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[bbribelle]

I'm searching for a solution for loose bus bars in my '22 Eve Ribelle battery.  My bike has been experiencing an number of faults and other symptoms.  I sent them to Chris Paz who responded that they are indicative of loose bus bars and my VIN falls the range where they have proven to be problematic.  I E-mailed Chris asking about repair options but I haven't received a response. 

I would like to hear how others have resolved this problem with their bikes.  Are improved bus bars available?

I'm not beyond dropping the battery and repairing it myself but I'd rather have the work done by a qualified shop.

[Specter]

You probably are going to have to repair it yourself.  Im not holding my breath for Energica to be back to that kind of status anytime soon here.

Only inputs I can add are, it's 300 plus volts, inside the case there really are no 'safeties' to save your ass, if you touch something wrong it's going to be very bad as the green ball of plasma expands to consume your unfortunate world.   Be insulated, work 1 handed as much as possible, kilovolt gloves will be sufficient and give more dexterity than higher rated gloves, if you choose to wear them.  Use non conductive or insulated tools if you can.

not sure about any replacements but snugging em down and re torquing can't hurt at all, especially if you know that is the issue.
What are you seeing? unexpected critical faults w/o any messages that kill the bike?  especially at higher speeds if you hit a bump while pouring the power to it?  I find that another component of that is flyback from the sudden loss of load and the instant reloading plus when the bike contacts again.  The inertia present can push things past programmed limits and trip it out for safety.  god i hate that little red triangle, but the bike can be reset on the fly, cycle the key press the button and it should 're go' but please make sure your throttle is about where your current speed is at to avoid any lurches or surges.  it helps things stay calm and not quite as rude of a revival,  you'll know as you cycle the dead throttle you can feel the regen lull when you are in anticipated zone.

Also while you are in there, if you are finding issues with balancing your battery, it's slowly drifting over time and won't come into full specs, now that you have access you can charge individual cells or arms if need be... you'll understand what that means once inside and see it.

aaron

[smithy]

I'm searching for a solution for loose bus bars in my '22 Eve Ribelle battery.  My bike has been experiencing an number of faults and other symptoms.  I sent them to Chris Paz who responded that they are indicative of loose bus bars and my VIN falls the range where they have proven to be problematic.  I E-mailed Chris asking about repair options but I haven't received a response. 

I would like to hear how others have resolved this problem with their bikes.  Are improved bus bars available?

I'm not beyond dropping the battery and repairing it myself but I'd rather have the work done by a qualified shop.

Depending on where you are...there won't be any "qualified shops" around since Energica went under...you'll need to fix it yourself or you're probably going to be waiting a long time.

Smithy.

[Anav]

I have not worked on the battery, but in addition to all said, I recall hearing from the mechanic working on my bike that the screws holding bus bars etc are very small and extremely easy to overtork. Caution is advised

[Specter]

especially on softer metals like copper.  brass, ehh, cuni, yah torque it a bit but copper /tinned copper and small screws are just asking to rip it out however helicoil may help you ONCE.    don't ask don't tell 

Aaron

[ElectricRebel]

I'm searching for a solution for loose bus bars in my '22 Eve Ribelle battery.  My bike has been experiencing an number of faults and other symptoms.  I sent them to Chris Paz who responded that they are indicative of loose bus bars and my VIN falls the range where they have proven to be problematic.  I E-mailed Chris asking about repair options but I haven't received a response. 

I would like to hear how others have resolved this problem with their bikes.  Are improved bus bars available?

I'm not beyond dropping the battery and repairing it myself but I'd rather have the work done by a qualified shop.

I'd love to help, but I think you're from the US?

Im currently in the process of making "better" bus bars.
The original ones are made from aluminum and are 3mm*10mm, so 30mm².
There's the possibility to get the improved Energica bus bar Kit from several dealers still.
The ones I make are made from 4mm copper, so 40mm². Copper conducts electricity better than Aluminum by 63 percent, in combination with the 33 ? higher cross section the new bus bars conduct almost double as good as the original ones (or have 50% less resistance and with that, heat).
They are now on their way to get Nickel plated (for corrosion resistance), as well as some steel shims (to spread the clamping force of the bolts. I'll use some chemical nickel plated 12.9  bolts for that.
It's still highly experimental, so I won't sell them to anyone as long as I don't have them tested properly beforehand this summer

Kind regards from Germany

[Specter]

Nickel might present some issues of it's own and hopefully your temps don't get to a point where you'd need nickel in a sealed pack!
Have you considered Tin plating?  Tin is commonly used on a lot of bus ties in the power plant and should suit you just as well if not slightly better in this case.
Just curious why you selected Nickel as your choice for coatings.

Aaron

[jotjotde]

Aaron might have a point here. Tin is nearer to the copper with regard of electrochemical potential, and the corrosion if the tin plating is scratched would be slower.

A nickel plating is a bit harder - was that your intention, a better mechanical protection?

[bbribelle]

All is good now.   

I managed to reestablish communications with Chris Paz and got home yesterday from having him replace my bus bars.  We chatted during the process of dropping the battery, replacing the bus bars, and reinstalling the battery.  I learned a lot about the internals of the bike.  The next day I rode about 150 miles around the peninsula and charged at the Tesla Magic Dock Supercharger in Scotts Valley.  After some user error on my part I was able to initiate the charge and it started at 20kW.  I didn't monitor the whole charging process as someone came up to me and asked a lot of questions about the bike (not unexpected).  I was only going to charge to 80% but ended up charging to 85%.  That's not the first time I charged more than planned when someone comes up to talk about the bike.  Had lunch at Alice's Restaurant and I finished my ride with about 30% and no errors along the way.

Many thanks to Chris who made the whole process look fast and easy.  Even if I had the parts it probably would have taken me a week to do the same thing.

[Specter]

jojo, the most i ever seen a battery charge at is 24 kw, and it's only in the middlish range is 20 to say 60 percent, at that point it starts slowly tapering down slowly ive seen.  Of course heat and other things can derate it as well.  80 or 85 percent is just fine, i believe 85 is where this chemistry likes to be stored at in fact when you pack them up for a while so you won't hurt a thing.

the biggest hassles with the battery are it's weight and moving it around, and of course once you get the thing open the shits hot at 300 volts so be careful. and always remember, unlike working on say 480 where if you touch something it goes boom and trips a breaker, these won't isolate you when you screw the pooch, you'll set off a very bad set of events, so the extra caution  all times since you must work on them live.

im glad Chris was able to help you get the bike fixed, especially something more complicated like a battery.  The tesla chargers, having the app, and an account helps a lot with getting them to turn on for you.  sometimes it don't want to activate and you have to scan the station bla bla.

whenever you do a fast charge, do yourself a favor, when you disconnect the cable, just cycle the key to make it turn on / off reboot, that way if any stupid shit is hanging around from a bad let go from the charging session it don't give you that undefined error or pli internal error garbage because it's got a bug up it's butt.  Every time ive had an issue with phantom shutdowns or unknown faults like that it's always been after a charge that seemed to end 'differently' and i didn't cycle power to fully reset it's mind.

Aaron.