Segway MiniPro battery dead.

[Glock32]

On 1/16/2018 at 12:07 PM, smallexis said:

@Jbrannen95, I have had a phone call with @jojo33 and he told me your problem

if the battery is detached from the mini, which voltage do you have here?

if the volatge is between 42 and 45V, it's possible to try this :

 

I have saved my battery with this method but I can't give you the guarantee it will be the same for your battery.

good luck

 

Signed up to say...  Thank you!  This seems to have saved my battery on my original (pre 2018 model) MiniPro...  Still need to reinstall battery, but after not seeing ANY voltage reading from the battery, I reverse charged using this method and a very low tech patch cable for a few hours until the light on the charger turned green. Was concerned this wasn't working because the light on the battery never came on or went green until I removed the reverse charge and then charged normally (got two blinking green lights and now then started (and then continued) to blink red (I thought it was going to stop at four blinks, but was excited to see it continue and seems to be charging as normal)...

Amyways, even if you get no voltage reading before trying this, it might work (e.g. the person that got 25.x volts, I got no voltage and to the person looking for this cable, you need to make one).

if you go as low tech as my cable, be careful not to short the wires together during the process....  Thanks again @smallexis and FYI@MadMattz @Jeremy Valentin @Ethan Cheung

[Glock32]

Well...  if you do get this to work, DON'T UPDATE THE FIRMWARE AFTERWARDS. 

I road around on mine for a day, then took the latest update that completed with a message along the lines that it was going to shutdown and then to power back on after updating the battery management. When I saw that I figured I probably shouldn't have done the upgrade and I was right. Now it won't come back on, no matter what I do and get a different series of green then red blinking lights and the battery shuts down.

Seems the update installed a more sensitive BMS firmware,  LAME!!!!  Now it is a brick, once again....

[Siriussak]

I wanted to add I was able to fix my dead battery! I have 2 mini pros and I rode 1 in December and then just let it sit and it would not charge. The other one had a good charge and was full.

I took the recommendation of the guy with the wires and connected 2 batteries in parallel. So I took both batteries out. Went to hardware store and got a 10 gauge wire. Then I stuffed a 10 gauge wire into the gold contacts. + to + and - to -. I left it connected together for just a few seconds. Took it back inside and plugged it in and it came back to life! BE CAREFUL TO NOT LET THE WIRES CROSS TOUCH THE gold connectors.

 

quick note, if it doesn’t charge after connecting for around 5 seconds...repeat the process to give it a little more juice, again for 5 seconds then try.

 

Note: when I say “plugged it in” I mean I plugged it into the charger directly . Not in the mini pro. Let it charge for a while before putting back in the Segway,

 

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Siriussak

[Siriussak]

On 3/6/2019 at 3:21 AM, Glock32 said:

Signed up to say...  Thank you!  This seems to have saved my battery on my original (pre 2018 model) MiniPro...  Still need to reinstall battery, but after not seeing ANY voltage reading from the battery, I reverse charged using this method and a very low tech patch cable for a few hours until the light on the charger turned green. Was concerned this wasn't working because the light on the battery never came on or went green until I removed the reverse charge and then charged normally (got two blinking green lights and now then started (and then continued) to blink red (I thought it was going to stop at four blinks, but was excited to see it continue and seems to be charging as normal)...

Amyways, even if you get no voltage reading before trying this, it might work (e.g. the person that got 25.x volts, I got no voltage and to the person looking for this cable, you need to make one).

if you go as low tech as my cable, be careful not to short the wires together during the process....  Thanks again @smallexis and FYI@MadMattz @Jeremy Valentin @Ethan Cheung

I think you messed up the battery by 2 things. 1. Reverse charging and 2. charging for hours via this method. 

 

I did a parallel charge using a different battery, + to + and - to - and only for a few seconds, less than 5. No,lights ever turned on the dead battery. Then I tested it by plugging in the charger and it started charging. I know it’s too late now for your battery and it sucks but hopefully others can get a Benefit from this.

 

in short...connect + to + and - to - for ONLY A FEW SECONDS then test with the charger. If it doesn’t work, try it again for a few seconds. 

