54.6v charger with 14s Li-ion battery?

[getzbuzy]

Hello Forum,

My 58.8v charger just blew. My guess is the fan stopped working and the unit overheated because the garage smells of burned electronics. I did check it with my voltmeter and the charger is definitely fried....reading all zeros. Another thread suggests checking the fuse, which I will do in the morning, but based on the smell I think more than just a fuse was fried. I will probably be ordering another charger tomorrow.

I have 54.6v charger still in working condition from my old Li-ion 13s calibike battery. I was considering cutting the connectors off of my newly fried charger and soldering them onto this old charger, but I thought I'd check with all of you first and make sure there won't be any unforeseen problems if I do this. This charger would only be used temporarily until my new one arrives.

My current battery is an em3ev li-ion 14s, which is why it uses a 58.8v charger. What exactly will happen if I use the lesser 54.6v charger with this battery?

Thanks for your help!

 

[e-beach]

You will undercharge you battery pack which will not hurt it per-say, but your bms will not kick in and you run the risk of running your battery pack into an unbalanced state which can eventually ruin your pack.

Using you battery pack for a short while charging with your undercharging-charger is ok, just monitor your individual cells to make sure they do not get out of balance while you are waiting to get a new charger.

BTW, When you say that your charger is all zeros ,can you be more specific? Start with the make and model of charger you just burned out.

 

[dogman dan]

It will work for a nearly full charge for a while. But soon, you will need to get a 58v charger to make the bms balance the pack.

If you wanted to, you could use the 54v charger for most of the time, then balance about once a week at 58v.

But it might also be possible to turn up the 54v to 58v, if there is an adjustable pot near the output wires on the charger.

 

[getzbuzy]

You will undercharge you battery pack which will not hurt it per-say, but your bms will not kick in and you run the risk of running your battery pack into an unbalanced state which can eventually ruin your pack.

Using you battery pack for a short while charging with your undercharging-charger is ok, just monitor your individual cells to make sure they do not get out of balance while you are waiting to get a new charger.

BTW, When you say that your charger is all zeros ,can you be more specific? Start with the make and model of charger you just burned out.

I mean zero volts. Here is a pic of the charger. It came with my em3ev battery. It's the LT250-14m-3s.

 

[e-beach]

I look at the EM3ev website but couldn't find a link to your charger. Some times those chargers need to be pluged into a load before you can test the output.

If your fan is not working I am thinking the problem may be in the input side up to the transformer. Just a guess though.

How good are you with a DMM?

If you want to explore your non working charger to try and find out find out why it is not working take off the cover and take pictures of the circuit board. Make sure they are clear and close-up enough so we can see individual components.

Also email Paul at EM3ev and ask if he has, and can link a schematic of your charger. It could help out.

 

[999zip999]

54.6v + 14 = 3.9v
Full cell charge is 4.2v
Get the 58.4v charger soon to work the bms for balancing as it only balances at high end of charge.
It also depends on how hard you are you are on your battery ( amps ).

 

[getzbuzy]

Thanks for all the input. I'll open it up and post a pictures just for the sake of learning a thing or two, but chances are I will go ahead and cut the connectors so I can solder up this other charger.

I'll try and run the bike at lower amps in the hope that the cells don't get too unbalanced.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Paul at em3ev, but does anyone happen to know if he warranties his charger s for a year?

Also, I've been searching aimlessly for chargers without any luck. Does anyone know of any good vendors? The problem is the em3ev pack is a 14s....and obviously a lot of the li-ion packs out there are 13s.

I may end up just getting another one from Paul, but having options is always a good thing.

 

[Ykick]

I’ve bought a few of these and still going strong. They adjust it for whatever cell count battery you want. 14S you probably want 58.8.
https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-charger-ev-charger/26-alloy-shell-400w-lifepo4-li-ion-lead-acid-battery-ebike-charger-ecitypower-charger.html
Don’t get too excited about the price though until you add on shipping. In the past these cost me around $95 including shipping.

I only bring it up as an option. Be patient, Paul will most likely take care of you. Especially if it’s less than a year since purchase.

 

[DAND214]

Look at LUNACYCLES new charger. I think he has the 14s one now.
http://lunacycle.com/batteries/chargers/luna-charger-52v-advanced-300w-ebike-charger/
It is a 14s charger. Look at his 52v packs and they are 14s so 52v is his 14s.
I want one, but not now.

Dan

 

[amberwolf]

Also, I've been searching aimlessly for chargers without any luck. Does anyone know of any good vendors?

http://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/cycle-satiator.html

 

[e-beach]

Thanks for all the input. I'll open it up and post a pictures just for the sake of learning a thing or two, but chances are I will go ahead and cut the connectors so I can solder up this other charger...........

If you need to we can meter output in other ways later, but if you haven't already cut the connectors off yet, open your charger, plug it in to your bike, turn it on and meter the output wires at the pc board to see what the voltage is. Be careful not to short anything...... especially those high voltage capacitors. (the big ones.)

If you are sure you are not getting any voltage from the charger, then unplug the charger from everything and cut the connectors. Or ......make a jumper that connects to your old charger on one side and your batteries on the other.

(Edit: If I were to channel Dnmun I would ask you how do you know that you are getting AC to the charger? Are you sure your cables are good?)

 

[tomjasz]

Look at LUNACYCLES new charger. I think he has the 14s one now.
http://lunacycle.com/batteries/chargers/luna-charger-52v-advanced-300w-ebike-charger/
It is a 14s charger. Look at his 52v packs and they are 14s so 52v is his 14s.
I want one, but not now.

Dan

Luna are better quality than the EM3ev models IMO. Many EM3ev chargers are now fanless. My EM3ev charger had a fuse and fuse holder, but when I opened it up discovered the fuse was never soldered into the system. Paul's response? "I'll check into it..." and then "I’ve moved away from that charger anyway...."