Wisper 905se battery price.

[tenderbehind]

Not that I need one but I was told recently by another member that the price of a new battery for a Wisper 905, 14v 36 amp, is £470 00.
I'm not disputing this figure, I really don't know, but it seems steep, I thought it was more like £120 to £150?

 

[flecc]

It's actually £514.15.

As David at Wisper has pointed out though, it's actually very competitive against the major competitors as you see here:

Powabyke 36V 6Ah battery = £265 216Wh/265 = £1.22/Wh
Ezee 37V 10Ah battery = £395 370Wh/395 = £1.06/Wh
Kalkhoff 26V 10Ah battery = £395 260Wh/395 = £1.51/Wh
Wisper 36V 14Ah battery = £515 504Wh/515 = £1.02/Wh
Wisper 36V 8Ah battery = £315 288Wh/315 = £1.09/Wh

Mainstream lithium batteries have never been at the prices you thought, one of the first to introduce them, eZee back in 2006, charged £250 each then for 37 volt 10Ah.

However, the major reason for todays inflated prices is the state of the pound and the exchange rate that results, and it won't improve until we get out of our economic mess.
.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Battery prices

Thanks for that Flecc.

We still subsidise the battery prices hence the competitive prices, we will soon be removing the subsidy which will bring is back up to the same level as other high quality batteries.

The 2010 price for a new 36/14 will be £599 including VAT or £1.19/Wh

Best regards David

 

[eddieo]

Thanks for that Flecc.

We still subsidise the battery prices hence the competitive prices, we will soon be removing the subsidy which will bring is back up to the same level as other high quality batteries.

The 2010 price for a new 36/14 will be £599 including VAT or £1.19/Wh

Best regards David

Maybe I'll start taking the battery with me, when I'm out and about and lock the bike up

 

[Django]

Maybe I'll start taking the battery with me, when I'm out and about and lock the bike up

Or taking the bike with you and locking the battery up.

 

[tenderbehind]

I think I'll get an alarm for the battery, then take that, the bike and the battery to bed with me, don't let's talk about these prices too much or the bike theives will soon become e bike thieves if they aren't already.

 

[Conal]

10amp v 14amp

I have a new 10amp battery and a new 14amp battery, both polymer so the lighter versions, and both for my eZee Forza. Following on the thread about value for money I have used both for a week and can report that, for the same journey on full assist, the 10amp takes me about 21 miles and the 14amp takes me 33 miles. Without considering any other factors such as weather, and my own input, it seems that the 14amp returns a greater pro-rata range. I will be testing this at intervals and will report back, although I normally used them combined with another battery to spread the load and extend the possible life of each battery.
Should we expect the 14amp to provide more range than 140% of the 10amp battery?

 

[Fecn]

Should we expect the 14amp to provide more range than 140% of the 10amp battery?

Yes!

Batteries are generally rated at the C/20 rate. (e.g. how much juice you get out of them if you spend 20 hours discharging them). At higher discharge rates, the battery will deliver less power and at lower rates, it will deliver more. (i.e. it is possible to get 11Ah out of a 10Ah battery as long as you use if very slowly.. say over 100 hours).

With the 10A battery, you are discharging it over the course of 21 miles... which we'll assume takes you about two hours, so gives a discharge rate of C/2. With the 14A, you manage 33 miles.. which we'll say takes 3 hours.. or a rate of C/3. The 14Ah battery doesn't have to work as hard as the 10Ah one does, and therefore will deliver more of its stored power. There is actually a name for this phenomena - It's called the Peukert Effect - Different batteries have different Peukert numbers which describe how they are affected by the discharge rate.

edit: just found on online calculator for this here... Notes on Batteries
edit2: and a load more good info here... SmartGauge Electronics - Peukert's Equation - what it means to you

 

[Straylight]

So, should the general rule of thumb be to always puchase the largest capacity battery you can afford, irrespective of your range requirement? It'd be interesting to see some data relating to how the extra weight affects the equation, as I'd guess that in reality there's a natural balance point for any given range that makes ecconomic sense. Now that would make a very useful calculator, it'd have to be built by someone much cleverer than me though - my head hurts just thinking about it!

 

[flecc]

So, should the general rule of thumb be to always puchase the largest capacity battery you can afford, irrespective of your range requirement?

Yes in most cases, you'll get the greatest range in excess of the capacity gain ratio and also get the longest life from the battery. However, if your range requirement is very low, the gain in life wouldn't offset the much greater cost of an excessive battery size, assuming a small enough one for your requirement is available. Only Wisper seem to offer a decent size range, from 8 to 14 Ah.
.

