So, i have 2 completely dead batteries. i used the diagrams i found here (thanks guys) to take apart and test my batteries, which was great particularly because im not a hands on kinda guy. im a law student...
But that brings me to the trouble. They demand that the dead batteries be sent to them, at my expense, before they will replace them. these are heavy batteries and will cost a fortune to ship. what kind of crap is that? fine if you want your defective parts back, but not at my expense! this is a cost that X-treme is responsible for, and i find it reprehensible that they are telling me to pay for it.
this scooter purchase of mine is getting worse and worse... first the problems with it quitting, then the development that whatever happened obviously fried 2 of my batteries, now im apparently out how much money?
I don't have a dog in this hunt, but, if it were me that was trying to use this for a reliable commuter, I'd: 1) buy five REAL batteries - PowerSonic (or Hunter if I had the money) - and 2) re-work the charging system to ensure balanced charging. It's just too easy to get an imbalanced pack, which quickly ends up as a cooked battery.
Mark
I have some good news from X-treme today. After realizing that they cannot expect their buyers to pay to ship back batteries, they have decided to allow their buyers to have the batteries load tested according to the specifics below and will warranty (replace) the batteries.
They told me to take my batteries somewhere who will test them and have that company/person send them, on company letterhead, the bad voltages on the bad batteries.
This is great, but here is a question: where can i get this done? can i just take my batteries to an auto parts store?
Here is the testing procedure they sent me to take to the battery testing place:
"To properly load test this battery you need to find the amp-hour rating on this battery. This should be on the battery somewhere. Take the amp-hour rating times three to give you the proper amp load for this battery. Hook the load tester to the battery and set the load tester to this value on the amp-hour scale. At the end of fifteen seconds the battery voltage must be 9.6 volts or higher. If the reading is lower the battery is bad. Please write the results of each battery tested on your letterhead to verify the results of the test."
anyone help me out here?
That's great news. Thanks for making X-Treme realize the necessity of improving the battery warranty.
In Ann Arbor there are these folks: http://www.batteriesplus.com/ who are part of a national franchise. I've never been in their store but they claim to be "battery experts". You might have a store near you. I'd just do a google search for "batteries ~your town~". I'd call some of the businesses that turn up.
When calling them you can help them out by letting them know that your batteries are listed as 38 Ah. Although note that usatracy claims Greensaver has told them they are in fact only 27 Ah. If I were you I'd test them at the 27Ah*3 rate first.
Now, everyone, repeat after me "X-Treme aren't all that bad"... ;-)
John H.
Blue XM-2000
Ann Arbor, MI
http://www.revevllc.com
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
:?
raynman75006,
Is there any thing we as a community can do to help you?
Peace Out, <img src="http://tinyurl.com/ysafbn">
Gman
Here we go with the chaos.
Oops, I mean Cavalry.
<table border="0" style="border:1px solid #999999; padding:10px;"><tr><td>
<a href="http://www.BaseStationZero.com">[img]http://visforvoltage.org/files/u419...
[size=1][color=black]www.[/color][color=#337799]BaseStationZero[/color][co
I had a way to get them back to X Treme, but he never replied and they had to leave.
Peace Out, <img src="http://tinyurl.com/ysafbn">
Gman
Well, im not sure this is a balance issue at all. when i took the batteries to Batteries Plus, they all read basically the same voltage of around 13. If they were individually imbalanced, this wouldnt have happened, right? They are all fully charged and handle the 15 second load the same, as Batteries Plus put it, "perfectly." if there still could be a balance issue, i will try the rebalancing you have mentioned, as long as X-treme agrees that it wont violate my warranty...
No worries about getting off topic, I really appreciated the help you all have been giving me in the first place, and besides, I have continued to document with X-treme at the same time i have been talking to you. So aside from the out-time I have had, I havnt lost anything else (no warranty losses or anything). in fact, i have learned alot so far :)
I hate that i didnt get to you in time, gman, to try and take advantage of the battery transportation option, but after i did X-treme's loading test, i couldnt imagine that they would do anything different when the batteries go to them. thus, i would run the risk of them charging me shipping just to get my own batteries back to me, while claiming nothing was wrong with them.
I believe this is some kind of internal battery problem that they have not considered. The batteries show fine on a full charge, but they dont sustain the voltage as long as they should/used to. This sucks, but i have been able to ride them for u to about 5 miles... so they arent completely useless yet... just mostly useless :P
At any rate, even a little imbalance wouldnt at its worst cause me to only get 5 miles per charge, would it?
Well, the scooter gave out again. I wasnt really riding it much, but tried to take it to school this morning and it wouldnt go at all... At first it blinked 9 times, indicating a motor problem, but then after a couple of hours i tried it again and ther ewere no blinks, but it was also still a no go... i tried the fix that worked last time, hitting the button below the seat, but that didnt work.
I feel like im kinda at the end of my rope with this scooter. Maybe both of these issues are related and can thus be fixed easily, but I dunno, im just not mechanially inclined enough to go on testing things.
I dont know what a DAT board is, could this knowledge help me?
Well, the scooter gave out again. I wasnt really riding it much, but tried to take it to school this morning and it wouldnt go at all... At first it blinked 9 times, indicating a motor problem, but then after a couple of hours i tried it again and ther ewere no blinks, but it was also still a no go... i tried the fix that worked last time, hitting the button below the seat, but that didnt work.
I feel like im kinda at the end of my rope with this scooter. Maybe both of these issues are related and can thus be fixed easily, but I dunno, im just not mechanially inclined enough to go on testing things.
I dont know what a DAT board is, could this knowledge help me?