SLA case prices from Rage and Ross.

[vanilla ice]

This seems like a good source if you're buying multiple SLA's at one time. Saw the link in another ES thread.

http://www.ragebattery.com/




I want to buy 4 of these-

http://www.ragebattery.com/power-sonic/D5779case.html

Case of 8 costs the same as 4 individually. Anybody want to split a box?

$10.40 each for 12v 8 amp is a decent deal.

[Lessss]

I might be interested but I've no idea where you are.

[Johnbear]

I have not found a good price in Canada, If you are willing to ship a few here i'll chip in!

Thanks.

[vanilla ice]

I didn't know which forum to post this in, I hope its ok here.

I'm in Los Angeles setup with a commercial UPS account. I can ship by US mail to Canada also. How many were you thinking you want? I'd be good with either 2 or 4 batteries.

I sent off an email to them to find out what shipping options we have. I'll PM you guys.

[CGameProgrammer]

The particular battery linked to seems to be low-current. Isn't it saying you'd get 4.2 Ah when discharging at 4.2 amps?

[Lessss]

I just wanted to see what a 250AH battery looked like
http://www.ragebattery.com/power-sonic/45964.html


These are the ones you want for your bike I think.
http://www.ragebattery.com/power-sonic/40696.html
The ones at $10 will sag more than your grandma.
4 AH less but a $15 price difference This doesn't seem so bad either.
http://www.ragebattery.com/power-sonic/SLA-17-12.html


These chargers look good too.
http://www.ragebattery.com/power-sonic/D1730.html

[vanilla ice]

I don't know if they will be ok, I was planning on running them in parallel. I figured 4 small ones is easier to place on a bike frame than one huge one. I wanted them under the seat on mine.

I'll get something else if these wont work.

[vanilla ice]

I think these will be fine when run 2 or more in parallel. 2p for small motors, more for larger motors.

This is what my currie came with stock, these "12 amp" batts:

http://www.ragebattery.com/power-sonic/D5775case.html

Which for the 1 hr rating says 7.8ah. So the little "8 amp" batts at a 4.2ah 1hr rating, are better than half of one of my stockers. Which is all I wanted since I plan to run them in parallel pairs.

If you guys were going to run them in series only, then these will probably not work. I want to make things as clear as possible so please, correct anything that is wrong. I'm new at this ebike stuff.

[vanilla ice]

If you work out the capacity per dollar based on the 1hr rates and case prices, the 22ah is the best value. Fitment may be a problem.

[BiGH]

5.9kg each! eek


i'm currently running a 4x 17ah 12v SLA setup - it weighs a TON.

plus based on the 1 hr rate - you're only really getting a 16ah battery for that weight...

are you sure u don't wanna go NiMH or Lithium? (i kind of regret my sla purchase - they're ok but they weight a TON, so performance is a tad lacking, and sag completely blows)

[TylerDurden]

Buying more lead is like paying for punishment.

If you like it, you will pay...

You pay in:
worst voltage sag = slower speed
heaviest weight = reduced efficiency, worse handling, bad portability (bike racks, office charging)
short lifespan = pay more sooner
environmental hazard = lead in the water for your grandkidz
slowwwww charging = more waiting, less riding
Large form-factor = hard to configure to bike

Lead IS good for one thing... sailboat keels.

More money up-front for good batteries pays dividends you can enjoy every day.

[vanilla ice]

Point taken.

Same as you Tyler, I paid $50 for my bike. I'm hesitant to spend 10 to 30 times that just to power the darn thing. I only ride once or twice a week for maybe 10 miles a ride. I don't think I can go wrong with lead for what my needs are. I mean I cringe just thinking about paying for the harbor freight nicads.

Anyway I did end up going with two cheap low amp SLA's in parallel for my 36v upgrade. I'll probably clean it up later but this is where its at now. It seems to work as of tonight. Test ride tomorrow.



So I'm set now, not looking to split a case from Rage any longer. If I become more serious later on and get a nicer bike, I will go with the higher tech batts. Having a lot of fun with this for now.

[D-Man]

You get what you pay for and thats the bottom line.

[vanilla ice]

... if you're lucky.

For less than $100 total, I have a 25mph ebike. I don't think my buying decisions have been too shabby so far.

Its easy being an early adopter when you have a big budget, not everybody does. In any case all the bats I use will die of old age before they cycle out.

[xyster]

You get what you pay for and thats the bottom line.

Only with some things some of the time. A few examples to the contrary:
-generic drugs versus brand name
-designer label clothing versus look-alikes
-many higher-end, lower reliability vehicles like Jaguar

[vanilla ice]

For you cheap lead bastards out there, sciplus has some surplus 12v 10ah batteries in.

At about 10Wh per dollar... did I do the math right? And of course at the typical EV discharge rate its more like half that.

And ross still has the Currie surplus tabless 12-7 batteries for $76 shipped per eight. Come with wire leads. Fuses no extra charge.


Update! Sciplus fullriver 12v 10ah bat DOA. They said they going to send out a replacement after they test it to make sure its alive.

Update2, I left it on a dumb charger for a couple days and its up to like 10 volts now. The smart charger wouldn't do anything to it, just gave me the red light. I think it has a bad cell or two inside. Maybe I can use it for a 9-10v booster pack or something. I'll try the tecmate desulfater next to see if the bad cells can be recovered. If that don't work I'll try 'pulsing' it with my 36v charger to see if that can fix it.

Update3, Dumb charger now has it up at 12.8v resting, only a tenth or two off what my healthy batteries show. Not sure if it will supply a decent amount of amp hours though.

[vanilla ice]

Heres an auction for SLA at $4.30 per 12-7 battery. But you have to buy a lot to get that price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/500-pieces-Enduring ... 0010263170
I'm using some of these on my escoot, work fine, no tabs though.

Sciplus credited me for that funky SLA I got BTW. Says "out" on their web site now. I actually have mine up to normal voltage with a lot of prodding though, I hope I didn't cause them to 86 a bunch of salvageable bats!

[Eric G]

Rock on with the SLA's there Ice...I just read this whole thread and I'm with you,I've been using sla batts for a long while now.The last sla I bought (Mar.2007) were 3-12v/7.2ah hooked up in series for 36v and they still run fine after 1200km's.They get me going up to 34km/hr (21mph) and I travel ~7 miles daily,less at the moment it's winter here.

The price you pay is a tad better than what I paid ($20 cdn. per brick).Heck I'll get over a years use out of these for a mere $60 total....And that ain't bad!

I will eventually change the battery chemistry but my financial situation has to change first.

Eric