I wanted to discuss this for a while but never quite got around to it:
I think it is most likely possible to resurrect a discharged Vectrix by slow charging through the charger connector. This approach could also be used for slow EQ charging.
However, I have not tried it out and there might be unexpected difficulties.
Background:
The Vectrix standby current of 7mA and the self-discharge of the NiMH battery cause the battery to drop to completely empty over a few months. Once the voltage is lower than about 90V, the stock charger refuses to start charging and you have a dead bike.
The battery remains in serviceable condition, although it may suffer from an increased self-discharge rate due to prolonged deep discharge and possibly reverse charging of parts of the battery.
A brief charge with preferably less than 1A DC will bring the battery voltage back up 122V (1.2V x 102 cells). A prolonged charge with 0.3A DC will cause a gentle equalisation charge with very little heating.
Usually this is done by opening the battery compartment, but that is a lot of work and exposes the dangerous Voltage carrying parts of the Vectrix.
The alternative approach:
The stock charger has two connectors that are accessible underneath the front fairing. Two of the pins of one of these connectors have the full battery DC voltage between them, this I have measured. They are well secured against accidental touching, but one could rig up a connector (or even better use the proper female counterpart connector) to access this voltage potential.
I hope this is a direct connection to the battery, but it is possible that there is a resistor or a diode or something else in series. In that case, it might be impossible to charge through these pins. It could also do some damage to just try it, I don't know!
Has anyone tried this out or has anyone access to the wiring diagrams to verify if this can be done?
How can one safely test if these pins can be used for charging?
Clever approach MIK.
And good question: I don't have the diagrams, but if you use the connector plugged into the charger which is used to charge the battery, it may work... But ... how to test without damaging some components?