Rad Rover Battery Not Charging

[ATraynham]

Hello All,

I recently purchased a Rad Rover Plus 6 back in May and I am already having problems with my battery not charging.  I plugged my charger into the bike first and then the wall and the green light comes on automatically when I plug it into the wall. Any clue on what may have happened or what should I do?  Is this normal?

I did reach out to Rad but I am still waiting on a response back.

Thanks for your help

[RadRoverNYCFL]

same thing happened to me today and brought me here.  Replace the 5A fuse on the underside of the battery.  I have a radrover 5 but I think the battery tech is the same.  Refer to the radpower site for pix and instructions.  I think the 5A fuse is to limit the charging amps (Amps IN) while the 40A fuse is to limit the motor amps (Amps OUT). 

https://radpowerbikes.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002324673-Battery-Fuse-Replacement-Guide

[Adams]

Same thing happened to me yesterday.  RadRover 6+ purchased in May.  Put the battery on the charger, got up yesterday and it was still 6 bars and the charging light was green.  The fuse on the new batteries is apparantly soldered into the battery circuit board - take a look at the threads on here on replacing fuses on semi-integrated batteries.

I?m going through the warranty process with Rad.  Spent about 20 minutes on the phone with a rep yesterday.  Lots of questions designed to figure out if you shorted it by using improper charger, putting something in the battery charging port, etc.  like ?Are you sure no-one messed with it while it was charging??

After walking through all that, they had me do a throttle ride for between 5 and 15 minutes.  They said that if it has been on the charger for more than 12 hours or charged when hot the battery can lock itself out from charging.  I did the ride and it didn?t fix anything so I am going through the warranty process.  Requires pics of your charger cord, battery port, battery on charger showing green light AND battery level, bike charging area, both keys, battery serial number and a video showing you plugging it in properly and the battery level.  Will see what the end result is, but there is no way I did anything to cause the problem.  No signs of arcing or a short on any of the components. It sucks though - Rad?s process doesn?t have any sense of urgency to it.  Sounds like around a month to get a battery even if they approve a claim. 

Weird though that there are at least 3 of us that posted the same problem in the last 2 days. Not a good sign for Rad.

Once approved, I?ll pull the old battery apart and see if I can McGyver the fuse. 

[radgranddad]

Uh oh, we might have another Rover 6+ that won't take a charge.....
Should be covered by warranty since they were new last fall.

I'll see if anything simple is being overlooked, and if I don't find anything will contact RAD.

Strange it seemed to occur within a week that one of the two identical chargers decided to stop working.

[Norm01]

There is a big problem on the 6.  Seems some engineer decided to save $0.10.  There should be no power at the battery charge port, it?s an input not an output.  A simple 10 cents diode would of solved this problem by not allowing the current to return to the charge port.  Issue is if somehow you short the negative and positive terminals on this port the internal fuse will blow.  Not meant to be user replaceable.  Rad are trying to deny warranties based on user error when in fact it?s awful engineering, shorting the input port should not blow a fuse.  Output, that a different story.

[Adams]

Hello All,

I recently purchased a Rad Rover Plus 6 back in May and I am already having problems with my battery not charging.  I plugged my charger into the bike first and then the wall and the green light comes on automatically when I plug it into the wall. Any clue on what may have happened or what should I do?  Is this normal?

I did reach out to Rad but I am still waiting on a response back.

Thanks for your help

So what?s the status with your battery issue?

I had the same issue and Rad got me a new battery.  Took a few days for them to assess the claim but I got the battery within 2 weeks of it going out.

[radgranddad]

Uh oh, we might have another Rover 6+ that won't take a charge.....
Should be covered by warranty since they were new last fall.

I'll see if anything simple is being overlooked, and if I don't find anything will contact RAD.

Strange it seemed to occur within a week that one of the two identical chargers decided to stop working.

OK, it's definitely a bad battery (not taking a charge) on my friends Rover 6+.  Luckily we have two identical bikes/chargers so we can isolate/confirm issues quickly.  She sent all of the Rad requested photos and video and am awaiting a decision from them.  It's under warranty, so hopefully they take care of it quickly without a fuss.


