Ezip trailz battery dissembly

Has anyone taken apart their ezip battery? I'd like some more range (read NiCad or Li-Ion) from my battery pack, but one of the reasons that I bought the ezip is because of how well the batteries were stored in the rack. I was wondering how hard it would be to take apart the housing and put a different battery in it. Does anyone know? If no one has specific tips, any general ideas?

this link here will give you the exact dimensions for the two batteries in there:

http://cgi.ebay.com/12V-10AH-SCOOTE...itu=US-BWR%2BUCI%2BUCC%2BIT%2BUA&otn=12&ps=33

they are packed in there real tight, and there is NO wiggle room.

as far as replacing them with something other than SLA...sorry cant help you there.

check out http://www.ecoforumz.com/electric-bicycle-scooter/

someone on there may have done it, or knows how to.

good luck!

Cool, thanks. I couldn't find anything on google, this should really help.

We have replaced the SLA with lithium packs for a customer. We got two 24V 10AH LiCo packs into one box, no problem. Mounted an additional connector for the charger. I believe I have some pics if you are interested.

Cool, I'd love some pics. Do you remember how much it weighed after all was said and done?

HTB_Terry said:

We have replaced the SLA with lithium packs for a customer. We got two 24V 10AH LiCo packs into one box, no problem. Mounted an additional connector for the charger. I believe I have some pics if you are interested.

Click to expand...

Yeah, would love to see pics!!!

also what Sid said...weight after conversion?

even what the price was for the conversion would be nice (if you can)

Two 24V 8AH LiCo packs were installed in the case. Each pack has it's own BMS and charger. They were wired in parallel, isolated by schottkey diodes. This one battery case would give a range of about 20 miles. With two of these cases, you could have 32AH and a range of about 40 miles. I believe I charged around $575.

thats pretty slick HTB_Terry!

im not in the market for that sort of battery, but i gotta admit, it sure would be nice

HTB_Terry,

Great conversion! I want to do the same thing, but I'm in Orlando, Florida.

If I can find a way to arrange legal transport (trucking? perhaps someone driving cross-country could carry?) such battery packs for my bicycle, would you do another such conversion?

If not, would you be willing to put together a parts list and schematic, combined with all photos, and sell it to me as a set of instructions? (Naturally, I'd pay for this.)

The pair of 8Ah 24V LiCo would work on my 2008 iZip Urban RMB bike, but I'd really prefer to move up to 36V. I'm thinking that the 450W motor on this bike (same motor as on the Trailz bikes) could handle 36V. I'd like the extra speed without changing gearing.

So, if possible, I'd want to use a two packs, thus filling both vertical "slots" on my rack. Each pack would have in it LiFePO4 36V batteries, and plug right in. Would I even need to make changes to the controller(s)? I'm thinking perhaps not.

Can you do the work for me? I would assume you have access to battery cases with used-up SLA batteries inside, which you could remove. I have two brand-new SLA packs, but I found a cheap, used Trailz model I'm buying, and they'll work on that as an extra bike for a guest.

Let me know what you could do:

1. With 36V LiFePO4 conversion done there, and I arrange pickup...
2. With you doing a schematic, parts list, and instructions of how I could do aLiFePO4 conversion here...
3. With the same kind of 24V Li conversion done there, and I arrange pickup...
4. With you doing a schematic, parts list, and instructions of how I could do that same conversion here...

Those would be my preferences, in order.

I would only need ball-park price guesses. I know options 1/3 won't be "cheap", but, considering the money I waste on stupid things, I can easily justify this expenditure, just on bragging rights alone when I show it off.

Thanks!

Hope you can help me.

Nelson

I've done multiple eZip pack rebuilds.
I started with a disappointing SLA re-pack.
Moved on to a 18650 84 cell 25.9V - 31.2Ah build.

Graduated to a 25.9V - 26Ah Lipo build.

Briefly considered RC Lipo builds.

25.9V

37V


My first Recycled Lipo build, with comparison


Complete article - Homemade Battery Packs!

37V 20.8Ah 18650 build will also fit in eZip pack. Will fit, but never installed.
80 cells


I never built it, but 30 (36V) tabbed D-cell NiMh (10,000mah) will fit nicely, giving 10Ah - usable!
20 quality cells about $135 from All-Battery.com. 24V pack with 100's of deep cycles.
Chargers available, same site.

