Electric Scooter Progress: Battery pack completed (14/11/05)

Hi BLF, I was just wondering if you guys had any experiences with electric scooters.

I’m eyeing at the eZip E-450:

I saw one on CL and the owner says that “The kid said it was running then stopped. Charged it and never ran again.”

The owner suspects the battery is dead, but here’s the weird part:

The battery voltage indicator only lights up when the charger is plugged in and the throttle is engaged. There are no indication lights when the charger is unplugged, and no output to the motors at all.

It’s weird that the two SLA batteries would die while riding, as they are known to die when left uncharged for a while. I’m suspecting loose wiring or even worse, some other problems. If anyone had thoughts on this matter, any comments would be appreciated. :slight_smile:

Blown fuse?

That might be it, thanks.

Any idea where it’s located?

Edit: Seems to be located in the battery compartment.

Hopefully it’s only a blown fuse. I’ll let you guys know tomorrow.

I bought one of these second hand and it wouldn’t work.

Turned out a couple of wires had come loose, on further investigation all the wiring joints were made at the factory by twisting the wires together, then putting heat shrink over the top, no soldering or crimping, just the heat shrink to keep the wiring together

Although hopefully yours will be just the fuse blown as the other member mentioned

That’s astonishing.

endless-sphere.com is your go-to forum for electric transportation…

SLAs sometimes die due to internal cell connection break
I had two UPS batteries with that issue. It can supply less than 300mA current and charge but battery disconnect when load increased.

open battery compartment and check each battery using 12V bulb or anything that load few amp
Main fuse is another thing you should check
Some scooters have over current breaker that should manually reset.

I think the bad connection is a red herring. This thing is broken by design. It clearly needs a lithium ion pack. :bigsmile:

I used to have a hook up for BladeZ, after a few electrics, I swapped for the gas, much better. Same with the cart.

Thanks for your help guys.

I would run into endless-sphere once or twice but didn’t really look into it that much.

Thankfully the Robotics Club has a lot of spare parts, so I may swap the motor out for a brushless one and possibly build a li-ion pack if the SLA is dead.

Typical failures is a blown fet in the controller which may shut the controller down. You can always drive the motor direct from the battery. I’ve also has the keyswitch contacts (inline with the power) have problems.

I have 3 identical scooters. One in a basket, one all over my shop, and one still put together. The basket case ended up with a fried winding in the motor. And the my real issue now is getting a couple of good batteries.

It simply comes down to a process of elimination!

Thanks NightSpy, hope I’ll be able to get the scooter up and running and that the problem isn’t too critical.

Have you tried doing that ?
Unlike a gasoline engine, an electrical motor has maximum torque from the start, so by running the motor direct from the battery every time you flick the go switch your highly liable to either be pulling a impressive wheely or ending up on your arse.
plus you either need a relay or a very large switch to handle the current draw

If it is the controller that’s failed,its far easier to buy a new universal controller for around $10 and fit that :slight_smile:

I was thinking trying this on a test stand… not as a fix. Our scooters are 350W motors so a direct connect isn’t that big of a jolt. Free running, my motor is pulling 2 amps at 12V. These are 36V 30A motors.

Not sure you noticed, but that scooter has a real bad case of IIOS (Insufficient Illumination Output Syndrome). You clearly have enough space on the steering column for one or two of these. Beam shot is in Post 10.

I just got the scooter, and everything seems to be just fine except the two SLA batteries. Thanks everyone for the help.

It seems to have been left uncharged for quite a while and will need to have the electrolyte replenished with distilled water.

Are SLA batteries okay to be operated sideways, on their sides?

not if you add water. I tried reviving 4 so far… all for not.

But maybe you can help find a reputable battery supplier that has some robust insides.

So far only Power-Sonic came up somewhat desirable, but the deep cycle ones I found were a 17 week leadtime.

Sorry to hear that, it is indeed quite devastating when something turns out to no avail after some hard work.

Hopefully I can restore the cells, and if not, I could try building a li-ion battery pack with my salvaged laptop cells.

Have you guys seen the “electric unicycles” ? They look cool but totally unsafe. I want one!

http://www.dx.com/p/esway-es-e3-rechargeable-self-balancing-electric-unicycle-scooter-bicycle-wheel-black-356494#.VE8OAfnF_8s

Wow, looks like a poor man’s Segway. I’d love to try it out too.