Charging issue with a Sector E1

[Kingfish]

Yesterday I took my E1 out and everything was fine.  I plugged it in when I got back like I normally do.  When I went to take it out I noticed the battery had not charged overnight.  I reconnected the charger and watched its behavior.  When first plugged in the yellow light on the charge indicator panel is on for a couple of seconds, then it starts to flash the green charge light as usual.  After about a second I hear a relay click and the green light goes out.  About 2 seconds it starts the charge light flashing, then quits like before.  It does this cycle 4 times and then the yellow light starts blinking.  There is no code displayed on the main instrument panel.  Any help would be appreciated.  My dealer said to call Hisun, they've never worked on one.  Hisun told me to read my owners manual.  I found no reference to the charge indicator panel in the manual.

[Guest]

Is there a code displayed on the charger itself? If you look in over the front wheel from the driver's side, you can see the charger's own display cycling. It should show up an error code there. It's a Delta-Q ICL series charger, if memory serves (and they've not changed it since mine was built).

Delta-Q_ICL-Series_BatteryCharger_UserManual_R1.pdf

[Kingfish]

Thanks for the reply and the pdf file.  I found something similar on the Delta-Q website.  Since I posted originally, I have done a good bit of research on the charger.  I discovered the status display on the charger.  The charge indicator green light is not on.  The only light is the blue AC power light connected indicator.  I have not had the chance to try to read the error code display.  When I was looking at it, there was no characters being displayed.  How to you trigger the display to output the error code?  Should it continuously cycle through the code when plugged in, or dose it just do it once when the AC power is first connected?

[Guest]

Is there a code displayed on the charger itself? If you look in over the front wheel from the driver's side, you can see the charger's own display cycling. It should show up an error code there. It's a Delta-Q ICL series charger, if memory serves (and they've not changed it since mine was built).

[Guest]

Not sure what happened there! Didn't mean to repost my earlier reply.

 

I'm no expert on the charger, but as far as I know, the two digit readout lights up when it is on, either with a status or a rolling error code. If it's not doing either, then there's something else wrong. I read a thread a while back about road crud getting into the power connector, so it might be that or a corroded connection. You need to be very careful and isolate the battery pack before poking around though. UK spec E1s have a big red circuit breaker button to turn everything off, which I don't think US spec ones do. 

[Kingfish]

Appreciate whatever light you can shine on the issue.  I am an experienced electronics technician so I know where and how to be safe.  I just wish I could find a wiring diagram for the E1 so I could troubleshoot it easier.  I probably could even repair the charger itself if a schematic was available for it.  Hopefully others will weigh in here with more info.  Any little tidbit could be a clue down the right path.

[Guest]

Good luck, and let us know what it is if you find out!

[Cougsfan]

My dealer gave me an electronic version of the service manual and I have sent it to Kingfish.  I will see if it will upload here for others to use.   I'm not sure if there is a more appropriate way to do this, let me know if there is..

2015-2017 Service Manual - Sector E1.pdf

[Kingfish]

So after studying the schematic, I started looking for the 30A fuse that goes from the charger to the batteries.  I found it mounted to one of the batteries.  The fuse holder had actually melted.  I replaced the fuse and holder and the charger started right up.  I kept an eye on temperature of the new holder and the wires running to it.  They get quite warm, but not enough to melt the new holder at this point.  I am worried what made it so hot in the first place and am concerned it will happen again.  We'll just have to wait and see.

[EVSupport]

We change the fuses (Also a lot of E1s dont actually have a fuse on the charger) on the Hisun and the Ranger for a maxi bladed fuse    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143778366533  like these , not for high value fuses, but as they have large blades the connection is much better and the heat generated is virtually none. The ranger is the worst, they use the mini automotive fuses, The only issue is connecting them into your loom. So make the terminal to the contactor the longest leg of the fuse holder with an 8mm crimped terminal, and the other end ideally crimped to the original loom section. Any join should ideally have one or more layers of heat shrink sleeve.