Lift Efoil Battery Care

Efoils are amazing and their batteries are expensive.  To get the most out of your battery, take good care of it.

Keep it cool.  Don't leave it laying in the sun or baking in your car.

Don't let it run completely out of power--it may go into a coma and never wake up again! Store it with a little bit of charge on it--30% is ideal, but if you will leave it unattended for more than a month or two, best to charge it to 50%. Like all batteries, it will self-discharge.  You don't ever want to let it go to zero, so best to charge it a little bit every month or so. 

To charge the battery:  Best to let it cool down and keep it in the shade, especially during charging.  Connect the data cable, then the main power connector, then plug into an electrical outlet that doesn't already have a heavy load on it. The charger needs up to 15 amps, so two chargers on the same circuit may trip your circuit breaker.   

The battery is charging when the orange 'lightning bolt' on the charger is glowing orange.  When that 'lightning bolt is not glowing orange, charging is not happening. The charger cooling fan may turn on and off during charging. 

When you connect to the charger and plug it in, the battery starts charging and gets to 100% in about an hour, Then the charging stops.  Charging will not start again unless you unplug the charger and plug it in again. 

There is no 'trickle charge'. Leaving the battery connected to the charger does not 'trickle charge' it.   Don't leave the battery alone over a 4-month winter thinking that the charger will automatically start charging when needed.  It will not. Charging is only happening when the 'lightning bolt' icon is glowing orange.  When the 'lightning bolt' is not lit, no charging is happening.  After a charge cycle completes, no charging will happen until you unplug the charger from the wall, then plug it in again.    

Best to charge the battery a little bit every month or so to keep the cells balanced. To keep the battery at 30% charge, either stop riding when you get to 30%, or, if you run the battery all the way down, charge it for a few minutes until three lights are solid green.  Unplug the charger from the wall to stop the charge.  

Lights other than green during charging: Before unplugging anything, take a video of the lights, the sticker which shows the battery serial number, and then zoom out to show the cables connected to the battery and the charger plugged into the wall.  If you unplug the charger from the outlet, the trouble code lights might disappear and not come back until after warranty expiration.  Email the video to 'liftefoils@gmail.com' or 'info@xlkites.com'.

Yellow blinking light during charging: If you have not charged the battery for a longer time, you may see blinking yellow lights on it indicating that it is charging at a slower pace than usual in an attempt to balance its cells.  If it needs to balance its cells, it may take many hours or even over night.  Just let it do its thing.

 

First generation through 4th Generation batteries (LIFT1, LIFT2, LIFT3 and LIFT4):

When charging, lights turn solid green to represent how charged the battery is. There are 8 lights. If one light is solid green, the battery is 1/8 charged. When the second light turns solid, the battery is 25% charged.  The blinking green light shows that the next 1/8 is being worked on.  When the battery reaches 100% charged, all 8 lights will blink. 

After you disconnect from the charger, the battery will continue flashing green lights every 6 seconds to indicate its level of charge.  Think of this slow flash as the battery's heartbeat.  This 'green light heartbeat' continues all the time until you put the battery in your board and turn it on.  

If you turn on your board and all the battery lights go solid blue, just wait for it to complete its update. In 5 minutes or less, it will be complete.

If your board or battery misbehave, try this power button reset technique. When the battery is in your board, reset the battery by holding down the power button for more than 5 seconds.  

When the battery is in the board powered on, the battery has a few blue lights that stay solid. If any other lights, take a video and be in touch. 

When you turn the board off, give it a few seconds to complete its shut down procedure.  You will know it is finished when the battery resumes its 'green light heartbeat, flashing green lights every 6 seconds.  Now you can disconnect the battery from the board.  The 'green light heartbeat' continues the same when you disconnect the battery.