LifeBatt cells now available for ebike use

[GGoodrum]

I picked up 24 cells today. They come 8 to a box:

Tomorrw I will start building two 12s 40V/10Ah packs. I have new LVC boards coming by Friday. These will work with up to 16 cells, and will mount to one end of the pack.

The cells are deceptively light, when you pick one up. It just looks like it should weigh more.

I'll post more pics when I start getting these together.

-- Gary

 

[GGoodrum]

At what voltage should charging of these cells be stopped?

Most promising developments. Will certainly keep an eye on this thread!

Larry

Like the a123 cells, these need 3.65V to get a full charge, but I think they will acept 3.7-3.8V without a problem. The a123 cells will, so I'm assuming these will as well.

-- Gary

 

[bobmcree]

The latest bms spec from LifeBatt is 3.9v for the charge cutoff voltage and 2.1v for the low voltage cutoff. I am recommending terminating charge at 3.7-3.8v until i hear differently from them. my testing indicates it may be possible to increase capacity a few percent by charging up to 4.0v but until we are sure that it will not decrease the cycle life significantly i think it is best to stay with the 3.8v max.

 

[Malcolm]

Bob or Gary
Can you tell me what size the threaded stud is on the ends of cells?

 

[bobmcree]

since i have only been a LifeBatt customer until a couple of days ago when i decided to become the US distributor for ebike applications, i am still learning, so please forgive me for any past statements about warranty i might have made before i understood the current policy.

the 3 year warranty is available only with the hard-pack systems with the built in bms and the LifeBatt charger. Those are available for ebike applications but i expect mainly suitable for larger format vehicles like the boomerbents.com raptor or other trikes with a lot of room for batteries. they are comming out with a split pannier format i believe, photos of that will be posted as soon as they are available.

the 2 year warranty is available to purchasers of cells when purchased with an approved bms. the ones gary is selling now are approved in the current configuration, but we will be adding overcharge protection and balancing soon, to provide even greater reliability and more charger options.

raw cells purchased with no bms are guaranteed for 90 days.
exact terms of the warranty are available on request. feel free to contact me off line. i am trying not to abuse the newsgroup by using it to advertise our products, but i know there is enough interest that so far it has probably not been over the line. i just want to make sure i keep it that way. i will not get rich by distributing these cells, but i will feel great about helping my fellow ebikers get the best batteries available at the lowest price i can arrange.

 

[bobmcree]

Bob or Gary
Can you tell me what size the threaded stud is on the ends of cells?

6 mm x 1.0 and about 8.5 mm long, enough room for a couple of nuts, a couple of star washers, a heavy interconnect lug, and another lug for the bms connection if desired, with enough thread left to tighten it all down. beats the heck out of soldering together strips from cells out of power tool packs

 

[Beagle123]

I wish these were available when I was buying batteries. I spent $1700 on Milwaukee v28s. 54v, 18ah. For the ssame price I could get a 48v, 20ah lifebatt.

My cost= $1400 batteries, $350 spotwelding

I could take the spot-welding money and buy batteries!

 

[recumbent]

I picked up 24 cells today. They come 8 to a box:

yummy I want some of those... soon.

 

[fechter]

Drooooool!

 

[OLIVIER]

Olivier, the Phostec compagny that BOB is talking is based near Montreal!
you know that?

Yes I know!
I am astonished that while we have Phostec and cheap electricity we dont already have more EV's on the road :?

Last week I went to see a presentation made by ZENN motors engineers. Cool car. Its a shame we cannot buy it yet in Quebec. If EESTOR is for real, this ZENN will soar!

 

[GGoodrum]

I finally got some time to put my first two 12-cell 40V/10Ah packs together. Here's some pics of the first one:

As you see it, this pack weighs 10 lb 11.0 oz (4848 gm), and is 10-1/2" x 6-3/4" x 3-1/8" (265mm x 175mm x 80mm). I still need to tidy up the balance wires, and put on the heavy duty shrink wrap, but I've tested everything, including the 12-channel LVC board, mounted on one end. This same board can also be used for a 16-cell pack as well. For now, I'm using standard RC-styled balancer plugs but I'm eventually going to use a single Molex plug for charging/balancing. There are some 1/2"-wide brass bus bars that interconnect the cells. The whole assembly is extremely solid, but deceptively light. You can easily pick the pack up with a couple of fingers.

