Duct Tape E-Bay Lifepo4s???

[geoff57]

Anyone correspond with Ping recently? I've been trying to arrange a couple more packs from him for over a week, but no response. BTW my 2 packs, 36V-15ah ea, are working great. I've had no trouble running them in parallel (no more over-current BMS shutdowns), though Ping recommends against it. How could running equal packs in parallel be a potential problem, since I do want to protect these?

John

Hi all
got a reply from Ping today with a paypal request from an email I sent a few days ago asking for a new BMS and charger as I want to change my 48v 10ah to a 24v 20ah, I had no problems getting through on his hotmail address pingping227@hotmail.com
he did warn me about doing what I was going to do but that is understanderable.

I originaly wanted a battery unit that consisted of my original 48v 20ah battery and a second battery 48v 10ah in paraellel(using a schottkey diode joiner from justin at ebikes) to boost the final pack up to 48v 30ah, I had to stay at 48v as the motor I am using is not capable of working over 60vand a 48v duct tape is actually more like 52v to 54v.

I had a problem a few weeks ago that ment I was going to have to change motor, while in my workshop for a service which included first removing external motor(leaving the motor mount and gearbox) batteries, panners and speed controller.these were all left out in my worshop in plane view along with a lot of tools , the following morning I go into the workshop and find the cycle stolen but nothing else had gone (the cycle was in pedal power mode) they broke in stole just the cycle and nothing else strange.The silver lining in this tragic situation is that the house insurance company cover the workshop as part of the house and cover cycles up to just under the value of the cycle so are paying out on a replacement cycle and then all I have to do is put all the electric conversion back on to the replacement but the motor which I had been thinking of replacing now will be replaced. The story was long I know but the upshot was I now have a motor that is capable of 72v and I want to take advantage of this.

I decided the cheapest option and the best was to reconfigure the smaller pack into a different configuration to give me a higher voltage but to get the best of both worlds fit the cells with power connectors and the 2 boards with connectors as well
plus connectors for the monitoring circutry, wired up in such a way that either can be pluged in and as a result I will either have a 48v 30ah pack or a 72v 20ah pack.
At the moment the 32cell(smaller) pack is in the electronics workshop upstairs with the BMS removed all wires marked and where they came off marked, then the pack was carfully saparated into 16 2 cell packs each pack has the positive and negitive tabs intact and joined using pings original joiners this gave me 16 packs each 3.2v of just under 10ah.
I'm now waiting for a large quantity of connectors to arrive to get on with the next step.

 

[pwbset]

Has anyone had email contact with Ping recently? For that matter, has someone got 72V packs from him?

Hi zurgutt. I'm trying to find a 72v solution also and emailed Ping about it. Here's the reply I got from him (her??) just this morning:

"So far we don't make 72v packs and 72v charger cannot be found here.

However, we are developing new 36v pack that can be easily connected in series to construct a 72v pack. It will be available soon.

Best regards,

Ping"

Sounds promising. I might even go uber-cheap and heavy SLA for this summer just until Ping's got his (her??) 36v series packs all dialed in.

 

[dogman dan]

All you would need to retrofit an old ping pack, would be the new bms when it comes out. Get the lithium now, you won't be sorry. A second BMS won't cost that much.

 

[geoff57]

All you would need to retrofit an old ping pack, would be the new bms when it comes out. Get the lithium now, you won't be sorry. A second BMS won't cost that much.

Hi all
thats what I'm doing now retrofitting a 32cell pack from 48v 10ah to either that or 24v 20ah ready for making a 72v20ah setup where I have a 48v 30ah setup at the moment made out of a 48v 20ah battery and a 48v 10ah booster pack in parellel
watch this space for more reports on how I get on.

 

[geoff57]

Hi all
just got my order codes through from Ping for a 24v 20ah bms and charger for my conversion project.
He sent along an extra bit of info that you might be interested in.

BTW, we have seen some ebay seller are selling similar duct tape packs to ours. we don't recommend buy those packs that are made of the similar cell to ours from any other seller on eBay. Pingping227 is our unique ebay account. Furthermore, we are the unique owner of this kind of 3.2v4950mah cell from 2008. I know Anna did have some before but not much, but there cannot be any others will have from this year, unless their cells are fake or down graded and discarded by the factory.

Best regards,

Ping

he has always been straight up with us I see no reson to think he is lying.

 

[geoff57]

Hi all
hd a look on pings ebay site to see wheather he could get hold of cells again as there had been a shortage and found this,

Shipping batteries is becoming harder and harder before the Olympic Games. So, we won't list batteries in our eBay store untill the end of the games. Any questions or help, please feel free to contact me or send email to pingping227@hotmail.com.