Still waiting.... They sure are taking their time......

[lowspark1974]

UUUUUGGGGGGG I should have found this thread before i bought it, now about an hour into a support call ( still waiting in line) for a brand new rover 6 + that will not take a charge. the light on the charger goes straight to green when it is plugged in.  I have gone over the correct sequence when charging  1. plug into the battery, 2. then the wall, as well as when it was plugged in it is on a smart plug ( tried it with and without the plug) to limit the time it charged.

[jcvdd]

UUUUUGGGGGGG I should have found this thread before i bought it, now about an hour into a support call ( still waiting in line) for a brand new rover 6 + that will not take a charge. the light on the charger goes straight to green when it is plugged in.  I have gone over the correct sequence when charging  1. plug into the battery, 2. then the wall, as well as when it was plugged in it is on a smart plug ( tried it with and without the plug) to limit the time it charged.

I had the same issue with my Rad Semi-Integrated Battery Pack also not charging.
POSSIBLY this may resolve your issues.
Place the battery inside your refrigerator ( NOT FREEZER) for 20 minutes in order to cool it down, then try to recharge your battery. I believe the ambient summer heat
we are all experiencing will prevent the battery from charging and something inside the battery will prevent any charging if the battery becomes too hot.  OBVIUOLSY while the battery is in the refrigerator make sure it doesn't get wet.

[HeyRyGuy]

add me to the list of 6+ batteries not charging.  mine is fresh out of the box and I even turned off shipping mode.  I'm in the warranty process and waiting.

[DickB]

There is a big problem on the 6.  Seems some engineer decided to save $0.10.  There should be no power at the battery charge port, it?s an input not an output.  A simple 10 cents diode would of solved this problem by not allowing the current to return to the charge port.  Issue is if somehow you short the negative and positive terminals on this port the internal fuse will blow.  Not meant to be user replaceable.  Rad are trying to deny warranties based on user error when in fact it?s awful engineering, shorting the input port should not blow a fuse.  Output, that a different story.

Newer Standard batteries have these diodes, but older Standard batteries and the semi-integrated battery do not.

[Jay West]

Dick

Are you saying the newer Rad Semi-Integrated Battery Pack's have the diode protection?

[radgranddad]

Uh oh, we might have another Rover 6+ that won't take a charge.....
Should be covered by warranty since they were new last fall.

I'll see if anything simple is being overlooked, and if I don't find anything will contact RAD.

Strange it seemed to occur within a week that one of the two identical chargers decided to stop working.

OK, it's definitely a bad battery (not taking a charge) on my friends Rover 6+.  Luckily we have two identical bikes/chargers so we can isolate/confirm issues quickly.  She sent all of the Rad requested photos and video and am awaiting a decision from them.  It's under warranty, so hopefully they take care of it quickly without a fuss.


Still waiting.... They sure are taking their time......

And still waiting....   Am getting more than a little pissed that RAD thinks so little of their customers to not expedite a solution.  or at least directly communicate what's going on.  A significant portion of the Michigan riding season is lost.

[DickB]

Dick

Are you saying the newer Rad Semi-Integrated Battery Pack's have the diode protection?

They do not. If they did, shorting the charge port would not cause the fuse to blow.

I have the older and newer Standard batteries in my shop. I reverse engineered a good portion of both. I identified the protection diodes on the newer Standard batteries, and did not see any on the older one (see photos).  I had an older semi-integrated battery a while back from an owner whose battery would not charge. It was on that one that I discovered the internal fuses. In fact I believe that I was the first to discover and post about the fact that the semi-integrated battery even had fuses. The 10A charge fuse was blown on that battery. I did not see any diodes on that version BMS. I no longer have that battery, as I returned it after replacing the fuse. I never had a newer semi-integrated battery in my shop; I only have seen photos and identified the surface-mount fuses for the owner who posted photos of it. I am unable to do a more detailed reverse engineering of it, as the photos are not clear enough to positively identify the components. But I could not spot any protection diodes in the photos.  And, as I say, if it did have them, shorting the charge port would not blow the charge fuse if it did.

[Jay West]

Dick
Thanks... That explains it great.