Duct Tape E-Bay Lifepo4s???

[Arbiker501]

I have a lifepo4 36 18. The old pack was 36 volt slas

I think they are the same . I bet you got a better deal than me Dang it .... Mine is here and working .. great . I wish you the same luck.
What pack did you get. I wish i ordered a 48 volt pack.

 

[albie]

48v 15ah pack i'm getting.

I got it for around $430AUD inc shipping.

Haven't got mine yet as I haven't paid for it (pay day is thursday and i'm broke till then).

 

[Ypedal]

Hello Guys,

If you guys give me some advice i will try to do some testing. I dont have a volt meter but think that is pretty cheap at wal mart and will go pick one up .

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Buuurrrrrrrrp.. ( Oh.. my god.. i'm so full.. christmas food... oy. )

YES>>> get a Volt-Meter !!

Every E-Biker should have one.. 2 actually.. always have a backup !

Battery packs usually ship partially drained.. best to fully charge before the 1st ride.

Got a digital cam ? i'd love some pics !

 

[Battboy]

You might want to inform this guy that when you "duct tape" your battery pack it seems you have something to hide? Like the actual cells that you are buying? Are they prismatic or cylindrical? Do you know the difference? Who makes your cells, and why do you hide them ? Ocean Blue is the logical guess on my part, but that's pure speculation.

For example we sell what we call a "soft pack" which means it has no hard-shell tooling. We do this for many of our automtotive development packs since the specs vary so much from one requirement to another. Attached here is a picture of our 20V/40Ah Soft Pack, which is what I would put this Chinese offering into. As you can see there is no reason to conceal the cells in something as common as Home Depot duct tape - unless there is some element of deception that is intended. People - you have to see what you are buying! No matter how attractive the price is, I would never buy this pack simply because there is no warranty offered, no real specs on the cells, and no proof of what you are getting for your money.

When the e-bike world starts to hold these people responsible for verifying their product, then you will find more companies such as LiFeBATT willing to place products into this market. As long as you continue to support this kind of offering, you will end up feeling like the battery chemistry is faulty and this certainly is not the reality.

Merry Christmas,

Don Harmon

 

[Arbiker501]

Hey Y pedal,

Nope . I had to use the money for the camera for Lifepo..
The lifebatt packs all look very nice . I love the hard plastic pack kits.. I saw some photos of those on a thread and they were very sweet.

I might have to post some pics from my phone or some other. I will try to get a good charge and ride on it soon. I really need to get a volt meter and a watts meter. I am not looking for huge discharge or anything so for me compared to my SLA it is a huge differance.

 

[Johnbear]

Hi, Have you had a chance to take these batteries for a good run? How are they? Have you peeked under the duct tape!

 

[OLIVIER]

For example we sell what we call a "soft pack" which means it has no hard-shell tooling. We do this for many of our automtotive development packs since the specs vary so much from one requirement to another. Attached here is a picture of our 20V/40Ah Soft Pack, which is what I would put this Chinese ...
Don Harmon

Hello Don,
Did you mean to write 12V/40Ah? or are these your new larger cells?

The duct tape packs are tempting, even if they dont last very long. When they do eventually fail, lifepo4 technology and price might then be very good!

 

[Battboy]

Sorry I did type that wrong. The correct configurations is 24V / 20 Ah for this Soft - Pack! Sorry, too much eggnog

 

[PJD]

With regard to the 40AH cells, ping describes them as being 100x140x45. Presumably prismatic.

 

[Arbiker501]

Hey guys,

I did get the bike out . After a full charge rode off and on for a total of 37 miles... I did pedal some . Esp since i have a pedal first controler.
I rode at 20 most the time. The last 2 or 3 miles the battery was weaker. I was still very happy with its preformance. The seller told me that after a few charges and discharges it would improve. I am happy with it as is... So much better than lead. I hope on go and dont worry about how long i have to charge it before i can go again..

Arbiker

 

[PJD]

What was the range with lead acid?

I have to make up my mind on a (somewhat larger) pack myself, so a prompt answer would be great!

 

[Arbiker501]

Before i was running 36 volt 7 amh .. I would say the range was 10 miles and last night i ran i think it was 37. The battery still did not stop . I was loosing some speed but did not stop.. So i was impressed. I pretty much run the motor wide open so 20 to 22 . My lifepo pack is a 18 amp hour. I am going to buy a 48 well. Then sell this one.

The big thing you will like about thes over lead is that it runs strong pretty much start to finish. My lead started to slow down the whole time and of course you had to charge it right off.

Where this i can charge over night and really cant use it all up in the day.. So that is really cool.

 

[PJD]

Before i was running 36 volt 7 amh ...My lifepo pack is a 18 amp hour..."

I was afraid of that - an apple/orange comparison...

257% more stated capacity", but, say after break in, 420% more range, but considering the Peukerts effect, the range improvement may have been only a little less with a 18 ah lead acid pack (neglecting the weight factor) But I'll be replacing 40AH for 40AH, and for the money I'll be putting out, I'll be expecting more than just a small range improvement. I'm working on a skeptical assumption about cycle life - so range improvement is the big consideration.

It's winter, the lead-acid packs are still in reasonable shape in both scooters for 80% of my trips come spring, so I'm in no rush - I suspect Ping's prices will probably only go down...

