Thinking about upgrading to a ping 36V batt. My SLA 3 pack are shot after chalking up 900 miles in 6 months of use and abuse. I'm getting about 2-3 miles per charge now.
Questions I have are:
1)Is ~ $600 the going price for the 36V 20 AH batt?
2) What kind of range can a expect on my 24BD with the 10 amp controller? I live in FL, flat terrain, street tires inflated to ~ 50lbs.
3)Any other alternative besides another SLA pack?
Would appreciate any information.
Thanks
Pat
Have you determined a 24v WE motor can be run at 36v? It probably can but I don't know that for sure. It would be a shame to hook up a higher voltage pack thinking you'll get better speed only to see the magic smoke be released.
In any case.. my bicycle has a WE BD36 motor w/ 35A controller and I'm using that battery. The range is over 20 miles, the longest ride I've done was 20 miles and I stopped because my butt was sore not because the battery ran out of juice. The terrain in silicon valley is just as flat as FL but there are mountains nearby and I've determined this motor does not do well with mountains. But you're in FL and don't have to worry about that. Me, if I wanna ride my bicycle to Santa Cruz, that would mean climbing a 1500 ft mountain range.
Anyway.. Extrapolating from my bike, the 10A controller you have (assuming you don't let out the magic smoke) means a lower draw than the 35A controller I have, giving an extrapolated 50 mile range or a very sore butt.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Confused again! He said he had a sealed lead acid 3-pack. Doesn't that make for 36 volts? Isn't he already running his motor at 36 volts?
I don't think I'm ever going to get the hang of this stuff...
The 24BD been running on 36V for 5 months and ~ 600 miles with on problems noted. It motor/controller don't get hot. 20 miles would be nice, 50 would be great.
Thanks for the info
You should get 20 miles minimum out of a Ping 36v 20ah with some peadling, at full throttle. Maybe even more, since that is the range I get with the 36v 35 amp controller. This gives me a top speed of around 25 mph. It could still blow your controller, since it is just slightly higher voltage than the sla battery, and will not sag to a safer voltage as soon as sla. So most of the ride goes at 44 volts. The improvement will be worth having to get a new controller if it happens. Don't try to save by buying a lifepo4 from a cheaper vendor, they aren't the same cells. And don't buy a smaller pack than 20 ah, too much strain on lifepo4 may lead to early death of a few cells.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
how is the Power Batt Lifepo4 a123 battery compare to the ping? I can buy it with a 4 amp charger for ~$350 delivered.
For what it's worth, I just picked up a Ping 36/20 and am very pleased so far. I was in the same boat as you, with worn out SLAs with a 2 mile range. What a difference!
But what is a Power Batt? Sounds like a good price for a123 batteries. I could not find a reference -- can you send a link, or more info?
Stock BL36 on a 10yo Schwinn Searcher
She got wheels in her smiles, she can coast along for miles...
I would speculate that since authentic a123 batteries cost double the price of pings cells, half the money would get you a pack 1/4 the size. Ping is far from the only place to get lifepo4 now, but he is the dealer with the best reputation of all the ebay sellers. I've been pure happy with mine, for 2000 miles now.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
I am guessing he is asking about the eBay seller named power_battery_a123. Anyone have a power_battery_a123 older then a couple of months?
Here's the ebay link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270322622005&_trksid=e11010.m204&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%26...
As the dogman said, it's probably not the A123 technology. I don't know.
I brought it for ~ $375 with 1 week delivery time. I guess time will tell. As usual 'you get what you pay for'. At close to $400 it better be a good one!
PS: Thanks for the caution about over heating the contoller. As per an earlier post I could change the capacitors if they can't handle the extra voltage. Oh well, I'll just run it and see what happens.
Oh I hope it turns out ok for you. No way would I have bought from him. There have been a lot of ebay vendors in the last 9 months selling packs made from round cells. Some have worked fine, and some have been a total disaster. A guy called mr Lau has been the worst, but I don't know if this is one of his many aliases. Calling himself a123 when he sells an ordinary lifepo4 battery that is not a123 is not a good sign in my opinion.
Pingbattery is the man, and you pay more for it, but because he uses a better cell.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
I just got a 36v 10ah battery from "mp3hk" on ebay - his listing looks identical to this one from power_battery_a123" - so they are either the same person or they copy each other's formatting.
Anyway, the battery arrived OK but the charger blew up only the second time I plugged it in.
I bought a SLA charger until I can get a new lithium charger. After charging a half time with the now blown up lithium charger, and a full charge with the SLA, I ran out of power after riding only 6km.
I took the pack apart and found several loose welds, and the cells were very unbalanced. I will probably be able to revive it, but i had to spend another $50 to purchase and ship a replacement charger, and if I had to make the choice again, I probably would have spent the extra money to get a Ping pack (and he sells a 12ah model that's almost the same size as the 10ah pack I got.