Back into the fold

NRG

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 6, 2009
2,592
10
Hi All, it has been a very long time since I was last here but I see some familiar names about from days gone by!

I've been out of the loop far too long and as I move toward retirement(at last!) at the end of this month I want to take up eBiking again....especially as my knees are not as good as they used to be!

I have a Kalkhoff Panasonic bike which is still going strong, the battery seems to be around ~90% of what it was new so that's all good but I want to resurrect my old modded Alien (remember them?) Gents special. The battery is long dead and I would like to replace it IE: rack mounted, 36v maybe 13Ah if possible. I'm not adverse to frame mounting but I have no clue where the market is now with regard to good quality reliable batteries or if battery technology has move on significantly or where I should buy.

All ideas are greatly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance.
 
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Deleted member 4366

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I wouldn't replace the battery with another rack one. Instead, get one that goes on the downtube and stick your controller in a saddle bag. That will make a massive improvement to your bike's handling.

Ebay is probably the best place for batteries. Look for ones with branded cells and a good continuous discharge current.

Also, your controller is very old school. There's a lot of nice ones around now that have much better control systems than your relic. A nice one with LCD would be about £40 to £60.
 
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NRG

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 6, 2009
2,592
10
Thanks d8veh,

Is it me or is buying ebike batteries difficult? Does anybody have experience of EclipseBikes batteries?

They look good and well priced but every one is 'out-of-stock'
 

KirstinS

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 5, 2011
3,224
899
Brighton
Nice to see you again nrg !

There is a new kid on the block since you were last about- Jimmy at insat / bga reworking

He can build whatever you want ,(cells, case, bms )

My 13ah pack is two years old and going strong
 
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Deleted member 4366

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Thanks d8veh,

Is it me or is buying ebike batteries difficult? Does anybody have experience of EclipseBikes batteries?

They look good and well priced but every one is 'out-of-stock'
I forgot to say nice to see you back.

Eclipse are pretty good. That's why always out of stock.
 

NRG

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 6, 2009
2,592
10
Alien Resurrection....It lives once more!

Took the easy route mainly due to finding a keenly priced Samsung celled 13Ah battery and rack on Amazon of all places. Kept the old controller as I heavily upgraded it years ago and...well...it just works. Moved the controller into a saddle bag and thats it.

Hopefully it will keep me going for a few years at least, its good to get it back on the road!
 

rustic

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 31, 2008
288
42
North Essex
It was sad to see the demise of Alien. The gents special seemed a very decent bike for a little over £550, I had some really good rides on mine, I like my new bike, but I haven't used it nearly as much. 10 years ago I think Alien helped introduce many of us to the joys of e-biking.

Welcome back NRG by the way...
 
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roborobo

Finding my (electric) wheels
Feb 20, 2011
17
7
Sorry to jump on this thread, but I'm also thinking about resurrecting my old Alien Ocean Aurora and also need to replace the battery but struggling to find a straight replacement (same connection) for the 36v 10aH lithium battery unit.

Any recommendations (links) greatly appreciated, or if you think its better and more economic/sensible to replace more parts (controller etc) with better/newer and more available parts then again any suggestions (links) would again be very appreciated.

I know things have moved on a lot and and maybe it might be best to dump the old thing and start again (seems a shame ) but it would be so nice if for a few hundred pounds it was possible to get out again, with some assistance up the hills :)

(apologies if this sort of question has been asked a hundred times already !)
 
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