Charging Li-ion batteries

[Old Timer]

I`ve been using li-ion batteries for some time now in my DSLR cameras. I charge them as and when I want to( that is: sometimes when I exhaust them and sometimes when going out on a shoot and want to have the maximum charge in them for the day regardless of the charged state)

So! reading through the threads and trying to understand some of the technical terms etc I sort of come to the conclusion that maybe this collection of cells in my bike battery pack isn`t quite the same as a single camera battery and should maybe be looked after differently.

Any advice?

Dave
forgot to mention it`s a 36V system

 

[Old Timer]

Anyone please?

Thanks

Dave

 

[eddieo]

Patience.....

I am not particularly technically minded so while waiting for some more knowledgeable advice........ you can not leave a lithium barttery for months on end and only charge when you want to go for a spin, this will probably damage the battery. we have wisper bikes and they recommend an hourly charge once a month to keep battery in condition. Battery maintenance is essential

It would probably be more helpful to you if you actually tell us what bike and battery you have as some have a sleep/hibernation function

 

[Old Timer]

Patience.....

I am not particularly technically minded so while waiting for some more knowledgeable advice........ you can not leave a lithium barttery for months on end and only charge when you want to go for a spin, this will probably damage the battery. we have wisper bikes and they recommend an hourly charge once a month to keep battery in condition. Battery maintenance is essential

It would probably be more helpful to you if you actually tell us what bike and battery you have as some have a sleep/hibernation function

Sorry
I`ve been using the bike and it still shows full but I know it must be about to change and I was planning a reasonable run today and didn`t want to either charge it when it shouldn`t have been or run out on the road.

Not much tech detail, it`s a Power Trek Dynamo Li-ion 36V 250w is about all I know.

I`ll be more patient in future

 

[eddieo]

If you have been using and regularly charging all should be well

the battery lights on a bike are not a particularly reliable state of charge indicator, so if going on a long run best to fully charge. Did you condition the battery when bike new? this involves (from fully charged) riding till flat and repeating this cycle 3 times. The dealer should have explained battery conditioning/maintenance to you

these batteries have a life of 2 years plus a bit........regular charging is not a problem for them. I think this is right! Flecc will be along soon.........

 

[Old Timer]

If you have been using and regularly charging all should be well

the battery lights on a bike are not a particularly reliable state of charge indicator, so if going on a long run best to fully charge. Did you condition the battery when bike new? this involves (from fully charged) riding till flat and repeating this cycle 3 times. The dealer should have explained battery conditioning/maintenance to you

these batteries have a life of 2 years plus a bit........regular charging is not a problem for them. I think this is right! Flecc will be along soon.........

Thanks
I didn`t get any actual riding/controls instructions, only a book showing where certain parts were. I`m not complaining about the dealer uksportimports because I had a damaged carrier rack and they sent a new one within two days and have always been polite and helpful.

So! could I set the bike up to run the battery down on a stand? rather than run it down and get caught out?

Thanks

Dave

 

[tillson]

I'm no expert either, but from what I have picked up in this forum, lithium battery cells are stressed most at their fully charged and fully discharged state. For this reason, the consensus of opinion seems to be not to recharge after a very short run taking, say less than 10% out of the battery and not to completely exhaust the battery either. For reasons of practicality, it may be necessary to re-charge after a short run. You may want to go for a long ride the day after a short run to the local shop for instance. I don't think any major adverse effects will be noticed if the battery is treated in this way on a ad-hoc basis, but you should avoid routinely doing this.

As I say, I am no expert, this is just what I have picked up from this forum.

 

[eddieo]

you have bought a heavy @ 30kg generic Chinese bike, from a sports shop that probably know bu$$er all about bikes. I hope you were not seduced by the *WAS £1399 -----NOW £699* nonsense......You would have been better of doing some research on here before buying

no need to recharge afer every short journey. Might be an idea to find the bikes "true" range by riding till nearly flat

how long have you had it.
how often do you charge
how often do you use it
how long are your journeys

 

[jerrysimon]

uksportimports

Aren't these the clowns mentioned in another post here.

Hold on I will have a look round.......

Yep thought that name rung a bell take a look at this

Anyway I guess I should have said welcome and not started with such a negative post. You have come to the right place lots of helpful friendly people here, so should be able to help out.

PS Is this the bike ?

PowerTrek Dynamo Electric Trail Bike (MEB01B) [Powertrek Dynamo Electric Trail Bike36v Li-Ion Battery Technology25kph Top Speed50km RangeOff Road Kenda MTB Tyres6 Speed Shimano GearsFront Suspension ForkRear Pannier Rack] - £699.95 : UK Sport Imports

It does seem to be Lithium Ion, though quite a weighty machine.

