at 68V, but the rear cells combine together to produce 76V. This imbalance between front and rear cells is too much for the wheel to balance out. The solution was to disconnect the front batteries, charge the rear batteries to the specified 84V (42V each), then charge the front cells one at a time up to 84V. This is quite a time consuming process and I am still in the middle of it. I will update once everything is resolved (hopefully). I am uncertain as to how the batteries discharged so unevenly as I never overdrew the wheel (no cutouts) and never really went above 25MPH. I also never took the wheel below 25% (it's actually 30% but I'll give some room for error). Perhaps I will just need to be more mindful about how I ride in the lower voltages in the future. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Whalesmash Posted December 22, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2020 And so the mystery of my wheel's failure to charge is resolved. Both rear battery packs charge to a combined 84V just fine. Front left pack also reached 84V just fine. The front right? Have a look... I will consider myself fortunate that this damage has not led to some more serious complications (IE fire). I also take it to mean that the one fall on loose sand that I had over the weekend is the main culprit for this damage. What surprises me is that the exterior shell has no visible sign of damage. There are no cracks in outer shell or other signs of obvious impact damage in the local area. Perhaps a rock got wedged inside of the shell and smacked into the pack when it fell? I can speculate, but I'll probably be guessing for a long time before I come up with the right answer. In the mean time, I'll hope that my retailer can get my parts out to me before the holidays hit. 99% certain this isn't covered by warranty, so I'll be eating the bill on this one. I'll also be planning to add some serious padding to the shell just to make sure this never happens again. I learned this one the hard way, hopefully none of you will make the same mistake: Aesthetics aren't worth sacrificing the protection! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachboy Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 Hey man, How do you charge each of the battery pack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whalesmash Posted December 23, 2020 Author Share Posted December 23, 2020 9 hours ago, Beachboy said: Hey man, How do you charge each of the battery pack? Just disconnect the batteries you don't want charged from the main motherboard before plugging the charger into the wall socket/euc. In my case, I disconnected both front batteries first to charge the rears. Then I did each front battery one at a time with both rear batteries disconnected. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukasz Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 On 12/22/2020 at 3:35 AM, Whalesmash said: And so the mystery of my wheel's failure to charge is resolved. Both rear battery packs charge to a combined 84V just fine. Front left pack also reached 84V just fine. The front right? Have a look... The side with little wedge on battery has a bit of empty space inside... It is difficult to see how deep the dent is from the picture - so as this may be mechanical damage or not. It make sense to unscrew 4 screws on the top of the battery and slide whole battery unit out - then check if the dent "reached" the cells inside - they are protected a bit by the layer of laminate inside the aluminum case, then measure each cell around the damage. This is easy as contact points are visible, and this is 20s1p set. Electronics is on the other side, so it should not be affected that easy. Check with your seller if he will accept that You look inside - as he may void Your warranty, and when screwing the battery back please re-seal it with new silicone. Also You have mentioned that all batteries when charged individually charged to the 84V well? I know at least one case where there is an issue witch S18 charging NOT related to any mechanical damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whalesmash Posted December 24, 2020 Author Share Posted December 24, 2020 1 hour ago, Lukasz said: The side with little wedge on battery has a bit of empty space inside... It is difficult to see how deep the dent is from the picture - so as this may be mechanical damage or not. It make sense to unscrew 4 screws on the top of the battery and slide whole battery unit out - then check if the dent "reached" the cells inside - they are protected a bit by the layer of laminate inside the aluminum case, then measure each cell around the damage. This is easy as contact points are visible, and this is 20s1p set. Electronics is on the other side, so it should not be affected that easy. Check with your seller if he will accept that You look inside - as he may void Your warranty, and when screwing the battery back please re-seal it with new silicone. Also You have mentioned that all batteries when charged individually charged to the 84V well? I know at least one case where there is an issue witch S18 charging NOT related to any mechanical damage. There is definitely mechanical damage to the pack. I haven't taken apart the battery pack, but the dent is deep enough to have definitely made it past the dead space you're describing. I get the impression that this should be a repairable pack, but I also have a feeling it will be difficult to slide the batteries past the dent, so I'm pretty reluctance to attempt taking it apart for the time being. Perhaps I'll look into it in the future, but for now, I just finished installing a replacement pack about an hour ago and everything is back to normal. As for the