I'll post some more pics after I get the shrink wrap on. These two packs are going on my wife's new Townie that I'm in the middle of converting, in a 24s 80V/10Ah configuration. I'm also doing a bike conversion for a friend, and it will get a single 16-cell 52.8V/10Ah pack, which I will put together next.

Once I get both 12-cell packs and the 16-cell packs done, I will start offering both configurations for sale on my site. With the LVC installed, the packs will come with a two-year warranty.

-- Gary

 

[Battboy]

GORGEOUS WORK GARY - YOU MAKE US PROUD!

Best,

Don Harmon

 

[RevDon]

Once I get both 12-cell packs and the 16-cell packs done, I will start offering both configurations for sale on my site. With the LVC installed, the packs will come with a two-year warranty.

-- Gary

Hey Gary, when you're ready, please post your packs on the EV Business World page under the battery thread. They look great

Don

 

[OLIVIER]

I finally got some time to put my first two 12-cell 40V/10Ah packs together. Here's some pics of the first one:

-- Gary

Gary, very nice! Where is the duct tape??? :wink:

I like it very much but I see one detail that should be addressed: The exposed nuts are a short-circuit waiting to happen! Using nylon cap nuts would work, or molded plastic side plates with deep recesses for the nuts.

 

[Ypedal]

Damn that looks sweet !

For fun i just measured one of my 20ah 36v LiMn packs, almost exact same dimentions :

285mm x 145mm x 85mm

10 cells - 42v fully charged down to 35v under load gives 15ah usable power.

Sooooo.. . 80v x 10ah would litterally fit into my existing Lexan boxes !!

Keep up the good work !!! i want a ride report !

 

[iberkt]

The exposed nuts are a short-circuit waiting to happen! Using nylon cap nuts would work, or molded plastic side plates with deep recesses for the nuts.

I think GGoodrum said he was going to cover the whole thing with a shrink wrap so that should take care of any short-circuit issues, but I guess you can never be too safe.

 

[Eric G]

Very,very professional looking One day I'll want one of those packs!
Great Work Gary...

Eric

 

[GGoodrum]

Here's the first pack, all "wrapped" up:

For now, I've added two more of the Voltphreak 2A CC/CV chargers to my 10-cell setup, so now I can do 12 cells at once. Bob and I are still working on a long-term solution for balanced charging. I hope to have something to show soon.

-- Gary

 

[BiGH]

mmmm thats pure sex


Man so hot. total cost with charger is high, but looks worth it

 

[knoxie]

Hi

Nice work Bob & Gary!! they look like great cells, I know Steve Head (Dirt Monkey) will be looking in to getting some of those cells as they will fit perfectly inside the DM rear housings. I will be interested to see how they perform and the cycle life that you get from them, there must be a huge market for packs like these and if the cycle life is as high as 1000+ then the initial pack price is very reasonable indeed.

Best of luck with these packs Bob I will certainly put the word around about them for you and when I run dry of cells myself I can see me shipping a few over!

Keep up the good work and welcome back from retirement Bob!

Knoxie

 

[GGoodrum]

Gary, very nice! Where is the duct tape??? :wink:

I like it very much but I see one detail that should be addressed: The exposed nuts are a short-circuit waiting to happen! Using nylon cap nuts would work, or molded plastic side plates with deep recesses for the nuts.

I'm thinking of doing a "xyster commerative" model, but of course, it will have to cost more. I will, however, use the finset quality duct tape.

 

[fechter]

Nuclear Grade duct tape
http://www.hillas.com/Products/Duct_Tape__Tyco/Nashua_357_Red_Nuclear_3__x_60Yd_ET.asp

 

[Arbiker501]

Hey,

THose lifebatt are very nice but for the price i think they should have some nice duct tape too.. LOL>>


Arbiker501

 

[Battboy]

We give a free coupon with every pack for a roll of Duct Tape @ your local Home Depol

 

[Ypedal]

We give a free coupon with every pack for a roll of Duct Tape @ your local Home Depol

When does that offer expire ?