Regards

Jerry

 

[Old Timer]

you have bought a heavy @ 30kg generic Chinese bike, from a sports shop that probably know bu$$er all about bikes. I hope you were not seduced by the *WAS £1399 -----NOW £699* nonsense......You would have been better of doing some research on here before buying

no need to recharge afer every short journey. Might be an idea to find the bikes "true" range by riding till nearly flat

how long have you had it.
how often do you charge
how often do you use it
how long are your journeys

I did do a lot of research but several bikes were out of stock (isn`t that always the way) No! I wasn`t seduced by the inflated RRP but I must say that those electric bikes I`ve seen on the road and viewed on line don`t differ that much from the Dynamo and in fact I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the frame and fittings etc but of course it isn`t light but never the less is does pick up a very healthy pace in pedal assist which is what I want for trying to keep these ageing and hard worked bones alive
I did have a fling and fell in love with the whispers and went to lie down in a dark room for a while and got to thinking that a top of the range whisper would have cleaned out my free spends fund so decided to go for a reasonably spec bike from a company that is probably going to be in business for the next year and then just see what happens. If the enjoyment I`ve had over the last week is anything to go by( and the amount of e bikes I`ve seen around here lately) I reckon that in a couple of years there will be maybe a leader of the pack emerge at an every day price with most things sorted so hopefully this bike will get me their till then.
I note you mentioned Chinese and my jaw might have dropped a few years back but being in hydraulics most of my life and seeing what the Chinese were offering at a fraction of the cost I sent my son to China to do some digging and he came back with a deal of a certain item that was costing us £40 in the UK before it was discontinued (typical British manufacturers dropped it for an upgrade that no one wanted or needed that can`t go in the place of the originals and meant big big conversion costs)We now buy the item (wait for it) for £1.75 delivered half way around the world We have been using it for 2 years now with no problems at all.
I know it`s not always like that but even some of the biggest makers of digital cameras and equipment are sourcing the components from China.
I digress.

So! I`ll abandon the long run for today and stick local and see if I can get the battery level down before re-charging.

Thanks all for your help.

Dave

 

[Old Timer]

uksportimports

Aren't these the clowns mentioned in another post here.

Hold on I will have a look round.......

Yep thought that name rung a bell take a look at this

Anyway I guess I should have said welcome and not started with such a negative post. You have come to the right place lots of helpful friendly people here, so should be able to help out.

PS Is this the bike ?

PowerTrek Dynamo Electric Trail Bike (MEB01B) [Powertrek Dynamo Electric Trail Bike36v Li-Ion Battery Technology25kph Top Speed50km RangeOff Road Kenda MTB Tyres6 Speed Shimano GearsFront Suspension ForkRear Pannier Rack] - £699.95 : UK Sport Imports

It does seem to be Lithium Ion, though quite a weighty machine.

Regards

Jerry

Jerry

Oh well! what can I say shall I dump it now
To be honest, the only concern for me would be the motor becasue from reading around most other things are replaceable. The bike isn`t a light weight but it`s not that bad and does what I want(at the moment) and to be fair when you do as much web searching as I did over the last month you will find all sorts of problems affecting all sorts of makes and bikes. I suppose one day in the near future a winner will emerge with a good bike, plenty of spares for £500 or so which I suppose in reality when you consider what actually goes into them isn`t far off reality. We seem to be the "model T ford" crew working our way up to things like VW golfs in a few years

Oh well, now I`m totally depressed I think I`ll go out on my crapper e bike for a spot of exercise (the exercise might be the walk home then?

Dave

 

[Straylight]

Considering how generic most ebikes are, I really don't think you have a lot to worry about, there are some notable exceptions of very high quality, but there is a premium to be paid; the important thing is that it suits your needs, and that you're happy with it.

Have a nice ride .

 

[jerrysimon]

Jerry
Oh well! what can I say shall I dump it now

Sorry Dave

I did re-read the post which sounded a little negative, which is why I added the welcome.

I guess if the bike seems well built, you enjoy riding riding it and all is working well then that is the main thing.

When I first saw that other post and googled the guy on line a lot of very negative stuff came up. If as you say they responded quickly and replaced the bent rack then its all good.

Enjoy your bike

Regards

Jerry

 

[Old Timer]

Sorry Dave

I did re-read the post which sounded a little negative, which is why I added the welcome.

