This is the situation. My wife bought this bike in 2016 and used it for 6 outings before suffering a knee injury. The upshot was that the bike went unused for best part of 18 months. I had removed the battery from the carrier but, had I kept it regularly charged. No. So when we got it out and attempted to charge the battery it was dead, dead, dead. The option at that time was anew battery but at around £400 that seemed an awful lot of money - half what she paid for the bike as it happens.
I'm very familiar with battery technology and Li-On cells in particular, as I use these a lot in RC model flying so, with nothing to lose, I disassembled the battery pack, tested each cell individually, and found 4 out of 40 cells had failed. I bought replacements and, after a considerable amount of hacking, had them fitted. I then charged each of the 40 cells to capacity (I have some pretty clever battery charging tech) and found another 4 which weren't taking charge readily and replaced those too. Fitted the pack back in the bike and went for a ride - all good. I then put the pack on the regular charger and it just wouldn't charge, despite the charger voltage seeming to be right. So, there we are up to today.
I could still buy a replacement battery, and probably charger (although they seem very rare) but, from what I've read, these particular batteries are that good and according to our local Raleigh dealer, are prone to failure more than some others?
My thinking is that it must be possible to fit a new panier style housing and new battery type - one that's possibly more reliable and with greater capacity? But Google as I might, I can't find any clues as to what to buy or where to buy from? I don't mind doing a bit of 'hacking' but would much rather it be a straightforward job.
Any ideas, options, alternative approaches to resurrecting this weighty and somewhat useless non-e-bike gratefully received! Thanks in advance.
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