FalconEV 19" triangle bag.

[ohzee]

The bag itself is pretty stiff in the bottom and other then taping my 8 6s 5000mah cells together It's been a non issue for me.

[neptronix]

One thing to know is that most of the battery weight should rest on the bottom, or the top straps end up tearing off.
Holding 10-20lb of battery in a vibration prone environment is tough.

So the LiPo bricks are okay and not banging on the bottom bar?
These look great, I'm really gonna have to get one and give it a try.

Never a problem! That padding on the bottom is very tough stuff.
There's plenty of room in the bag for you to add a lil' extra padding if you feel like it though.

[Sacman]

One thing to know is that most of the battery weight should rest on the bottom, or the top straps end up tearing off.
Holding 10-20lb of battery in a vibration prone environment is tough.

So the LiPo bricks are okay and not banging on the bottom bar?
These look great, I'm really gonna have to get one and give it a try.

Never a problem! That padding on the bottom is very tough stuff.
There's plenty of room in the bag for you to add a lil' extra padding if you feel like it though.

Cool... thanks. So do you have your LiPo bricks just sitting in the bag bare or do you armor them up with anything?
I'm thinking of getting the bag for my off-road ebike so I'm thinking I'd better armor the batts up.

[neptronix]

There are some pics early in this thread..

But initially i had added some extra foam padding, now i just run them bare.
But to be honest, my bike has kind of a tapered flat bottom tube where the batteries sit on. That helps.

[Kinni420]

off-road = beating up a battery that costs 50 bux minimum. throw some padding in there, you don't want them moving much and a big crash could ignite your expensive kit/bike on fire. regardless if it comes with padding or not you should be protecting your investment with a cheap fix.

I used foam, anti-slip futon mattress stuff, duct tape, electrical tape, and hobby cut-board fully wrapped around each battery. Added foam and cut-board to my pack too. About 6 dollars total investment. Now i don't worry about anything but breaking that wire coming out of the rear axle.

[Trackman417]

I personally think that 12 4S hardcases packs in this bag will be absolutely beast! Guys, just get ready for the ultimate solution. Who needs padding with hardcases lip packs? Duct tape and this frame bag is all I need to get my bike up and running. Get ready to be amazed.
Just a quick question on what andy's PayPal address is? Please and thankYou!

[Lemlux]

I took a new Falcon EV bag to a marine upholsterer yesterday to have the edge band that is parallel to the ground expanded to 5 1/4" all around. All of the expansion will be on the left hand side and will not interfere with the zipper, the pouches, or the velcro straps. I'm expanding on the left side only because my 153mm wide bb has 30mm+ of its 40mm extra width on the left side. The combination does not appear to interfere with my pedalling strokes.

I chose the 5 1/4" edge band width because 3-cell wide 40152s 5Ah Headway packs are 5.04" wide. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to fit a 16S grouping inside. If not, I may have to place as many as 4 cells as near the triangle as possible. I plan to reinforce the bag with a 1/8' thick (1/4" overall thickness as extruded) 5" wide aluminum fashioned mainly from 3 sections of this 36" long door threshhold purchased from Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... reId=10051

1 section of the 5" wide aluminum will run most of the 11" length of the seat tube edge and 2 sections will be fitted to both surfaces of the bottom edge (downtube and across to the seat tube). I'll connect these 3 sections with a pair of 4" long door hinges that cost only $1.00 @ at Harbor Freight.

These 3 articulated, hinged aluminum reinforcement sections will be slid into the bag and will be easily removable.

[Lemlux]

Let me add in 1 minor rant. I haven't even used the bag yet and the Falcon EV rubberized logo has already smeared over the surface of the bag where it was folded for shipping/storage.

[Sacman]

Let me add in 1 minor rant. I haven't even used the bag yet and the Falcon EV rubberized logo has already smeared over the surfacde of the bag where it was folded for shipping/storage.

Why advertise the Falcon brand logo anyways?
Rub it all out with some black shoe polish.

[neptronix]

Why advertise the Falcon brand logo anyways?
Rub it all out with some black shoe polish.

bwa ha ha, does that actually work? i don't like having the logo there either.

[Lemlux]

I'd also be happier without the logo. I'm unhappy with rubbery die smeared all around. When I get it back I'll see how easy the mess is to remove.

[Sacman]

Why advertise the Falcon brand logo anyways?
Rub it all out with some black shoe polish.

bwa ha ha, does that actually work? i don't like having the logo there either.

Yup ... works great!
The shoe polish is mostly just black dye, oil, and wax.
and it's the oil and wax that helps separate the painted rubber logo from the canvas.
So with some work with a good stiff brush it comes right off.

If you like the color of the dye and do the whole bag to make the color even.
You can throw the bag in the wash (by itself of course) and wash away all the excess.

[Cold-E-Commuter]

Nice pics and info here on older thread. My Falcon EV bag will be here later this week. I was looking to fab my own but this looks like what I need. Thanks all for the input.

[mr.electric]

I personally think that 12 4S hardcases packs in this bag will be absolutely beast! Guys, just get ready for the ultimate solution. Who needs padding with hardcases lip packs? Duct tape and this frame bag is all I need to get my bike up and running. Get ready to be amazed.
Just a quick question on what andy's PayPal address is? Please and thankYou!

I run 12 4s hardcase packs in my falcon bag and it does work great.
I just colored over the Falcon logo with a sharpie

[upward]

Recieved my FalconEV bag, battery (48v 15a Ping LiFePo) and kit (500w DD from Cellman) yesterday.

