Are there adaptors for charger leads?

Hey EPFMs,

I just bought yet another battery for my ebike. Its a 30AH battery. I really need the extra mileage for a new job I've started. I'm a bike courier now and while I'm able to charge throughout my day, its not always practical and aometimes the demand is more than my previous battery can cover in a day.

So I've received my 30ah battery which is awesome. But the catch is that it comes with a slow as f##k 2A charger.

It takes 15 hours to charge from empty and I'm seldom home for more than 10 hours at a time.

I have a 3A charger for my previous battery which would reduce my charge time to 10 hours. That would work except for one snag. The connector is totally different.

I was thinking, instead of buying yet another charger (I have 3 or 4 already), is there any kind of adaptor for these kind of leads so I don't have to pay another $50 on a charger or try to change connector leads myself? (I dont trust my skills)

Thanks

Clinton

would be helpful if you can show photos of the connectors

My phone is being stubborn. It wont let me upload photos from my gallery and the photos I take to attach directly is too large.

I'll attach them when iget to my laptop.

The connector of my 3A charger is an XLR I think. (It has 3 pins inside and a click latch)
The new charger connector is a 5.5mm.

you can get adapters at ebikes.ca

They have adapters for their Cycle Satiator charger, not sure if available separately.

Or you can get the necessary matching connectors and a short piece of suitable wire and build your own adapter. I have done this a few times so all my chargers will work with all my batteries.

build your own is probably the best.

Keep in mind, that your new battery may be only rated for a 2 amp charge. And, it will typically last longer if you charge it slowly...

3A should be fine for any 30Ah pack that I've ever seen, that's 0.1C. Would be a pretty sad cell that couldn't take that.

Just make sure the voltages are right.

On another note, I hear and read that faster chargers shorten the lifespan of a battery. To what degree is that true? Would the 3A charger shorten the life cycle or is that only the case with the 4A and 5A chargers?

ClintBX said:

On another note, I hear and read that faster chargers shorten the lifespan of a battery. To what degree is that true? Would the 3A charger shorten the life cycle or is that only the case with the 4A and 5A chargers?

Click to expand...

For a 30ah battery it'd be very difficult to charge at a high enough current to do any damage long term or short. Barring the fact the you need to occasionally let the BMS go to work which will typically only happen at a full charge, for a 10p "cell" to get balanced would take a very long time. I'm not partial to large batteries with BMS's; if it was bought cheaply it's likely that one of the 130+ cells will go bad and affect performance. Where did you get the battery? If you've investing in such a large battery I'm sure you have a Cycle analyst or RC amp meter?

t_tberg said:

For a 30ah battery it'd be very difficult to charge at a high enough current to do any damage long term or short. Barring the fact the you need to occasionally let the BMS go to work which will typically only happen at a full charge, for a 10p "cell" to get balanced would take a very long time. I'm not partial to large batteries with BMS's; if it was bought cheaply it's likely that one of the 130+ cells will go bad and affect performance. Where did you get the battery? If you've investing in such a large battery I'm sure you have a Cycle analyst or RC amp meter?

Click to expand...

I got the battery from ailexpress. In fact, I've had to return it due false capacity. It was giving me less mileage than my 20ah. I don't really know if it was "cheap" as I paid nearly US$600. (I only know to shop for batteries from ebay or ali)

About fast charging, are you saying that bigger batteries are not effected by fast chargers? That they can somehow handle the current better, so to have no impact on the lifespan of the battery?

ClintBX said:

t_tberg said:

For a 30ah battery it'd be very difficult to charge at a high enough current to do any damage long term or short. Barring the fact the you need to occasionally let the BMS go to work which will typically only happen at a full charge, for a 10p "cell" to get balanced would take a very long time. I'm not partial to large batteries with BMS's; if it was bought cheaply it's likely that one of the 130+ cells will go bad and affect performance. Where did you get the battery? If you've investing in such a large battery I'm sure you have a Cycle analyst or RC amp meter?

Click to expand...

I got the battery from ailexpress. In fact, I've had to return it due false capacity. It was giving me less mileage than my 20ah. I don't really know if it was "cheap" as I paid nearly US$600. (I only know to shop for batteries from ebay or ali)

About fast charging, are you saying that bigger batteries are not effected by fast chargers? That they can somehow handle the current better, so to have no impact on the lifespan of the battery?

Click to expand...

What is most detrimental to the longevity of a lithium battery in general is consistently charging to 4.2v per cell. Charge to about 80% capacity (4.1v) and you will see nearly twice as many charge cycles, possibly even more before the battery starts to lose significant capacity. Batteries have a c-rating, this a a function of amperage. A battery with a 10C rate will be able to discharge 10x its capacity. There is usually also a charge c-rating for the specific cells used. Basically, bigger batteries take a very very powerful charger to get close to the point where you'd be damaging the battery from providing too much current. If you had 1500 watt charger you'd be charging around 1C; these batteries can probably handle that with no problem, the BMS probably wouldn't allow it.

I often need to mix and match connectors with chargers, battery's controllers, etc. In light of this, I moved to using Anderson PP30/PP45 connectors as a universal interconnect, and made a variety of "pigtails" where one end is a set of Andersons and the other is my connector of choice (XT90, XT60, XT150, 4mm HXT, EC3, XLR, etc.) So now, all my charging set-ups, and my test bench power supply all have Anderson PP30 connectors as outputs, and I grab the appropriate "Pigtail" for whatever I need to connect it to.

Works AWESOME, and I never need to worry about >30A power typically, since I only go above that on the bike itself, where the connections are of higher current ratings. (i.e. I DON"T use Anderson's on the bikes)

teslanv said:

I often need to mix and match connectors with chargers, battery's controllers, etc. In light of this, I moved to using Anderson PP30/PP45 connectors as a universal interconnect, and made a variety of "pigtails" where one end is a set of Andersons and the other is my connector of choice (XT90, XT60, XT150, 4mm HXT, EC3, XLR, etc.) So now, all my charging set-ups, and my test bench power supply all have Anderson PP30 connectors as outputs, and I grab the appropriate "Pigtail" for whatever I need to connect it to.

Works AWESOME, and I never need to worry about >30A power typically, since I only go above that on the bike itself, where the connections are of higher current ratings. (i.e. I DON"T use Anderson's on the bikes)

Click to expand...

I do the same. However I always use the Anderson 45 amp connectors (same housing as 15 and 30) and I do use them on my bikes. I don't have any high-powered bikes that would draw more than 45 amps.

You can charge that battery at 5 amp or what the bms can take. The cells themselves can take 8amp as a true 30ah,but the bms isn't rated that high. Ask the seller. Plus get a multimeter and check polarity as you should always be sure and not trust red black white or blue from China.Learn to solder get a solder iron, solder and flux and connectors of choice. We will walk you thru it.