Ebay has piles of cheaper D-cells, but lower quality and exaggerated mAh are to be expected!
(Get plenty of spares)

DrkAngel,

All very interesting options. I can see there various comparative advantages and disadvantages -- including that the D-Cell options require more soldering and connecting.

1. Can you help me out by verifying that the 450W motor on the eZip Trailz bicycle will handle 36V? I assume you ran those 36V packs on an RMB bike with that same SLA pack, and they all have that same 450W motor. How was the performance increase? Did it seem to overly strain the sprockets and chain connecting the motor to the hub? (I weight a lot... LOL)

2. Given the following factors, what would you recommend for me:

a.) Weight savings is irrelevant to me. Because I already weigh a fair amount, I don't worry too much about weight savings -- even 10 lbs. saved is less than 2 percent of what the motor has to push already, when you consider rider at 280, bike at 80, cargo at up to 30, and a pair of batteries at 20-30. So the weight savings means nothing to me.

b.) Total Distance on a Charge needs to increase from this, but is not terribly relevant to me, since I will be using DUAL-PACKS -- one on each side of the rack. It's fairly flat here in the Orlando area, and I already get 12-15 miles per standard 10A SLA pack. If I had a pair of 20 Ah packs, that seems like plenty to me, especially since I'll have faster re-charge. That will give me as much distance as I would likely ever wish to go.

c.) I want to be able to recharge quickly, say, during a leisurely lunch, which I think means I need LiFePO4 batteries. I also want the longevity (number of useful cycles) that Lithium Iron Phosphate offers.

d.) I want to go to a higher voltage, say 30-36V, to get more speed. I know that this means a faster draw of Amperage, but then, I'll be covering more ground also. Wind resistance increases almost logarithmically with speed (as modified by the drag coefficient, which is admittedly high), so I'll lose a bit there, but then, I don't mind. I want to go faster to cover more ground. Flat terrain is often best covered quickly, with pauses at the scenic spots.

e.) If at all possible, I want to pack my batteries into the existing SLA cases, because:

i.) Those cases slide in securely and plug right in.
ii.) Those cases lock in place with the key (that's enough of a deterrent for me -- my bike is never out of sight, so it stops a grab-and-run thief.
iii.) Those cases are tough plastic and protect their contents well.
iv.) Those cases look nice -- they fit the bike visually.

I don't mind modifying those cases a bit to fit-in what needs to be fit in. For example, they could be cut and "bulged" or "stretched" a bit somehow on the outside. But I'm thinking there's gotta be a way to lay-out some package of LiFePO4 batteries in a way that gives me 30-36 Volts and 18-25 Ampere hours per pack.


I would love to find a solution here, and I think that it might be great to get everyone's input, and post a free plan somewhere. I'll pay for any domain names and hosting, if necessary. There could be several types of plans, but I think that what I'm proposing could be a one-size-fits-most plan for typical commuters and leisure riders. The inexpensive Trailz model is now ubiquitous and thus many could benefit from such a conversion, not to mention the other RMB bikes like my Urban Cruiser.

RC "Lipo" has about 2x the energy density and charges faster than LiFePO4.
I would think that to be the best way to get the capacity-recharge rate, you want.

Another factor to consider is that SLA batteries only output about 60% of their "rated capacity".
Any lipo rating, should give you 150% of the same rated SLA.

The 2008 motor is 36V capable.
Most all of the 2008 controllers are also 36V compatible. (handles 42V - full charge)

Any spoke problems?
See - Broken Spokes - EZip Solutions

$20 Re-gearing for 25% speed increase - EZip - IZip 20mph Upgrade

Thanks DrkAngel!

You really are an Electric Angel to this board. I'm really glad I joined.

Both of those links are relevant to my situation, and both offer options I need to consider.

Thanks for that information on "Lipo". I need to do more homework there, but now that I know it has the energy/size ratio to fit into the SLA cases and still give me the punch I need, I'll chase down that route.

Also good info on what the motor can tolerate without modification to the motor or any controller (I haven't looked closely to see what controls it, other than to assume the throttle is a rheostat and there must be some diode array or something to "chop-up" the power so as not to overload anything on the way to the motor.)

