lafree ebike battery issue

[weedonald]

I have an e-bike from Lafree/Giant that I purchased in Germany in 2008 and brought back to Canada with me in 2010. I charged the battery 2-3 times since coming back but have never ridden the bike. I am trying to recharge the battery (it has a European 240v plug) and when I try and charge it with my European voltage unit, it doesn't seem to take a full charge. The light is green on the battery unit but when I instakl it in the bike it doesn't function at all.
Do you know any e-bike dealers in the province of Quebec near or in Montreal who might be able to help me figure out what is wrong? My guess is that the battery discharged and needs to be recharged by an e-bike specialist, as stated in their manual but there are no Lafree dealers anywhere around where I live.

Any help would be appreciated....and thanks,

Don McMahon
001 438 792 5100

 

[dnmun]

do you have a voltmeter?

 

[weedonald]

Yes I do....I imagine checking the charge using a voltmeter will tell me if the battery has any charge....but it is a 240v and I am not sure my voltmeter can check that voltage.

 

[dnmun]

the 240V is the AC~ line voltage in europe. you should have 120V AC in montreal. the charger will output about 28V DC.

post up a picture of your charger so we can look for a 120/240 V AC switch.

 

[weedonald]

There is no 240 to 120 voltage switch as the plug is a European 2 prong type plug. I have a 120 to240 transformer which works fine but the battery doesn't seem to take a charge. My guess is that it discharged completely while in storage over a 12 month period and needs to be reset somehow. When i try and charge it, the green charger light on the battery is lit up but when i install the battery in the bike, there is no charge detected.

 

[marcexec]

Did you get it sorted?
The multimeter would be used on the batteries to see if the still have a charge and on the chargers DC output side to see if it's working at all.

 

[weedonald]

Thanks everyone....the issue was resolved when testing showed that the batteries were totally dried out and unusable. Replacements cost about 100$ and the bike now flies like the wind, or more like a breeze! i have learnt that leaving batteries uncharged and unused for more than 2 years will definitely destroy their usefulness