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Hiya all, Its been a while since I posted last - I did have a problem with the Li-ion battery supplied with my kit - but now it has been resolved - The kit supplier has now sent me 10ahr Li-ion 24v battery and its GREAT! Problem is, when I was without a good battery I bought a Windsor 24v NiMh battery to use while my dud Li-ion was being sent back and forth. I now want to keep the Windsor as a spare as the new Li-ion works better... ...... But how should I keep the spare Windsor NiMH for best shelf life ... Fully charged or Fully discharged ??? Regards to you all, Richard.

Thanks for that advice on posting Flecc, I will try it next time. Meanwhile....... I made a bit of a goof in my earlier posting on this thread. The battery did not offer a 10 year guarantee - it was called a Power Guard 10 Year Life SLA battery (whatever tht means!) My mistake, sorry bout that. Richard.

Ref the link to topic on endless sphere, Dont know how to make the link! But I have copied and pasted Knoxies reply - see below. Richard Hello Yes nice set-up you have there! shame you didn't contact me I could have sorted you out with something a little quicker! ha ha, well it looks like a Tonx motor you have there, they are geared brushless hub motors but at only 250W they are a little anaemic, however it should be possible to double the power and still keep it reliable. If you could take some more pictures of the motor and the controller and post them up I will be able to advise you some more. Stay away from the Powersonic batteries they are cheap and wont give you many cycles, go for Yuasa batteries if you are going Lead Acid, they are by far the best in the UK, and if its only a backup pack you could use a 6AH pack which will be much lighter and should be enough to get you home if all else fails. I get a lot of mail re my high speed video! seems a lot of people have watched that! I was using Lead Acid batteries then but haven't for about a year now as they don't last at the sort of amps I drain from them, I have been using NIMH packs which are a lot lighter and last 3 times as long, I also have Lipo packs as well but don't use them on that bike. If you are underwhelmed by your bikes performance though there are options, the Puma motor which is a geared brushless hub motor is really powerful and although not strictly road legal would give you the level of performance that you are after, I am currently running trials on them at power levels of 1,500 watts and they are performing great as you would expect however they are in no way road legal, although they can be made so by the simple flick of a switch if you catch my drift! Post up some pictures in detail of your bike, but as far as the batteries go I would go for 2 x 12V 6AH Yuasa batteries, you could use the 12AH ones but they are heavy, you can get these batteries from Maplin but they tend to keep old stock, RS is a much better bet as they float charge all their lead acid batteries, you wont find B&B batteries in the UK I have tried its almost impossible, Yuasa are the best ones that are available for a reasonable price. The RS part number is 320-4508 go to rswww.com and search for them they cost 20 pounds each and weigh 2kg each, they are only 5AH but would get you home no problem, a cheap scooter charger from ebay would charge them in series no problem or look here PowerScoots.co.uk 24V Lead Acid Battery Chargers as they do some reasonable 24V chargers, a 1 amp charger would charge the pack in 5 hours the soneil chargers are great but cost a lot more. The UK law of 250W is so stupid, most people find bikes to be disappointing at 250W you need 400W and up to start to feel anything, esp. in a hub motor, if you are ever in the area drop me a line as you are welcome to try a Puma powered bike, teamhybrid.co.uk hand cycles | Home page [tel: 00 44 (0)1329 830 117] sell the Puma motors and controllers and can do road legal through to off road mud spitting motor, what ever you like! Good luck Knoxie

Give me 10 minutes, I'll try and find it! Richard.

Hi, I was looking also at SLAs before deciding on NiMh. I found a local supplier in Wickford Essex and the receptionist even offered to drop them off at my house for free if I wanted as she passed my location on her way home! - Hows that for service! I mentioned this on the other forum (endless-sphere) but "Knoxie" (one of their regular members) said steer clear of them saying they were rubbish! I dont pretend to understand any of the jargon they give on their spec sheets, but here is a link to their site and specifications - They are called "Power sonic" and offer two different 12v 12ahr batts one being a 10 year guarantee!!!? both come in just under £20 incl the vat, a shame if they really are no good as they seem good value and customer service (for my delivery) was excellent. Perhaps our experts couyld give an opinion? 12 volt batteries from Battery Company UK Richard

Hi Grandad, I had to make connections for my Windsor Powabyke battery to use with my kit. I found that the pins from a standard caravan plug were exactly right for the Windsor - The neutral pin is exact fit, the positive pin is same thickness (perfect) but a bit too narrow making it possible for it to move sideways if not taped securely. Fortunately I had two of these plugs spare and was able to use the Neg pins from each, I did have to saw off a few millimetres as they were a tad too long. Heres some pics. The plugs would be available from any uk caravan dealer. Richard

I am absolutely amazed at how little I knew about the area where I have lived for over 20 years. Until 4 weeks ago I was a motorist only. Everywhere I went was by car. Every journey started the same way: Down to traffic lights - Up Main Road - Take Roundabout onto dual carriageway! Yesterday I went on my bike to see a friend who lives about 4 or 5 miles from me. He is on the outskirts of town (a bit countryfied.) I travelled the route above, keeping on the cycle path by the dual carriage way - even then, the blast from passing lorries was a bit concerning! After my visit, my mate said "What way are you going back" - I said "The same way I got here". He just pointed at a dead end lane opposite his house (Rebels Lane) and said "Go down there and follow the footpath". I rode down the road passing little cottages I had never seen before and the road petered-out into a dirt track with no signposts. I followed the track which took me along the edge of the golfcourse and just kept going until it led to a rather dark gloomy footway underpass. As I approached the underpass I recognised the stretch of dual carriageway I had travelled earlier. The underpass took me through a housing estate and some allotments until I noticed the large block of flats that I regularly drove past in my car on the main road near my house. I followed two more side roads and then was in familiar territory. The end of my own road! I couldnt believe it - I knew the golf course was there but never thought it would be a shortcut saving me about 2 miles and hardly seeing another vehicle all the way home! I am now studying my locat street map for shortest routes to everywhere. Richard

