Fast Charger Fan Not Turning On? - Fixed - Wires To Fan Were Cut

[F451]

Discovered the power wires to my Fast Charger were cut, once the wires were soldered back together again, the fan turned on immediately upon starting the charging sequence and stayed on for the short time that I tested it. Charger appears to be charging and functioning normally now.

If the fan on your charger is not turning on, I recommend you check the power wires. The fan is a 12v DC powered unit, so easy enough to check if its functioning with any typical motorcycle sized battery as a power source.

Here's what I did to fix mine.

Remove the ridiculously Blue Loctite-d cover (seriously?) and flip it up so you can access the fan. Notice where my wires were cut. This is a bad design IMO and the wires are bound to fail as people wrestle the large gauge wires in and out of their cubby holes, especially the right side. I also noticed the large gauge wire on the right side has some minor chaffing, probably from rubbing against the heat sink. I think I will not be forcing the large gauge wires in and out of those cubby holes anymore.





The info on the fan:


You're killing me here Smalls:


These wires are very small gauge and there was not a lot of excess wire to work with.




Testing the fan on my Beta 525 ICE bike's battery. Hey, its good for something now, Lol.


The short wire lengths made it difficult to get the amount of shrink wrap I would have liked on it and I didn't feel like running out to the store to buy some of that tiny gauge wire to extend the wires. The thick rubber splicing tape will help protect the wires and connection, even if it doesn't look too tidy. Plus its not in view anyway. Can you say OCD much?


After buttoning it all up, I realized the cover was contacting the fan at the top of the fan. Thought I must have installed it incorrectly. Nope, double checked my pics from when I first received it, the cover and fan are both trying to occupy the same space/time. The cover is actually bent up and over the fan. No bueno.


Marks from the fan mounting bolts on the inside of the cover.


Got out the Dremel and removed about a 1/2" strip of the cover from the top of the fan opening where it was interfering. Does any of that matter? Probably not, but I didn't like it, so modded it.




I think this is how I will be storing my heavy gauge wires from now on, they appear to nest in there without any issues, the top closes without any real force having to be applied. I think it will put less stress on everything.


Hope this helps anyone who may come across the issue of their fan not turning on during charging. -Ed


Original Post --------------------------------------
Hey guys,

Does anyone know if the fan on the Fast Charger is supposed to automatically turn on during charging?

The fan on my new Fast Charger is not turning on during charging. Otherwise, it appears to be charging as expected. I'm powering it from my new B&S Q6500 240v generator, outside temps are 54', cloudy, light drizzle if any of that matters. The fan will turn easily just by blowing on it.

I left it charging for about 30 mins, took the battery from roughly 1/4 charge to 1/2 charge, generator, charger, and bike seemed to be getting along fine. The charger barely got warm. After I disconnected everything I could touch the aluminum heat sink below the fan and it was warm to the touch, definitely not hot. The rest of the charger was either slightly warm, or basically ambient temperature.

I then plugged in my normal charger and the cooling fan on that unit turned on immediately upon starting the charging process.

Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Ed

Ps: the B&S Q6500 appears to be the bees knees, not too loud, not too heavy, not too big, not too expensive. And I think I will be able to get it even quieter using Mark911's sound deadening ideas - yeah!

 

[snydes]

The charger fan should run the entire time except at the very end when it’s balancing. Unfortunately it sounds like you have a problem.

 

[Redwolf]

Yup, that doesn't sound right, fan should run continuously until balance stage. And generator doesn't sound like the issue.

 

[aremean79]

the fan on my fast charger does not run continuously as well. It will kick in once in a while (when it was running hot I presume). I thought it was normal.
Now I guess its not. Anyone else with such an issue and how can I just run a bypass wire to ensure it runs continuously?

 

[F451]

Thanks for the input everyone!

I'm kinda bummed, when I rec'd the shipment of the charger, the inner box had room to bounce around within the outer box, it wasn't packed properly in my opinion and I was worried about potential damage. Today was the first day I had a chance to set up the new 240v generator and test the charger. I can't be sure the packaging/shipping caused this issue, but I wasn't too happy to see the way it was packed when I opened it up.

I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow and see if I can spot any obvious loose or broken connections, maybe I will get lucky and it will be something simple.

If I don't spot anything obviously wrong with it, I imagine it would not be too difficult to test the fan itself by applying some current to it, but I don't want to mess around with it too much until I get a chance to talk to the seller.

I'll keep you posted, thanks again. -Ed

 

[Fod]

@Fog 25 has the same issue. He gives his fan a little nudge with a zip tie when he starts his charging and it spins all throughout the charge cycle.

 

[Judaslefourbe]

Only the "slow" charger has the fan on continuously. The fast one only uses it when needed.
You do not seem to have an issue with the fast charger.

 

[Redwolf]

Only the "slow" charger has the fan on continuously. The fast one only uses it when needed.
You do not seem to have an issue with the fast charger.

My fast charger fan runs continuously from start of charge until balance stage... Regardless of ambient temperature. Was there perhaps a slight change in the logic between early production chargers and later?

 

[F451]

@Fog 25 has the same issue. He gives his fan a little nudge with a zip tie when he starts his charging and it spins all throughout the charge cycle.

Thanks, good to know. I tried to get mine to spin up while it was charging, but it wouldn't.

 

[F451]

Only the "slow" charger has the fan on continuously. The fast one only uses it when needed.
You do not seem to have an issue with the fast charger.

THANK YOU! You just made my day. I will update the first post here so if anyone else has this question and searches for it in the future, the info will be easier to find.

And I was hoping this was the case, that it turned on only as needed, since when I tested it yesterday, I was amazed at how cool it was running overall. It was only 54' or so while I was using it, but still, the heat sink barely got warm, much less hot, and the rest of the unit barely warmed up too.

And this is one of those situations where you have an orphan vehicle and I was thinking, damn, I wish I could just call up Alta and get an answer, so really appreciate you chiming in, and that we have this forum and all its good peeps here to keep these amazing bikes going. Thanks again. -Ed

 

[Judaslefourbe]

Was there perhaps a slight change in the logic between early production chargers and later?

Not that I know of.

 

[Redwolf]

Not that I know of.

How odd. Oh well, it does it's job.

 

[revoltlution]

How odd. Oh well, it does it's job.

Mine acts the same. Fan on regardless of temp.

 

[Fod]

My fast charger fan runs continuously from start of charge until balance stage... Regardless of ambient temperature. Was there perhaps a slight change in the logic between early production chargers and later?

So does mine and @Fod 25.

 

[Redwolf]

So it appears there are some slight variances in the fast charger logic, perhaps some undocumented revision during the production run.

Whatever the case, as long as our batteries get charged properly, it's all good.

 

[F451]

Discovered the power leads to my fan were cut, soldered them back together and the fan is working now. The fan turns on immediately upon starting the charging sequence btw.

I updated the title of this thread and the first post to indicate what the problem was and how to fix it in case anyone runs across this issue in the future.

Thanks for all the input everyone, appreciate it! -Ed

 

[snydes]

Both my fast chargers the fan runs continuously. Never once have I seen the fan shut off during the charge. Not trying to dispute anyone’s claim, just stating my experience. Glad to hear you got yours fixed F451!