I have to contact ping over my 32cell 24v 20ah or 48v 10ah booster pack for my setup, it came as a 48v 10ah pack I bought(and has arrived) a24v 20ah bms and charger, I also have a schottky diode from justin as well. I intend to have the pack made up in such a way as that it can be set to either type, I have to check with ping as to which wire goes where in the BMS.

 

[Pete]

Has anybody heard from Ping in the last week or so ? I paid 3 weeks ago and I am still waiting for a tracking number. I have heard nothing from him on email for the last 10 days and I am starting to get a bit concerned.

Ping has been a reliable supplier up till now so I am happy to be patient, but no communication is rubbing me the wrong way.

Are there any other (economy) LiFePO suppliers that folks have been using lately ? My build has been finished for quite a while now and having no batteries is starting to drive me nuts.

 

[geoff57]

pete
did you not read my post, all air mail has stopes for the games, he is trying to ship through hong kong.
as for trying somone else ping is the most reliable don't blame him for ups and ems stopping over the games, he does say this on his ebay site.

send him an email to pingping227@hotmail.com ask what has hapened he should answer in a day or 2,ebay seems to be slower.

 

[Pete]

geff,
yes I read your post and you did not say there was zero airmail, just that it was becomming difficult.

I was trying to see if anybody else had received replies to emails in the last 10 days because I had not. It seemed as though Ping had dropped off the face of the earth, I was not getting any reply from him.

Since my previous post though, I have heard from Ping. Now that I know what is going on, all is good.

The latest update on shipping is : Ping has had several parcels returned to him from UPS. (Took a week to turn them around) . He is freighting mine via Hong Kong and he is wearing the extra shipping costs. Should have it in a week or so.

The delay in his response was because he was trying to come up with some sort of alternative shipping arrangement. So my hat is off to Ping for being an honest and genuinely helpful seller. I wish I knew what the freight company's problem with batteries is though.

I am not blaming Ping for lousy shipping companies, just making the observation that being in the dark is frustrating. From everything that has been posted here, I am still very happy to be dealing with Ping. Now that I know what is happening, my positive opinion has been reinforced. I probably should have separated my last comment into a separate post / thread. I am genuinely interested in compiling a list of economy Lithium suppliers that are reliable and trustworthy.

 

[electricridefl]

Hi, my duct tape battery working very good...72v 10ah, I don't charge at work, sometimes I leave power switch on...bike wheelies better with more weight in front...I ride every day...my car sits...and boy do people look at me...I always pedal...but I see my exercise comes from the motocross aspect...I bought a used front end on ebay with 7" travel forks...oops, I thought my steerer tube was 1.125", it is 1.250", and my brake will need a custom mount....looking forward to that...but for now it is my workhorse of dependability...and takes same time as car to get to work....the batteries are perfect....but take 7-8 hours to charge half of capacity, so I leave on overnight....they get a little warm on 5mile discharge, controller is hot and motor is very hot! I've ridden through some rain, no problems so far...my spokes I haven't bothered with for a while now...just lube my chain once in a while...the swalbe big apple tire really good for not getting flats, I did get a hole at first, but no more since...my top speed was 30mph with sla...it is a few more mph now...so far very reliable system with clyte rear 409 at 20a 72v+...I have no desire for more torque or speed...my rearview mirror keeps breaking off...I charge with 36v ping charger with both batteries in parallel....I unplug the wires every time, and that is getting old...I have been designing a series - parallel switch for braking but have not settled on a definite design yet...these batteries are sure nice...oh yeah, I have great confidence in them...at the shop the other day, we were talking about batteries going bad and blowing up...thankfully it has not happened to me...so we all agreed, its all about the battery...and on my ride it goes one step further, yes the battery is important, but not nearly as important as the nutsack...An so it is all about the nutsack! No fear!

 

[pwbset]

An so it is all about the nutsack!

Great review thanks for sharing! I sure hope someone adds that last sentence to the quotes hall of fame. :lol:

 

[Jeremy Harris]

It's not just Ping having shipping troubles, Headway had my package of cells returned as EMS were refusing shipments because of the Olympics. To their credit, they re-shipped via UPS in Hong Kong at no extra charge, just a few days delay.

It looks as if the battery shipping problem is genuinely a country-wide one and that Ping is, as usual, being upfront and honest.

I wish he'd go into the bigger battery business, as we could really do with a trusted seller in that market. Headway were fine to deal with directly, but ordering and paying is difficult, as they need an expensive bank transfer for payment.