Edited April 17, 2019 by Siriussak

[FloridianLWR]

Siriussak,

Thanks for posting that solution. I also have 2 units and connected both batteries together in parallel as you suggested but after connecting them for a few seconds the "dead" battery has the red led blinking all the time now. I connected it to the charger and the charger led is still green not red like when it charges. I'll try again.

 

[FloridianLWR]

Ok, second attempt worked much better  the battery led started blinking red/green (at the same time) and after connecting just the battery to the wall charger it was like that for like 10 minutes doing the same thing (the wall charger will be green and red as well) and now the wall charger is completely red and it seems to be charging. I'll update if everything goes wall.

I guess that if you do the same thing with connecting the wall charger with the cables in parallel will have the same effect.

Thank you Siriussak!!!!!!!

[Siriussak]

1 hour ago, FloridianLWR said:

Ok, second attempt worked much better  the battery led started blinking red/green (at the same time) and after connecting just the battery to the wall charger it was like that for like 10 minutes doing the same thing (the wall charger will be green and red as well) and now the wall charger is completely red and it seems to be charging. I'll update if everything goes wall.

I guess that if you do the same thing with connecting the wall charger with the cables in parallel will have the same effect.

Thank you Siriussak!!!!!!!

Good to hear bud! The trick is you want to give as little extra juice from the 2nd battery as possible, so connect for 5 seconds...try wall charger ...then repeat again and hope you get red/green lights on the dead battery and let it sit. Before it would just blink 4 times then die.

 I am  glad someone was able to use my information and it helped. I was surprised it worked myself (I based this off charging my car battery when it died and figured the principal was the same but didn’t see anyone post about using a second battery)  and was debating if I should even bother posting since I’m sure some geniuses here are like. ‘Well Duh, that’s how batteries work stupid”.

[FloridianLWR]

iYep, it finally worked, the first time I ended up with the battery led blinking red all the time, not just 4 times, and the second time atarted flashing red/green at the same time and connected the wall charger and the wall charger led will make long blinks in between red and green like it will charge and then cur off and then charge back again, eventually it stayed on and charged the battery fully. Connected it and checked that everything was working ok and updated firmware and still is running fine. Again, thanks!!

[MetricUSA]

If anything open up battery and check individual cells voltage (there are 14 series, two parallel cells). If you're extremely careful you can individually charge up any 18650 cells that are too low or you may find a completely dead cells....

I was able to bring up a 60 v ego battery pack 'back from the dead'....

[trevmar]

3 hours ago, MetricUSA said:

If anything open up battery and check individual cells voltage (there are 14 series, two parallel cells).

 

Remember that there is the Android utility from @MRN76 that will show the voltage for each cell in your battery before you have to open it up. Very handy! There is a discussion about this on the forums here, I am sure a search will find it :)

[WilliamG]

Wanted to thank you all for the thread! Was able to save my second miniPro using the wire trick connecting both together. Instantly came back to life and I was able to charge the battery. 

Is it safe to update the firmware now, or no?

[Hogo]

On 3/6/2019 at 12:21 AM, Glock32 said:

Signed up to say...  Thank you!  This seems to have saved my battery on my original (pre 2018 model) MiniPro...  Still need to reinstall battery, but after not seeing ANY voltage reading from the battery, I reverse charged using this method and a very low tech patch cable for a few hours until the light on the charger turned green. Was concerned this wasn't working because the light on the battery never came on or went green until I removed the reverse charge and then charged normally (got two blinking green lights and now then started (and then continued) to blink red (I thought it was going to stop at four blinks, but was excited to see it continue and seems to be charging as normal)...

Amyways, even if you get no voltage reading before trying this, it might work (e.g. the person that got 25.x volts, I got no voltage and to the person looking for this cable, you need to make one).

if you go as low tech as my cable, be careful not to short the wires together during the process....  Thanks again @smallexis and FYI@MadMattz @Jeremy Valentin @Ethan Cheung

How did you identify the polarity of both the battery terminal and the charger plug? I want to try this.

