Hope some experienced help can be had. New to Oset and little electric knowledge, bought a 2015 16R (I think) yesterday and was told the original batteries are in it. The serial number on the frame is 16R4I114 but have been unable to confirm what this is. The charger appears to be original supplied 36W and has three parallel batteries. I'll list the issues I have.                                                                                                                                             1. When plugged in the wall outlet, charger blinks red sometimes, but not always.                                                                                                                                                                                           2. When connected to bike, blinks orange/green, orange/green sometimes, but not always.                                                                                                                                                                         3. IF, the throttle gets to three lights and it doesn't always and I try it the motor spins right up for a few seconds and then slows.                                                                                                                 4. If I back off and try the throttle again there is only one light and will not spin.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   So what did I get myself into? I have no dealers in New Jersey according to website and closest maybe upstate New York.

If you have a small capacity 12v charger (or can borrow one) try charging each battery individually. The chargers aren't well made, mine certainly gave up and I know of others. Don't have to buy one from Oset though there are alternatives about.

If you can get/borrow a volt meter check the voltage of each of the batteries after charging. A charged 12v battery should read about 12.7v  if it shows 12v it’s actually classed as discharged and that means dodgy battery.

However sounds like your Oset charger itself may be dodgy, we went through two when had Osets over 4 years. As above charge each battery separately and check they are ok then replace charger.

1:   you need to measure the voltage at the batterys , when charging and when not charging, full battery should read around 39v ( without charger connected ), a flat battery will read around 36v or even lower

2: measure voltage out of the charger when not connected to battery should be around 39v, for 3 sla batterys 

this is a starting point to get to the bottom of the problem 

the OP said he had little electrical knowledge, yes load test charger would be the next step if it was the correct voltage coming out of it.  personally I would just monitor the charge current and charge voltage over time then discharge the battery with a know load and measure the capacity and C rate. IR can change so much with temperature so it not always a good way to go with sla but good enough if you had them from new and knew what the IR was from new and at a specific temp.

Thanks for the replies. After a few tries the charger stopped blinking and held a steady red or yellow, if that means anything as I believe it should. The bar switch indicated three lights and kept that for a few tries of twisting the throttle which it had not. Checked it the following morning and still had three but after one try it dropped to two. I'll try to get full charge (green light?) into it when I'm in the garage for an extended time, don't want to leave it unattended at this point. Maybe I'm a little to cautious? When I borrowed a multimeter it showed each battery as 11+ to 12+ and the series in the high 30s up to about 39, but the readings are very erratic, jumping around a lot on the display. The charger showed an output in the high 30s also.

Can someone point me to a online manual for the 2015 16R if one exists? I really would like to know the sequence of lights on the charger, steady or flashing. Currently, I'm getting steady red when plugged in, steady yellow when charging, but the green does not light. It has flashed at times since getting the bike but not now. Thanks

 

Back again. The batteries seem to hold a charge for a hour or so around the back yard. I'll get new ones for the spring and some extended riding time.                                                          I do have another question. What air pressure can I run with the Kenda tires and not spin them on the rim? Since these are not of the same quality as                                                       full size bikes I doubt I can get away with 3-4 PSI. I still would like to source a owners manual to cover the 16R if someone can point me in the right direction. 

Thanks