Tag: e-bike batteries

TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON E-BATTERIES

Just a few words about batteries and weather conditions. First let me state that my batteries are showing their age. Without looking up the exact information I am sure they are at least 4 years old. Batteries are only good for so many charging cycles before they start losing some of their power they produce. They continue to function but not like they did when they were new. Most lithium-ion e-batteries are good for 700 to 1000 charging cycles before they start losing power. I would guess I have over 1300 charges on my batteries by now. When brand new I got about 75 miles out of a full charge. I miss that as now I am down to about 20 to 30 miles out of a full charge.

 

20 miles vs. 75 is quite a difference, but it is what it is. But wait … 20 miles is what I get in the winter (with the temperature in the  40s or colder). When it warms up into the 50s the mieage increases to around 25 miles on a full charge. Lately we have been in the 70s and even low 80s and my batteries are providing about 30 miles on a full charge. Hey, maybe if I ride when it is 120 degrees I will be back up around 75 again. What do you think? Naw! It will never happen. Nope, you won’t ever catch me out riding in 120 degree heat … not even 100. I am not that desperate to get 75 miles out of my batteries.

Back when I had a BionX e-motor system I could not ride my normal ride without having to stop and charge my battery. The picture above shows my trike with the battery being charged. Of course, I didn’t get anywhere near a full charge in only an hour or so of charging, but it helped some. Now I have much larger capacity batteries so I don’t have to stop in the middle of my ride to charge my battery. I had the larsgest battery BionX had but it was still small compared to what I have now … 11aH compared to 20aH.

Anyway, the ambient temperature really does effect battery performance. I don’t have a clue how much longer my batteries will perform satisfactorily. I still have two spare batteries just sitting around so I assume they will outperform the two I am using now. They are all 48 volt 20 aH. I would like to get a 72 volt battery as that is what my motor is rated at. They are a lot more expensive than the 48 volt batteries. A 72 volt battery would increase my top speed considerably. That is a bit scary. I could end up wrapping myself around a tree. I probably should stick to the 48 volt or maybe go down to 24 volt. Naw! A guy only lives once. Hey yeah, I am getting a 426 HEMI engine for my trike. Phooey with these batteries. I am not a little old lady and I am not from Pasadena. I just wanna go man go. Hmmm, I wonder how I am going to mount that monster.

 

I will be the only tadpole trike around which shakes the ground and windows as I ride along.

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E-BIKE BATTERIES AND WATER … A DEFINITE NO-NO

The other day I foolishly rode thru some flood water thinking that it would not be deep enough to be a concern. Boy, was I wrong! I just ordered a new battery as I ruined the one that got wet. I made it thru the flood water okay but just a few feet beyond the electrical power went off. I switched to my second battery and continued on my way. Later that day after I arrived back home I took my wet battery into the house and took it apart. I dried it out and tested it to see if there was power at the terminals when I turned the key switch. All seemed to be okay so I put the charger on it and it seemed to be charging okay. But apparently it wasn’t. The green light came on indicating it was fully charged so I put it back on my trike assuming all was fine. While out on a ride the next day I ran my backup battery all the way down so I switched over to this battery that had got wet. I turned the key switch to power it up but nothing happened. So I had to ride all the way back home under human power only which was quite challenging. I was about 6 miles away from home. I made it but my legs were shouting for relief.

This same battery has gotten wet a few times before but I never experienced any problem with it until now. I may look into seeing if I can raise the battery mount up a little higher as I have it pretty low. My backup battery is up high in a rear rack so there is no concern with it getting submerged in water. I wonder if the power from the battery had been off when it got wet if it would have prevented damaging from happening. Anyway, a new battery is on order. It was an expensive error on my part. I am just glad it was the oldest of my two batteries as it had less natural life left in it than the newest one.

The battery I just ordered is a bit more sophisticated than my first two and yet it is about $100 cheaper. They were just plain batteries but the new one has a LED taillight and a USB outlet built into it. I just hope the taillight can be shut off. I have plenty of taillights so I don’t need to run the e-bike battery down powering a taillight I don’t need on. I like the idea of having it if I want to use it. The USB port could be very handy. This battery comes with a rear rack and a charger. I can use a new rear rack as the one that came with my first battery is broken and needs welding. I stopped using it some time ago and bought another one which is just a plain rack. I fabricated a battery mount to use under it. I will be glad to get back to using this new rack however as it looks nicer than the conglomeration I have now.

I will probably be wondering just how much longer my first battery would have lasted if I had not done a number on it. They say that typically these batteries have 800 to 1000 charging cycles in them. I probably have near 600 or so on this first battery. It is nearly 2.5 years old.

So sports fans … the moral of this story is “don’t be stupid”. Water and electricity still don’t mix. I could have kept on going and enjoyed the ride … avoiding all this expense. If you were nearby I would bend over and let you kick me. 🙂

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT awaits you!