Cylamatic Power Plus Battery Slowly Dying

[Penlost]

I have had this bike now for nearly two years and love it. It is my first e bike and has been used regularly without problems. Lately I have noticed the battery is not lasting as long and when the winter comes I fear may not make the commute I am using it for (seems to drain quicker in cold conditions). My options are then as I see it ..

1. Get a new 24v battery from sports HQ for £300
2. Get a new bike and spend a bit more
3. Look for a 36v battery that will plug in to my Cylamatic?

I would really appreciate some advise from those experienced pros and cons of my situation as there may be options I have not thought if. At this moment, I would like to have a bit more power but keep the original range (it was doing about 25 miles on a full charge) if I am going to have to spend money anyway !

 

[rog_london]

After two years of regular commuting I think you've probably had your money's worth from that battery. What happens, as you've discovered, is that the capacity starts to drop. The next stage is that the remaining capacity has to work harder to enable you to do the same journey - so deterioration tends to accelerate.

Obviously you could obtain a replacement from the supplier - assuming you haven't the skill or the inclination to adapt a new battery to your bike and thereby save yourself some cash.

You can't usually just plug a 36 volt battery into a system which is designed for 24 volts. Unless the controller is specified for the higher voltage it probably won't last long. The motor is usually not a problem, but you would probably need to obtain a suitable replacement controller if you really wanted to go to 36 volts.

Getting a new bike and spending a bit more might be more rewarding. In general, especially if you're using the bike regularly and often, go for a 36 volt model and the largest battery you can afford. Modern batteries, especially if they're not overworked, can be good for five years. The larger the battery capacity the longer it will last, because you will be using the available capacity less as a percentage of the total available and therefore you will be giving it an easier time.

All batteries, no matter what the technology, work better in the warm. In cold weather (say below 10 Celsius) you might find you lose up to around 15% of the capacity you get during the summer.

Rog.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Read this thread, if you haven't already
.http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/9857-cyclamatic-beastamatic-dead-long-live-beastamatic.html
It might give you some ideas. You can plug a 36v battery directly into your bike. Ive done it and so have others. There's a big resistor in the controller that runs rather hot, from memory, it's 51 ohms. You might want to replace it with a 68 or 75ohm one to give the regulator an easier time, but nobody else has done so (as far as I know). They cost about 50P from Maplin.
It looks like this is the battery you want, unless you want to go 30mph with 12S lipos, or better still the 15Ah one:
36V10Ah LiFePO4 Alloy 01-Case EBike Battery Pack - BMSBATTERY

 

[Penlost]

Read this thread, if you haven't already
.http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/9857-cyclamatic-beastamatic-dead-long-live-beastamatic.html
It might give you some ideas. You can plug a 36v battery directly into your bike. Ive done it and so have others. There's a big resistor in the controller that runs rather hot, from memory, it's 51 ohms. You might want to replace it with a 68 or 75ohm one to give the regulator an easier time, but nobody else has done so (as far as I know). They cost about 50P from Maplin.
It looks like this is the battery you want, unless you want to go 30mph with 12S lipos, or better still the 15Ah one:
36V10Ah LiFePO4 Alloy 01-Case EBike Battery Pack - BMSBATTERY

Thank you both, that is extremely helpful. I am also very pleased that I can plug in a 36v battery without any adverse affect, thank you to the pioneers that have tried it! The link to the battery looks good but I am afraid I am not at all technically minded so this last bit lost me d8veh! Can I ask a couple more questions ..

1. The 36v battery you have linked to (I think is 10ah one?) , what kind of range would I get and would I notice additional speed increase / power ? The price looks good and I am very tempted to order! Would it be worth going for 15ah for the extra money?
2. 30mph with 12s lipos .. That sounds awesome but wondered if you could clarify what you mean by this.

Apologies for my non tech mind!

 

[cwah]

I'm selling my lipo if you want to get them. I have 4 Zippy 5S8AH, which is an equivalent of 37V16AH battery.

In term of capacity, it's roughtly the double capacity of what you'll find on the market for 2 times cheaper.

You can see my ad here:
Endless-sphere.com • View topic - 4 * Zippy 5S8AH 30C

It needs extra care, but they are much muh cheaper to replace.

 

[Penlost]

I'm selling my lipo if you want to get them. I have 4 Zippy 5S8AH, which is an equivalent of 37V16AH battery.

In term of capacity, it's roughtly the double capacity of what you'll find on the market for 2 times cheaper.

You can see my ad here:
Endless-sphere.com • View topic - 4 * Zippy 5S8AH 30C

It needs extra care, but they are much muh cheaper to replace.

Many thanks, but I think I am going to need to buy a battery that just slots into the existing set up due to my lack of tech knowledge! It looks like this would require more work ?

 

[cwah]

Yeah it requires a little bit of work.

What's the inner size of your aluminium battery box? You can potentially remove the actual battery and fit 2 lipo pack inside.

It would then directly slot into your bike and the aluminium case should protect the pack quite nicely.

 

[Penlost]

Yeah it requires a little bit of work.

What's the inner size of your aluminium battery box? You can potentially remove the actual battery and fit 2 lipo pack inside.

It would then directly slot into your bike and the aluminium case should protect the pack quite nicely.

Alas, I am not even confident enough to open up the battery box. Hence why I am keen to purchase a straight 36v replacement, one of the above. Just not sure if I should go for the 10ah or 15ah and what difference it would make!

 

[flecc]

The 15 Ah would increase the range by a little over 50%, the extra bit due to the efficiency gain of a larger capacity. You may also notice a slight performance gain with the larger battery, particularly as it discharges during a normal journey.

 

[Penlost]

The 15 Ah would increase the range by a little over 50%, the extra bit due to the efficiency gain of a larger capacity. You may also notice a slight performance gain with the larger battery, particularly as it discharges during a normal journey.

Could be worth the extra $49 then for the increase range alone, even if I do not get around to the shunt mod!

 

[cwah]

Definitely worth it to get more capacity.

I have a huge battery pack of 11kg and 20AH on a small Brompton. But I feel so relieved to always have enough power to go home

 

[Penlost]

Well thanks to D8veh great guidance ordered my battery today. Have gone a bit mad and ordered a few things for my bike in preparation for the winter. Amongst them is a pair of scwalbe marathon plus tyres which I am not looking forward to fitting. If there is any other winter maintenance to be recommended I would've grateful for the advice! I am hoping it might last another couple of years, although guessing it might be curtains if the motor goes ...