Bad Soneil SLA charger ? No LED light

[jerryt]

My son fried the connectors from the W/E BL36 SLA batteries to the controller. He replaced the connectors and was able to ride and charge the battery for several weeks.

That was the only incident but now the light in the Soneil charger does not come on and the battery won't charge.

Any way to troubleshoot these things? Any recommendations for a cheap replacement to charge a brushless 36V?

 

[dogman dan]

Lotsa inexpensive chargers on Ebay.

 

[fechter]

The Soniel has two LEDs. Does the other one light up?

I think there is a fuse inside somewhere that could possibly blow.

Since it doesn't work, you have no risk in taking it apart. Open it up and look for obvious charcoal or blown fuses.

 

[Ypedal]

Considering that the connectors have been replaced.. i'd also check those.. may be a bad contact between the charger and it's plug !! ( or could be on the charge plug on the battery side as well !!! ) ...

Does the charger smell like the devil ? ( burnt plastic smell )

 

[dnmun]

the chinese Signalab BMS has a charging fet too, which may be shut down by the BMS circuitry. try bypassing the BMS with your negative charging wire, connect the black charging wire to the negative of the battery, the red wire should already be connected to the positive terminal of the battery. if it doesn't charge, then look in the charger or the plugs.

 

[jerryt]

Fector there is not a red or a green light showing on the charger. I'm waiting on feedback from the vendor before I take it apart. On the other hand, the controller has a steady red light and a constantly blinking green light.

Ypedal there is no smell. Also the charger isn't warm at all after being left on all night.

The replaced connector wires on the controller were twisted together and then soldered so I believe the connection is good. However, I'm not happy with the automotive style connector.

dnmun this charger has only one RCA type connector and I don't want to cut it off to separate the red and black wires except as a last resort.

 

[Ypedal]

The RCA jacks arc and spark and generally suck as a charge port.. do yourself a favor and replace it with powerpoles regardless.

 

[dnmun]

RCA jack for a charging plug? that's your problem, gotta agree with gaston for any sizeable amount of current over 500ma..

but you can still test it by putting a jumper from the negative charger lead, maybe you can attach the alligator clip right on the charger printed circuit board where the black lead comes off, and just bypass the BMS on the negative side, in other words, attach the C- from the charger directly to the negative terminal of the battery to see if the charger will then turn on.

use a voltmeter to check continuity and voltage output too, but i think those chargers don't turn on without a load, which was why i thought the BMS charging fet could also be suspect. or it's driving circuitry more likely.

BOL, dm

 

[Ypedal]

Uhm.. SLA batteries don't usually have BMS's !! hehe.

 

[fechter]

If neither light comes on, I would suspect something blew on the input (AC) side. Check for fuses first.

 

[jerryt]

If neither light comes on, I would suspect something blew on the input (AC) side. Check for fuses first.

No external fuses on this set-up so maybe inside charger. Will open tomorrow.

The RCA jacks arc and spark and generally suck as a charge port.. do yourself a favor and replace it with powerpoles regardless.

Spark and arc it does. If a fuse is the problem I'll replace connectors. Are these fair prices? http://www.powerwerx.com/ or PM if you have Andersons to sell.

 

[dogman dan]

At one point I had what seemed to be lifepo4 battery problems. When I opened up the charger there was a loose connection on the DC out cord where it was soldered to the board. Could be your problem is that simple.

 

[jerryt]

I wrote Soneil

My model 3602s (S/N FA00387C)has recently stopped working and the LED light does not come on. The unit is approx. one year old. Is there a repair method?

Heres the answer

The charger model 3602S is not repairable. Usually any charger in the market
by SONEIL will have a life of about 3 to 5 years. However, individual case
may differ depending on the application. I would appreciate if you could
check the voltage at the charger output end without connecting the charger
to the battery. If you will get about 42.3V or any thing around this voltage
then the charger is working fine.
The problem would be something else.
Thanks for using the SONEIL charger.

Surprised it has such a short life based on the cost. Haven't checked voltage but I'm sure there is none.

 

[wakataka]

I wouldn't buy another Soneil or Cansai charger. I've had 3 of them fail in the past 6 months.

I bought one of these off of E-bay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/36-V...9624800QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
It's voltage seems to be more tightly regulated than the Soneils, it doesn't have a fan so it's silent, it runs cooler, and it's been my primary charger for 2 bikes for the past 4 months. Plus it costs less than half what the Soneil does. You can easily cut off the plug and wire it up with an RCA or whatever you want to fit your bike. It is a three prong connector but there are only two wires (positive and negative) going to it. Just be sure you get it wired correctly to fit your battery pack. Check the polarity on the battery pack with a volt meter. Don't trust that red is positive. The WE battery packs and controllers sometimes have the colors reversed.

 

[jerryt]

wakataka,
Thanks for the tip and instructions. I just bought one for $27.04 including tax and S/H.