I guess if the bike seems well built, you enjoy riding riding it and all is working well then that is the main thing.

When I first saw that other post and googled the guy on line a lot of very negative stuff came up. If as you say they responded quickly and replaced the bent rack then its all good.

Enjoy your bike

Regards

Jerry

Jerry

Thanks for coming back (cometh the hour! cometh the man

I just did another 5 miles (that`s about 13 now) and still showing full charge and the bike is still pushing me up the hills

Take Care

Dave

 

[dan]

you have bought a heavy @ 30kg generic Chinese bike, from a sports shop that probably know bu$$er all about bikes. I hope you were not seduced by the *WAS £1399 -----NOW £699* nonsense......You would have been better of doing some research on here before buying

no need to recharge afer every short journey. Might be an idea to find the bikes "true" range by riding till nearly flat

how long have you had it.
how often do you charge
how often do you use it
how long are your journeys

The guy comes on here for advice about charging his bike and you tell him "you bought a crap bike from a crap dealer" was that necessary, and I wonder where the motor and battery cells for your bike were made.

 

[eddieo]

Jerry

Thanks for coming back (cometh the hour! cometh the man

I just did another 5 miles (that`s about 13 now) and still showing full charge and the bike is still pushing me up the hills

Take Care

Dave

at last some info! we are getting somewhere!

as poor as the bike probably is (6 month warranty on battery did you spot that?) You can probably do another 2 x 5 mile runs before needing to charge. but the conditioning cycles are important. Just do a short circular route near your home and when down to one light stick it on a secure rack and cellotape the throttle open (at your own risk!) when near empty, stop it as you dont want to run completely flat I believe......

There are some good cheap bikes from the likes of:

Alien

mistrial synergy

Powabyke

Rush Trek

All would probably offer better value, reliability and support. All you can hope for is a LBS prepared to work on E Bikes unless you are handy yourself...

Good luck!

 

[flecc]

The guy comes on here for advice about charging his bike and you tell him "you bought a crap bike from a crap dealer" was that necessary, and I wonder where the motor and battery cells for your bike were made.

I think Eddie is cast iron there.

His motor was made by the top manufacturer of these internally geared hub motors, Suzhou Bafang, and his battery by Advance, one of the best in China at present.
.

 

[Old Timer]

at last some info! we are getting somewhere!

as poor as the bike probably is (6 month warranty on battery

Eddieo

Yeh! I noticed that and thought like most things if it gets past the first month or so it will probably go the distance.
Don`t wish to be harsh but!being new to the forum and all that Why are you saying the bike is probably poor? Do you know for a fact that it is crap? have you any idea where the parts come from? have you ridden one?
Wouldn`t it be funny if it was actually a wolf in sheeps clothing Well, obviously time will tell but apart from it obviously not being a flyweight prey tell me what to look for on it to identify the poor build and general quality.
I`m new to E bikes but not new to bikes , motor bikes, cars, farm and agricultural vehicles etc and to be quite honest( obviously I haven`t stripped the motor down) but the general build seems OK to me and the paint job looks fine.

Am I sensing a touch of elitism about E bikes?

Anyway! I will have a look around those makes you suggested (although I think I touched on them whilst doing the initial search on the web) and see just what they offer.
I must admit that reliability was always the one main thing on my mind before I took the plunge because obviously if your motor and controller goes tits up then you are left with a garden gate and as I mentioned before I did select other bikes that were offering a similar spec but they were in general not available. There were bikes like the whisper that were twice the price(although I must say that from what I can gather there is and are still lots of problems on Ebikes at what ever you pay if you really delve) and if it had to be my daily commute then I probably would have raised the stakes but as a fun exercise bike I just couldn`t justify spending more than the £600 deal I made for the Dynamo.

Anyway! finally a sort of answer to my question re charging the battery pack you do have to be a bit more careful than charging a £120 camera battery it seems and all advice taken in.

Steps down from soap box

 

[jerrysimon]

Dave, I did realise my comments were perhaps a little untackfull, hence the apology.

I am also feeling kinda stupid at the moment, as your gonna see in another post soon as eat serious humble pie

Regards

Jerry

 

[eddieo]

Not elitism, just common sense. why else would I suggest cheaper alternatives to the bike you bought .

I am not technically minded or bike savvy at all. and started looking at e bikes last summer. Thanks to this forum I have avoided the harsh learning curve that many experience.

why you are still asking about camera batteries re bike I do not know...I have explained how to maintain and condition your battery's to get the best out of them. something any reputable dealer should have done.