I upgraded my in the floor battery to the ping 60v 20ah battery, it worked great for a week, and my bike was noticeably faster and better uphills.. till it almost killed me.
As I was riding along I heard a loud pop and my my battery box caught fire, pretty large stinky blue/purple flames. could have taken the whole bike down, I called 911 on my cellphone just as it was running out of battery power and the fire department came and put out the fire and took the battery away...
$1000 wasted on my ping battery. I was so scared at the time i did not think to try and get a photo before the fire department took the battery away so I'm pretty sure ping wont be able to help me / give me warrantee.
Everything was connected via big anderson powerpoles, my controller is fine, and i was able to pop my lead acid battery back in the bike and reset the breaker and replace a fise and it works fine... weird
just wanted to let everyone know before buying the ping 60v batteries,
Wow! A lot of money to lose in one sitting. Can I ask what size controller used and size of Fuse between battery and controller? I thought fires were a thing of the past on Lithium cells now? Is there a way for others to get some sort of insurance on scooters, controllers and batteries. Sorry for your loss but it is great you posted so others can be aware of the possibility of dangers lurking.
I am sorry for you loss but it is great for us to learn from others. I am waiting for cells / batteries prices to come down and get them in a 12.8 volt package times as many as needed in NPX-80 format of the Pb acid battery of 20 AH. Was your battery taped up like mine I got on eBay? I thought it was rather tacky when I got it~using duct taped and a sticker V Power. How many Amperes or "C" can one safely pull on LiFePO4 packs? I think my V power is 20 AH also and manual says I can pull 3 C = 60 amperes? Mine is 1000 watt rear wheel hub motor.
Being you you popped back your Pb battery pack can you measure current up your hills.for us to get an idea of power of controller? And current needed for peak draw. My XM-3000 is the only bike I have an ammeter in it and it does 20 to 60 amps on low speed average and 30 to 80 amps on high speed, 3000 watt controller. My Mongoose Pro is 1000 watt rear wheel drive and never measured current yet.
KB1UKU
You are VERY lucky to still have a scooter. That's the first fire I've heqard of that happened on discharge. The others were all while being charged (and unattended). The typical result is a large scorched spot in the asphalt.
I too would like to get amp draw data from your scoot. I'm looking at lithium alternatives to the stock SLA's, and this is a sobering data point...
Also let us know what the manufacturer's response is. The fire department should be able to certify their actions.
Mark
Did you have a "Battery Management" system installed that would stop discharge if any cell died? If not, and especially if the pack had been operating vfor long enough to be near dead, you could have "reverse-charged" a cell, causing its destruction. Was there any battery TEMPERATURE monitoring, to shut it down if too warm? This is also needed, to protect against excess heat on discharge. If these items were missing, adding them could help with SAFE enjoyment of a lithium battery.--Bob
Robert M. Curry
.
I sent my pictures off to ping, and it looks like they are going to replace my battery under warrantee, no charge... this is awesome!
Can you tell us if You think the fire was caused by BMS getting hot and catching fiberglass on fire? On my V Power I felt the BMS board after riding is was hot and while charging it was usually warm but the battery pack was tepid. I am in the USAF and every thing I was taught was to find cause and effect. So not to have situations like you have had happen. I know I will be burning out my 48 volt scooter which had a 1000 watt motor because I increased controller to 2000 watt because it now gets hotter faster, so I would like to know failure mode on Lithium packs even though I have three packs of Lithium 48 - 48 - 15 volts.
KB1UKU
IM certainly not going to speculate what happened to your battery since fire distroyed all the evidence but I have accidently touched my volt meter leads together when checking the voltage at the plug and it made a loud pop like a fire cracker, no an M80 going off! It was very loud and in my face. No harm came to my battery thank goodness. But I'll bet you had your wires lose they're insulation ( maybe from vibration friction) and touch eachother on the battery side of the fuse. When I took the extreme battery apart to my surprise there was tape wrapped around the wires inside the battery pack. UNBELIEVEABLE!! Maybe they did the same.
If you had a BMS on the battery it would protect against ' battery reversal'
any way glad to here that ping is standing by they're products.
Dave C. Stout
Dave C. Stout
STOUT PRODUCTIONS
Low Carbon Products
Good to hear that Ping will replace the batteries, and consistent with everything I've heard about the guy. And... I just ordered a 48v, 20ah battery pack from the company- I'll be consulting with the shop to make sure I have proper ventilation, secure mounting, etc. But good to know that Ping stands behind his product.
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