Guide to reviving the Segway Gen 1 and Gen 2 battery

[rene_canlas]

I wrote this guide primarily for myself because I've had this happen to me (Segway accidentally left unplugged) 4 times now, the last one just yesterday, and it has continued to save my batteries.

I am posting this here in case It helps anyone else. This is for the original Gen 1 and Gen 2 Segway units. I do not own a Ninebot.

[comparableness]

Thank you, Rene. Very nice writeup. I'm heartened to see that you trickle charge your battery on a fireproof tile floor.

[dkmacdubh]

I wrote this guide primarily for myself because I've had this happen to me (Segway accidentally left unplugged) 4 times now, the last one just yesterday, and it has continued to save my batteries.

I am posting this here in case It helps anyone else. This is for the original Gen 1 and Gen 2 Segway units. I do not own a Ninebot.

Rene,
Thank you so much for the thorough and concise instructions.
I am going to give it a try will let y'all know how it goes.

[dkmacdubh]

I did indeed give this method a try and it worked beautifully --- I am back in business with two fully charged batteries.
Thank you again Rene for a thorough and concise guide
I would heartily recommend this method before shelling out a lot of money for either a reconditioned or a new battery. Admittedly not ever battery will respond but for those that have simply been depleted to the point they will not be recognized by the on board charger this worked perfectly.

[rene_canlas]

I did indeed give this method a try and it worked beautifully --- I am back in business with two fully charged batteries.
Thank you again Rene for a thorough and concise guide
I would heartily recommend this method before shelling out a lot of money for either a reconditioned or a new battery. Admittedly not ever battery will respond but for those that have simply been depleted to the point they will not be recognized by the on board charger this worked perfectly.

Glad to see it worked for you! Let me know if you have any recommendations for improving the guide.

Cheers!

[rene_canlas]

Thank you, Rene. Very nice writeup. I'm heartened to see that you trickle charge your battery on a fireproof tile floor.

Li-Ion batteries deserve a lot of respect for the stored energy they contain.
Also I love my home :)

[dmurphy]

Rene - this guide worked perfectly. I don’t know if you saw my thread but after a power outage, the charger in my Segway appeared to lock up, and I lost enough voltage that one battery dipped down to 40v or so. A quick float charge and it’s good as new.

Thanks for writing this up so clearly! Saved the battery. :-)

[TahoeJoe]

awesome!

( Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.)

[NYC Newbie]

I wrote this guide primarily for myself because I've had this happen to me (Segway accidentally left unplugged) 4 times now, the last one just yesterday, and it has continued to save my batteries.

I am posting this here in case It helps anyone else. This is for the original Gen 1 and Gen 2 Segway units. I do not own a Ninebot.

I am very grateful to have found the instructions on revival method. I have 4 batteries that I am going to try this on later today. im keeping my fingers crossed that it will work! thank you.:thumbsup:

[jbuenavides]

Thank you for sharing it with us, this is really helpful in figuring out how to make it durable enough in the long run.

[TahoeJoe]

rene_canlas' guide worked on 3 out of 4 batteries for me! Thanks so much rene!

willballz11 (New Member) just posted another tip to try on another thread.. this would facilitate the same result without having to purchase an adjustable power supply.. he says:

I had a red light and a green light. Took the batteries off and tested voltage on both. One was 77v and one was 5v. So then I plugged in the Segway and tested the ports that the battery plug into. One read 27v. And the other read 11v. Not sure if that's a problem but it seems odd. Either way I used as heavy gauge wire as I could did negative to negative and positive to positive and let it sit for 40 seconds. Feeling both batteries the entire time and with a fire extinguisher nearby just in case. Neither battery heated up and when I tested batteries again the one that was at 5v was now reading 60v. So I plug in the two batteries on my Segway and Wala. Two green lights Segway recognizes both batteries now.

[dmurphy]

So now, I’m concerned.

Last year, my batteries dropped to about 50V as I recall, so I was able to trickle-float them back up and recover. Lesson learned about using a timer.

Well, this morning the Segway in my garage showed two red lights. They were both green short-flashing earlier in the week the last time the timer kicked on.

So I pulled the batteries and both are in the 68-69V range. Swapped them on the frame, and after about a minute, the two solid green lights go red. The rear first, and the front about 10 seconds later.