I guess this answers most of my questions. The rest is a matter of figuring battery size to fit in the SLA case, and ordering the batteries. Three 12V (or two 18V) in series would get me to 36V, or a pair of 24V in parallel would do the job.

Any advice for me in how to do the wiring? Obviously, I'll shrink-seal around all my connections. Are shrink-sealed crimps good enough, or am I soldering?

Do I need to put in any diodes or capacitors in between the batteries and the charging ports which I'll be installing?

If, for example, I have two batteries in parallel, such as in HTB_Terry's example above, am I best off to have separate charging ports for each, as he did? With two packs, that means carrying around 4 charger units if I want to re-charge on the road... not terribly practical, even though they're fairly small little rectifiers (laptop sized). Do I re-charge that much faster by doing it that way?

Finally, am I perhaps better off not trying to cram so much battery reserve in those SLA cases, and going a more modest Li route, and then augment with a conversion kit to power the front wheel. I could do that and add a battery inside my frame (lots of space behind my down-tube in this '08 Urban Cruiser), or even put on a front rack with a RTMB Lithium to power the front motor. That brings up separate questions about how/where to put the second throttle, but It won't add terribly much weight, and it does give me a kind of "final" fallback in case I run out.

I took a long ride since my last post, and ran down both of my SLA packs as far as I dared. I had to pedal home a lot of weight. Yeah, I need to get into better shape, but not at risk of a cardiac arrest. Part of the reason for the electric biking is so I can ease into more exercise doing something I enjoy, and increase distances I travel on a given amount of leg-energy.

I'm really starting to like the idea of greater distance too. There may be times when I want to go somewhere and not arrive sweaty, relying 90 percent on electric power.

@DrkAngel

You have this comparison photo:

37V 20.8AhRecycled Lipo vs 24V 10Ah (6Ah usable (1hr discharge rate)) SLA

...and in that photo, it's not clear to me the batteries you used in that pack -- the 37V 20.8Ah Recycled Lipo.

Can you post or PM that information? I just need to know the battery size you used, so I can duplicate that pack. Any battery number info that I can use to find the exact batteries at All-Battery.com would be helpful too.

Also, anything else you did to the wiring (e.g., added diodes to isolate), would be helpful.

Thanks!

hostingdude said:

@DrkAngel
...and in that photo, it's not clear to me the batteries you used in that pack -- the 37V 20.8Ah Recycled Lipo.

Can you post or PM that information? I just need to know the battery size you used, so I can duplicate that pack. Any battery number info that I can use to find the exact batteries at All-Battery.com would be helpful too.

Also, anything else you did to the wiring (e.g., added diodes to isolate), would be helpful.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

The cells I used are 18650 Li-ion cells, recycled from used laptop batteries.
Any purchase of "new" 18650 cells should be the "tab" version, easier to solder and better fit in eZip-iZip packs.
China source cells, (generic - non-brand named), are much cheaper ... but often of questionable quality and exaggerated capacity.

Same pack, as in black lunch bag.

I need to revive this topic for a question: what is the best 10-12AH SLA battery set for the OEM case? I can't build a lithium pack, just want to put new batteries in a case for a bike my sister will be riding. I can make SLA last for 2 years, and that should be enough.

LeftieBiker said:

I need to revive this topic for a question: what is the best 10-12AH SLA battery set for the OEM case? I can't build a lithium pack, just want to put new batteries in a case for a bike my sister will be riding. I can make SLA last for 2 years, and that should be enough.

Click to expand...

You will need the 10Ah model.
Measure and confirm size.
Map wire layout when disassembling battery.
You need to de-solder wires from battery terminals.
Available batts
"UB" - Universal Battery is the only recognized brand name in above choices.
"Gel" lasts better than "AGM" ... but costs more. Probably need to read descriptions to determine.

Thanks. They all seem to be labeled "AGM" though - no gels. I would have thought a *real* AGM battery would last longer, but have less capacity than a gel...

I believe chrome battery has some Gell Batteries avaiable:
https://www.chromebattery.com/chrome-pro-series-batteries/chrome-pro-series-igel-batteries.html

Nice battery, but too big. The display and alarm would also be less helpful when sealed in a battery case.

EDIT: I ended up ordering a pair of "Mighty Max" 12V 10AH "AGM" batteries. I doubt that they are actually AGM.