18XL beeping seemingly at random.

[Michael Robert Ryan]

My 18XL is beeping seemingly at random (five beeps) when I haven't had it on in days. It happens maybe once a day. Its been plugged into the charger this whole time. Is it trying to tell me to unplug it or what? 

[Tawpie]

Probably saying "balance charge is completed, please unplug the charger". At least that's what I've been told is what my 16XS is trying to tell me when the complete charge process is finished.

After you unplug it, set it on the ground and power it up, let it balance, then turn it off else it may vampire the battery.

[Michael Robert Ryan]

What does "vampire" mean?

[Tawpie]

it's just sitting there using power when it's supposed to be off (in the dark, sucking the lifeblood of your wheel). My guess is that because KS turns the bluetooth module on when the charger is disconnected, they forgot to turn it off when the charger is disconnected so the bluetooth module uses power after the charger is removed. The vampire stops when you power cycle the wheel though.

In general, once you've heard the 5 beeps you should always disconnect the charger and power cycle the wheel. Leaving the charger connected causes unnecessary wear on your batteries—to maximize battery life you do NOT want to leave it trickle charging. As long as it's really 'off', the battery will stay charged and only lose a few % each month.

You SHOULD leave it connected to the charger until the 5 (or 6 or however many) beeps though, as balancing the battery pack is also important for maintaining a healthy and long lasting battery.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Tawpie
add section on why disconnect

[Hangman]

Here's someth'n I learnt from @Marty Backe

 

[.....]

On 2/11/2021 at 1:56 PM, Michael Robert Ryan said:

My 18XL is beeping seemingly at random (five beeps) when I haven't had it on in days. It happens maybe once a day. Its been plugged into the charger this whole time. Is it trying to tell me to unplug it or what? 

I don't know if its telling you that, but you should unplug it. As with most chargers, once the cycle is complete, you need not keep them plugged in. Over time, the battery level will drop and then the charger will trickle and then again and again. It not desireable on lithium batteries, to do this. Balance charge is one thing, but to keep topping it fully off, is not gaining anything. Lithium batteries are a little sinseitive to overcharging anyhow. This aint like when you keep an sla charger plugged into the boat all winter. Just unplug it when its done charging. Most batteries will drain faster if you leave them plugged into the (unpowered) charger, as there is some form of parasitic drain.  I do recall reading about a phantom drain, but thats easy enough to check. Power cycling resolved it tho, as maybe it was in fact a module being powered up on charge and failing to power down after disconnect. For me, leaving a wheel on the charger AFTER its balance charge, is merely upping the odds of fire or failure. I've forgotten mine all night before and was fine. But, I prefer to gain more for the risk, than the mere act of unplugging. I use a power bar with a switch on it, but stil physically disconnect the wheel first. I get less spark when I power up a charger before connecting it as well.

Edited February 14, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Michael Robert Ryan]

Just happened again and it's unplugged and was turned off after the last charge (which was probably no more than an hour previously). Any ideas?

[.....]

reinstall another version of firmware? It shouldnt be doing that. Mine has been sitting since full charge, for a week and its all peaceful and quiet.. Altho I do hear voices in my head from time to time. After the battery settles from charging for a couple hours, perhaps use an app at write down the EXACT voltage. So then you can check it in a day or two and see if theres much current draw when there shouldnt be. Obvisouly its drawing some and should draw none, but it would be shocking to find it was eating your battery fast while supposedly 'off'. Im rocking fw 2.02 on my 18L and thus is how it will probably be, when I kill it or it finally kills me. Further analysis after fw up/downgrade, will more than likely require opening the wheel and a multimeter. Do you happen to have any bluetooth music devices always on in the area? Just tossing ideas. Maybe the bluetooth module isnt powering down? I havent checked my board, but perhaps the BT module can easily be removed like on the sherm?

Edited February 20, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Chriull]

8 hours ago, Michael Robert Ryan said:

Just happened again and it's unplugged and was turned off after the last charge (which was probably no more than an hour previously). Any ideas?

Strange.

Once you turn it off double check this by trying to connect with an app to the wheel.

Never heard of an unplugged and turned off wheel to beep around. Just some veteran with some hardware fault was reported to be stuck randomly in power cycles...

Beside some hardware fault i could think of the automatic power down after inactivity. Afair settable up to four hours and possible to deactivate.

So if these beeps come just once latest 4 hours after you thought it was turned off it could be this sleep function and something not right with the power off procedure.

You can look with an app to which value this timer is set.

In EUC World it's called "automatic power off" and can be found under "wheel" in the main menu.

Once it was possible to set it to zero to deactivate automatic power down... Imho also with EUC World by typing 0 - but it'll show 5 minutes minimum, no matter what is set?

The "newer" KS have (?had?) sometimes surprising on/off behaviours with charging?

So you have some actual firmware version?

 

@Michael Robert Ryan- to check for vampire drain one should let rhe wheel sit about an hour after charging or use and ine double checked that the wheel is off (no connection to app)

Then read voltage from app, tirn wheel off again (double check )

Read voltage again one of the next days - there should be no significant voltage change.