Cheap Lipo4 from China
- Thread starter Old Timer
- Start date
Yeh! no one is knocking making your own battery up if you are so inclined but you do still have to source a decent charger and BMS and when you add it all up plus the time involved it has to be a labour of love and that`s fine if that`s what floats your boat but this thread is about an affordable battery pack complete with bms and charger for the masses that either can`t or won`t be bothered to spend time at the bench when they could be riding
You could probably start up a good business supplying top class batteries. What cases have you used to fit them into? or do you reuse your original?
Old Timer - I have sent an e-mail asking them to make the pack flatter and more suitable for rack mounting - just hope they tie the two things together - the order placed earlier in the day and the e-mail.
That is true.....Pings batteries are expensive. In fact, relatively speaking, they are sufficiently pricey to mean that if you have any money at all to spend you are as well off going beyond Ping LiFePo4 and into the realm of A123. In for a penny, in for a pound.I'm sure that is true but they are also substantially more expensive - to the point that I wouldn't have been able to justify buying one for the project I'm looking at. Maybe that was Old Timer's situation as well?
I can build you a battery if you have loose cells. I am in Ireland.
The real test is going to be how many cycles you knock out of it, unfortunately it is impossible, obviously, to determine that so early on.
LiPo is more powerful than LiFePo4 in terms of power-weight, but A123 when paralleled in large enough groups is seriously powerful.
20Ah of 1C cheap LiFePo4 is good for 20Amps, at only 24v that is still well over a half-horsepower.
They should connect the two if you put the details on the E mail and I make you right to make the battery flat for rack fitting. I E mailed them twice about other things and they replied both times. Although we speak different languages I`ve always found the Chinese to be right on top of the game.
I`m sure these batteries will be fine, you might not have been a member when I wrote that my son had been to China on a buying trip for his engineering company and witnessed several production lines under one roof making the same products for different companies and packaging them differently although they were basically the same products (I`d better not mention the names on them but they spanned the top to the bottom of the UK price range made in the same place from same materials.)
There are different grades in products (we all know that) but I`ve always said that in general people would not set up a plant to make really poor items ( I`m talking engineering and electrical type of stuff) there will always be the exception of course and thats where these forums come in.
Let us know how it goes
Dave
The Chinese Duct-Tape people have come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years, it has to be said, and their communications have improved no end.
I bought two of their batteries- heavy blighters, but they both worked and both provided a lot of power.
I bought two of their batteries- heavy blighters, but they both worked and both provided a lot of power.
As we are digressing a little. I'll ask "Electric Avenues" - or anyone else come to that - any ideas for re-celling an Ezee battery pack?
I am well aware that the stock answer is that it can't be done. However I have always thought that surely it is only a box and should be able to accommodate cells of whatever type. If cells to the value of 36v, 10a can't be squeezed in then couldn't a small aux pack be made up to piggy back it?
Thanks, Dave
- any ideas for re-celling an Ezee battery pack?I am well aware that the stock answer is that it can't be done. However I have always thought that surely it is only a box and should be able to accommodate cells of whatever type. If cells to the value of 36v, 10a can't be squeezed in then couldn't a small aux pack be made up to piggy back it?
Thanks, Dave
That's the point Dave, the case is only a box so low value. For an example from the past, an eZee NiMh battery, same case, cost £200 new in 2006/2007. To re-cell it needed 30 top quality tagless cells which retailed at around £8 to £9 each at the time, so at least £240 to recell, which in any case was particularly difficult with that cell type and case.
As for cells of any type with lithium, they must be compatible with the existing BMS or that would have to be replaced as well.
LiFePO4 cells are larger for a given capacity and current delivery so haven't been able to go into an existing case normally, but that shows signs of changing.
Auxilliary packs of any chemistry and piggy-backed are practical and many of us have done it. Mixing types can mean the need for isolation diodes which normally entail slight voltage losses, but virtual diode lossless circuits are possible as described by Tiberius in this forum.
A practical alternative to attempting recelling is to just buy a cheap alternative battery from another bike maker who prices them much lower. Thirty-seven volt lithium batteries range from about £200 to £600. There's some risk in doing that of course, but some cheaper batteries have been proving to be not too bad to date. In some instances the whole content of a cheaper lithium battery could be swapped into your existing case with connections re-made.
.
And yet, curiously Ping and Old Timer's suppliers quote almost exactly the same dimensions for the same spec of battery.
Weight:5.50 kg ( 12.3 lbs)
Dimension:220x105x150 mm ( 8.7x4.2x5.9 inch )
And from Ping
Light Weight: 5.6 kg / 12.3 lbs
Small Size: 225x105x150 mm / 8.9x4.1x5.9 inches
That led me to think that the individual cells are very similar if not identical.
It seems you were right. another email to the seller requesting a photo of the cells used clearly shows pouches , not cylindrical cells as he first advised me.
Attachments
Last edited:
Isn`t this better though? I thought these pouches were later technology and therefore makes the battery not old hat at all?
I'd be interested to know what dimensions their "flat" version for rack mounting is.
Colin
E mail him, he will answer you. I seem to remember him saying he could make almost any shape.
As soon as I get an e-mail back from him I'll post the information.
I have asked him what size the new configuration will be.
I have asked him what size the new configuration will be.
Thanks.
As I don't know whether I want one, or where to fit it if I do get one, I'd rather possibly waste your time rather than the guy that builds them. He can be making your battery instead of taking time out to answer my email asking the same question as you.
Colin
As I don't know whether I want one, or where to fit it if I do get one, I'd rather possibly waste your time rather than the guy that builds them. He can be making your battery instead of taking time out to answer my email asking the same question as you.
Colin
Related Articles
-
MTF Enterprises announces acquisition of EMU Electric Bikes- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Wisper 806T folding bike wins Which? ‘Best Buy’- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Sustrans calls for protected cycle lanes- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Amazon launch their first UK e-cargo micromobility hub- Started by: Pedelecs
