UY240 52v, 4 amp Charger: Output Voltage?

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Jul 11, 2020
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Seattle, WA
Expecting 52v battery to reach close to 58.8v on 100% charging level (80/90/100% selector dial on charger), but only reaching 56v.

Voltmeter reading of charger output is same 56v.

When 100% level selected, is the charger output a constant 58.v?

Or, does the charger output voltage ramp up to 58.8v when charging cycle is complete?

If the charger voltage ramps and max charge only reaches 56v, is there an issue with the battery such as BMS or bad cells?

Thanks.
 
What voltage did it used to reach, if it has changed behaviors in any way?

What are the specifics of the battery itself? Chemistry, number of series cells?

Different chemistries and number of series cells will have different full voltages.

What does the charger label itself indicate it's final voltage is?


If the charger light changes to whatever indicates that charging is complete for that specific charger, (like red light turning green) and stays that way without changing back to a charging indication over several hours, then it means that charging has reached as high a voltage as it is going to and the charger has shutdown (current dropped below it's preset limit).

If the charger light keeps changing from one state to the other (may take minutes to hours to do this) it is probably balancing the battery (rather, the BMS is doing that and the charger is responding to BMS actions), so the voltage could continue to rise until this cycling stops.
 
What voltage did it used to reach, if it has changed behaviors in any way?

What are the specifics of the battery itself? Chemistry, number of series cells?

Different chemistries and number of series cells will have different full voltages.

What does the charger label itself indicate it's final voltage is?
Used to achieve 58.8v when new. Both battery and charger are approx. 3.5yrs. Recently to 57.5v.

Lithium-ion 21700/14s3p cells.

Charger label is 58.8v, 4amp.

I noticed cycling at the end with previous charge cycle which I hadn't notice before.

Plan to charge in the morning prior to bike commute to work.
 
Then it's almost certainly a cell problem, with more than one cell(group) given the large difference in voltage. If it was a sudden change and not gradual*** then it could be physical damage causing broken interconnects between cells within a group or groups.

*** (almost always is gradual, rarely is there an ebike/scooter/etc pack out there that doesn't need to cycle / balance at end of charge, especially once it has been used a few dozen times).

Either way, to fix this kind of problem, the cells all have to be replaced with new matched cells (identical capacity, internal resistance and other characteristics...not similar, but *identical*...if they are only similar, you still have a pack that gets unbalanced more and more every usage unless you leave it on the charger every time long enough to stop cycling on/off. )

If that's not an option, replacing the whole pack with a new one that uses new matched cells will also fix it.

If tha'ts not an option, but you want to "fix" this pack, you can replace just the cells (groups) that are filling up first, if they all started from the same low voltage, or if the pack starts out balanced at full charge then the cells that empty out first.

(cells that fill first, if all start from teh same "empty" voltage, have less capacity. Same for cells that empty first from the same "full" voltage).

BTW, 3p is not much for current delivery capability for most cells, and depending on your controller's current limit and how hard you push the system, can be pretty hard on the cells, causing them to age faster.

But 300-500 cycles for a lot of cells is a "good' lifespan, before they start getting below 80% of their capabilities, depending on usage. You'd have to look up the spec sheet and data from various testing sites for your specific cell model to see wha'ts realistic for those.
 
UPDATE: It's the charger that was dying. Was only reaching 55v or so on recent 100% charge. Got a Satiator and it's going to 56.6v on 85% charge.

Hope this helps someone else!
 
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