When I power the Segway on, all 5 top lights go red and I get the error beeps, with the exclamation point on the Infokey.

Any ideas how to troubleshoot this thing?

[TahoeJoe]

That happened to me too. After recovering 3 batteries, one of them went to red a few weeks later. I think it was due to not leaving the segway plugged in all of the time. I left it off charger for 48 hours, when I plugged back in, one of them turned to red within around 10 minutes.

I tried to trickle charge it back up again (twice), but it just never would turn green. My conclusion is that if you do manage to recover a battery, keep it plugged in and charging all the time after every ride. A recovered battery is an unstable battery and can go bad (turn red) at anytime. I don't think there is anything to troubleshoot here. Sorry man, recovered batteries are living on borrowed time :(

[dmurphy]

That happened to me too. After recovering 3 batteries, one of them went to red a few weeks later. I think it was due to not leaving the segway plugged in all of the time. I left it off charger for 48 hours, when I plugged back in, one of them turned to red within around 10 minutes.

I tried to trickle charge it back up again (twice), but it just never would turn green. My conclusion is that if you do manage to recover a battery, keep it plugged in and charging all the time after every ride. A recovered battery is an unstable battery and can go bad (turn red) at anytime. I don't think there is anything to troubleshoot here. Sorry man, recovered batteries are living on borrowed time :(

So let me ask - what voltage were the batteries at when they went red? I’m still holding at ~70v, and I’m sure I could trickle them up even further. This almost feels like the charging board is locked up rather than the battery.

It’s been on a charger steadily all year. Had it on a timer as well so the charger would get “reset” once a week.

Either way, think it’s gotta go in for repair. Just hoping it’s the charging board and not the battery - a lot cheaper that way.

[TahoeJoe]

When mine went red they still would hold 70V too, but they still turned red. If the rene_canlas recovery method did not work for your battery, that means the cells are too far gone to revive. The next recovery method would be replacing the bad cells. That would move you over to this thread

Rebuilding Segway i2 battery
https://forums.segwaychat.org/showthread.php?t=36985

[dmurphy]

When mine went red they still would hold 70V too, but they still turned red. If the rene_canlas recovery method did not work for your battery, that means the cells are too far gone to revive. The next recovery method would be replacing the bad cells. That would move you over to this thread


I let the battery packs sit disconnected for about 2 weeks. They continued to drain down to about 15V.

Then I put them on a DC power supply and very slowly brought them back up to 60V over the course of about 8 hours each.

Put them back on the Segway .... and ... we're back! All is good on the Western front.

Batteries charged up fully, went through cell balancing and now in trickle mode.

InfoKey is showing full charge, Segway rides great ...

I suspect (and it's just a guess) that either the charger or the in-battery BMS's locked up somewhere while it wasn't ridden.

That continual drain while disconnected leads me to think the BMS was doing something funky. But now we're all healthy it appears, so good to go!

[dmurphy]

So just for ha-has, I pulled the batteries back off. 78.5V each. Both holding solid.

I’m doing the “turn it on and lean against the wall” thing for a few hours and then we’ll recharge again. Make sure everything is copacetic.

But so far, looks good! Thanks Rene - this guide is worth its weight in gold!

[TahoeJoe]

That's awesome it worked! isnt it great to see both those lights go green, and stay green!

So what do you think you did different this time, than when you tried last time?

You said almost feels like the charging board is locked up rather than the battery.

Do you still think that? Or could it be the method, charge rate / time, amps?
You mentioned you let it charge for about 8 hours, thats alot longer than the 1 hour it typically takes with rene's method. Any idea how this time it worked over last?

[dmurphy]

That's awesome it worked! isnt it great to see both those lights go green, and stay green!

So what do you think you did different this time, than when you tried last time?

You said .

Do you still think that? Or could it be the method, charge rate / time, amps?
You mentioned you let it charge for about 8 hours, thats alot longer than the 1 hour it typically takes with rene's method. Any idea how this time it worked over last?

It is great - and even better than the lights staying green was pulling them off and seeing 78V on the voltmeter! Whew. They’re charging well - only 3700 miles on them and 5 years old, so they should have plenty of life left.