packs charging to 84V, the rear packs combined in series reached 84V, and the undamaged front left pack reached 84V. The front right pack was the mechanically damaged one and refused to charge at all. (As a sanity check, I did try charging the damaged pack from one of the other ports, but was unsuccessful in getting it to charge. This ruled out the motherboard being the culprit.) I've also reached a conclusion as to exactly what caused the damage to the pack. It turns out the dent location lines up directly beneath one of the screw mounting points that secures the front fender to the frame (see below). With this in mind, I concluded that when the wheel flopped on its side, it fell directly where that screw/threaded insert was. With the full weight of the wheel combined with the falling force from the accident all landing on that one isolated point, that screw/insert was mashed right into the battery pack, causing the damage. For the future, it would probably be a good idea to put some form of plastic washer around the threaded insert to increase the surface area such that any impact force doesn't focus into a single point. A dent would be much less likely to occur if it's spread out across a much wider area. In the mean time, I've added some "chooch pads" to my S18 so that any future impact force at least dampened to some degree... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachboy Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 What batch is your S18? curious how the battery dent like that, altho I suspect it was factory defect battery... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..... Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 7 minutes ago, Beachboy said: What batch is your S18? curious how the battery dent like that, altho I suspect it was factory defect battery... 1 hour ago, Whalesmash said: I've also reached a conclusion as to exactly what caused the damage to the pack. It turns out the dent location lines up directly beneath one of the screw mounting points that secures the front fender to the frame (see below). With this in mind, I concluded that when the wheel flopped on its side, it fell directly where that screw/threaded insert was. With the full weight of the wheel combined with the falling force from the accident all landing on that one isolated point, that screw/insert was mashed right into the battery pack, causing the damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whalesmash Posted December 24, 2020 Author Share Posted December 24, 2020 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Beachboy said: What batch is your S18? curious how the battery dent like that, altho I suspect it was factory defect battery... It's either a batch 2 or batch 3. I got it around November 18th or 19th of this year, so the wheel is just over a month old. It's not a defective battery, it's damaged from... well... what I posted about? Do all yourselves a favor and protect your wheels so you don't end up breaking things like I did Edited December 24, 2020 by Whalesmash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachboy Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 7 minutes ago, ShanesPlanet said: Oh sorry I missed that point, thank you 7 minutes ago, Whalesmash said: It's either a batch 2 or batch 3. I got it around November 18th or 19th of this year, so the wheel is just over a month old. It's not a defective battery, it's damaged from... well... what I posted about? Do all yourselves a favor and protect your wheels so you don't end up breaking things like I did Yea sorry missed your explanation there, thought some old batch product with new issue again.. i love my S18, I have none problem so far ever since I fix that suspension issues..mine batch 2, drop the wheel several times and even got worst once or 2, all whats crushed was pretty much cosmetics like outer body shells, mudguard and deep scratch on suspension arms. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eucypo Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 I have similar problem with my rear battery packs...The left side is 38v and the right side is 42v...How could I do to be able to charge the battery that is in 38v individually? I have tried several ways, but the charger is always with the green light on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriull Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 34 minutes ago, eucypo said: I have similar problem with my rear battery packs...The left side is 38v and the right side is 42v...How could I do to be able to charge the battery that is in 38v individually? I have tried several ways, but the charger is always with the green light on. I assume the rear packs are the two 42V "half" packs? So if one has 42V it's already fully charged. As the other is still missing 4V (one cell group dead!?) the charger pushes the max charging current through the packs leading to single cell group overvoltage cut off beeing triggered by the full pack. So there could to be a very valid reason/problem keeping these packs from beeing charged! How did it happen that the packs got this different charge? Just "by itself"? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eucypo Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 10 hours ago, Chriull said: I assume the rear packs are the two 42V "half" packs? So if one has 42V it's already fully charged. As the other is still missing 4V (one cell group dead!?) the charger pushes the max charging current through the packs leading to single cell group overvoltage cut off beeing triggered by the full pack. So there could to be a very valid reason/problem keeping these packs from beeing charged! How did it happen that the packs got this different charge? Just "by itself"? Yes, I mean the "half" batteries. I don't know how it could have happened ... I discovered it when I saw that my kingsong was not charging beyond 85%.... Now, I don't know how to repair it or get the 38v battery to charge up to 42v ... any ideas? Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukasz Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 7 hours ago, Chriull said: I assume the rear packs are the two 42V "half" packs? So if one has 42V it's already fully charged. As the other is still missing 4V (one cell group dead!?) the charger pushes the max charging current through the packs leading to single cell group overvoltage cut off beeing triggered by the full pack. So there could to be a very valid reason/problem keeping these packs from beeing charged! How did it happen that the packs got this different charge? Just "by itself"? rear pack are connected in series so they create 1S 84V pack just divided into two halfs. There are some issues with half-pack voltage getting different and KS usually says that it is "normal" disconnects both of the front packs and check if the rear ones charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Song Wyatt Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 Hey I think I’ve had been having the same issue. My S18 won’t charge past 78%. I’ve gone in and charged the rear packs to 84v (42v each) and when I go to charge the front ones it gives Me a warning saying over voltage. I’ve tried 1 at time and both plugged in to charge up the front ones but keeps giving me this warning. Not too sure what to at this point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuacj Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 Hey, I have the exact same issue as you, I can’t get the front 2 battery packs to charge above 80% or about 78.5v, if any one knows what to do I would love to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fahrtwind Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 Hi, same problem. Error 223 Overvoltage. Wheel is 3 Months old, driven 350km. I contacted my dealer Voltride. This should not happen. This wheel is buggy… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fahrtwind Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 I disconnected the two front and rear Batteries of the S18 and measured the voltages: Front right 70,5V Rear right 35,2V Front left 70,5V Rear left 35,3V As the rear Batteries are in series (=70,5V), the batteries are balanced. However, I can not charge any singe battery when plugged in the motherboard, so it seems to be the board itself, the batteries seems to be fine! I already tested a different charger - same effect. I never drived in wet conditions! Damn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post enaon Posted April 30, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2022 (edited) 53 minutes ago, Fahrtwind said: I disconnected the two front and rear Batteries of the S18 and measured the voltages: Front right 70,5V Rear right 35,2V Front left 70,5V Rear left 35,3V As the rear Batteries are in series (=70,5V), the batteries are balanced. However, I can not charge any singe battery when plugged in the motherboard, so it seems to be the board itself, the batteries seems to be fine! I already tested a different charger - same effect. I never drived in wet conditions! Damn I have seen it happen, the bms's have a "health" signal on the connectors, if any of the packs it not with in limits, (undocumented I think but some info exist) the board will not allow charging. Also, the back ones must be connected for charging to start (I have seen a case where this conditions was bypassed, but was due to an error on the front bms, it was fooling the motherboard check somehow). In any case, try the following. Remove one the front ones one by one and check if charging continues. If yes, measure the sub voltage on this pack, if under 12 volts, the pack is bad. if you have only the two back ones in, and nothing happens when you plug the charger (normally it should strobe the lights) then either a board or one of the back packs bms. I think the photo is from ewheels. Edited April 30, 2022 by enaon 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enaon Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 (edited) Sorry, ignore the strobing comment, I just checked here to verify, it is not the same on all s18's, the one I checked now charges any one of the the three (the back ones together) packs alone. Edited April 30, 2022 by enaon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fahrtwind Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 Thank you. i tried charging with just the rear batteries plugged in. Charger stays green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enaon Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 (edited) it it easy to verify that the charger is not to blame? another s18/18xl near by, or another charger? Edited April 30, 2022 by enaon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fahrtwind Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 I tried a different charger. From the INMOTION V5F, same plug/polarity . No charging… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enaon Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 (edited) 58 minutes ago, Fahrtwind said: I tried a different charger. From the INMOTION V5F, same plug/polarity . No charging… I am not sure they are the same pin wise, I have also tried the one on the v5f (84volts) on the s18, didn't work. was the s18 charging using the v5f charger before, were you using it? if so ok, s18 charger is ruled out. Edited April 30, 2022 by enaon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.