Error while charging

[Brillie35]

Hello Alta Owners,

finally after a very long wait i am able to call myself a ALTA owner.
Right away i have a problem with charging.
I have a rapid charger and use a 230V 50Hz power network.
Charging starts up ok. But after aprox. 10 sec the GFCI cuts out.
And then the bike's display reads "STOPPED: 110"

Tried a couple of different sockets around the house.
And tried 2 bikes and 2 chargers. But all have the same problem.

Do i need to change something in the hardware of the charger?
The owners manual states that it accepts a 230V 50Hz connection.
Or do i have a problem in my power supply?

Thanks for the help,
Barry

 

[snydes]

I’m wondering if the plug wiring configuration must be changed for European standard voltage

Hopefully some of our other European Alta owners can confirm or deny.

 

[Brillie35]

So took the bike and charger to my dad's house on the other side of the village.
Gues what... Charges up just fine.

So what could possible be wrong with my power network?

And does anybody knows what kind of circumstances will trigger the GFCI?
Because i can not find anything about it in the manual.

Thanks.

 

[TCMB371]

I've had this happen with the rapid charger using a generator that couldn't output the power the charger was requesting... for what its worth. Maybe verify that your outlet can sufficiently output 15amps.

 

[snydes]

That I do not know. I can tell you my experience with them is they are very finicky. I believe more so with current than voltage.

 

[snydes]

Also, you need to confirm you were using different circuits in your house. If you tried multiple sockets/outlets on the same circuit you would likely have the same result with each.

 

[OneLapper]

I concur with TCMB371 and Snydes, the chargers are very picky about the condition of the electricity it's plugged into.

I have one outlet at my house the Alta charger will fault out on, and @zootie found out she has the same issue at her house.

 

[Rashid510]

Code 110 - Possibly an issue with the power going into the charger. If the GCFI is popping, that could be an issue on the wall side.

 

[Brillie35]

The power circuit i use is fused on 25Amp.
So that would need to be sufficient.

After charging ad my dad's house i was unpleasantly greated by a code 36.
I have a pretty high VIN number MXR 532.
So i was hoping this would never happen...

 

[snydes]

Ugh... unfortunately can’t evaluate without some battery graph screenshots. Your Alta experience is not going too well it sounds.

 

[Brillie35]

When you guys use a generator at the track,
do you ground them?
With a pin in the dirt?

 

[snydes]

I do not.

 

[Brillie35]

Ok, because my problem with charging at home is ground related.
I am charging it now with no ground connected, then it works fine.
The risk of getting a shock would be the same as running it on a generator with no ground.
Maybe i will completly remove the GfCI, as there is allready one in my power network.
And i only charge it at home.

 

[Redwolf]

I have also never grounded my generator while charging, and have done so many times without issue.

 

[Monza]

Same similar problem here with 220v :
. In my house : no problem
. In my factory : no problem
. In my factory office : impossible to charge, the ground is good but one of the 2 phase is giving more current , difference is 20v between both and the charger do not appreciate.

 

[Brillie35]

With the help from my brother we hooked up the multitool software.
Images show the voltage after a full charge.

 

[Brillie35]

Then we put the bike to work.
After about a 1/4 battery drop we hooked it up again.
And it is pretty obvious there is one group with a voltage drop.

 

[Brillie35]

After reading the "The R pack wirebond issue" thread,
I am very curious if there is someone who succesfully reconnected a broken wirebond.
Looks to me like a doable job.

But because i have a 2019 model, would the change be greater that i have instead a broken cell?
Man... that looks like a bigger problem.

In the mean time, if i don't drain the battery completly there is very little harm for the remaining cells of this group?

 

[snydes]

After reading the "The R pack wirebond issue" thread,
I am very curious if there is someone who succesfully reconnected a broken wirebond.
Looks to me like a doable job.

But because i have a 2019 model, would the change be greater that i have instead a broken cell?
Man... that looks like a bigger problem.

In the mean time, if i don't drain the battery completly there is very little harm for the remaining cells of this group?

That sure looks like that group is down a cell to my eyes unfortunately.

I'm going to start this off by saying this is not for the inexperienced and is extremely dangerous. You can reconnect the cell if you have a skilled hand with a soldering iron, but it's still very risky. The negative connection is much less than ideal to be applying heat at that spot. Keep in mind this is new ground and there is very little data from others, as far as I know I'm the only one who was crazy enough to try reconnecting a broken negative wire on the cell side (which is very likely where the break is at). I used a tinned copper wire of the same size, now the downside to this is that copper wire will not have the same "blow" characteristics of the Alta aluminum fuse wire, so you are essentially defeating the engineered safety of that design. I'm told there is an aluminum soldering flux that may work for reattaching the original wire, but I haven't got around to trying that yet. There is much more to say regarding a repair process, but that's the short version.

In the meantime my advice to you is you need to find the lowest state of charge where your problem P group hits around 3.1 volts and you need to NOT ride your bike below that point so as to avoid aging that group faster than the rest. My original pack I was not aware of the wirebond problem until after the firmware update was done, and by that point the damage was done to the problem group. Even after reconnecting the cell in that particular group the remaining 5 cells capacity was apparently altered, and it still fell out of balance enough to continue triggering the code.

 

[Brillie35]

Thanks for the advice.
After looking at the pictures of the sell layout, and searching for conductive glue and aluminium solder.
I think with the limited space there is, the homemade spotwelder that was posted in the thread looks to be the best alternative.
With a better made elektrode tip for the tiny workspace there is.
And bend and flattening the original wire a little bit, so there is a spot for the spot welds.

Going to think it over and probably attempt it pretty soon.

Snydes i am curious,
do you have 2 battery packs?
Do you switch them regulary on the bike?
Or is there a method to charge it when it is not mounted on the bike?