EVT Charger only showing green

[hubcaps219]

Not charging
Above is the video. I have a new old stock 2008 evt bravo 4000e (17 miles on odo) with lithium swap that's not charging. It apparently worked fine with the previous owner and the battery pack is pretty new. I think something inside might be not connected properly maybe came apart during transport? I saw a couple wires loose in there that I'm kinda scared to touch in case i mess anything up. Also noticed the charger is a lead acid charger being used with lithium. the bike is pristine tho! Anyone have any ideas? i need it for work and school this week so any support is much appreciated! -Michael

 

[AussieRider]

Not charging
Above is the video. I have a new old stock 2008 evt bravo 4000e (17 miles on odo) with lithium swap that's not charging. It apparently worked fine with the previous owner and the battery pack is pretty new. I think something inside might be not connected properly maybe came apart during transport? I saw a couple wires loose in there that I'm kinda scared to touch in case i mess anything up. Also noticed the charger is a lead acid charger being used with lithium. the bike is pristine tho! Anyone have any ideas? i need it for work and school this week so any support is much appreciated! -Michael

G'day hubcaps219.
So the scooter turns on?
Is the charger the original EVT unit? They were effectively 2 X 24v chargers, centre tapped for 4 X 12v & charge each 13v lead batt individually. That's why the charge plug has 5 pins.
There are lithium batts designed as drop in replacements for lead, such as
"Fusion" brand. They can use lead chargers but don't perform well in the EVT.
If your batt is a generic 48v "brick", you need a matching lithium charger.
As for the batt connection, there are 4 Anderson connectors in series. First one has +, last one has - to the controller. Makes sense?

AussieRider

 

[hubcaps219]

hi aussierider! so the story is when I bought the bike it wasn't charging and that was at the time I made this post, the guy who sold me the bike is awesome and he helped me out to hotwire the charger outputs directly to the batteries but I had to keep an eye on it because the charger is obviously led acid, until we could get it properly hooked up (the charger has a lithium adapter on the outside to make it from solid current to fluctuating current and shut off the charger at proper voltage). that hotwire trick worked until yesterday when I got home from work to charge the bike and the charger all of a sudden wasn't working, just showing green light. upon visual inspection, i saw that the small blue voltage adjustment dial recessed in the charger was off to the side probably because of my attempt to adjust it a couple days ago. but my thought was that it had just now become loose enough to not connect so it had not completed the circuit at this point hence it would not charge the bike. my guy came over with another charger and we figured it may as well be the good time since he was here anyway, to hook up the circuit properly so the charger can cut off once the bike is full and I don't have to worry about fires. but upon testing the new charger it would not work and still showed a green light. he tried everything and triple checked the circuit so he made sure everything was attached, but the charger still just showed green. we thought it might be because it's cold here but this morning at work it's been sitting at work warming up to room temperature and it still isn't working. the light on the charger does flicker green when connected to the port on the bike so I know it's recognizing the circuit, I'm just worried there might be a BMS issue but then again he said we would smell it if there was a blown BMS. it's so weird! and frustrating because that's my only mode of transportation at the moment but that's not his fault and he knows what to do. how do I tag somebody? i heard amber would almost certainly know about this kind of thing. I think I'll copy this and make a post as well. cheers! -219

 

[hubcaps219]

hi everyone! pls help. so the story is when I bought this bike it wasn't charging and that was at the time I made a first post on here. The guy who sold me the bike is awesome and he helped me out to hotwire the charger outputs directly to the batteries but I had to keep an eye on it because of overcharging. the charger is obviously lead acid and the bike batteries is lithium in parallel, so i only planned to use the bypass for a short amount of time until we could get it properly hooked up (the charger now has a lithium adapter on the outside to make it from solid current to fluctuating current and shut off the charger at proper full voltage). the hotwire trick worked until yesterday when I got home from work to charge the bike and the charger all of a sudden wasn't working, just showing the green light. upon visual inspection, i saw that the small blue voltage adjustment dial that's recessed in the OEM charger was off to the side and very loose probably because of my attempt to adjust it (though gently) a couple days ago. my thought was that it had just now become jiggled loose by that time enough to not connect so it had not completed the circuit at this point hence it would not charge the bike. my guy came over with another same charger and we figured it may as well be a good time since he was here anyway, to hook up the circuit properly so the charger can cut off once the bike is full and I don't have to worry about fires. but upon testing the new charger it would not work and still showed a green light only. he tried everything and triple checked the circuit so he made sure everything was attached, but the charger still just showed green. we thought it might be because it's cold here but this morning at work it's been sitting at work warming up to room temperature and it still isn't working. the light on the charger does flicker slightly when connected to the port on the bike so I know it's recognizing the circuit, I'm just worried there might be a BMS issue but then again he said we would smell it if there was a blown BMS. it was 2am and we both needed to sleep so he took off and we were hoping it was the cold weather but as I mentioned this morning it turns out it's not. it's so weird and frustrating because that's my only mode of transportation at the moment but that's not his fault and he knows what to do way more than me. how do I tag somebody? i heard @amberwolf you would almost certainly know about this kind of thing. cheers and thanks!! -219 PS. Here's my doublecup-themed candy paint job. lol maybe it's just a southern thing but if u know u know

 

[fechter]

I'd suggest trying to measure the cell voltages at the BMS connector (being very careful not to short anything). If any cell group is out of the allowable range the BMS will trip and prevent charging.

You can also try to measure the voltage across the whole pack before the BMS and after to compare.

Does the motor run?

If the battery is fully charged, the BMS will prevent further charging.

 

[hubcaps219]

I'd suggest trying to measure the cell voltages at the BMS connector (being very careful not to short anything). If any cell group is out of the allowable range the BMS will trip and prevent charging.

You can also try to measure the voltage across the whole pack before the BMS and after to compare.

Does the motor run?

If the battery is fully charged, the BMS will prevent further charging.

yeah it runs and all 4 batteries are balanced and the scooter works fine. i have these 2 places red and black. can i connect charger wires there and just monitor it like it was before? i really need to be able to take my girlfriend out tomorrow

 

[bananu7]

A BMS will have two sets of transistors, for charging and discharging. The discharge side could be fine with the charge side blown. If you can charge the battery when bypassing the BMS that's likely the issue.

 

[fechter]

It's possible it's just the charger that's bad. Can you measure the output of the charger?
Also, is it possible the battery is just fully charged and doesn't want any more?

 

[hubcaps219]

It's possible it's just the charger that's bad. Can you measure the output of the charger?
Also, is it possible the battery is just fully charged and doesn't want any more?

it's down to 43 volts and bike is moving noticeably slower. We ended up taking a rental scooter for me and her for Valentine's Day but i think i figured out how to charge half the batteries at once, just a pair of 2 and have them disconnected from each other. using the xt120 connector that holds em together in the middle.

 

[hubcaps219]

A BMS will have two sets of transistors, for charging and discharging. The discharge side could be fine with the charge side blown. If you can charge the battery when bypassing the BMS that's likely the issue.

where on those wires should i directly put the charger wires to?

 

[bananu7]

Directly on the main battery leads, excluding the BMS. If the BMS is inside the battery, then you'd need to open the battery casing. If it's a common port BMS, then one side is directly connected to the battery, and the other will go out of the battery casing. Check voltages first. If you don't know where, you probably shouldn't attempt it.

If you think you can do some more tests "from the outside" then it's prolly wiser to do those first.