Since my bike has two batteries each with it's own case, this is for battery #2. The case build for battery #1 can be seen here...
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45706
On this my second bike conversion, I decided to go with 2 x 36=72 volt LifePo4’s from Cellman. Like everyone else here there was the problem of battery placement. I was inspired by Oatnet's front case attached to the handlebars set-up so once I determined the interior dimensions of the Pelican cases, I looked over Cellman’s battery sizing chart and decided on a square 36 volt 11 ah that would fit. That adventure can be found at the above link. And adventure it was. Strictly kitchen table stuff-as was this as well.
For the second battery, I didn’t want the fast and easy rear rack set-up with all the problems of weight distribution, although this bike doesn't wag its tail, as I wanted the rear rack and the Wald folding baskets to be kept clear as this is a working bike. So taking a tip from a member-I’ve forgotten who (sorry)- I decided to modify a seat post rack to sit in front of the seat. Its notched to fit over the frame.
Then I figured what would fit and went ahead and ordered a flat battery-same capacity as the first one as they would be joined in series.
Well after the ordeal of the pelican case with the broken front rack and all the hassle of the wiring-the battery and all did fit-I just wanted something fast and easy for the second one so I had a left over bag from my first build so I just strapped it to the rack, hooked up the wiring and off I went.
Funky, ghetto setup but it didn’t bother me at the time as I just wanted to ride. But in the back of my mind I wanted something more finished and every time I read a build here where someone executed something outstanding for a battery box, it started to guilt me out that I really needed something better. So reviewing my options, a custom fiberglass unit would be a nice project with maybe a little dashboard like DrBass and Auraslip have done, but being in an apartment I didn’t have the space or the means to fabricate anything with metal or fiberglass. So I started hunting down metal project cases, Pelican type cases, etc but I couldn’t find anything close to that odd size. But finally, after a year, I found one at Sears that was the right width and height but too long.
It wasn’t molded like the Pelican case, but it was double wall and fairly sturdy and water tight. So I proceeded to cut it down with my skill saw and epoxied the end back on, drilled and installed grommets for the wires in/out,
glued a pair of Pings blocking diodes at the ends
[ATTACH type="full" alt="6. Ping diode (600 x 450).jpg
And a Anderson exterior port for plugging in my 36 v charger (I wish they made singles)
[attachment=5]7. Charging port (600 x 450).jpg"]6[/ATTACH]
i ended up gluing some foam to the bottom of the case and will finally secure it with a couple of belts. The original hinge got cut. There is still some wiring funk as I am making the transition to another controller with a 3 sp switch, etc.
But the day will come-nice and straight.
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My first solution (1200wh in 16s4p hardcase LiPo) for first bike looked like:
