dogman dan
1 PW
Paul recently sent me a free charger to review, and mentioned that he was throwing a triangle battery bag in the box as well. Fine, I thought, I hate battery bags, and much prefer solid metal boxes to carry my batteries. We'll see,,,, I thought.
He mentioned something about a minor defect on the bag, so when it arrived, I started hunting for it. I was stumped!! I just could not spot a dang thing wrong with it. Till I put it on the bike and it was quite obvious.
Superficially it resembles the familiar Falcon EV bag. It's about the same size, and has lots of generous and sturdy Velcro straps to attach it. But right away, I noticed a few nice things about this bag. First, it has two nicely made elastic grommets for exiting the wires. One up front, one on the back. The way they are made, it should minimize water getting inside the bag. Second, and more important, the sides, ends, top and bottom of the bag are generously padded. This gives the bag a bit more chance for abrasion resistance in the inevitable crash or just the bike falling over. Nice touch Paul! A great deal of my dislike of battery bags was the lack of protection provided by a single layer of fabric.
Like the other bags, it has two zippers pulls, which allows the possibility of adding a lock. At least the curious monkeys will be slowed down. You could also just put a zip tie through the pulls to secure the bag closed from the curious.
Turns out I really like this bag!! It's far nicer than my metal box was. Though sturdy, the box always rattled, and got worse over time. Because my lipo packs are protected by inner boxes, I think the bag, with it's additional padding will be quite safe. In winter, the insulation in the bag will help keep my battery toasty warm as I ride.
There is always a nit pick somewhere though, since I live in hell, a lighter color than black would have been nice. But that's pretty easy to fix, white duct tape for example, or build a sun shade over the bag if I really must ride in 110F weather. I think I'll just make that run to the grocery in the morning and I'll be fine till fall.
Installed on the bike in the pic above, I had a small problem with the fit. My frankenbike's front triangle was made from an overlong frame, that used to be a Currie USPD bike. So the triangle is a tad long for the bag. Thanks to the generously long Velcro strips, I was able to come up with a quick and easy solution for shifting the fit of the battery as far forward as possible. A handy fun noodle takes up the space, and still remains very securely attached thanks to the long Velcro. Most mtb frames, the fit should be perfect. But if not, it definitely will have plenty of Velcro for making any adjustments, even if you have a fat tube frame.
Now on to the real reason I thought this bag just wasn't for me. It's designed specifically for carrying EM3 ev's batteries, constructed from round cells. It's just about 3" wide, from seam to seam. The lipo battery I'm currently using is made from cells about 2" wide. So either way I stack em, it's one inch too big or one inch too small. Plus, my batteries are square, while the bag is a triangle. Getting out my battery, and trying it for fit, I quickly found that my problem was no problem. My battery is roughly 4 inches x 5 inches, square, and packed into a protective plastic box. Turns out, that by putting a small piece of fun noodle foam in the bottom corner, It fits just about perfect. My second pack, about 4" x 3" still fits in the front section just fine. It fits snug, but the entire 48v 15 ah lipo pack fits in the bag, with plenty of room for pedaling without rubbing my legs on the bag all day.
How about that, the thing seems like it was made just for carrying 15 ah of 14s lipo. Looks to me like 20 ah of 12s lipo would also fit fine. Same orientation, one pack standing up, and the front pack lying on the side. With room for a small headlight battery pack as well, or a spare tube.
Here's the square battery.
And the easy solution. Just about enough space for a spare tube instead of a foam spacer in the corner.View attachment 2
Then the 48v 10 ah pack stands up in the back corner of the bag. This pic also shows the wire exiting the bag through the elastic grommet. View attachment 1
Then the second 5 ah pack, with another foam filler under it's lower corner. Bingo, perfect fit of 48v 15 ah lipo.
He mentioned something about a minor defect on the bag, so when it arrived, I started hunting for it. I was stumped!! I just could not spot a dang thing wrong with it. Till I put it on the bike and it was quite obvious.
Superficially it resembles the familiar Falcon EV bag. It's about the same size, and has lots of generous and sturdy Velcro straps to attach it. But right away, I noticed a few nice things about this bag. First, it has two nicely made elastic grommets for exiting the wires. One up front, one on the back. The way they are made, it should minimize water getting inside the bag. Second, and more important, the sides, ends, top and bottom of the bag are generously padded. This gives the bag a bit more chance for abrasion resistance in the inevitable crash or just the bike falling over. Nice touch Paul! A great deal of my dislike of battery bags was the lack of protection provided by a single layer of fabric.
Like the other bags, it has two zippers pulls, which allows the possibility of adding a lock. At least the curious monkeys will be slowed down. You could also just put a zip tie through the pulls to secure the bag closed from the curious.
Turns out I really like this bag!! It's far nicer than my metal box was. Though sturdy, the box always rattled, and got worse over time. Because my lipo packs are protected by inner boxes, I think the bag, with it's additional padding will be quite safe. In winter, the insulation in the bag will help keep my battery toasty warm as I ride.
There is always a nit pick somewhere though, since I live in hell, a lighter color than black would have been nice. But that's pretty easy to fix, white duct tape for example, or build a sun shade over the bag if I really must ride in 110F weather. I think I'll just make that run to the grocery in the morning and I'll be fine till fall.
Installed on the bike in the pic above, I had a small problem with the fit. My frankenbike's front triangle was made from an overlong frame, that used to be a Currie USPD bike. So the triangle is a tad long for the bag. Thanks to the generously long Velcro strips, I was able to come up with a quick and easy solution for shifting the fit of the battery as far forward as possible. A handy fun noodle takes up the space, and still remains very securely attached thanks to the long Velcro. Most mtb frames, the fit should be perfect. But if not, it definitely will have plenty of Velcro for making any adjustments, even if you have a fat tube frame.
Now on to the real reason I thought this bag just wasn't for me. It's designed specifically for carrying EM3 ev's batteries, constructed from round cells. It's just about 3" wide, from seam to seam. The lipo battery I'm currently using is made from cells about 2" wide. So either way I stack em, it's one inch too big or one inch too small. Plus, my batteries are square, while the bag is a triangle. Getting out my battery, and trying it for fit, I quickly found that my problem was no problem. My battery is roughly 4 inches x 5 inches, square, and packed into a protective plastic box. Turns out, that by putting a small piece of fun noodle foam in the bottom corner, It fits just about perfect. My second pack, about 4" x 3" still fits in the front section just fine. It fits snug, but the entire 48v 15 ah lipo pack fits in the bag, with plenty of room for pedaling without rubbing my legs on the bag all day.
How about that, the thing seems like it was made just for carrying 15 ah of 14s lipo. Looks to me like 20 ah of 12s lipo would also fit fine. Same orientation, one pack standing up, and the front pack lying on the side. With room for a small headlight battery pack as well, or a spare tube.
Here's the square battery.
And the easy solution. Just about enough space for a spare tube instead of a foam spacer in the corner.View attachment 2
Then the 48v 10 ah pack stands up in the back corner of the bag. This pic also shows the wire exiting the bag through the elastic grommet. View attachment 1
Then the second 5 ah pack, with another foam filler under it's lower corner. Bingo, perfect fit of 48v 15 ah lipo.