January 26, 201610 yr The welder do cost and I bought one.... But cell holder i don't use them anymore it takes too much space. I glue them with separator on cell group for chaffing risk. The strip does almost cost nothing once you get some. Like lipo, there is a cost to get started (lipo you need balance charger....), but once done, it saves time, money and space. My ncr18650pf pack of 196 cells made last year hasn't been balanced a single time.... and i use it daily would it be possible to say where you get the strips cwah and what gluing cells together with a separator involves? I need to build a compact 48V battery and this sounds great, if it will work and survive potholes...
January 26, 201610 yr I'm doing it cheap and initially wanted to buy chafing tape but ended up using electric tap. What I do: - use standard glue gun to stick cell group together - then use electric tape to protect the cell group from chafing against the other group - then protect with electric tape - cover the complete pack with ren-forced tape - waterproof it with food wrap - protect the whole with tarpaulin - apply compression with long jubilee clip It doesn't add much weight but has been very good at protecting the pack that has been taking in and out every day to charge at work! Tarlaulin skin starts to show sign of wear so I'd need to change it at some point!
January 26, 201610 yr I'm doing it cheap and initially wanted to buy chafing tape but ended up using electric tap. What I do: - use standard glue gun to stick cell group together - then use electric tape to protect the cell group from chafing against the other group - then protect with electric tape - cover the complete pack with ren-forced tape - waterproof it with food wrap - protect the whole with tarpaulin - apply compression with long jubilee clip It doesn't add much weight but has been very good at protecting the pack that has been taking in and out every day to charge at work! Tarlaulin skin starts to show sign of wear so I'd need to change it at some point! many thanks. That sounds very brave though - a bit like something the sole survivor from fallout 4 might do. I suspect I need something more fastidious than food wrap, tarpaulin etc - but does it survive bumps and shocks etc?
January 26, 201610 yr Say it takes 2 hours to charge your batteries and you set off at 8am. \simply connect the batteries to your charger on the evening and set the timer to switch it on at 5.50am and off 2 hours later. Then just unplug and away you go What charger have you got? Both mine need me to press buttons like 'set' 'check' confirm' etc to start charging and I like your idea.
January 27, 201610 yr What charger have you got? Both mine need me to press buttons like 'set' 'check' confirm' etc to start charging and I like your idea. I use a pair of Meanwell NES350-48 power supplies in parallel to charge at 17.6 Amps.. They start when plugged in and taper off to virtually zero when the batteries are full. I also have a pair of 24 volt Meanwells so if I need all 6 batteries for a ride I connect 4 to the 48s and the other 2 to the 24s and they are all done at the same time. http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n50/kinninviekid/e-bikes/CAM02433_zpsof1f5rsy.jpg
January 27, 201610 yr many thanks. That sounds very brave though - a bit like something the sole survivor from fallout 4 might do. I suspect I need something more fastidious than food wrap, tarpaulin etc - but does it survive bumps and shocks etc? Good quality tarpaulin is a surprisingly strong material I'll definitely reuse. I have great success with and even made a bag for my battery out of tarpaulin. I've just added food wrap few days ago because after a 6 months inspection everything was good but some areas of the pack started to rust dur to water leak.
January 27, 201610 yr I use a pair of Meanwell NES350-48 power supplies in parallel to charge at 17.6 Amps.. They start when plugged in and taper off to virtually zero when the batteries are full. I also have a pair of 24 volt Meanwells so if I need all 6 batteries for a ride I connect 4 to the 48s and the other 2 to the 24s and they are all done at the same time. Yes very different to my chargers. How/how often do you do the balancing or is it not needed all the time?
January 27, 201610 yr Yes very different to my chargers. How/how often do you do the balancing or is it not needed all the time? If you dont discharge below 3.6V you wont need to balance them. Just check them with a cell checker daily. There is less than 10% capacity left below this level anyway.
January 27, 201610 yr If you dont discharge below 3.6V you wont need to balance them. Just check them with a cell checker daily. There is less than 10% capacity left below this level anyway. Would I be able to charge my 10s 6600mah pack up with my 2a charger I currently plug into my 36v bottle battery,first changing the plugs ?
