Battery woes - rebuild, replace (subsystem) or ???

[quadra700]

Hmm - I've got an early RadWagon that doesn't seem to have any options for batteries.  I see that the Bolton controller upgrade is mentioned, which may open up the chance for an alternate battery as well.

Does anyone here have a battery rebuilder they recommend on the US West Coast?

Just bought a RadRunner Plus but need to keep transporting young passengers in the back too. :-)

Thanks!

[DickB]

There are not a lot of good options. It depends upon what is wrong with your battery. I made one simple repair due to a failed contact to the BMS, and replaced one bad BMS with an aftermarket one for about $40 in parts.

If one or more cells are bad, it is advisable to replace them all. My local Batteries + Bulbs won't touch Li-Ion batteries. Most if not all bike shops will not either. Not even Rad repairs their batteries; they simply replace them. Specialist battery rebuilders are available online, but they are not inexpensive. Someone whos battery I examined and had bad cells got a $470 quote to rebuild a Rad battery with Sanyo cells. There are less expensive batteries available, but the cells in them are not specified, and the connectors are different from Rad and require swapping out the cradle.

[thatsfgirl]

is there an amazon battery I can use for the rad bike

[quadra700]

I just posted a note on another thread of my experience with Amazon selling Radwagon compatible batteries.  ebikeling does sell on Amazon.com and eBay but at a premium vs direct from them, so I just purchased the battery from them directly.  It included a new charger as well.

There might be a benefit of getting a battery without the vendor's logo on Amazon.com though, so it might be worth it to you.