1st long run. 12 miles to cut out.

[overlander]

Seem like a lot of hassle when the Goldenmotors 36V16AH appears to just slot in. They seem reasonable priced as well at about £250. My trek is taking a pounding from the grit and i would consider an Aurora for winter commuting if indeed the 16Ah battery fitted.

 

[Old Timer]

Seem like a lot of hassle when the Goldenmotors 36V16AH appears to just slot in. They seem reasonable priced as well at about £250. My trek is taking a pounding from the grit and i would consider an Aurora for winter commuting if indeed the 16Ah battery fitted.

The only problem you might have might be the way the battery connects to the controller.

I could show you several batteries that look the same but have different connections (not a problem if you don`t mind a bit of soldering)

The battery on the Aurora has a 2 flat pin socket and plug affair where one side is fixed flush in the controller box and the other side fixed in the bottom of the battery, both offset to one side and have to mate up when you push the battery home so if you wanted a simple push in to change then you would need the identical set up and that flat pin plug looks like it might be some sort of Chinese domestic plug(Jim at Alien is trying to get me one) It`s not a problem if you can do a touch of electrical work and who knows the Golden motor battery might just be the same
Maybe one day along with all other electrical fixtures and fittings on various items from ipods and mp4 players there might emerge some sort of standard(don`t hold your breath)

 

[Marky T]

I would say that seems low surely unless you have been using that battery power a lot - like all of the time? I have a 36V 9Ah battery with an 8Fun hub motor on my self build e-bike and I have been getting 25 miles and still had juice left, I reckon had a third left. Been charging the battery then even though the motor is still pulling along at 11 mph on flat level roads without pedalling.

I have been using the motor for help on hills and extra help pulling away from junctions and roundabouts to make it safer. Plus on the flat just for fun when I don't want to pedal. I haven't been using mine long as I only just converted my bike but so far so good.

I think that's about spot on Pob, I run a 36v 9Ah on my bike and the last time I charged it my CA was reading that I'd done 27miles, averaged 12.3mph and drawn 6.5Ah.

Marky T.

 

[gerryscott]

alien auror batteries.

HI everyone. new to pedelec forum,although been following it for some time. Just to say when I purchased my auror about 3 months ago I was told by bob at Alien that the battery did not need conditioning as this had already been done.I have to say that I find the range pretty good considering the power it has.I find using a combination of low and medium pedelec and throttle and pedal I consistently get 17-18 miles before 1st light goes off.It has given me confidence to consider touring in the summer.

 

[jbond]

More datapoints on an Aurora
- You won't get full range until you do the first 2 or 3 full charge cycles.
- Medium power on pedelec, I get 22-25miles in gently rolling countryside. I haven't tried doing the same on full power.
- Being stingy with the power, using pulse and glide and putting a bit of effort in, I easily got 28 miles range with power still available. I reckon it shouldn't be hard to push that out to well over 30. I think a key factor in getting the mileage is to put it in low power mode when going up steep hills and allow the speed to drop down to 10mph or so.

Sudden cut out is worrying. That's exactly what mine did when actually there was a broken connection inside the battery.

If you can find fully compatible batteries that fit the rack mount and connector please tell. I don't know of any at the moment. I'm not convinced that the one's goldenmotor or bmsbatttery sell will fit even though they look quite similar in the website images.

Swapping chemistry from Lipo to LiFePo at the same nominal 36v does have some implications. Everything will work but the battery state LEDs will behave differently. The fully charged voltage, rest voltage, voltage drop under power and BMS Low Voltage Cut out are all different. In theory, you need to re-program the LVC in the controller and recalibrate the Battery state LEDs. In practice, you can rely on the battery BMS for LVC and just get used to the different way the LEDs work.

 

[BLACKPANTHER]

Sudden cut out is worrying. That's exactly what mine did when actually there was a broken connection inside the battery.

It cut out again today after doing just over 13 miles. Again though, it was on full power all the time to try and deplete it...(Plus I completely filled the cavernous panniers with heavy shopping and had 10 litres of orange/apple juice on the rack!)
Tomorrow, I'll go more for range when I use it for work and hopefully I'll complete the 20 mile journey with some to spare. If I don't, then I'll start to worry.

