Water and electronics don't mix. Water and Lithium battery packs don't mix, either. If water or other contaminants enter your Segway Personal Transporter (PT) they can cause the PowerBase to malfunction, perform a 'Safety Shutdown' and cause expensive damage to internal components. Water inside a battery pack can cause an electrical short resulting in permanent damage that ruins the pack (or worse). All Segway PTs are sealed against incursion of water, moisture and dust to a level called IPx5. The "IP" stands for "Ingress Protection" and you can learn more about it
here at Wikipedia and also
here for another perspective. The "5" means your Segway PT is suitable for riding in conditions typically encountered by personal and commercial users when it is being used as intended by the manufacturer (see the Segway Reference Manual for more detailed information). A damaged or perished 'environment seal' on a Lithium battery pack is potentially dangerous. This could allow water, moisture or contaminants to enter and make contact with the cells inside the Lithium battery packs, or with the Control Unit (CU) Boards, Motors or Balance Sensor Assembly (BSA) inside the PowerBase.
(1) Top left: a missing seal; (2) Top right: a badly perished and damaged seal; (3) Bottom left: a seal with a piece torn away; (4) Bottom right: a brand new seal in perfect condition. Seals in photos 1, 2 and 3 will permit water ingress, resulting in serious damage to your Segway PT.
The battery pack 'environment seal' is made of a dense, grey coloured foam material that is easy to see and inspect. When the battery pack is correctly installed on the Segway PT, this seal is pressed up tight against the underside of the PowerBase, and prevents ingress into the battery pack or PowerBase (under normal use conditions). If the seal is missing, damaged, torn or perished then water or contaminants could enter your Segway PT or battery packs, resulting in expensive damage. If water (especially salt water) gets inside of your Segway PT it will - at the very least - reduce the life of your Segway PT. More likely, it will cause damage that requires expensive components to be replaced, or cause a battery to short out and become unusable (or thermally unstable). Segway New Zealand has replacement 'environment seals' in stock. These seals are self-adhesive (by 3M), and easy to apply. Simply scrap off the remains of the damaged seal, and stick on the replacement. Replacement seals are $50+GST each, including postage.
Two replacement seals in packets resting on top of a Segway Lithium battery pack that has a good seal. Both sides of the replacement seal are shown, including the self-adhesive side (by 3M).
