New batteries

Gendronw's picture

Hi There !

I finally bought my new batteries ! I bought them at my local "batterie Expert" store for 39.99$ each. With the 5% discounts I found in a newspaper, the four batteries cost me 170$ including taxes.

newbatteries.jpg
new 12v/12ah battery !

newbatteriesupview.jpg

I wanted to buy 12v/20ah batteries, but the one they had at the store were too big to fit in my battery case. The guy there told me it was not possible to put something else than 12v/12ah in there....so I'm stuck with small batteries for now.

I put the batteries in the case very rapidly, using the small wires that were already in there(which was something like 18awg)
batterie case.jpg

It worked ! but not so well. At first I thought everything was ok, but the power was very limited, and the range of the bike was catastrophic ! I did a ride to my future school(which is something like 6 or 7 km) and when I came back, I was having controller cutoff on every acceleration. The voltage drop when the motor asked for a lots of amps was too high and was causing the controller to cutoff the motor. I was still using all the old wiring I had put in there to use the two 48v pack in parallel. The wire gauge I used for my "parallel mod" was not appropriate(I used computer extension cords with 18awg lol).

After considering a few options (like try to put a capacitor between the batteries and the controller!) I opted for an increase in wire gauge. So I bought 25foots of 12AWG wire, which in theory could handle 20amps ! Putting in some 18awg was not very intelligent considering it can only handle about 5amp. My 12ah batteries are suppose to be able to deliver 10amp, and the motor can eat up to 16amps(numbers taken from people who had installed an amp meter like). I hope I don't fry my batteries too fast considering the motor is a bit too big for them, but if this problem happen, it will probably only happen at the end of the summer. Here is my colleague James showing the new 12AWG wires
12awgwiresjpg.jpg

After replacing the wires in the battery case only, I did a test run and the performance was amazing ! The voltage drop was not as big as before (I was able to monitor the voltage drop with the battery meter in the dashboard). So I continued my 12AWG mod from the battery to the controller

picture with the old wirings
openframebikerearview.jpg

with the old wirings removed
openframebikerearviewwithnewwires.jpg

Here is all the 18awg wires I was able to removed. I was able to remove about 6 foots of wires. I replaced those 6 foots with about 3 foots of 12AWG. The 6 foots were used to get to the second battery pack under the seat. Now that I use only 1 battery, I can get rid of the extra wires.
removedwires12awgmod.jpg

It was a bit hard to put the 12AWG in the power plug, but my colleague James did a pretty good job using only the cheap screw provided with the plug
newconnector12awgwires.jpg

After all the wiring was done, I bought some door sealant to try to seal the storage box at the back. Each time I got a bump I could hear some "Ka-Kling" coming out of that box. After putting the sealant all across the sides, the storage box was a bit quieter.

storageboxmodification.jpg

So this is it ! Now the performance is Amazing ! I have good acceleration, practically without any voltage drop. And the range is now what it should be, around 20km which is enough for my use. For my next modification, I will try to install some pegs to be able to bring somebody with me on a zero emission ride :) I was arrested by a cops the other day and she said I needed pegs to bring somebody with me. Other than that, the bike will probably stay as it is, and I will try to use it as much as I can.

Thanks for reading !
Visforvoltage is Amazing :)

before comments

Comments

Hi Gendronw

Be carefull with those enerwatt sla.
They are rated for alarm and ups
I bought 3 sets of them at Battery Expert and they dont last a season
I used them on a 24 volt currie.
Now i use some HP-HR batteries and the amps rating are for 2 hours
instead of 20, big difference,ex: 18 KM VS 30 KM
I bought them a Daniel Bicycle in Montreal QC Canada

Gendronw's picture

thank you for reading my blog !

The warranty on the batteries last a year. If they don't last a year, maybe I will be able to have some new ones.

It's the first time I ear about Hp-Hr batteries. Is the buying cost a lot higher than the one I bought (39.99$ / battery)?

I know there is a 1 year warranty but
when they check the batteries they make a load test
and they will pass the test but you will have only
the juce for few km
There is the link for the hp-hr batteries
http://danielbicycle.ca/accessoires.htm

trust me i have e-bikes since 7 years
and the worst batteries i got was enerwatt and power batteries

I have a rent e-bike stand and have 10 e-bikes
i used a lot of batteries before finding good ones

If you check the spec at batteries expert for the wp-1212
you will find that the batteries give the 12 amps when it is use
in 20 hrs ex:0.60ah x 20 hrs = 12 amps
1.1 ah x 10 hrs = 11 amps
2.04 ah x 5 hrs = 10.2 amps
7.2 ah x 1 hr = 7.2 amps
12 ah x 30 min = 6 amps
The difference is called Peurkert effect

With the hp-hr batteries
The rating is 14 amps in 2 hrs
7.0 ah x 2hrs = 14 amps
You will have twice the power ( more KM )

Gendronw's picture

Wow thanks a lot for the info !

When my batteries dies, I will look for those hp-hr batteries since they don't cost too much. I will have to find a dealer here in Quebec.

I still hope to be able to ride all summer with my 20km range !

Yes, I wonder about how these bikes can be wired with such angel hair. As I pointed out, my XB-600 used 14GA to bring all power from the pack to the controller, and then used light bullet plugs as connectors.
//i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/mf70/XB-600/P6210111.jpg)
My next mod will be to put in 10GA wire from the pack to the controller, and replace the bullet plugs with either the RadioShack grub-screw terminals or Anderson PowerPole 30A plugs.
The power wiring to the hubmotor is even finer, but it only needs to conduct pulses.


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