Hi,
I just bought an old True Fitness recumbent exercise bike from a liquidation sale. It's one of those self-powered ones with no mains connection. I think the battery is dead due to a long period spent unused. The circuit board lights up when you pedal so that works. The thing has an AC port, which ironically is position facing the ground and in order to get to it you need to have one person lift one end, whilst the other person fits the charger. I don't have the charger, and it's a 9v 1.5a with a 5.5/2.1 plug with the centre being positive. I wasn't able to get those specs direct from the manufacturer, as they kind of don't like home users messing around with the equipment.
My question is, what are my options for replacing the battery? Cheapest I have seen is a Jaycar 12v 2.1Ah thing. Which is like $25, but I have no idea about batteries. Can anyone make some recommendations battery wise? I picked this thing up for like $191, and they sell used for like $2000, so I want to get it working so that I don't have to risk covid at the pool and gym
That's just a standard 12V 2.3Ah SLA battery, just search for that and see what comes up, some ratings come in multiple shapes so find one that looks the same as the one you have. Lead acid batteries are heavy making shipping expensive so you'll want to locate a supplier in your own country, there are lots of places that sell battteries online, or find a shop the sells them for UPS's and alarm systems and such. Personally I've had good luck with PowerSonic brand but I've heard there are only a few factories that make the batteries sold under lots of brands.
I replaced the battery, console still doesn't power up. What am I doing wrong here? Does this battery need to be charged up prior to use?
If it didn't arrive close to fully charged then it's a dud. Do you have something to check the voltage? Even a $10 DMM should be adequate for this sort of thing, otherwise you're flying blind.
Do you have something to check the voltage? Even a $10 DMM should be adequate for this sort of thing, otherwise you're flying blind.
Just be double sure the test leads are in the right jacks before doing that, connecting the (unfused) 10A input to a high current supply would make a rather nasty surprise!
Alright, so here is the funny part of the story. Behind the console is a plastic part which comes off with 2 screws. There's a cable there that is marked as optional, no idea why, but I'm looking at it, and it has kind of two power plugs, it's for an extra TV which can be connected to the device on top of the console. At first looks I ignored this, there's a few cables they left inside the frame due to the frame being used for multiple different modules which include a lot of different elements like network and coax.
I took a look at the board end under the seat, and there are two options there, there is an empty compartment for a large 15amp power supply for powered operation with a touch screen. There is instructions in the book to if you want to add this part you have to unplug a cord at the bottom which is plugged into the internal battery circuit. This plug kind of looks like the cable from the other end, and that's where it clicked in my head. That's the power cord and at the console end, it's not plugged into anything.
So, I plugged it in, it's working, the battery was probably a waste of time. This is what I think happened, they mothballed the product at some point during one of the first few lockdowns, and they cut the power to the console so it wouldn't turn on occasionally and drain the battery.
And I scored a fully working exercise bike for $192 at auction. Good condition, suggest if you are looking for equipment take a look at gym liquidations.