My wife has a Raleigh Select Six, yes that very first, very heavy but very nicely made original electric assist bike and she likes it. Anyway the battery is dead and having taken the cover off it’s an old Nicad pack. Can I replace this with a new lithium pack that would fit inside the casing and if so should I go with original 24v or go up to 36v and also what Ah should I aim to get? I have found various lithium packs online which will fit the case perfectly with some extra energy absorbing packing. Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers.

One can use 24v lithium, it will be a huge upgrade on Nicad.

Ah any amount one wishes for , Ah is just batteyr capacity so the more Ah the greater the bike range.

The controller will not accept 36v as it is rated for 24v and LVC/HVC will not be recognised by said controller.

I'm not sure, I think it should be OK but more experienced other people will soon comment. (It turns out so soon it crossed in the posting time)

Whatever, if you DO change it you will almost certainly need a different charger.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by sjpt

58 minutes ago, Sicobra said:

My wife has a Raleigh Select Six, yes that very first, very heavy but very nicely made original electric assist bike and she likes it. Anyway the battery is dead and having taken the cover off it’s an old Nicad pack. Can I replace this with a new lithium pack that would fit inside the casing and if so should I go with original 24v or go up to 36v and also what Ah should I aim to get? I have found various lithium packs online which will fit the case perfectly with some extra energy absorbing packing. Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers.

You can replace the battery directly with a lithium one. I don't know enough about the bike to say whether 36v would be better. If it were a more modern one with a normal 3-phase geared hub-motor, I'd recommend 36v, but if your motor is brushed, it might not be able to handle it so well. I'd need to see what's inside the motor, and I'd need to see the controller to advise further.

Being sensible, I think it's time to retire that bike. I know she likes it, but she'd like a new one better. Modern ones, even the cheap £500 ones, are streets ahead of that monstrosity. They're more powerful, have better brakes, lighter and more nimble.

Thanks for the replies and advice. I shall get a 24v lithium replacement battery for it, yes I know the sensible route would be getting rid of the monstrosity but firstly she likes the retro first generation look of it and secondly, well she is a women!!!😂

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/topic/18006-raleigh-select-five-electric-bicycle/

https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/threads/disecting-a-sanyo-rabbit-tool-250w-pas-geared-hub-motor.2744/

https://tinkertalkingb.art.blog/2021/10/21/e-bike-tinkering-sanyo-cmu-overview/

https://tinkertalkingb.art.blog/2020/02/10/e-bike-tinkering-sanyo-cmu-1/