Charger woes

[flat6valk]

I have some questions regarding the chargers that are shipped with the GM 36V kit.

1. There are two LED's on the chrager, one is power and one is status. What should they read when beginning the charge and at the full charge point?

2. With the charger not connected to the SLA batteries, but connected to AC current, what voltage should read at the end of the charger cable? Mine first one read 0.25V, and I was expecting to see something around 40V.

I'm on my second charger right now, and when I received it I checked the voltage coming out of the chrager and I'm sure it read 40V. Then I attempted to charge up my battery pack (brand new 12V 12ah x 3 in series) and the pack never got a full charge. Now the charger reads 0.25V when connected to AC current.

Has anybody else had any problems with the supplied chargers?

[myelectricbike]

Have you ever plugged the charger into the line voltage and then connected it to the battery or disconnected the charger from the battery and then disconnected the charger from line voltage? 

It might help to read the TUOS  DS.  MC-36V Type II Battery Charger  Instructions.

[dray]

you let the smoke out.. 

You need to plug the charger into the batteries then plug it into wall.
The directions are right on the side of it.

http://www.ampedbikes.com

[flat6valk]

I've been doing the right connection procedure. Plug in to the bike battery and then connect to the wall outlet. The lights never change from one red and one green. They should both go red at first to show charging. This never happens.

I have a charger from another e-bike, very similar. It shows over 40 volts when you plug it in. The LED's both go red and then red/green when charging is complete. The two chargers I received from Golden Motor show barely any voltage at all. Both do the same LED light display.

For now I'm charging my pack with the charger from the other e-bike, but I'd like to know if this has happened to anybody else.

[myelectricbike]

The only other possibility that would cause the green led to be on when you plugged in the charger would be if there was a short between the positive and negative battery leads coming from the charger or inside the charger perhaps due to a solder splash on the circuit board, in which case if you have had the chargers for less than a year TUOS requests you return them under warranty for replacement rather than to try an fix them yourself which would void the warranty. If purchased within the last year you should contact Philip at sales@goldenmotor.com for replacement instructions since Golden supports the TUOS warranty and may send you an immediate replacement.

[edmonton]

I have a similar problem with my charger, I connect it correctly but it does not charge the battery. I have contacted sales@goldenmotor.com twice in the past 3 weeks, asking for the correct procedure to return the charger for warranty. I have not received any response. Does Golden Motor actually honor the Tuos warranty?

I have not been able to find any other store anywhere that sells a 36V charger, currently I have to charge my 3 batteries individually with a 12V charger which is extremely annoying.

[erdurbin]

Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Battery-Charger-Electric-Scooter-Bike-36V-1-5A_W0QQitemZ300168739190QQihZ020QQcategoryZ75210QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[OneEye]

Over on endless sphere they are also complaining about charger failures from a variety of inexpensive sources, so the problem isn't isolated to Golden and the Tuos charger they supplied.  On that forum they are discussing ways to create a DIY charger, which might be an option.  For the 3 batteries you have in series it is possible to connect 3 inexpensive 12V chargers to the batteries and charge them in parallel while they are still in a series connection, doing so would ensure none of the batteries is overcharged.

[johnbear]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270186524619&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017

One for sale in Canada.

[hal698]

I think it has to do with all the new chargers made in China. I got a charger from Wal-Mart and made the mistake of doing as I have always done, but with these newer chargers if you plug the charger in before it's connected to the device it quits working, also don't unplug the charger from the device until you have unplugged it from the wall (same thing). It evidently causes a surge that screws it up. Diodes don't cost that much. I'm beginning to have that old saying starting to creep in, "you get what you pay for".

[mustangman]

  Every company that subs out a job has a possibility of having a batch of bad products, however this trend seems to be getting worse as the price of raw materials rises. It looks like they (THE subs) are shopping around for cheaper electronics to try to keep prices low as possible. This strategy is obviously not working because quality continues to decline. I have come to a conclusion that there is very little quality control or none since non working units keep "escaping" form the factory and making their way into customers hands.
   This continued trend of poor merchandise can only hurt Golden Motors reputation and future sales as customers turn to the competition for better products. Philip, for the love of your company and future, please pay attention to the products and not just the money. Answer your email or assign someone to deal with warranty claims or you might have any new sales because you failed to take care of past customers. ONCE YOU GET A BAD REPUTATION, ITS TAKES SEVEN TIMES THE EFFORT TO CHANGE TO BACK POSITIVE.

[Mel in HI]

Wrong, once you have a bad name, you change your name and try again.  At least that's what I feel is going to happen. 

"Amazing that these XYZ product looks like the old ABC product, I wonder if they are using the same manufacturer?"

[Tommybike]

Just finished my e bike. My Tuos charger emitted a puff of smoke as soon as connected to the 36V SLA battery. I never got to plug it in  I'm an engineer,  so I opened it and discovered that the Positive marked output on the circuit board went to the negative pin on the battery connector,  so the output polarity was reversed,  hence the battery fed back through the protection diode and burned off some  of the PCB copper stip. Other connectors are fine,  as the bike works great,  until the batteries go flat. I've emailed golden motor,  but no reply so far.  Is it still chinese new year?  Are there any other contact addresses other than sales@goldenmotor.com 

[Tommybike]

Just got an email from golden motors,  they acknowledge the reverse polarity problem on the charger and are sending me out a replacement.  Well done to them.  Just one word of caution,  the charge and battery connector used by golden motors is a standard IEC connector commonly used as a mains connector for most technical equipment,  PC's etc.  It would be so easy to plug a mains lead with one of these socket endings straight into your battery pack, especially if the bike is being used by other than the person who built it.  This would place 220V ac (110 in the US) across the battery pack.  With luck,  you would just blow a fuse or trip a circuit breaker,  but there would be quite a bang,  and possibly fried batteries.  I am considering changing these connectors for a different type,, such as Bulgin connectors