Water Bottle Battery .. bmsbattery.com

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

Going back many years now, the first time i saw one of these was from Amped.. since then.. many variations of this Water Bottle Battery have shown up online, containing various cells, BMS and chargers, with all sorts of options.....

So, on September 8, 2013 i ordered one from bmsbattery.com ... against my better judgment.. given the feedback form many ES members... but the price was low enough at 180$ including charger, that i was willing to give it a shot.

After a few weeks of waiting, i got on their site and tracked the Fedex number, says it was picked up, then cancelled.... so i inquired via their online store, was given another tracking number.. this one showed " picked up " .. on September 27 ! .. daym....

Finally arrived on October 15

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

I love getting new stuff, it's like Christmas, you know what's inside but want to play with it real bad...

Box is in ok shape, i've gotten much worse before, open it up.. :

Could have been filled a bit more, the extra parts i ordered were bouncing around in there.. a headlight and some torque arms.. but all things considered, all look fairly good.

the battery was wrapped in many layers of foam padding .

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

Pack itself has sticky transparent film covering it, ..

Back of the battery has a spot where a label would / should be...

Great, let's just jam some plastic wrapping into the connectors why won't we... :|

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

Unwrapped, looks good, no cracks, charger is typical common unit, same used on Ping packs..

Battery voltage push button LED status thing...

This has a slight rattle to it, and an obvious spot for water to get into, clearly not sealed at all.. but it works.

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

On/off switch..
View attachment 4

Charge port, nice rubber boot to keep water out, not a big fan of flimsy DC plug but at 2 amps, it's .. ok... too bad water will pour in from the voltage indicator thing at the top of the pack...

And the key lock..:

Let's you lock and unlock the pack, and you can remove the key when locked, this i like, some packs require the key to remain in the lock to turn the pack " on " making it vulnerable to being hit/kicked or knocked if the bike tips over.

This pack slides on/off the mounting plate from the side, not the top, a good thing if the pack is a tight fit in your frame's triangle... this is the one thing that made me buy it..

Neat feature, this pack has a USB plug, if it works, certainly cool to top off a cell phone or GPS battery etc.. unfortunately, it's hidden away when the pack is mounted to the rack.. so only usable while off the bike.

wineboyrider · Oct 15, 2013

$180 with shipping?

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

i wish....

shipping was 97$ .. and i got dinged another 60 $ in duties and brokerage... :evil:

RoadWrinkle · Oct 15, 2013

So this Batt is like 36v 8Ah? Some clear 100% silicon applied over the entire indicator with a small craft brush using a circular brush stroke should prevent water entering at the LED indicator while still allowing you to see the LED color.

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

I was thinking something similar but doing it from the back side, silicone seal the unit from under the cap.... more on that later.

The batter ships without Discharge wires, not sure of the logic behind that one, maybe a way to blame the user if the pack don't work.. .. hmm..

Easy task, i soldered and shrink wrapped some silicone with and andersons on there... presto.

Ypedal · Oct 15, 2013

Charged it up, then ran a discharge test at 3 amps using my LBD..

I stopped the test at 7ah....

spec says 10.4ah ..

I did not want to take this thing to LVC until i open it up and probe cell voltages to see where the BMS kicks in....that.. is a tomorrow thing ! 8)

kVAR · Oct 19, 2013

Update?

Ypedal · Oct 19, 2013

small update, i bolted the rack to one of my bikes, 15 amp controller, works well, at 15 amps the voltage drop is not terrible but this is about the max, going to test it on a 20 amp controller today..

then i take it apart .

Melbourne · Oct 19, 2013

Ypedal said:
Charged it up, then ran a discharge test at 3 amps using my LBD..

I stopped the test at 7ah....

spec says 10.4ah ..

I did not want to take this thing to LVC until i open it up and probe cell voltages to see where the BMS kicks in....that.. is a tomorrow thing ! 8)

Thanks for the review/pictures...

I ordered one from alibaba....Hope it turn up soon... 3 weeks and still have not shipped the battery.

nukezero · Oct 19, 2013

Is this a polymer based battery or cylindricals?

Ypedal · Oct 19, 2013

18650 cells.

Gregor · Oct 19, 2013

What was the resting voltage after the 7 ahr test? If it was 37v or more you would have to think this should have a 10 ahr capacity.

TheBeastie · Oct 20, 2013

I am in bed reading your review thread via my ipad and quite enjoying it.
I too am interested in the internal construction and total Ah etc, but I guess you will get to that soon.
I now demand you post an update immediately for my own personal entertainment. (With pics)

dogman dan · Oct 20, 2013

Any idea what the other terminals are for? Current only on those two?

Ypedal · Oct 20, 2013

Alright, sorry for the delay, had to go buy a new camera... got one.

Top side of the BMS, tape and red marker says it's " ok " .. great !.

Ypedal · Oct 20, 2013

testing image size 15%

Overall , looks good, but i don't like the battery - to be routed near the case screw, lots of sharp edges there..

Ypedal · Oct 20, 2013

Bottom end....

Looking closely...

The 4 screws used to hold the female end of the connector block in GREEN, notice the bottom right, that sucker is touching the Batt + ... not cool Mr. QC guy whoever you are.

Ypedal · Oct 20, 2013

Pack is made of 3 cells long, the black cups have channels for the wires to be routed, nice...

total of 40 cells... 14 per layer , minus 2 on the bottom chunk..

Cells marked 18650 s17m m13r1

Ypedal · Oct 20, 2013

Spot welds look fair, no burn-thru's that i can see, some packs i've worked on had strips partially blown out from bad welds.... looks like the plates are pressed and made for the bottle cups.. i like the concept..

Pack is being charged now for a full discharge test tomorrow !.

Gregor · Oct 20, 2013

4P10S of lithium...3.6v? 3.7v? is there any markings that you can make out on the individual cells? Thanks for the great pictures!

Ypedal · Oct 20, 2013

Cells marked 18650 s17m m13r1

:wink:

Charged to 4.19v per cell average, none above 4.20 v , so far, good.

Water Bottle Battery .. bmsbattery.com

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Moderator

1 MW

Moderator

100 W

Moderator

Moderator

10 mW

Moderator

100 W

10 kW

Moderator

10 W

1 MW

1 PW

Moderator

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

Attachments

Moderator

10 W

Moderator

Similar threads