January 27, 201610 yr Kinninvie just to clarify to charge the 4 MS's off the paralleled PSU's (Meanwell's) , I assume the MS's are plugged into a parallel/balance board via the watt meter and then connected to the DC/ output side of the 2nd PSU. Do you use them as they are out of the box or have you done any mods to them at all as on ES ? Edited January 27, 201610 yr by Nealh
January 27, 201610 yr The DIY battery pack working for almost a year now... It's not looking too bad. I had someone who told me it looks like a lady bag
January 27, 201610 yr Would I be able to charge my 10s 6600mah pack up with my 2a charger I currently plug into my 36v bottle battery,first changing the plugs ? ONLY if the output from that charger is between 41 and 42 volts. You need to charge to 41V on a 10S battery Edited January 27, 201610 yr by Kinninvie
January 27, 201610 yr Kinninvie just to clarify to charge the 4 MS's off the paralleled PSU's (Meanwell's) , I assume the MS's are plugged into a parallel/balance board via the watt meter and then connected to the DC/ output side of the 2nd PSU. Do you use them as they are out of the box or have you done any mods to them at all as on ES ? If you look at the photo you will see that the terminals on one charger are wired to the same terminals on the second one. There is then a pair of wires from that to an XT90 plug. The negative lead passes through the wattmeter and the positive splits into 2 just out of the pic with the other wire going to power the wattmeter. The batteries are connected together with leads from ebay. I have not done any mods to them BUT what you do have to do is use a multimeter on each one to get the voltage EXACTLY the same. There is a screw on the front for this. http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MjUyWDM5Mg==/z/~2oAAOSw-nZTqrzw/$_12.JPG http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/aYYAAOSw7NNUKVty/s-l225.jpg Edited January 27, 201610 yr by Kinninvie
January 28, 201610 yr I also use an Additive V2 bag. The EM3EV bag holds one pair and is great for trail riding then if going any distance I put the V2 over and it can hold up to 6 batteries although I usually put 4 in and that leaves plenty of room for spare tubes,beer etc. http://www.additive-bikes.com/the-backpack-for-all-frames.html http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n50/kinninviekid/e-bikes/CAM02275_zpscba89db3.jpg Our bikes are setup similarly - I have an EM3EV frame bag and another small triangle bag sitting on top of the crossbar in the same fashion. I am looking for additional battery capacity to hold enough for a days ride from Bath to London I love the utility of the Additive V2 bag, but not its aesthetics. It would be much nicer all in black. The huge 'bike bag' text is awful IMO. A few questions about the V2 bag if you would be so kind: 150 EUR is quite expensive for a frame bag. Has it been worth the money? Is it as well made as an EM3EV bag? I'm wondering if there would be any way to alter the appearance of the bag. What material is the grey part with the text made from? Thanks
January 28, 201610 yr Delivery for the V2 is +17 euro's, you can order a B-wear /Seconds V2 for 119 euro's + 17 delivery they apparently have imperfections ( scratch's ) etc but otherwise forfil the same criteria as the full price option. Edited January 29, 201610 yr by Nealh
January 29, 201610 yr Our bikes are setup similarly - I have an EM3EV frame bag and another small triangle bag sitting on top of the crossbar in the same fashion. I am looking for additional battery capacity to hold enough for a days ride from Bath to London I love the utility of the Additive V2 bag, but not its aesthetics. It would be much nicer all in black. The huge 'bike bag' text is awful IMO. A few questions about the V2 bag if you would be so kind: 150 EUR is quite expensive for a frame bag. Has it been worth the money? Is it as well made as an EM3EV bag? I'm wondering if there would be any way to alter the appearance of the bag. What material is the grey part with the text made from? Thanks I think its worth the money as it allows me to carry enough battery for 150 miles (if I fill the EM3EV bag as well that would be 200!). The grey part is thick vinyl type flexible plastic and easily painted over with plastic paint. It is well made and despite several offroad excursions over the past year its stood up perfectly. It even has 2 bottle holder brackets to fit on the front if you require them. I particularly like the flat top with elastic cord as its the perfect place to mount my wattmeter. It takes less than a minute to put on or take off as well with only 3 buckles to unclip. I often fill it with 4 batteries,a spare tube,cable lock,alarm,small bottle of pop and still have room to put a rain jacket in.
