New Sanyo Lithium battery

[Jeanette Morgan]

Hi,

I'd be interested to know what members think about the new Sanyo Lithium batteries for Ezee bikes. Are you pleased with it's range and performance so far? Is it worthy of it's high price? I'm about to get one so would be interested in any replies.

Thanks very much
Jeanette

 

[flecc]

I only know of Pink Floyd with one so far, and I know he's impressed with it to date, but it's early days of course.

The price seems reasonable, given the 7 cell version for 26 volts on the Kalkhoff bikes is £305, one might expect the 10 cell version for the 37 volt eZee being about £435.
.

 

[Planetcooler]

I only know of Pink Floyd with one so far, and I know he's impressed with it to date, but it's early days of course.

The price seems reasonable, given the 7 cell version for 26 volts on the Kalkhoff bikes is £305, one might expect the 10 cell version for the 37 volt eZee being about £435.
.

flecc - is this the battery technology that you were referring to in our earlier discussions re NiMh vs Lithium for the ezee Torq ? Will the standard Lithium charger work with this new battery ? Are there any pointers to technical info on this new battery ? Thanks - planetcooler

 

[flecc]

The standard charger works ok on it. Technologically it's a lithium-ion managanese cathode battery like the old one, and it's cells are the same as those on the Panasonic unit battery that Kalkhoff and the like use. They use 7 cells for 26 volts, the eZee battery 10 cells for 37 volts.

The demands for the eZee motors are much greater, but I hope the high cell quality will allow them to perform much better in the long run, but there's no substitute for experience over time of course.

I have just heard of a problem with one under a test program, but there's a possibility that was due to it being neglected and in storage without regular charging for months, so until that's investigated nothing can be concluded. None have failed in customers hands as far as I know.

Battery development never stops and there are others in the wings already, but until in depth testing has been completed they won't go on sale to customers.
.

 

[flecc]

I have just heard of a problem with one under a test program, but there's a possibility that was due to it being neglected and in storage without regular charging for months, so until that's investigated nothing can be concluded. None have failed in customers hands as far as I know.

Latest tonight on this Sanyo battery "problem" which was one of loss of 40% of capacity. It seems the battery may have been standing at less than 50% charge for a while and entered it's sleep mode. A further recharge has returned it to it's full new capacity, so alarm over.
.

 

[HarryB]

I am a bit worried about the battery on my Agattu with its sanyo cells. I discharged it twice initially and got a range of about 37 miles each time (using it to go to and from work). After the change to the 18 tooth sprocket the range did drop to under 30 miles - this was to be expected. However now I am getting a flashing red after going to work and back - 20 miles total. Annoying as I didn't want to have to charge the battery at work (the charger is very bulky to carry as well). There are two things to worry about. Am I discharging it too much each time I use it and how long will it go before it won't do the return journey? Anyway I will just have to monitor the situation and see if it gets significantly worse.

 

[flecc]

It should stand the discharging ok, and as you say and I'd originally warned, range can be lost with gearing changes.

That said I think what could be happening here is that as you get to know it and the way it works better, you might be unconciously getting the best out of it by spending more time in the gear positions/speeds where the motor contribution is greatest, and of course that will increase the consumption.

However the gearing up has meant that it's using some power at all speeds up to over 18 mph, so you are probably in power use mode all the time. With standard gearing you would have been likely to spend at least some of the time at over 15 mph and using nothing.

I can't predict how long it will be before it drops enough to fall short, and it could well stop at a plateau and stay there for a while. Keep us informed of how this develops though, and others will be able to compare this with their experiences, both with standard and raised gearing. Luckily we have a large Agattu owner pool now.
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[coops]

I've not bought one Jeanette - yet! I'm thinking about getting one as a second battery to go with the NiMH I have, and I'd also like to get a case to carry it in like the one available with the ezee conversion kit, which fixes to the side of the rear rack like a mini pannier, as an alternative to using a full-sized pannier.

I hope you don't mind me asking this here, it seems sort of relevant:

I'll be buying eZee's latest Sanyo 10 Ah one for my two bikes later this year, but hope to get hold of a 13 Ah one from one of those Chinese makes some time later if eZee ever buy them for their bikes.

If they ever do use one of these 13Ah in the future (and I understand it may be a while before we know), any idea if they'll need a different size/shape case and also if they'll fit existing ezee bikes (I would expect they would but wouldn't want to assume)?

Stuart.

 

[flecc]

Yes, they'll be completely standard and interchangeable in every way Stuart.

The newer cells are higher density and not larger.
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[coops]

Great, thats good to hear, thanks for that flecc. Now, should i wait and see if the 13Ah materialise, or...

I should add that its not that I'm unconfident about the new Sanyo Lithiums which I've read have proven longevity (over 2yrs) in Panasonic bikes, and the lighter weight & somewhat easier maintainence than NiMH is certainly attractive (It would be my first lithium bike battery though!); I'd just like as much capacity as possible! Though if my year old NiMH keeps going for a while, I suppose I'd be doing ok between that and a Sanyo.

Stuart.