Ezip Melting battery connectors

I noticed that my Currie Ezip bike would periodically cut out when it was going over bumps. I called Currie and they told me to check the connectors at the bottom where the bike conncected to the RMB to see if the buttons would push in. They didn't. I got home that night and took it apart and found that the plastic surrounding copper buttons that touch the bottom of the RMB had melted. Yes melted. it melted in such a way that rather than being vertical the buttons were angled off a number of degrees so that they would not move up and down.

I called Currie about this and they told me that I could get replacement parts for this for about $50 (I have 2 bikes) with the same exact problem.

I was a bit twisted because this seems to be a defect in the design because it makes no sense that the plastic would melt as the unit was being used in the manner in which it was intended. that was bad enough but it happened on two bikes. I asked about the replacement parts and were told that they were the same. I asked about the history of this issue with others and the answer I got suggested that this had been a problem. He told me that when people replacement parts there wasn't a problem in the future but at the using the same material that makes no sense. Anybody had this problem? if so, let me know. Anybody replaced the buttons with some other kind connector?

Matt 916-730-5601 or matt@bradylawus.com.

Sounds like the best thing would be to rewire the battery pack, to connect with andersons or something else. My EVG had a similar setup, but no problems with it in that case. The contacts on the EVG were really huge so they never got hot. Yours get hot because the contacts are not making a good connection.

50$ will buy you a very nice crimp tool for anderson powerpoles and some connectors to get the job done right.. !! :wink:

I have to admit I find your problem very strange that it would happen to both your bikes. I too have 2 ezips (wife's and mine) that I bought last year. I use the stock SLA 10ah packs on her bike while I use 2 24v 20ah lifepo4 packs on mine. She doesn't use her bike more then twice a week and only for under 10 miles when she does. But I normally try to ride 20 to 25 miles every other day or more. Nether of our bikes have had a problem with the connectors (and yes my lifepo4 packs are both mounted in the currie rear rack just like the stock SLA packs). The problem you are having is caused by sparking of the spring connector to the connector on the battery. This is caused by the wires inside the connector box not allowing the connector to spring up/down smothly. I have opened all the connector boxes on both bikes and check for this problem and adjusted as needed. You may have noticed that the wires were bent at the end of the eye loop connectors. THe setup inside the connector box isn't perfect but it does work provided the wires are properly placed inside the box and are tighten. The problem is the spring connectors not only go up.down but also are free to turn making them hard to properly tighten.

Because I use my lifepo4 pack on my other bike that doesn't have the Currie connection box I also have an Anderson connector hanging from them which I also use for charging (Yeah, I use the Currie 2a charger for charging my lifepo4 packs too). Honestly I would consider just replacing the Currie setup and be sure that you install the wires with care and they allow the connectors to spring up/down and you shouldn't have a problem.

By the way how old is your bike? Ours are aboout 10 months and I received a new controller from them last DEc and didn't install until last week. I found the new controller was also defective and called them (bikes were out of warranty for 5 months and they agreed to send me another new controller if I paid shipping. So I agreed and ordered a few other parts I thought I would need in the future to ease the 10 buck shipping charge. I did have to talk to a suppervisor to get them to agree with the new controller though. Maybe you should try the same thing.

I have one as well but those connectors seem pretty decent. However, if they were to get some oxidation or other junk on the connectors, I could see them heating up. I would check the connector contacts and clean them up as good as possible, including the ones on you're bike themselves. I suspect this is whats happening. Switching to powerpoles might not be a bad bet...