So. I opened my battery. And during that, I caused a brief but energetic short-circuit. Pop!
The battery still has the correct voltage, but now a red light is flashing on the BMS, and the scooter doesn't like it. It gives errors 90 and 92 (over current; over voltage).
What does the flashing red light mean, and how do I get my battery working?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Cubey
I don't know what red flashing light means, and except the manufacturer nobody knows (or hope I'm wrong), but it's very probable you burned some circuits on BMS which are reading and communicates with instrument cluster.
Just check visually the BMS, some smell from burnes circuits... if it's only a capacitor or resistor (which I doubt), you may have luck, if it's an IC, it would be more complicated. Maybe give the BMS to an electronist, he can measure and try to find out.
Anyway sorry to hear that.
maybe a BMS reset helps.
You have to apply a higher voltage then the battery voltage to do that.
If nothing is working, I´d be happy to buy the battery 😀Â
@wagner I'd be happy to try a BMS reset if I knew how. Applying higher voltage to a battery seems a bit risky. How does one do this?
@cubeyterra well in order to charge the battery, the external voltage has to be higher.
So my first step would be connecting the battery to the charger and see how it behaves (should be safe). It it charges: nice!
If it does so, put the battery into the bike and see if it´s working again.
@cubeyterra do you still have guarantee?
And could you check the battery voltage?
@wagner The battery is no longer under warranty, unfortunately. Also, opening it voids the warranty. 🙂
Battery voltage is normal (~63V).
I don´t know whether this is good news or bad news for you but it seems like it´s definitely the BMS which is broken.
Unfortunately, I don´t see a reset button on the BMS itself (see for yourself on the pic below).
Either the BMS is actually broken or just stuck and needs to be reset. If I had overcurrent fault code, I used my regen brake to reset it (but I got a different controller that has regen)
If you have a second battery, you could bring both in a parallel connection (if the functional one has higher voltage) and let it "charge" the broken one.
Maybe the charger won´t engage the charging protocol because of something..
@wagner It won't parallel charge, unfortunately, for the same reason that the charger won't engage. The BMS has decided that it won't allow charging.
I'm beginning to think that I'll have to hire somebody to replace the BMS, which is going to cost me hundreds. Alternative is to abandon the battery, even though it's basically fine except for the BMS state.
@cubeyterra How many km's/mi on the battery? I'm getting random 88/89 error that I can get to go away, but it seems like it's just a matter of time until something in it actually goes.
@sdreaver I can't comment on the 88/89 error (think I've seen that one before though). I've put about 3000km on this particular battery. One would expect a bit more distance from a such an expensive battery pack.
If you keep using your Super Soco battery, consider adding a second, more beefy connector to it to circumvent the Soco battery terminal, which melts.
Will that prevent your Soco battery from cooking its own BMS? Maybe? All I know is that on my other, still-functional Soco battery, its socket runs cool now that I've tapped the battery with 8 gauge wire and an Anderson connector.
When it comes time for you to replace your Super Soco battery, consider getting a third-party battery instead.
@cubeyterra I'm in the process of building a second battery pack to hopefully prolong the life of the first with the extra range/performance. I was thinking of using XT90 connectors which fit 6mm wire (i believe about a 10AWG wire or slightly larger?) I figured the connectors should comfortably run at the 45-50amps being pulled. I was thinking take out the Soco plug and either go directly to or replace the XT60 connector used inside.
I hadn't even really been thinking of the cables from the battery to the controller though.
@sdreaver 10AWG is probably fine. I used 8AWG for my external connector. I haven't used XT connectors besides the XT60 that comes with it, but getting a bigger one seems like a very good idea. Or bypassing it.
I think the main thing is to use soldered joints instead of crimped joints where possible, reduce the number of joints, and use larger gauge wire all the way from the battery internal bus to the controller.
For me, that meant tapping the + and - inside the battery and dangling that outside the battery with an Anderson connector. From the Anderson, the + goes to the cutoff switch and the - goes to the controller's negative terminal.
If anyone is interested, I was able to replace the BMS board with a new one from Motorino. I also added a little volt meter to the top of the battery. The Anderson connector lets me plug into the bike in parallel with the regular connector.
Â