Jeremy

 

[tazbike]

I emailed Ping this Monday asking about a delivery date for my second 36v/20ah battery, and he responded the next day. He is shipping the batteries via Hong Kong, and will be providing a tracking number ASAP. I have had the first battery for approx three months, and it has exceeded my expectations. I have a five mile (each way) commute, and can go the whole work week in one charge-if I pedal. I have a Wilderness Energy BD-36 on my Raleigh Gruv 2, and use a Cycle Analyst that plugs directly into a modified Crystalite controller I bought along with a twist grip throttle from ebike.ca. I have the Cycle Analyst set for a 16 amp max draw, and the bike moves me along at 20mph without pedaling and up to 30mph with considerably more effort on my part. I have always found Ping to be very prompt and helpful, and I look forward to receiving the second battery for my wife's bike.

 

[TylerDurden]

Sweet.

Welcome.

 

[dogman dan]

Does ping have cells to resume now? or was that a battery that has been in limbo for awhile?

 

[tazbike]

I ordered the second battery while Ping still had cells in stock, and just as the shipping problems began.

 

[geoff57]

hi all
just thought I'd post part of an email I just recived from ping

my out going message
On a diffrent subject it has been spoken about you doing 72v packs by making a bms that will take two 36v batteries, the two batteries would be charged separately but the bms would treat it as a full 72v pack for discharge. so far the most favored pack you make is the 48v 20ah, what would be good is to sell "booster packs" consisting of a 24v battery pack,a charger for the pack and a bms for a 48v / 24v battery pack combination, this type of thing might sell well as there are so many 48v packs out there, though make for 15ah and 10 ah as well.what do you think to this idea somthing to do while the games will not let you ship batteries.

finally are you going to star up a web shop outside of ebay or stay with ebay some of us at the forum are asking questions since your direct buy prices are so reasonable?

pings reply
Thanks a lot for your suggestion. Actually our plan is to cover all the application of 60v, 72v, even 96v if possible and tested stable, also the migration from the old generation to the new.

We are planning to construct our own online store.

Best regards,

Ping

 

[geoff57]

hi all
HELP URGENT REQUEST
can anyone who has looked at their bms wiring help me I need to know the order that the balance wires should be attached to the board I have a 48v pack I am converting to 24v ping has sent me a 24v bms and told me how to wire it up but the balance wires do not seem to be in the same order as the 48v pack balance wires, this battery has not been used.
I have a 48v 20ah pack that has worked fine for months the wiring of the balance wires in this pack are how ping has discribed the balance wires should be set up.
Can anyone in a position to check find out how their balance wires are connected on a battery they know works,weather from a picture taken of the battery when the cell tabs and balance wire connections to the tabs are visable or use a multimeter set to mesure a short circut (beeps usualy) and can pull the balance connector out of the BMS, then identify the wire farthest from the fets and see if that is short circuted with the positive output wire to the motor,this is the way ping has been saying the batteries should be connected if this is the come back I was lucky to have not used the 48v 10ah battery, but lets see what the results of this test are.

I hope some of you can help.

THIS IS A PUBLIC APPOLOGY
earlyer in this post I as good as accused ping of wiring up a battery balance wires the wrong way round this was not true somewhere between looking at the details I had taken down and my brain I swaped the wires round in my head it was not till I looked at some of the photos of the pack I had taken with the original bms balance wires attached so I could see that the mistake was mine not pings.

As a side note the continuity (short circut) test will test if a battery is wired correctly but this should not be nesisary as ping tests his packs prior to shipping .

 

[needWheels]

Absolutely no batteries can be shipped from China until the Olympics are over.
(another case of homeland stupidity, but with a twist since it's another country)
You can find the statement on virtually every page for ebay sellers in China.

They end August 24th.

 

[nomad85]

I recieved my 48v 15Ah pack via UPS from Hong Kong last week. I think it was the first time he had used the method as he asked me to confirm delevery time and said he claimed all liability if there was a problem. Only took three days to arrive, but I ordered it about 3 weeks ago when he had cells in stock. Stand up guy if you ask me, I have my pack all wired up and am just waiting on my motor... takes longer to get a package from Canada than Hong Kong... go figure.

 

[Iron Yeti]

Is this Ping fellow selling again?

 

[nomad85]

You would have to check his ebay store or email him to find out. I ordered mine 3 weeks ago, so I dont know if he is still selling right now or not.

 

[geoff57]

Is this Ping fellow selling again?

hi all
I would say he is not selling batteries as china will not ship them till after the games when that happens we may be in for some nice additions to pings range and method of selling.
he can still be reached on pingping227@hotmail.com

 

[Iron Yeti]

So what were his packs running for? I might wait to get a 72V pack if I can get it on the cheap.

 

[dogman dan]

My 36v 20 ah was $450 shipped, in april. Not an ebay auction, those run at least a hundred more.