The only thing I did differently was to wait until they really got low - down below 20V each. Then when I charged them back to 60V, I left them on the power supply for a while. I’m thinking something was up with the in battery controller - wonder at what voltage it shut down completely?

Maybe also leaving the i2 disconnected for a while reset the charging board....?

Either way, I’m feeling much better now. A little battery voodoo but the end result is good.

It’s funny - I also drive a Tesla, so lithium batteries and charging routines and such aren’t unfamiliar. I’m impressed with how far Tesla has come around battery technology. It’s genuinely years, if not decades ahead of the rest of the car industry.

[montejoe]

I tried this on a dead gen 1, was able to get both batteries charged enough to throw on unit. 1 battery was good the other was bad turns out. Thanks for the option though.

[jabackes]

I followed this and got half of a set to revive too! sadly the battery that did revive charges but shows a red-light when it goes full, i am able to get about 3 or so miles out of it when it's hooked up, less than ideal, but hey, working 18650 Cells! likely going to salvage the batteries for other projects, I've ordered replacement batteries but the procedure works!

[Tonylovesbritt]

Tell me how to charge or trick please

[mmp01]

I have two sets of NIMH batteries that I'd like to revive. Has anyone used this procedure on them? I know I'll need to lower the voltage accordingly but wanted to see if anyone had any advice before I began. Thank you.

[mmp01]

Has anyone used this method on NIMH batteries? If so, any advice? I'll certainly lower the voltage as compared to Lithium batteries. Thank you

[MTOBATTERY]

Segway NiMH batteries will charge on the Segway even if they are over-discharged. If your battery does not charge on the machine, you likely have cells that have vented or a damaged BMS. In either situation force charging the cells will not rectify the issue. We can rebuild them for you if you are interested. Take care.

[Notaguru]

REVIVING BATTERIES AND AN OLD THREAD

I drive an I2, and was just given an old (NiMH and non leansteer I167) unit with three of the four batteries showing less than 10V. I built a simple (but admittedly unsafe, and yes output is halfwave DC) ~60V source:

120VAC > 0.5A fuse > 600 ohm wirewound resistor > diode > battery, with two circuits in parallel to enable independent charging of both NiMH battery packs in each unit.

Output was 54V, and current was close to 150mA, so about 8W total. No fires, smoke, or black helicopters.

It brought all four batteries (two battery packs) up to more than 30V. I installed them and got a red LED plus a green blinker.

I pulled the batteries and repeated the process, and got the same result.

The I167 is in good cosmetic condition, is fully equipped with three keys, original manual, tools, etc., and was fully functional when taken out of service. It deserves recovery, but I don't want to pay for batteries and then discover a non-battery problem.

Is there anyone in S California that would let me borrow a pair of NiMH battery packs? I'll drive to you, and as you know it's just a five minute experiment.

Or - is there a guru here that can suggest further steps regarding the existing battery packs?

THANKS!!

[rene_canlas]

rene_canlas' guide worked on 3 out of 4 batteries for me! Thanks so much rene!

willballz11 (New Member) just posted another tip to try on another thread.. this would facilitate the same result without having to purchase an adjustable power supply.. he says:

I had a red light and a green light. Took the batteries off and tested voltage on both. One was 77v and one was 5v. So then I plugged in the Segway and tested the ports that the battery plug into. One read 27v. And the other read 11v. Not sure if that's a problem but it seems odd. Either way I used as heavy gauge wire as I could did negative to negative and positive to positive and let it sit for 40 seconds. Feeling both batteries the entire time and with a fire extinguisher nearby just in case. Neither battery heated up and when I tested batteries again the one that was at 5v was now reading 60v. So I plug in the two batteries on my Segway and Wala. Two green lights Segway recognizes both batteries now.

Wow! Thanks for sharing this technique. I'll add it into my document as a "roadside emergency alternative". Cheers!

[rene_canlas]

Found myself back here after 2 years because, yep. it has happened again so I went to where I stored my guide on the internet to once again try and revive the batteries on my i167. It has saved them once again!

I loved reading about how you guys were able to use my guide to save your batteries. I love this community and I will try to visit more often :)

Cheers!

