Metallover
10 kW
I took the bike to school and around the past couple days; it was up in the 50s! In January! 
Yesterday the college I plan to attend visited my high school. They had their FSAE car there. I had ridden my ebike to school, so after they got done talking and were leaving I showed all the reps (Engineering students) my bike and had them ride it. They seemed to love it and were impressed with the silence and speed, etc. I really want to take this thing to college; I hope I can!
And the bad news, I had a little incident with my LiPo. As three of my nine packs were out, I had to mount one battery in a different, less secure way. What happened is the one pack slid down the frame (it was strapped on) and got crushed under one of the adjustment screws of the shock when I hit a bump.
I was about 2 miles into the ride so the pack was about 85-90% charged. I was flying down the street and heard something burning. I looked down and thick white smoke was billowing out from between my legs! I quickly pulled over and took a look. One pack was smoking profusely, although I didn't see any flames. Thankfully I had gloves on so I got the pack unplugged and threw it off the bike. The straps holding the pack on were melted/burned off. One more cell vented after I got it off the bike. Still no flames that I saw; just lots of smoke. There was a huge cloud of thick white smoke around me, which I consequently breathed some of. Nothing else was burning/damaged so I set the bike aside and took a picture, ha.
I don't know how long the pack was being crushed, but at the basketball game tonight I heard there was smoke coming out of it as I was leaving the parking lot of the school. I hit bug bumps right then so it makes sense. My friend thought I had put a gas engine on instead of electric because of the smoke trail. I didn't notice anything was wrong until I heard it 1/4 mile down the road! Crazy.
I feel fine with the smoke and all. My throat is a little sore but I was yelling a lot at the game and I'm pretty sure it's from that. I'm not worried at all. The smell is pretty strong and it's on my clothes and still on my hands after a few washes and a shower. It's on the bike for sure too. Smoke smell is hard to get out... I hate the smell...
I just got 3 replacement packs in the mail today, and now I'll have to wait for another order to come in.
The pack freshly cooked
Notice the burn mark on the pavement
The bike. The little blue knob on the shock crushed the pack. A few wires are messed up but besides that everything seems fine.
And what's left of the pack. I drove by and picked it up later. I left the burned lipo in the gutter,, maybe I should go pick it up tomorrow...?
I haven't tested the cells yet but I bet at least two of the three are still good; they look good. They certainly won't be thrown out if they're still good.
I'm still good with lipo at this point. I've never had major problems with balancing or voltage stuff, and this was clearly due to my tragic ignorance.
After watching Luke's lipo video I'm a little surprised the pack acted like this. I guess it was the mixture of a discharge current and a crush/short at the back. Still I saw/felt no flames so that's good.
And finally I know I'm lucky. I could've had the whole six packs up in flames between my legs and been left with nothing but a throttle and motor. I'll consider this an eye opener.
Yesterday the college I plan to attend visited my high school. They had their FSAE car there. I had ridden my ebike to school, so after they got done talking and were leaving I showed all the reps (Engineering students) my bike and had them ride it. They seemed to love it and were impressed with the silence and speed, etc. I really want to take this thing to college; I hope I can!
And the bad news, I had a little incident with my LiPo. As three of my nine packs were out, I had to mount one battery in a different, less secure way. What happened is the one pack slid down the frame (it was strapped on) and got crushed under one of the adjustment screws of the shock when I hit a bump.
I was about 2 miles into the ride so the pack was about 85-90% charged. I was flying down the street and heard something burning. I looked down and thick white smoke was billowing out from between my legs! I quickly pulled over and took a look. One pack was smoking profusely, although I didn't see any flames. Thankfully I had gloves on so I got the pack unplugged and threw it off the bike. The straps holding the pack on were melted/burned off. One more cell vented after I got it off the bike. Still no flames that I saw; just lots of smoke. There was a huge cloud of thick white smoke around me, which I consequently breathed some of. Nothing else was burning/damaged so I set the bike aside and took a picture, ha.
I don't know how long the pack was being crushed, but at the basketball game tonight I heard there was smoke coming out of it as I was leaving the parking lot of the school. I hit bug bumps right then so it makes sense. My friend thought I had put a gas engine on instead of electric because of the smoke trail. I didn't notice anything was wrong until I heard it 1/4 mile down the road! Crazy.
I feel fine with the smoke and all. My throat is a little sore but I was yelling a lot at the game and I'm pretty sure it's from that. I'm not worried at all. The smell is pretty strong and it's on my clothes and still on my hands after a few washes and a shower. It's on the bike for sure too. Smoke smell is hard to get out... I hate the smell...
I just got 3 replacement packs in the mail today, and now I'll have to wait for another order to come in.
The pack freshly cooked
Notice the burn mark on the pavement
The bike. The little blue knob on the shock crushed the pack. A few wires are messed up but besides that everything seems fine.
And what's left of the pack. I drove by and picked it up later. I left the burned lipo in the gutter,, maybe I should go pick it up tomorrow...?
I haven't tested the cells yet but I bet at least two of the three are still good; they look good. They certainly won't be thrown out if they're still good.
I'm still good with lipo at this point. I've never had major problems with balancing or voltage stuff, and this was clearly due to my tragic ignorance.
After watching Luke's lipo video I'm a little surprised the pack acted like this. I guess it was the mixture of a discharge current and a crush/short at the back. Still I saw/felt no flames so that's good.
And finally I know I'm lucky. I could've had the whole six packs up in flames between my legs and been left with nothing but a throttle and motor. I'll consider this an eye opener.
