itselectric
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We at Power In Motion / Its Electric are pleased to present an interesting technical project, the removal of the proprietary battery restriction from the BionX systems! This project was initially proposed to us by an electric bicycle enthusiast that wanted to use his BionX bike to travel long distances, but was kept from that ability due to the proprietary design of this system not allowing the use of other batteries.
This is something which we have received feedback about often, ranging from customers desiring to do more long distance riding with their BionX, to those wanting to have freedom in battery chemistry and the ability to purchase 3rd party replacement packs.
A standard BionX pack is very expensive compared to other 3rd party options – the cells of the battery are manufactured in Japan by Sony, sent to Germany and packaged by BMZ, and then sent back to BionX in Canada, each one including a new circuit board! As a result, buying a new battery for your system can cost upwards of double what a 3rd party package can. We understand that they have recently changed their infrastructure in this regard, but it will remain to be seen how this affects prices and options.
View attachment 4
We were excited to work on this project, and are pleased to present the results of our efforts, the ability to unlock BionX for use with other battery choices!
The first thing is to remove the old battery and extracted the circuit board. The circuit board had very basic function of BMS. We discovered that it has a low cut-off voltage of 31 volt. Here is the picture of it.
View attachment 5
![Bionx-CircuitBoard [640x480].JPG](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/9/9105-f4ee04d949ada050c4ee1fc7d5f6eb11.jpg "Bionx-CircuitBoard [640x480].JPG")
With the circuit board, we looked into the possibility of creating a small made-to-fit case to store it, but at the request of the customer, we have simply re-used the original battery case as a housing.
The re wired and now open circuit board is then mounted to a Lexan plate cut to fit, raised up away from the face of the case and grounded through the use of some fiber washers. This allows the circuit board to lay protected within the original BionX case. Due to battery size concerns, the battery will not stay in the case this time around, but the case could be re-used in some cases, with batteries around the size of the original.
The original connection ports on the outside of the case will be sealed, and we are using a liquid tight connector in order to keep the whole case very nicely sealed and allow the new wiring to pass through without exposing components.
The customer who asked us to do this mod for him wanted to ride very long distances. As well as having the ability to use larger capacity batteries of his choosing, we have also obtained a custom battery wire which will allow him to run up to 4 packs in a parallel configuration, giving him extreme range capabilities!
The customer wants to carry the batteries in a back pack, connected to the bike through a coiled power cable. It will allow the flexibility to stretch, then inside the back pack a custom quad wire will be use to connect four lithium phosphate. In Initially, Delphi connectors were planned for use. This was the original propose design.
![coiled-cable [640x480].jpg](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/9/9109-10ef91a56578626fa7bfd6d14affbf89.jpg "coiled-cable [640x480].jpg")
But after careful review the Delphi connectors, it is lock and tie connector. If the rider were fall from the bike or have some sort of mishap, he would literally be leashed to the bike with the Delphi. Anderson connectors will safely disconnect in case of an accident.
We were very luck to find a local cable manufacturer that make cable for military and oil and gas companies
, they can make custom cable from scratch, completely water sealed. Here are CAD draw then they sent back to us. We will show the actual cable in a week.
![custom-quad-wire [640x480].jpg](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/9/9112-23c1c037100bf1860f0a80a73c023679.jpg "custom-quad-wire [640x480].jpg")
The cord which allows this is constructed using a high grade 14g design. Large enough to handle the current, but they are not bulky or stiff. Adding 4 wires together in such a manner is technically demanding.
This all comes together to allow our customer to ride his Bionx bike with a whole new level of potential! He will really be able to handle some long distance with his own customized design, while still retaining the great BionX system.
In the end, we are quite pleased with the results, and the ability to take the closed system design of the BionX and unlock options for further possibility!
- Ken,
Power In Motion / Its Electric
http://us.itselectric.ca
This is something which we have received feedback about often, ranging from customers desiring to do more long distance riding with their BionX, to those wanting to have freedom in battery chemistry and the ability to purchase 3rd party replacement packs.
A standard BionX pack is very expensive compared to other 3rd party options – the cells of the battery are manufactured in Japan by Sony, sent to Germany and packaged by BMZ, and then sent back to BionX in Canada, each one including a new circuit board! As a result, buying a new battery for your system can cost upwards of double what a 3rd party package can. We understand that they have recently changed their infrastructure in this regard, but it will remain to be seen how this affects prices and options.
View attachment 4
We were excited to work on this project, and are pleased to present the results of our efforts, the ability to unlock BionX for use with other battery choices!
The first thing is to remove the old battery and extracted the circuit board. The circuit board had very basic function of BMS. We discovered that it has a low cut-off voltage of 31 volt. Here is the picture of it.
View attachment 5
With the circuit board, we looked into the possibility of creating a small made-to-fit case to store it, but at the request of the customer, we have simply re-used the original battery case as a housing.
The re wired and now open circuit board is then mounted to a Lexan plate cut to fit, raised up away from the face of the case and grounded through the use of some fiber washers. This allows the circuit board to lay protected within the original BionX case. Due to battery size concerns, the battery will not stay in the case this time around, but the case could be re-used in some cases, with batteries around the size of the original.
The original connection ports on the outside of the case will be sealed, and we are using a liquid tight connector in order to keep the whole case very nicely sealed and allow the new wiring to pass through without exposing components.
The customer who asked us to do this mod for him wanted to ride very long distances. As well as having the ability to use larger capacity batteries of his choosing, we have also obtained a custom battery wire which will allow him to run up to 4 packs in a parallel configuration, giving him extreme range capabilities!
The customer wants to carry the batteries in a back pack, connected to the bike through a coiled power cable. It will allow the flexibility to stretch, then inside the back pack a custom quad wire will be use to connect four lithium phosphate. In Initially, Delphi connectors were planned for use. This was the original propose design.
But after careful review the Delphi connectors, it is lock and tie connector. If the rider were fall from the bike or have some sort of mishap, he would literally be leashed to the bike with the Delphi. Anderson connectors will safely disconnect in case of an accident.
We were very luck to find a local cable manufacturer that make cable for military and oil and gas companies
, they can make custom cable from scratch, completely water sealed. Here are CAD draw then they sent back to us. We will show the actual cable in a week.The cord which allows this is constructed using a high grade 14g design. Large enough to handle the current, but they are not bulky or stiff. Adding 4 wires together in such a manner is technically demanding.
This all comes together to allow our customer to ride his Bionx bike with a whole new level of potential! He will really be able to handle some long distance with his own customized design, while still retaining the great BionX system.
In the end, we are quite pleased with the results, and the ability to take the closed system design of the BionX and unlock options for further possibility!
- Ken,
Power In Motion / Its Electric
http://us.itselectric.ca
![coiled-wire [640x480].JPG](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/9/9870-682c20cb1b9c792c3d6261351b6b15e2.jpg "coiled-wire [640x480].JPG")
![Quad-parallel-wire [640x480].JPG](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/9/9871-758ad3282c7dfc05be54acf1d184b101.jpg "Quad-parallel-wire [640x480].JPG")
![Quad-battery [640x480].JPG](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/9/9872-8e3a690dc6cce4aea7b84b5ffe2b781c.jpg "Quad-battery [640x480].JPG")