 

[Straylight]

Well thats good to know, as I have the 14Ah version, and generally don't run it to any less than half capacity - going by the rough approximation of the voltage lights. I suppose this means that I'm not putting the battery under any great stress, particularly as my journeys rarely involve any serious gradients.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Battery Size

I am so tempted to say it's not the size that matters it's the way you use it, but I wont!

However of course of you want a light weight bike with limited range then a large battery is probably not what you would be after.

The larger the battery though the longer it will last and higher ranges are certainly more achievable.

Best regards David

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Well thats good to know, as I have the 14Ah version, and generally don't run it to any less than half capacity - going by the rough approximation of the voltage lights. I suppose this means that I'm not putting the battery under any great stress, particularly as my journeys rarely involve any serious gradients.

The LED lights are not a great indicate of battery levels but do give you a fair idea. The LCD indication on top of the newer batteries is more reliable. We are currently working on a computer to indicate both battery levels, and the power being used as separate items. This feature is already on the 906xc Tourer.

Best regards David

 

[themutiny]

I have a new 10amp battery and a new 14amp battery, both polymer so the lighter versions, and both for my eZee Forza...... although I normally used them combined with another battery to spread the load and extend the possible life of each battery.

Hi Conal

I was thinking of doing similar with my Torq (ie combining the batteries) is there an off the shelf option for this or is it DIY. Do you have any tips?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Straylight]

The LED lights are not a great indicate of battery levels but do give you a fair idea. The LCD indication on top of the newer batteries is more reliable. We are currently working on a computer to indicate both battery levels, and the power being used as separate items. This feature is already on the 906xc Tourer.

Best regards David

An old chestnut of a question, I know, but do you have any plans to make the new battery features available as a retrofit to the 2008 model bikes?

 

[Conal]

Combining Batteries

Nick (themutiny)

Nick (Tiberius) wired my bike uo for me and I now use two purpose built eZee bags for the two extra batteries. Nick's circuit board is fixed under the rear rack which gived it a little protection and a lot of cool air. I cycled in an absolute downpour last week and had no electrical problems. Interestingly, during the Ching Challenge earlier this month, my controller overheated whilst I was climbing a very steep hill but the combined batteries worked fine until then, and afterwards.

Nick has manufactured some updated circuit boards so you could PM him.

Conal

 

[Alex728]

which LED's do people mean? on my 2009 Wisper there is a "traffic light" on the handlebars and also 5 led's on the battery, 4 green ones and one red one. I have just completed the third of during the conditioning charges and had only got to the last battery LED but not the red one- as by that time (one green LED) the power was already noticeably sluggish (not quite cutting out like the salisbury does but you could tell the battery was run down) and I didn't want to be stranded!

I've not seen the red LED on the battery light up other than to flash once as you turn the key (maybe thats all its supposed to do?) - haven't found anything in the manual about this.

 

[Mussels]

An old chestnut of a question, I know, but do you have any plans to make the new battery features available as a retrofit to the 2008 model bikes?

I have a 2008 bike and I used a 2009 bike for a few weeks, I don't feel the slightest need to retro fit the features to my 2008 bike even if they were free. They are useful additions but not worth spending a lot of time or money installing on the old unit.

 

[themutiny]

Nick (themutiny)

Nick (Tiberius) wired my bike uo for me and I now use two purpose built eZee bags for the two extra batteries. Nick's circuit board is fixed under the rear rack which gived it a little protection and a lot of cool air. I cycled in an absolute downpour last week and had no electrical problems. Interestingly, during the Ching Challenge earlier this month, my controller overheated whilst I was climbing a very steep hill but the combined batteries worked fine until then, and afterwards.

Nick has manufactured some updated circuit boards so you could PM him.

Conal

Thanks Conal

Nick

 

[MR Xipi]

LIFeP04 Battery s

The new LIFeP04 batteries are expensive But should last 2,000 charge discharge cycles before loosing any capacity not toxic can be put in land fill
Thats what you are paying for

Other lithium type battery s only 500 charge discharges

They are also toxic dangerous can explode and cost over £120 to be disposed off sent to USA . Dont put them in the bin you will pollute the local water supply with nasty s

That is down to the company who imported the battery they have to collect from you and disposed of it at no cost to you Please Check when you purchase a bike with a lithium battery there disposal policy




Frank