My I series is moving slow

[Stewbonz]

I have 5, I series machines. The one displays a flat smile when riding and moves slowly. I only get a happy face when riding very slow on level ground. Is this a sign of worn out batteries? Maybe a cell in one pac is going bad? Is there a way to test my batteries? I thought it may be the rider detect buttons so I switched the pacs with another machine and the problem followed the batteries. I've done the reconditioning process a few times. The batteries were bought last August and only used in cool weather so far(under 80 degrees). I'm super carefull with cooling them before charging and run a fan on them when parked. Over to you.

JEFF JARVIS
http://www.thailandsegwaytours.com/

[mzokc]

Jeff,

The HT could run slow with one bad battery, the other one may be good.

Switch one battery with a good Seg to determine the bad one. Use the other "good" battery to see if it is ok. Call Segway to switch the bad one (or order a new one.) Hope that makes sense. Maybe Segway will replace it for you so you can save cents!

Mark

[W9GFO]

quote:Originally posted by Stewbonz

Is this a sign of worn out batteries? Maybe a cell in one pac is going bad? Is there a way to test my batteries?

Hey Jeff, or anyone else for that matter, if you give up on one of your batteries, I have an idea of a procedure that "may" bring them back.

Just send it to me and I'll give it a go, only cost to you will be shipping each way. If it is successful I will disclose exactly what I did. If not succesful, then why would anyone care?

Rich H

[kagudesu]

I just experienced the same problem. It happened after I ran it all the way down to red. This was the first time I used the batteries that far down. I charged it over night and the next morning (a cold morning), I headed out of the garage and within 20 feet, she slowed to a crawl and gave me the flat smile. It was still green, though and the batteries showed full. After a couple of blacks, it all went away.

Was it a warm-up issue?

Hasn't happened since, but it was alarming when it did.

Cheers,

Andrew Crow

You own a Segway, now buy a Macintosh.

[Ground Loop]

Great tip from Mark. Isolate the one pack that is likely the culprit and see if you can get that one replaced. August seems a bit too recent to be normal wear.

As for reviving fallen cells, I used to shock old NiCd packs with high voltage (200+ DC) and spikes of current to burn out internal shorts. Sometimes it worked and the cell would recover and take a charge, sometimes quite well.. but invariably the cell would fail again soon after.

If you're lucky, there are only one or two individual cells in the pack that are really failing.. if it weren't for the sonic welds sealing it shut, it might be repairable.

[Sal]

Andrew, that's exactly what happened to me when I was in NY, it only happened when I went out full speed on a very cold morning. but after about 3-4 min of steady slow gliding, the flat face went away... Here in Indy, it has never happened...

I keep the Seg in a heated area, and even when I have taken it out in freezing weather, I have not once gotten a flat face... I truly believe in the importance of temperature, and battery reconditioning.

-Sal


Think Different
www.apple.com

Answers that Matter
www.lilly.com

[segwayowner]

my default response to that problem, is the climate. I think that the batts are not delivering enough power because of the temp...

DES: Segway owner....
it has a nice ring to it
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
The World Trade Center towers use to have two zip codes, 10047-10048, one for each building.
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

5,840 people with pillow related injuries checked into U.S. emergency rooms in 1992.

[Sal]

Okay, I have to ask Segwayowner...

I love your Signatures, where do you get your facts?

;)

-Sal

P.S. About 4 pounds of Sunlight hit the Earth everyday.

Think Different
www.apple.com

Answers that Matter
www.lilly.com

[segwayowner]

I use www.awaybox.com and their random facts thing, but i dont like most of their facts, so i use http://www.thatwasrandom.com/random/facts.php

How often do you think i should change them?

DES: Segway owner....
it has a nice ring to it
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
The World Trade Center towers use to have two zip codes, 10047-10048, one for each building.
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

5,840 people with pillow related injuries checked into U.S. emergency rooms in 1992.

[smoother]

Jeff do the battery swap out thing. BUT DO THIS FIRST!

(SHOUT MODE)

MARK EACH BATTERY PACK USED IN THE TEST, GOOD AND BAD. MARK THEM IN SUCH A WAY THAT IF YOU GO AWAY FOR A WEEK YOU WILL STILL KNOW WHICH PACK IS WHICH WHEN YOU COME BACK.

(end shout mode)

ignore this step at your peril.


John Out.
"Live to glide, glide to live"

[ions82]

The closer I get to owning a Segway, the more concern I have for all the battery "issues": shutdowns, loss of range, cost of replacment.... In the thread that had the list of things people would change, I thought batteries/range would've been at the top of every one. I have a feeling that, by the time I get my own machine, there will have been improvements made. Time will tell!

[Florida Ever-Glides]

I've only had the straight face twice, but they were green. In my case I think that the batteries were just a bit too cold. After a moment or two they went back to the 'smiley face we all love'.

Tom Jacobson

[Ground Loop]

Jeff, did you ever get to the bottom of this?

[Stewbonz]

I'm doing a reconditioning on the batteries again. Drained them completely, cool, charge for 12 hr., unplug, wait a few hrs., re-plug.
I will ride it later today to test them. If the problem persiste, I'll swap battery pacs, 1 at a time to see if one is faulty. I suspect I will be buying a new set.

JEFF JARVIS
http://www.thailandsegwaytours.com/

[Entil-Zha]

You might be able to reverse the memory effect of the batteries, but I wouldn't count on revitalizing a worn-out battery. I remember reading that the reason NiMH gets progressively worse when recharging is because of the physical structure of the material. Every time NiMH is drained and recharged, micro-fractures form in the material. These fractures reduce the effect of holding a charge.

I remember reading a Popular Science article (a year or two ago) about a company that, through an accident, were able to create an NiMH battery with at least 10 times the recharge capability than a standard NiMH battery. The material was more resistant to fracturing. I have not heard or read about it since.

- Doug -