[svo4turbo]

Digging up an old post, I realize. But I think this information could be very useful to me as it has been to others. Question...I have an adjustable power supply that can deliver up to 120v / 3a. I realize that this post suggested using 60v, but wouldn't it be ideal to use the 73.6v? Or is the idea to get it just high enough to let the onboard take over? Thanks

[Flenser]

Thanks so much to Rene for putting this guide together.

I have two Segways that we sadly haven't used this past year, and they weren't starting up, and one charging light on each was solid red.

This guide led me to buy a power supply, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WD85XCX/ but I already had a voltmeter. I gritted my teeth when I got to the part in the guide about taping up nails to stick in the batteries, but everything worked like a charm, and both Segways are up and running now!

[Digital Farmer]

Thanks so much to Rene for putting this guide together.

I have two Segways that we sadly haven't used this past year, and they weren't starting up, and one charging light on each was solid red.

This guide led me to buy a power supply, . . . and both Segways are up and running now!

I'm hoping this will work on my i2SE batteries.

[Digital Farmer]

I have the LiIon batteries trickle-charged to 60 V at 100mA, but the amperage is taking a while to reach 0; one pack is now hovering at 0.019A about an hour after reaching 60V. Wondering if it's okay to go ahead and re-connect them to the Segway and try to effect the charging there?

[myk57]

What is the result of installing on the base?

[g041579]

Thanks for pdf ,Instead of using nails I just clipped my power supply clips
to my multimeter jumpers instead and used the multimeter probes. It took about 5 minutes to charge to 60vdc..

[rene_canlas]

Digging up an old post, I realize. But I think this information could be very useful to me as it has been to others. Question...I have an adjustable power supply that can deliver up to 120v / 3a. I realize that this post suggested using 60v, but wouldn't it be ideal to use the 73.6v? Or is the idea to get it just high enough to let the onboard take over? Thanks

Yes. The goal is to give it enough of a float charge so the segway charger can detect the battery and start charging it. I've read posts that say 48v should be enough to do that although I haven't tested it out.

[rene_canlas]

I have the LiIon batteries trickle-charged to 60 V at 100mA, but the amperage is taking a while to reach 0; one pack is now hovering at 0.019A about an hour after reaching 60V. Wondering if it's okay to go ahead and re-connect them to the Segway and try to effect the charging there?

Should be good enough to try letting the segway charger do its thing.
Sorry for the super delayed post

[mutmatias]

Hi guys! we have the DGB International Battery Super Reviver. Does this process provide any additional benefit? In other words, is it worth testing batteries that the reviver has failed to revive?

[mutmatias]

Hi guys! we have the DGB International Battery Super Reviver. Does this process provide any additional benefit? In other words, is it worth testing batteries that the reviver has failed to revive?

[Fastdog]

Hi, I have try your battery reviving method on my dead X2 battery and its seem to be taking a long time to charge up. I am using a Wanptek 60V 5A dc power supply from Amazon. My batteries are showing 0 volts at the start. I set it at 60V and current at .1 the battery been charging for 3 days and only at 29volts current still at .018. In this case is the battery bad or do I need a better DC power supply charger?

[Fastdog]

I wrote this guide primarily for myself because I've had this happen to me (Segway accidentally left unplugged) 4 times now, the last one just yesterday, and it has continued to save my batteries.

I am posting this here in case It helps anyone else. This is for the original Gen 1 and Gen 2 Segway units. I do not own a Ninebot. I have try your battery reviving method on my dead X2 battery and its seem to be taking a long time to charge up. I am using a Wanptek 60V 5A dc power supply from Amazon. My batteries are showing 0 volts at the start. I set it at 60V and current at .1 the battery been charging for 3 days and only at 29volts current still at .018. In this case is the battery bad or do I need a better DC power supply charger?

[rene_canlas]

Sorry for the late reply. Given that your battery reads at 0 volts, it may be past the point of reviving. Sorry.

[rene_canlas]

Thanks for pdf ,Instead of using nails I just clipped my power supply clips
to my multimeter jumpers instead and used the multimeter probes. It took about 5 minutes to charge to 60vdc..

5 minutes? That means you used a higher amperage. 100ma is a conservative guesstimate on my end and a higher amperage may indeed be okay as long as the battery isn't defective. May I ask what amperage you used?