January 29, 201610 yr Kinninvie being a regular lipo user will probably be able to offer me advice on this one - my lipos's are in storage mode for month's with a monthly topup and generally all cells have not changed except I have 1 cell which drops to around 3.73 ish at each topup. It is the first pack I bought a year or so ago to practise and learn with. Is it a sign it is weak and low on capacity or will regular use sort it to match the other cells ?
January 30, 201610 yr Kinninvie being a regular lipo user will probably be able to offer me advice on this one - my lipos's are in storage mode for month's with a monthly topup and generally all cells have not changed except I have 1 cell which drops to around 3.73 ish at each topup. It is the first pack I bought a year or so ago to practise and learn with. Is it a sign it is weak and low on capacity or will regular use sort it to match the other cells ? If they are charged to 3.8 and its the only one to drop then it is a weak cell but personally I would still use it but put a cell alarm on that battery set to 3.6V so it does not get too low and cause problems. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-RC-LIPO-Battery-Low-Voltage-Tester-1-8S-Buzzer-Alarm-Checker-LED-Indicator-/272048190101?hash=item3f5755f295 Of course ,if you can afford to, it would be better to replace it with a new one .
February 3, 201610 yr So far so good with my lipo's I got, only been out twice as I'm quite busy with other things but checked packs to day and they are all sitting at 3.84/5v which I store charged them to. Got carried away after selling some gear on Fleabay and some Prem Bond prizes and got extra packs this time some 6.6ah's on offer. My V2 arrived yesterday, the B - wear (2nd's') had a very slight scuff mark which is barely noticeable otherwise it is brand new, I took a pic so will upload it sometime. Fitted it today and have been arranging batt's to fit, I have reconfigured the 3 x10.4 ah packs now and will use them as 2 x 15.6ah packs plus now I have also got 1 x 13.2ah pack. For now I will continue balance charging until I'm happy with there stability then will look into the possibilities of bulk charging them and see if I'm able to serial them as 12s for charging to speed things up. Edited February 3, 201610 yr by Nealh
February 18, 201610 yr Back to the V2 as promised a pic of the slight scuff mark which made this a 2nd's product. Internal shot of V2.
February 20, 201610 yr Internal shot of V2. First test, make sure you can carry lots of botles of wine - Pass You can always put the batteries in a backpack afterall. Sorry couldn't resist.
February 20, 201610 yr Back to the V2 as promised a pic of the slight scuff mark which made this a 2nd's product. [ATTACH=full]13250[/ATTACH] Internal shot of V2. [ATTACH=full]13251[/ATTACH] Mine got a bigger,deeper mark than that the first time I used it when it slipped as I put it away in tne garage.
February 23, 201610 yr OK I have been trying to find a "Dummies way" to get into these battery packs with the least complications. How about: 2 x MultiStar LiHV High Capacity 6S 16000mAh Multi-Rotor Lipo Pack in series for a 45.6 V 16 Ah pack How does the charger see the two packs in series balance wise? What is the best solution (which charger) for charging these two packs? Will I have to charge to 44 V or less to preserve the 36 V 09 bottle battery controller? (I think the controller components support up to 50 V) Yes it is costly at 302€ + charger but I can't find a 16 Ah bottle battery at that price. The advantage is that I will not have a rats nest of wires to look after/understand. I don't mind charging each battery individually. Cheers
February 23, 201610 yr Having written all that and thought about it I have answered my own questions! Two chargers and split the batteries for charging is no problem. 39€ per charger, 78 € in all. Charge each battery to 20.9 V = 41.8 V when in series which is no different from any 36 V battery. 2 x 16 Ah batteries 220 €. A grand total of 298 € for a 16 Ah battery pack which requires supervision, I think I can handle that...
February 23, 201610 yr Having written all that and thought about it I have answered my own questions! Two chargers and split the batteries for charging is no problem. 39€ per charger, 78 € in all. Charge each battery to 20.9 V = 41.8 V when in series which is no different from any 36 V battery. 2 x 16 Ah batteries 220 €. A grand total of 298 € for a 16 Ah battery pack which requires supervision, I think I can handle that... not trying to be clever, but I don't think 6S at 20.9V will give its full capacity ()i.e. 16Ah), also it may be flirting with damaging low voltage. having lived with hobbyking lipos ive been converted back to eclipse bottle batteries - it's the supervision, it's the risk of waking up to a house on fire (or trekking it around safe places outside)that doesn't feel worth it
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