Best way to treat a new battery

[crankyhorse]

Hi all

I'm getting my first leccy bike soon and in case the instructions are all in Chinese I thought I would ask you knowledgable folks if I should follow some dos and don'ts when charging and using it for the first few times?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Everybody's advice is different, some say do a full discharge, others say take it easy for a bit. I'd be surprised if it makes a scrap of difference. I think that the best advice is to use it whenever you can, and re-charge after every time you use it, where practical. The battery gives more power more easily when it's fully charged, so take advantage of that characteristic rather than running it flat where you can run into balancing problems.

 

[crankyhorse]

Thanks for that advice.

I will take the charger to work each day so it's kept topped up as much as possible and it will save me many pennies in electricity.

 

[Zebb]

I agree with d8veh, I always leave it charging for a few hours after the green light comes on so it gives it a chance to balance the battery.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Thanks for that advice.

I will take the charger to work each day so it's kept topped up as much as possible and it will save me many pennies in electricity.

You don't have to panic about re-charging it. You only need to charge at work if you've gone a long way, and it's doubtful that it'll last all the way home. What I meant was to re-charge when convenient and when necessary.

 

[Footloose]

I assume that we are talking about lithium batteries here. My understanding is that they do not enjoy overdischarge, below 3.2V per cell. Any decent bike will cut out to stop this happening. They do not enjoy staying at 3.2V too long and they do not enjoy being at full 4.2V per cell either! An occasional full cycle of discharge and full charge may help to balance the cells, but most of the time, using the mid part of the range is the best to prolonge life.
The top 20% of capacity is at 4.2V per cell. I avoid using this 20% routinely, unless I will be on a long ride and need it. Lithium cells have no memory effect so cycling their charge over a small range is not harmful and may actually be the best thing in the long run.

 

[crankyhorse]

Yes it's lithium.

My commute is only five miles each way so a charge each evening will mean it will not get anywhere near fully discharged. If I do longer rides I will be using my legs exclusively on the flat sections and sim,etching like the Brampton valley way I would leave the motor idle unless I was showing off.

 

[trex]

If you do a lot of miles, your battery will be fine. If you pedal most of the time, your battery does not get used much, you'll have to be a bit more careful not to overcharge it. 5 miles on pedelecs would use up about 50Wh of the battery, so charge it after every 20-25 miles for a 10Ah battery, 30-35 miles for a 15Ah battery. Wait until the bike feels weak before charging. If you don't ride in winter, remove the battery from the bike, charge it to full and keep the battery indoors over the winter months.