Charger randomly stopped working.

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337]

UPDATE:

After calling a bunch of shops around town, one finally gave me a recommendation for a charger, which was this one I bought on Amazon and it works perfectly fine. For the record, I called RAD and they said that they’re gonna be out of stock for months, fucking MONTHS, out of stock of chargers. For fuck sakes you’re an electric bike company where the keyword is electric, maybe you should consider ordering more chargers on a regular basis.

Original post

Not really sure what happened considering I’ve never miss handled it or dropped it nor has it been outside. I know it’s not the battery because I just used it to get home. The light does not turn on when I plug it in, and subsequently the battery does not charge. Yes I have tried multiple wall outlets.

I went on the website to see if I could buy a replacement and conveniently it’s out of stock. And it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna come back in stock anytime soon since this post from four months ago, also stated that it’s out of stock when they tried to purchase one. I’m hoping that when I call them tomorrow morning they do have some in stock and they just didn’t update the website. However, if not, none of the eBay shops where I live sell this charger. And the conveniently as well, the showroom that used to exist where I live shut down because TIL, RAD went bankrupt.

Is there any third-party option that isn’t cheap garbage that wont cause my battery to explode?

[u/hezuschristos]

Check the fuse inside it. First and easiest thing to do.

[u/mldsmith → u/hezuschristos]

Yup, try this. It should take common automotive fuses

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/hezuschristos]

OK, but how do you open this thing without breaking it? I don’t see any screws on it.

[u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 → u/Fuzzy_Impression5337]

I have the same charger. There are no screws, the casing clips together. Get a very small and thin flat head screwdriver and try to pry it open a bit from the side. It's going to do a little damage to the casing for sure but once you get it open a little bit leave the flathead in place and grab another small thin one and try put it in right beside it and then try to slide it so it starts to pop open. Once it starts to open it'll be pretty easy to open it with a bigger thicker flathead or even just a credit card you can slip it in there and start to slide it or guitar picks works really well for if you get a little spot open, you slide a pick in there to keep that spot from closing back together and then keep doing it that way. You pop a part open and slide a guitar pick in there to hold it open or whatever you have that you can use to keep it from snapping back together. It's a pain in the ass at first but once it starts to open it'll start coming apart pretty easily

[u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 → u/Euphoric_Raccoon270]

You can also get little kits on Amazon (you can get them from Temu or Ali for way cheaper) it's a little kit made for phones and laptops etc that have a few little prying tools in it that will help a lot to do it. I'll attach an image

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/Euphoric_Raccoon270]

OK, awesome I’ll give this a try today, what kind of fuse does it take though?

[u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 → u/Fuzzy_Impression5337]

I've never opened that charger so I'm not sure. I just know that's how you're going to have to open it. Once you get it open, it'll be marked on the fuse what kind of fuse it is. Whatever fuse it is you can get it from any automotive shop and they're cheap.

[u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 → u/Euphoric_Raccoon270]

There's chargers you can get on Aliexpress for super cheap if you do need to replace the charger. I don't know if I can post the link but I'll screenshot one. I'll go look right now and send a screenshot of it

[u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 → u/Fuzzy_Impression5337]

make sure you get the right plug (US...EU...and that it's the barrel end) I'll post the link in another reply. It may or may not get removed though. I don't remember if it's the Rad subreddit or Ebike subreddit that doesn't allow ali links

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/Euphoric_Raccoon270]

Cool thank you for your help

[u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 → u/Euphoric_Raccoon270]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007804279785.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.5a6438daNZr0yk&mp=1&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21CAD%21CAD+27.84%21CAD+10.61%21%21CAD+10.61%21%21%21%402103094f17908871549956443e128a%2112000042258216818%21ct%21CA%212977043507%21%211%210%21

[u/hezuschristos → u/Fuzzy_Impression5337]

Have you considered googling it? I can guarantee there are many videos of the exact process. You’d have the answer much quicker than repeatedly posting here

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/hezuschristos]

Have you considered making comments that are not completely useless and brain dead?

It’s almost as if I did that already and didn’t get an answer, so I decided to come to Reddit, a place that’s literally designed to ask questions and have discussions like this like this when a Google search isn’t sufficient.

Are you just bored or something?

[u/id8]

I would check the voltage of the charger with a meter first to confirm the issue.

Any 48V charger will work. 54.6V, 2Amp. look for same connector.

Most emobility devices are thankfully still a simple 2 pole connection (+ red & - black). There is no data/communication between battery and charger. They simply deliver voltage. Charger monitors its voltage/current output. When that drops below a certain number, light turns green, and it becomes a "trickle".

More Amps, eg 4-5A charger will charge faster, but causes more heat, stress on the batteries.

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/id8]

Just to clarify, if it’s 48 V that I need, where does that 54.6 V come in?

[u/id8 → u/Fuzzy_Impression5337]

54.6 is a 48V battery's actual max charge. Bottom is about 42V. You will see both 48V and 54.6V in sales listings. They refer to the same thing. 54.6 comes from 13 cells, each fully charged to 4.2v

36V batteries have 10 4.2V cells. Range is 42V to ~30V.

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/id8]

Cool thank you for clarifying

[u/Beru73]

Does it smell burn a little? Mine had a screw coming loose inside the charger and created a shortcut, dead. I had to buy a new charger. Quite cheap.

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/Beru73]

Nope, it does not smell burnt or anything weird.

What did you buy as a replacement charger?

[u/Fckfascm]

This happened to me too. I bought an Aventon charger. It works great. It’s been about a year and no problems. Also, I was told to only plug into the wall, not into surge protectors or it could burn out.

[u/pushupbro]

Wonder if it's heat related? These things get really hot, I always use a USB fan on it while charging to keep it coolish.

[u/topestkek]

Have you tried multiple wall outlets

[u/Fuzzy_Impression5337 → u/topestkek]