The NiMH battery on my WE kit is getting a bit old and I am thinking of replacing it. At the same time I thought I would reconsider the battery bag it is sitting in. I have never been a fan of bags. I'm certain the battery would fry should I ever get caught in a down poor. Plus bags tend to work themselves loose over time especially on the bumpy, ice-rutted roads I've been riding on recently. (You know it's been a brutal winter when you see the thermometer reading 16F in the morning and you think, "Goody! I can leave my warm clothes at home today!)
I've tried Bionx with the plastic enclosure and I love it (although as anyone ever proved it's water tolerance?) I don't want to go that route on this bike mostly because I'd like to keep this bike with a front-hub motor. Plus I already own a perfectly good motor.
I tried building a wood enclosure. It was cool, but heavy.
Can anyone recommend some over-the-counter alternatives? Hopefully one that is either integral with a battery pack or easily adaptable to a standard brick-o-cells. I'm looking mostly for water resistance and a solid attachment to the bike.
the bag that came with my ZAP DX kit I bought ages and ages ago (last century). It sat in this tray that attached in the central triangle using hose clamps. The bag was nylon and zippered up and had a couple flaps that velcro'd to the tray, and then a strap that went below/around the bottom of the tray and the strap was held in place with more velcro. The bag was sized to hold a 12v 18ah battery.
I still have one of those bags and today use it to hold a pair of DeWalt packs and is being used to power my wilderness energy hub motor. (WE 36 brushed w/ 35amp controller) Between these two DeWalt packs I have a 33 volt (nominal) 5 ah battery pack. It's amazingly light.
I like that central triangle to hold the batteries because it's low and centered, but the battery has to be skinny enough so your legs comfortably go around the battery. With this bag from ZAP it fits perfectly between the legs and there's no feeling of the possibility of bumping the batteries or anything of that nature. You don't even notice it ...
I have been thinking about a metal enclosure that's about the same size but haven't gone beyond rumblings in my head. e.g. stainless steel angle pieces to build a frame and aluminium sheeting for the sides. Or maybe just go straight steel so I can weld it directly to the frame (I only have a MIG welder).
Another alternative I have on tap is that the bicycle in question has an Xtracycle rear end (this bike is meant to be my grocery-getter vehicle). The Xtracycle frees up all sorts of room to install a battery container of some kind. The rear triangle where the wheel used to be is almost entirely free.
Of course all this depends on the bike being old-school design with two triangles. The newer bikes tend to have suspension interfering with those two triangles.
- David Herron, http://www.7gen.com
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Here's the link to the bag I meant: Zapworld.com
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
I copied Todd Fahners, sewer pipe idea. see here http://todd.cleverchimp.com/battpacks/battpacks.html. Except I didn't add the ventilation holes and instead added 2 extra screw end caps which I can remove to allow greater air to flow through the packs. with the caps on the battery pack is waterproof. In the pic the sewer pipe is fastened on with ducktape but I've since hard fixed it to the bike with big jubilee clips. for pic see here http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m250/NickF23/battery.jpg
I have used Dual Lock. this is a kind of super velcro, £7 a metre, but will support heavy ,variable loads