DEAD Vectrix, what is FIrst steps

Dude thanks for the service manual! That thing looks awesome. You can send me a message for phone numbers if you have any questions. I'll check out your other files soon. Are you in SA?

BAM! This forum is awesome and gave me the knowledge to get my Vectrix working again. I left it without charging for too long and it would not initialize after plugging it in. I got the LED drivers and connected in series as posted above and trickle charged my bike. It took the voltage from about 25 to 120 in 2 hours. I plugged the bike in and the charger initialized. It's alive again!

We should probably as a group just buy a few of these and have them boxed up and ready to overnight to a member who looses battery power, then they box it up and when it is needed elsewhere THEY pay for it to be shipped to the next person.

Perhaps save some money by have one in Europe, one in the US, one in Australia...

-Randy

More than happy to ship mine anywhere in Europe.

They don't take longer than 10 minutes to make.

Alternatively, cover what it cost to make (£12) and add the postage costs and it is yours; I shouldn't be needing it for a while.

Yup, let 'er charge up. Then take for a short ride... stay within "pushing distance" of your parking location. ;-) Then recharge. Hopefully no dead cells... I seem to recall reading about a way to invoke the "refresh" sequence on the scooter itself. I did a quick search and didn't not find how to do it. I know my 2007 will sometimes do a refresh after so many recharges, but a S/W bug results in it just discharging the batteries... :-(

Anyway or first ride could be short. Mine was less than 1000 feet. Then a mile, then 5, then 10... then it got worse, then BOOM a battery shorted which actually resulted in more range! But far less that my other scooters.

So you have the bike off (take the key out, do not need it for charging), plug it, and what happens? Is it "completely dark"? Or does the display light-up? What do you see on the display then? Do you hear any fans running (you said you did not, but one of them is quiet, the other is louder)? You should hear fans from the charger area (quiet) and fans from under the seat area (louder). Do you hear any of them?

If really nothing happens when you plug-in, the first thing to do would be to measure the voltage at the plugs to the charger per the pictures previously shared: to make sure the issue is not simply with the wall plug and cable.

Let's see what's going on and we'll think of something.

I'm afraid she is not charging with the onboard charger. With the key off it is completely dark, "no lights are on" with the key on I have lights but the battery level doesn't seem to change. I hear nothing with it plugged in! Suggestions??? I did ride for about 200 yards though

Did you test to make sure the 3 wires that are on the plug are actually intact and carry 120V to the charger-side of the cable? The photos in your PM show burnt insulation and you said they wires measure 0 ohms, which means open circuit... If the cable is bad you fix that first. You should be getting 120V at the charger-side plug. You said it only has less than a volt there, which indicates a bad power cable.

Yes, there must be a diagram inside the service manual.

If you put in where you are located you will likely attract more people who can help.

-Randy

Hi!
I'm sorry for hijacking your post but I believe it fits here... I'm studying the possibility to buy an used nimh Vectrix. Is there any way to check the battery health besides striping the bike?
I wonder if I can use a USBCan and the Vectrix software do check it!
Thanks and sorry for the hijacking...

Hard to tell from the photos, but I wonder if these two wires were installed there by the previous owner as a means for jump-starting the battery or to use the battery as an energy source for hooking-up to something else? They seem to be connected to the same places as the fat + and - cables that go to the controller from the battery. I don't recall such wires on my bikes... Careful with them, as the voltage and possible current from them can kill you or cause serious sparks! Get rid of them or insulate them better.

Hi Kocho,
i bought my Vectrix back in 2007 or so...one of the first from a dealer here in Utah. I was on the list to get a new battery from corporate and they never showed up...then declared bankruptcy 6 months later. Sad since I loved riding it. You mentioned a conversion to something like a Nissan Leaf battery. Can you tell me who to reach out to about this? I would like to get my Vectrix running again. My battery is totally dead and was freaking out prior to it's death so a conversion would be terrific.
thanks,
Thinairman

You can read about it here. In the US, I think only David from www.vectrixsupport.com offers consulting services and custom software for a fee. Lots of advice here on this forum too.

http://visforvoltage.org/forum/13928-my-simple-leaf-cell-conversion
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/13767-nissan-leaf-modules-li-conversion-questions
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/14021-vectrix-vx1-calb-60ah-batteries
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/14037-vx1-li-ion-18650-conversion

And many more. The Leaf cell conversion approach seems to be the most straightforward so far, though you can get more range with other methods.

But as mentioned, if your battery is just low and not really damaged, you could "revive" it. And install updated software to keep it alive longer (the original software is not taking a good care of the battery)

Hi Kocho,
i bought my Vectrix back in 2007 or so...one of the first from a dealer here in Utah. I was on the list to get a new battery from corporate and they never showed up...then declared bankruptcy 6 months later. Sad since I loved riding it. You mentioned a conversion to something like a Nissan Leaf battery. Can you tell me who to reach out to about this? I would like to get my Vectrix running again. My battery is totally dead and was freaking out prior to it's death so a conversion would be terrific.
thanks,
Thinairman