 

[BLACKPANTHER]

Well done on the centre stand.

This is where I got my battery
36V 15AH LIFEPO4 Lithium Battery electric bicycle bike on eBay (end time 30-Jan-11 09:18:00 GMT)

He will make them up in any configuration so the choice is yours as to where you want to fit it. I have a pair of front panniers and I have my extra battery in one side, it balances the rear biased weight ratio. The new battery will come with a bare leads on the feed and a two pin plug on the charger line, The charger line and power cables come from the same place so I just fitted a kettle plug that I charge through and also use it to get the power to the controller. I then just ran a 1mtr extension to the rear of the bike (you can purchase a lead with the kettle plugs already on) I went into the controller box and brought a patch lead out from the main feed via a switch that I switch between the original battery and the extra one. The patch lead can be either soldered to the 1mtr lead or you can fit a kettle plug/socket. The thing about the way I did it is that I can disconnect the battery and use it on another bike and/or have even a third battery that can go onto the Aurora. All my batteries now have kettle plugs on patch leads so that I can interchange them. If I were to order another lipo4 I would probably just order a 10Amp flat one that would be a similar size to the original and that way it could easily go on the rear rack or better still be slung under the cross bar where the balance is perfect.
I think that the 2 pin plug that comes on the charger is the male version that should fit into the controller box ( what the original battery is supplied with)and you could make a patch lead up to plug a spare battery into that and prevent having to add wires to the controller.

It`s a bit complicated to get across what I mean but if you send me a private message with your telephone number I`ll ring and chat to you. You would need to be a bit adept at soldering to be able to add the battery into your system but although it might sound complicated it is really quite straight forward.

If you can`t face it then you could always just purchase a second battery from Alien and either keep it on the rear rack or better still just suspend it under the crossbar with three or four velcro straps in readiness. You will probably get your journey their and back on one battery if you run medium and just keep the other battery on board in case. Then maybe once a week swap them over to even out the use. The main thing is that you have a good commuting bike, a bit heavier than a lot of the more expensive bikes but some how the bulk and weight make for a very robust and comfortable ride.

Dave

Thanks for the offer of help Dave. I'm not really looking to add another battery. Ideally, I'd just buy a longer lasting battery that slots straight into the existing set up. I'm just about to email Alien to see if the Apolla 36v 16Ah would fit, but knowing my luck it won't. I'm still hopeful that my 10Ah battery will get me to work and back when I put some effort in. I could recharge anyway in the office at work, but I don't like the idea of leaving it on all day whilst I'm out in the lorry. Or I suppose I could just use a timer to turn off the power after 5 hours or so?

Thanks again. Everyone's so great on here!

 

[Old Timer]

Thanks for the offer of help Dave. I'm not really looking to add another battery. Ideally, I'd just buy a longer lasting battery that slots straight into the existing set up. I'm just about to email Alien to see if the Apolla 36v 16Ah would fit, but knowing my luck it won't. I'm still hopeful that my 10Ah battery will get me to work and back when I put some effort in. I could recharge anyway in the office at work, but I don't like the idea of leaving it on all day whilst I'm out in the lorry. Or I suppose I could just use a timer to turn off the power after 5 hours or so?

Thanks again. Everyone's so great on here!

You could charge it from the cigar lighter in the truck with an inverter, from what was talked about last year you wouldn`t need a very powerful one. Leaving on charge won`t hurt as it will turn itself off and maybe come back on and trickle after a while.

 

[overlander]

Thats what i was getting at the apollo use's the goldenmotors battery as its a goldenmotors kit. It would be logical if he used the same battery format for all his bikes. If that is the case you then have access to cheap hi capacity batteries. Cannot find the post but i believe someone said it was made by a different company called PHYLION.

 

[Old Timer]

I wonder what Alien would charge for a genuine replacement battery?

 

[overlander]

I wonder what Alien would charge for a genuine replacement battery?

They charge £349 for a direct replacement.