[Hogo]

Just chiming in for future readers to say that you can use the wall charger and the battery only, without a second battery. Just use two wires like the poster earlier. If you look at the wall charging brick, it tells you which two wires to use and their polarity. I figured out the polarity of the battery by looking at the above picture and using red for +

plugged it in for 5 seconds. Then plugged the wall charger to the battery using the normal connector (still removed from Segway) and it started charging right up! Thank you to everyone who posted on this thread. Really valuable information.

[Skyler Holman]

On 1/10/2019 at 5:16 AM, Laransey Carlton said:

It’s good that The Segway is willing to replace batteries of units right out of box.  I’ve own my mini pro and 5 mini lites since June 2017.  On the mini lite the power button malfunction I call number on manual sent email pics etc, no return email or help what so ever.  That unit as much as I hated turned into a parts scooter.  

It wasn’t fine, I moved on until about November when the Mini pro battery died.  Don’t know why but I called number in manual hoping for help so I could continue to ride.  To my dismay they had no battery pack in stock and packs that did have were for the mini lites for $300.  I could not understand the price for the battery when the mini lite new was only $298 at Best Buy.

Its now January and I’m had another battery pack died on a mini lite which sucks.  I refuse to pay more for the battery then what a new unit cost.  What should I do? I can’t inderstand how units are sold and company have replacement parts which are impossible to get or way to expensive.  Lesson learned only buy one and let your 4 kids share.  

Im i the only one having this problem, I really welcome the help, because the fake Segway may be my only option.  I don’t know..

Wow I’ve been very unimpressed with Segway. Riding the Segway mini’s are a blast and the tech is good, but their service was terrible. Took forever to find a number or email where I could get an answer. And they wanted to replace the battery for more than a new unit costs? Pathetic. Where the tech fails is in the battery. My battery died before the unit was even a year old. That’s bad tech in that regard. I’ll have to attempt a replacement myself since as of now it’s basically garbage, after 1 year!

[smallexis]

On 5/7/2019 at 12:26 PM, MetricUSA said:

there are 14 series

15S inside a mini pro (14S inside a mini plus)

[smallexis]

On 8/5/2019 at 9:16 AM, Hogo said:

How did you identify the polarity of both the battery terminal and the charger plug? I want to try this.

with a voltmeter

[Bill Belanger]

Thanks so much guys. Didn't do the battery to battery first. Just put two wires to the battery from the charger plug and let it sit for an hour. Put it back into the unit and it's 1/2 charged and taking a charge. I went for a ride! Thanks again. Don't think I'll risk a firmware update though.

[pgalbach]

@smallexis

Do you have a pin diagram for the connector above for the Minipro.  It would be helpful to know which pins on the charger connector are the positive and negative if you have them.

 

I appreciate it.

 

Thnaks.

[Fedele Nacucchi]

Grazie per le dritte, operazione riuscita! dato che non capivo un cazzo in inglese, lo scrivo in italiano per aiutare un prossimo disperato come me 

Ricevo il ninebot s già morto, non si accendeva ne premendo il pulsante di accensione e ne collegandolo al caricabatterie.
1- Ho smontato la batteria con una chiave esagonale da 3mm. Ho individuato così i due pin 2 (+) e 1 (-). Ho provato a collegare il caricabatterie all'entrata classica: il led al disopra della batteria lampeggiava di rosso per 4 volte, dopodichè si spegnava. Quindi ho dovuto procedere con la soluzione alternativa al passaggio numero 2

2 - Ho individuato i pin corrispondenti sul cavo del caricabbatteria 1 (+) e 2 (-), come riportato dietro la figura del caricabatteria

3- ho preso due fili elettrici qualsiasi, fare attenzione che questi non si tocchino tra di loro.
4- ho inserito le estremità dei due fili dentro la porta 1(+) e 2 (-) del cavo del caricabatteria, e dall'altro lato le ho collegate ai pin 1(+) e 2(-) della batteria. Dopo 5 secondi ho staccato i fili.                                                                                                                 

5 - Immediatamente subito dopo aver staccato i fili, ho collegato il cavo all'ingresso principale della batteria. Il led ha lampeggiato per 5 volte verde e successivamente ha iniziato a lampeggiare constantemente in rosso per potersi ricaricare. Spero di essere di aiuto a molti con questa guida dettagliata. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Fedele Nacucchi

[james008]

Hi,

My battery stopped charging, but is half full.
I tried connecting directly the black cable to - and the red to + on the red gold contacts before turning the power on on the socket where the charger is plugged in.
But when I connected the the cables to the gold terminals first black - then red + there was a little spark and removed them immediately. 
I was too sacred to try the same with the power on on the charger.