 

[Arbiker501]

WEll i have a 48 20 on order now .. I should rent out my lifepo ? I am a newbie but i can say there is really no comparion. Since the Lifepo pulls strong like your lead does when it is fresh off the charger the whole time. I am not sure my range will get much more than 38 miles. But I would never get 38 miles at the same speed without some serious amp hours of lead.. I

 

[albie]

good to hear that your going really well with the pack.

I would probably suggest to go 72v... much more fun (connect the two packs in series).

I've taken a ride on BiGH insane bike setup... i have to say wow to higher voltages... (I'm a bit of speed freak!)

 

[Arbiker501]

Well ,

It would put me at 84 HMMM now that would be some speed.
I need to ask some of the guys that know what the hell they are doing and find out if I can run lifepo in a series .. I dont see how you can do it with bms and all.

arbiker

 

[albie]

the packs can be connected in series... i believe the BMS only takes care of the recharge bit (so the batteries don't catch on fire or over heat).

Just make sure that when you are recharging them... that you charge them as individual packs.

Usually what holds people back from running high voltages is the controller. Which is why alot of people recommend the ebikes.ca controllers (the ones with the 4110 MOSFET). Having the 4110 reduces the risk of the controller burning out when running on high volts.

 

[PJD]

The BMS's balance the packs in both charging and discharging, so if hooked in series, each pack will stay balanced, but there will be no balancing between the two packs. But I believe they also have low and high voltage cutoff, which will prevent damage from overcharging or over-discharging should one sub-pack become unbalanced from the other - even if bulk-charging both packs. Then again, you can always charge each pack separately with multiple chargers or a bank charger to completely preclude these problems.

 

[fechter]

I think the problem is if the BMS in one pack cuts off for either low voltage or high current during discharge, you wind up with the full series voltgae across the 'switch'. If the BMS transistor is not rated for the full voltage of both packs, it could blow if it trips. If you can keep it from ever tripping, it will be happy.

With two separate chargers (or one at a time), charging should not be an issue, since each pack is within it's voltage rating even if the BMS switch opens to terminate charging.

 

[Arbiker501]

Fetcher,

So if I understand you right . IF i had two 36 volt packs it should be ok or two 48 packs it would work as well.

If the 48 comes in and works as well as the 36 , I will sell off the 36 i am running right now.

For a newbie , I just dont see me running 96 volts.... It would be cool but somehow i fell like i could be the joke of a jeff fox worthy joke.

" You might be a redneck if ____ you got a bike that goes 60 mph ". KInda of like hey bubba hold my beer and watch this..

One other question.. Would it be best to pull off the duct tape and use the heat wrap? Right now the cold weather is keeping everything cool but i think my controler is only pulling 20 amps .. I would thing with higher discarge and summer that duct tape would be nasty.

 

[Battboy]

Why would anyone want to go more than 35 mph. on an e-bike. Is this a motorcycle you are talking about here ??? Love to see a picture of what this ride is.

 

[GGoodrum]

Why would anyone want to go more than 35 mph. on an e-bike. Is this a motorcycle you are talking about here ??? Love to see a picture of what this ride is.

Mainly, because we can... :lol:

I've hit about 45 on my 80V/5304-equipped Townie. I think it will actually do a bit more, but I'm going to have grow a bigger set of stones to find out for sure.

 

[recumbent]

I agree with Don, you don't want to go beyond 35mph for any length of time.
I remember racing down a very long hill with mountain bikes, we hit 75 KPH/~46MPH and it was down right dangerous, we both had high quality bikes also. To have reserve power is understandable, but there is a sweet spot of efficiency and power, and I hope that is under 60 volts with a 4xxx series. My project this winter.

 

[Battboy]

For the "average" e-biker, 40 mph. would be considered a max. envelope. If you get much above 35 mph. you need to know how to reinforce your bike to take such speeds or it can be fatal or at best very dangerous. Also, speeds like this tend to attract the law, which tends to come down on e-bikes then in general. The unfortunate result is e-bikes of any flavor suddenly become target for idiot legislation to ban them. I prefer to keep e-bikes in the category they are now where you don't need a license, registration, or insurance.

As sure as rain - if ebikes start acting like motorcycles as far as their speed capabilities - it won't be long before the laws are changed and ALL e-bikes will have to be registered and taxed like the automobile is now. This would be a shame for our industry and would be our own fault.

Best,

Don Harmon

 

[Arbiker501]

GUys,

I am with both of you . That is why i was saying i dont see going over 48 volts. I am a long time Road biker. To be honest 20 mph and a crash on a upright is tuff.. On a regular road bike that is often head over type crash..

I was thinking 30 to 35. Maybe if i got a bent bike or something with better shock system then the speed would be safer.

Saying all that I could see a second bike for a long haul. Something that would be in the sweet spot between 35 to 40 for a long 100 mile trip to my brothers . But that would be a bent bike and fairing.. LOTS of peadling . OF course to cover the range the speed would be great but i would have to ride slower to save the juice. So even that may be a bad idea.

Right now i am just getting my feet wet.. Don , I need to take some pics. My steed is a touring bike steel bike which i love steel bikes.