Curious whether folks with a LiFePo battery:
1) leave the battery in the FalconEV bag mounted on the bike while charging? or
2) remove the battery out of the bag each time to charge or
3) remove the bag from the bike and leave the battery in the bag while charging with the zippers open for ventilation

[V_Mark]

Curious whether folks with a LiFePo battery:
1) leave the battery in the FalconEV bag mounted on the bike while charging? or
2) remove the battery out of the bag each time to charge or
3) remove the bag from the bike and leave the battery in the bag while charging with the zippers open for ventilation

I can't take my bike into work so I take the bag off to bring it inside to charge, zipper partly open around the BMS. At home, I usually park in my garage and leave the bag on the bike while charging, again with the zipper partly open.

I have the same battery and worry that if I removed it from the bag, I wouldn't be able to get it back in. The bag is already at it's stretching limit.

[k-harvey]

Best bag i've seen as weight for bike is up front (there is even a full manufactured bike with batteries in front hub for this reason but stupid if you dent your rim )-I found battery at rear difficult to have the bike stay upright on a stand & move around --But i'm affraid my packs are the best they are fibreglass elongated tubes down each side of bike frame ( fit any bike) totally sealed with good BMS. We ride along coast with salt spray & all connections soldered no switches just 1 plug. Difficult to make & made 5 so far.A hobby of mine is fibregass.All my bike are cyclone 500 as we got hills & i live on a urban mountain so volts are always going up as the age is.

[Lemlux]

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Here's how my bag looks after coming back from the upholstery shop widening. It was widened to accept a 5.1", 3-wide Headway pack grouping. The stiffened material is about 5" wide at the bottom and about 4 1/4" on top with the zippered fabric completing the needed room. I'm building my battery grouping now which still appears to fit well with my 153 mm wide BB.

The upholstery shop cleaned up the logo smear without being asked to, so I don't yet know if the shoe polish trick works.

Additional photos of how the bag-loading and stablizing is being added to my build thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=42103

[Cold-E-Commuter]

All,

Got my bag last week and spent the weekend converting the bike to use it. Perfect fit in the 19.5" frame. Fit my 16S3P pack nicely with the CA Datalogger, 40A inline fuse and homemade parrallel board.

This thing is a definate thumbs up.

Dan

[dolby]

Is anyone putting their controller as well as their batteries inside their triangle bag? I just received my bag today and it looks great but am concerned that the controller might overheat sitting inside this bag. I could leave the zippers open near the controller to allow the heat to escape but not sure if that would be enough.
Any thoughts?

[cam3087]

I have the bag but just mounted the controller beneath the rear bike rack and rear wheel. The fender keeps grime off and it keeps cool now.

[upward]

After a few months with a ping 48v 15a battery in the bag, took the battery out and found some holes in the bag where the corners of the battery lean against the bag.
Needed to duct tape the inside and outside of the bag to reinforce the bag. Works great but if you haven't taken your battery out of the bag in a while, worth a look.
My bag was not protecting my battery against the elements until I added duct tape.

[neptronix]

Yeah probably from lots of weight chafing on the padding over a long period of time.



That's why i jam my lipos in it like this.

[dolby]

So not a good move to put the controller in the bag? Would look much neater.

[Kinni420]

Its really up to you where to put it. For those of us that ride in wet/cold/snowy conditions, putting the controller in the bag is a good idea. BUT, if you ride in hot conditions i.e. Colorado/SoCal/Arizona summers, mounting the controller on the frame is fairly essential for good cooling/airflow. I'm sure neptronix has to put his outside just cuz it probably wouldn't fit with 24s3p and/or that's a lotta amps running through that controller.

At this time of year, I wouldn't really worry too much about heat on the controller but once the temp hits 75 F plus, I wouldn't risk my $150 controller for the sake of looks. Most of us are pumping 500w steady and 3000+ watts peak through a tiny PCB. Quite a lot of juice. Those fins on the case are there for a reason.

As for protecting the bag, I wrapped my batteries in super thin cardboard and taped them with packing tape. I can remove the batteries from the little case I made easy enough for swell inspection. I lined the bag with a piece of plastic cut-board (available at hobby shops) which is bulletproof (almost) and very difficult to cut without tin shears (I tend to crash occasionally). I then spray glued on some of this stuff I found at work. Its basically what you would throw onto a futon to keep the mattress from slipping off for a little extra shock absorption. A thin piece of foam under that between the frame and cut-board. Harness has color coded Anderson power pole connectors for idiot proofing (Yes, I can be an idiot at 4:30 a.m.)

Not to be a jerk but this bag has issues. Its a little too wide and slightly saggy, the zippers are total crap, I'm sure Ill break one of them off by the end of the summer. They look like they are waterproof when you first get the bag but no. The seals tear quickly. It only comes in a 19" size (fits my 17" but just barely) and whats up with those mesh pockets? I tore through those in three days since the cranks rub against them a little and my jeans catch on the top of them when pedalling. The openings for the wires could be a little more protective of the elements. The decent things about it is the capacity of 12 5000mAh LiPos, the fabric is fairly good and waterproof enough, and it comes with some protection for the bottom of the bag. Some people hate the logo but I dont mind advertising for a company that Im glad is trying to make homemade EV's an option. Another nice addition would be a small set of velcro straps on the inside of the bag along the top tube of the frame for tying up wires running through the bag.

If you do plan on purchasing this bag, its fantastic for the price. Just plan on making those sharp corners on your batteries/controller go away or you'll tear through any fabric.