Ping Battery Storage

[anders8899]

Hello!

I have a 36V 15Ah V5 LiFePO4 Battery Pack with an Upgrade to 36V High Rate BMS.

It's time for me to put the bike into storage for a few months and I read that I need to disconnect the BMS and the Sense wire. The problem is that I cant find the sense wire, or am not sure which wires to disconnect for storage.

Im planning to store the battery for ~3 months, and possibly with some charging sessions in between if needed.
images:
http://imgur.com/fziNbfa
http://imgur.com/wNsrBvE

 

[amberwolf]

There will be a bundle of thin wires going from battery to BMS. You'd need to unplug that from the BMS. Don't unplug it by pulling the wires, but rather by carefully pulling the connector itself (usually with a hooked tool, flatblade screwdriver, etc), being very careful not to touch any electrical connections on the BMS with any tools.

If they are soldered to the BMS rather than being plugged in, then you can't disconnect it without adding a connector (which is a fair bit of careful work).

Sometimes the BMS and connector are under shrinkwrap or duct tape; if so then you'd have to carefully cut that to get to it.


Alternately you can simply put the battery on it's charger for a day every couple of weeks or so to balance it, rather than opening it up/etc.

 

[jimw1960]

I have a Ping battery that I have stored for over a year without charging or disconnecting the BMS. It held its charge just fine. I wouldn't worry about it if it's just three months.

 

[leew]

I have a Ping battery that I have stored for over a year without charging or disconnecting the BMS. It held its charge just fine. I wouldn't worry about it if it's just three months.

That is nice to hear, I left my PING battery on a shelf for 6 months and forgot to charge it or disconnect the BMS, I tried plugging it into the bike and got nothing, and measuring the voltage at the output showed 6 volts. Thought it was FUBARed and a very expensive mistake. I tried charging it and the cycle satiatior failed to "see" it and just said "connect battery" however I found out how to "force" charge it which I have done and so far battery seems fine .
I think the low voltage at the output and refusal to charge was because the BMS had "clicked off" and as soon as I force charged it the charger showed 40v at the beginning and went up fairly quickly so I really hope I have not hurt it too much.

 

[fechter]

If you charge the pack to about 80% it should be fine for 3 months with the BMS connected.

 

[dogman dan]

It will be fine, if the bms is perfect. and you can be almost sure it is fine. Just in case though, I'd disconnect it.

Sometimes a nearly undetectable trickle short will still discharge a cell if left long enough, like 6 months. Fortunately, the blinky lights out on the ping bms will tell you if a discharger in the BMS is actually stuck discharging.

This is not a thing that happens a lot, but you could be the lucky one. Charge it, ride a mile to slightly discharge it again, then store it. Ideally, somebody would do this for you while you are gone, monthly.

The other possibility is that you already have a poor cell in there, and it will trickle away while you are gone. Not much you can do if that is the case, the battery is on the way out anyway. But the monthly charging would help it last a bit longer if that is the case.

Bottom line here, if it can't stand storage three months charged and left as is, you were about to need a new one anyway.

 

[jimw1960]

I'm reviving this old thread with a good story about Ping battery storage. I hadn't rode my e-bikes for about three years since I moved closer to work. The bikes have been sitting in a shed in the hot Texas sun without ever being charged. Well now I'm selling my house, so had to get the bikes out of the shed. The one with a 10-year old Ping v2.5 battery was discharged below LVC, but I put it on the charger for a few hours and it took a full charge. I've ridden it 12 miles so far and it runs good as new. An old Jimmy Wu Ebay battery (remember that guy?) was dead as a brick. Another battery that I built myself had three banks of cells at zero volts, so is probably toast. If anyone in the San Antonio, Texas area wants it to play with, you are welcome to it. It could probably be converted to a decent 36 volt battery, but I've no time to mess with it.

Anyways, hooray for Ping.