Is this normal, or will it blow on my face when I try it with the power on?

Thank you for your help.

[Dave2222]

On 1/16/2018 at 3:07 PM, smallexis said:

@Jbrannen95, I have had a phone call with @jojo33 and he told me your problem

if the battery is detached from the mini, which voltage do you have here?

if the volatge is between 42 and 45V, it's possible to try this :

 

I have saved my battery with this method but I can't give you the guarantee it will be the same for your battery.

good luck

 

I just followed this yesterday and it worked! One comment on the voltage though. When I tested my disconnected battery, it was only at 24V and it was blinking red 4 times when I tried plugging it in to the charging port. When charging, I disconnected the banana plugs, after unplugging the charger, every 30 mins and retested the voltage. After the first hour, it only charged up to 29.4v. After checking the next 30 and 60 mins, the voltage never passed 29.4v. The light on the battery was also not doing anything at this point. I decided in a final effort to just reconnect the charger to the charging port while disconnected from the Segway one last time. Once I did this, the light on the battery started blinking red which seemed like a good sign so I left it plugged in for another hour. When I returned, it was then blinking green so I reattached it to the Segway and it showed a full charge. I rode it for about 30 mins afterwards and it still showed full battery charge. 

Thanks for this original post or I would have never tried this. But If the battery is less than 42V there may still be some hope.

[smallexis]

On 3/30/2020 at 11:24 PM, pgalbach said:

Do you have a pin diagram for the connector above for the Minipro.  It would be helpful to know which pins on the charger connector are the positive and negative if you have them

[smallexis]

On 4/16/2020 at 9:52 AM, james008 said:

My battery stopped charging, but is half full.

it's seems to be a different problem from the main subject of this thread and the solution should be different too.

On 4/16/2020 at 9:52 AM, james008 said:

I tried connecting directly the black cable to - and the red to + on the red gold contacts before turning the power on on the socket where the charger is plugged in.
But when I connected the the cables to the gold terminals first black - then red + there was a little spark and removed them immediately. 
I was too sacred to try the same with the power on on the charger

the spark is normal as you link first your charger to the battery, because if the charger is not "power on" current will go from battery to charger (inside condenser ask for "juice")

that's why you always should plug your charger to sector before to link to the battery. BUT IN YOUR CASE, I ADVISE YOU TO NOT DO IT. If your battery stop to load at half full it can be 3 issues : disequilibrated cells, BMS failure or charger output decreased. First, use a voltmeter to check your charger output. Second, check cells with NINEBATTERY app. If charger is Ok and cells are OK, so it's your BMS the problem

On 4/16/2020 at 9:52 AM, james008 said:

Is this normal, or will it blow on my face when I try it with the power on?

no risk, no glory

[smallexis]

11 hours ago, Dave2222 said:

But If the battery is less than 42V there may still be some hope.

under 42V, the original charger does not detect the output power of the battery (such as not being connected) and that is why it does not give full power to the load. But you are right, there is a very small current going to the battery and the voltage increases very slowly. In this case, you'd better use a lower output charger (10S or less) to increase the voltage near 40V, before trying with the original segway charger.

the other solution is the "electroshock" method which was described in this post, by connecting 2 batteries in parallel (the faulty battery to a functional and well-charged battery). There is an instantaneous high current transfer so you have to do it only for a few seconds at a time. it’s more barbaric, it requires a second battery but it wakes up

[MannyLalo]

To revived dormant battery : https://www.ebay.com/itm/202978676519?ViewItem=&item=202978676519