Sorry - please ignore my post above, I pasted it here not realising that Admin had already moved it here from the main section of the forum

Okay, I have cut & pasted this from the other thread as it seems to fit better here Quote: Originally Posted by flecc The biggest failing of the NiMh chargers supplied with many e-bikes is the lack of a discharge facility, this being essential for a long NiMh life. . Hi Flecc, As I have only had the Windsor NiMh pack and charger for a week I would obviously like to keep the battery in its best condition. I understand what you are all saying about fully discharging the battery. I use the bike purely for leisure (retired). I often use it just for 4-5 miles a day just to get out of the house. I think I am getting about 15 miles of good power from the battery before it feels like it is not giving the same assistance (throttle 'low' light comes on when throttled hard). I am pretty sure I have just had 15.8 miles since my last charge and the battery now reads 24.2v on my meter. As there is probably not much assistance left in it - should I recharge it now, I have not got a "refresh" facility so would I be better off "hooking up" the back wheel off the ground and taping up the trottle until battery is empty. The only other option would be to continue to use the bike until battery was exhausted, but that would probably be when I was a distance from home and I would end up pushing it back....then I would be exhausted. (I must try and remember to put a postit note or something on the battery with a note of mileage at last charge) - I would try and use the bike until it was totally flat but my wife would not be too chuffed with my "Can you come and pick me up please?" Richard

Sorry guys, I didnt realise that this part of the forum was open for posting - I have just posted a futher query/under the thread "Just plain NiMH battery packs", should I have put it on this section instead? Richard.

Hi Flecc, As I have only had the Windsor NiMh pack and charger for a week I would obviously like to keep the battery in its best condition. I understand what you are all saying about fully discharging the battery. I use the bike purely for leisure (retired). I often use it just for 4-5 miles a day just to get out of the house. I think I am getting about 15 miles of good power from the battery before it feels like it is not giving the same assistance (throttle 'low' light comes on when throttled hard). I am pretty sure I have just had 15.8 miles since my last charge and the battery now reads 24.2v on my meter. As there is probably not much assistance left in it - should I recharge it now, I have not got a "refresh" facility so would I be better off "hooking up" the back wheel off the ground and taping up the trottle until battery is empty. The only other option would be to continue to use the bike until battery was exhausted, but that would probably be when I was a distance from home and I would end up pushing it back....then I would be exhausted. (I must try and remember to put a postit note or something on the battery with a note of mileage at last charge) - I would try and use the bike until it was totally flat but my wife would not be too chuffed with my "Can you come and pick me up please?" Richard

Tool Bags Hi Ian, I know these are not panniers, but perhaps something like these might do the trick. 18" Canvas tool bags at £4 each - It shouldnt be too hard to attach webbing straps or something between two of them and fit them like twin panniers over a bike frame - Dont suppose they would be waterproof though. But hey, wot you expect for 4 quid! - Maybe they can be dyed black and then sprayed with a canvas waterproofing liquid? Richard

Hiya, I've been following this thread and have just dug out my driving licence, the old style pink and green folded one. On the back, under licence categories it gives "Mopeds" as category P. I'm not too sure about wanting my ebike coming under or being associated with anything to do with DVLA and all the associated red tape. Richard.

Whoops!, sorry I asked now. Perhaps this thread should be deleted before Powabyke puts its prices up ! Seriously though, I had only wondered about this as I had read (cant find it now:( ) a message from Andrewelectricbiker? where he had sent an old battery pack which I assumed was the 'cartridge type' to be refurbished with new cells to a company called 'Cell Pack Solutions'. I dont think he said how much this cost but I assume that it must have been less than a direct manufacturers replacement or he wouldnt have done it. Still, as I said before, I'm not quibbling about the price I paid - it performs very well and I'm very happy with it at £99 (its just that I'm a tight ol' git) Richard.

I have searched the forum to see if this has been asked before, but I cant find it. Heres my query: Can you buy just plain NiMh battery packs in either shrink-wrap or plain non-specific battery cases? The reason I ask is that I have an ordinary MTB with a 24v hub kit. The Li-ion battery that came supplied with the kit was (in my opinion) not performing correctly (now returned to supplier for testing). The battery was only connected to the controller with two wires with bullet connectors and could be carried in a rack bag, pannier or fixed to the frame with the clamp supplied. So it seems that any 24v pack whether SLA, Li-ion, NiMh etc could be used for power. Unlike ready made e-bikes with "cartridge type" batteries which are designed to fit somewhere in the frame with electrical connections to slide into, hub kits like mine can use virtually any pack with just a minor adaptation to the electrical connections to the controller. But I cant find just plain packs! I followed 'Allotmenteer' and bought the Windsor 24v NiMh pack from Powabyke. I had to make a slight adaptation to the connections and the pack performs faultlessly. I am not quibbling about its cost (£99), but I wondered if part of this cost was for its casing, warning level lights, on/off key and new lock cylinder (which real Powabyke users would need). In a nutshell: Is there a market for just plain NiMh battery packs (24 + 36v) for those just want to carry/use them in rack bags, panniers etc - and if so, is there a supplier? Richard (aways wanting to save a penny where possible:rolleyes: )