Battery mounting options

[OptimusPrime]

I was wondering if anyone could give me some guidance in choosing a mounting method. The dolphin type seems the easiest and the best location-wise but I was wondering how secure it is with that much weight supported by just 2 small bolts. Also, do these batteries rattle in their mounts. I hate noise like that on a bike. The rear rack mounts seem the worst for placement, do they have any other negatives? Rattles, etc?

 

[amberwolf]

Have you ever seen all the methods in the thread about battery mounts/cases/boxes?
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12847
(link pulled from the sticky index at the top of this forum)

Or in the thread about pics of people's bikes before/after?
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=235
(link pulled from the sticky index at the top of the ebike pics and vids forum)

There's a lot of stuff there to help guide you.

 

[Lurkin]

Discuss dolphin packs for my first bike. You can make additional straps around the top and add them to the bottom as well with large hose clamps and busted inner tubes (recycle to protect frame from hose clamps)

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=66225&hilit=trek+x+caliber+v1

For the commute, short of going to a ebike specific "battery box" frame (which I am moving to now) dolphin and the newer bosch knock offs really are an excellent way to package a commute battery. I commute 400km per week on it and I would not choose anything else, other than a battery box frame.

Its a better product than the home grown stuff generally - a lot of time has actually gone into its design rather than using readily available/easy to work with materials to make a bulky, rough box. Also has the benefit of looking like 'its meant to be there' which helps avoid munter and police attention.

 

[dogman dan]

Off the shelf, a dolphin pack is ideal if your bike can accommodate one. Or, your trips can be done on that capacity.

This problem of how to best carry the battery had a lot to do with my conversion to long tail cargo bikes for street use.

Off road, my bikes can't do an in the frame carry. But if I keep the battery weight low enough, 8 pounds or so, I can still rip it off road good enough with a battery carried the worst way, high on the rear. For a longer ride, I put 4 more pounds of battery in the front bag. 15 pounds or more of battery carried like this would suck horribly.

View attachment 1

But if you want to ride off road, high performance fast riding, then you need the bike frame designed as a battery box.

 

[2old]

Have had good service from a dolphin pack on my steel rigid framed MTB riding on the road or relatively mild off road excursions. Also, rode a Haibike XDURO which has that style battery in pretty severe off road exploits with no problem. Really like the location for weight balance.

 

[Lurkin]

Off the shelf, a dolphin pack is ideal if your bike can accommodate one. Or, your trips can be done on that capacity.

This problem of how to best carry the battery had a lot to do with my conversion to long tail cargo bikes for street use.

Off road, my bikes can't do an in the frame carry. But if I keep the battery weight low enough, 8 pounds or so, I can still rip it off road good enough with a battery carried the worst way, high on the rear. For a longer ride, I put 4 more pounds of battery in the front bag. 15 pounds or more of battery carried like this would suck horribly.

View attachment 1

But if you want to ride off road, high performance fast riding, then you need the bike frame designed as a battery box.

For a good result from day one, it pays to use a bike frame that is ideal to convert, being either an ebike specific frame or a frame with room to house a battery.

But this is a solution to a different question. The question was: How secure are dolphin packs and do they rattle?

Answer: more support is better espeically if you have a minor bingle. Because there is no lateral support, if the battery takes a hit on the side with bidon mounts only, the little threaded eyelets pull out of the frame and you must reput them in. Alternatively, if the strap concept already discussed is used, they wont and you can still get home. You may need a new mount, which can been obtained from gbk for ~USD15 + freight.

No, they don't rattle if installed correctly. I have foam between mine and the frame to avoid it scratching the frame and to provide a wider surface to mount to. An adapter between frame and mount would be ideal, but is not typically available you have to make your own.

 

[USAEBIKECO]

Rear mounted racks work the best in my experience. It's just easier to place the battery on there than in other places where the battery is less secure.

 

[Lurkin]

Which is traded off against being the worst weight distribution....

 

[dogman dan]

Definitely the middle for the win. Any issues with a rattle can be dealt with one way or another.

I don't have a lot of experience with dolphin packs, but many of the bikes I demoed this year had them, and none rattled. Of course, you would fix a rattle before taking your bike to interbike. None needed a bungee or something to de rattle them.

 

[johnamon]

Storage will depend on how you build up your battery. For me it's LiPo's and so I popped them in a bikepacking bag, for me a Revelate Tangle, and strapped it on tight to the downtube..

 

[craneplaneguy]

I saw a lot of fat bikes this weekend while in a small Idaho mountain town for an hour. They all had battery bags....but no motors, then of course I realized they were just mid frame gear bags. They having a fat bike event of some kind, no E-bikes that I was able to ascertain, but I was with other people and couldn't check the event out as much as I wanted.

My next two battery installs will be using the same battery on two different bikes. Using aircraft piano hinges on a brake formed aluminum tray in such a way that you just pull the hinge pins on either side and the top, or the side, lifts off and the entire battery is exposed. I'll have the brake forming done at a local sheet metal shop that owes me some favors, and have the lengths long enough to make it quick and easy for them to form and then I'll cut them to length as needed. Then I plan to powder coat them as close to the same color as the bike frame as possible, for stealth, otherwise I'd leave them bare aluminum. A fellow airplane builder who also does a lot of composite work in carbon and 'glas found some contact paper that looks exactly like carbon fiber, and I may use that instead of powder coating. My battery arrives today!

 

[Lurkin]

Do you have any drawings? It sounds interesting but I'm struggling to imagine what you are describing... pics will sort that out 8)

 

[Joseftexas]

Dolphin pack seems flimsy laterally. Any ideas. I'm already about to drill an eyelet hole using rivnut for the battery bracket.

 

[puregsr]

Dolphin pack seems flimsy laterally. Any ideas. I'm already about to drill an eyelet hole using rivnut for the battery bracket.

probably the most innovative use of hose clamps by docw009

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=72742

These frame batteries are great and comes with a lock. BMS battery also has an integrated sine wave controller for this style. For a quick run into stores, I just leave it locked on the bike. However, my biggest gripe is that I can't find a small bike that has a big enough triangle to fit this for my wife.