E-BIKE 3D PRINTED BATTERY CASE

Hello there,
I am an happy owner of a custom e-bike on a Giant frame with a setup of 12 x 6s5000mah Turnigy LIPOs + SVMC72060 controller. I have had it for 3 years plus now and I use it as a daily commuter. I really cant complain. Infact with a 1000 Euros cumulated investment I was able to çreate a stealth like ebike performance-wise. Lipos so far are behaving very well and with balanced charging all the time I stay away from major risks of lipo unbalanced charging as fires or explosions. But lately I am getting quite obsessed from the way batteries are carried and positioned on the bike. I have two lateral bags one for the battery block and one for the controller. This way the bike feels laterally and longitudinally unbalance with all the weight being mostly on the back. Since this year I bought a 3d printer I decided I would like to create a 3d printed support to distribute the lipos along the frame. I am starting to do some tests as you can see from the pictures attached, but I am far away from finding a definite solution because for my bike there is just not enough space to position 12 x 145mmx50mmx50mm lipos around the frame.
Anyway now I am thinking that I could create a very nice setup with less lipos with an additional plug and play mile extender if I want more range. I would like to have suggestions from you smart guys from the group to find a way to make the bike look good but also have a lot of juice for long distance commuting with relevant upslopes.
One important bottom line of my project is to keep budjet as low as possible. And it is not because I cannot afford but because I really want to prove that sustainable commuting is there, it is available and there is already enough technology to make it real. For me stealth bikes or Stromers are nice toys but here in the NLD where I bike it's very satisfiying when I overtake stromers with my cheap skunky and still 4.3 KW 1000 E ebike. Also in a world with everything that moves being based on internal combustion engine principle, exploiting electric solutions makes me feel as a pioneer
Hope for good and inspiring comments from this community,
Regards,
Alberto.
ps... for now I am not able to download pics as soon as I fix technical issues with my laptop I will...

Welcome to ES. Looking forward to your pics.

Ebikes handle so much better when the weight distribution is right.

Yup weight is the key. I've always put my battery on top of the rear rack.
I found some Makita tool cases in the dumpster, so I snagged them.
But even the one I thought would suffice is pretty big.
Fits 13S snuggly heightwise, and 14P wide.
There was a Dewalt drill case, that I should have snagged from the dumpser.

If you can build a 3d printer battery case, post lots of pictures.
I want something that is sleek and blends in using a triangle bag.
Also want a range extender, simple 13S1P or 2P that is hidden on the base of the rack, like those that slide in.

Looking forward to seeing your pics.

I'm working on an integrated mount/connector for EGO 14S packs which would make a modest range extender and could be incorporated into a rear rack.

I don't know about printing an entire battery case, but one could certainly print brackets and corners for acrylic or other materials and make a system that would work together and solve the hard issues of integrating with the frame.

e-bikes handle best with the weight in the triangle. It is well distributed between the wheels and is relativity low. Think motorcycle engine. Post a picture of your bike. Keep the photo at 640x480 to post it easily. Make sure it is in good focus. Once we see your bike we will be able to give our best advice.

Some update after a while of silence. I have left a little bit at rest my project for a while because of too many things to take care of.
Now I put back my 3d printer at work and I have a nice design on how to distribute battery on the bike. PS see pic below for reference. The idea is to set lipo attached to bike frame and then to cover them with a waterproof cover. I think that for material PLA is good enough. For now setup is 4Px3S 24v5000ma lipos. But I would like to push it to 8x3S and to double capacity for super-long distance autonomy.
What do you think?

Ciao

Alberto.

Some pictures of my ongoing project. So far I am very impressed with the overall quality and durability of the plastic pieces out of the 3d printer. I willl post soon further progress. So far it looks and feels very firm clean way of mounting LIPOS around the frame. I will be able to put toghether a configuration of 18 lipo bricks ( or 21 but it's really tight) with a 72v / 30 A (or 35A in case of 21) for decent commuting range. Any comments are very welcome.

I also post some pics of a parallel connector for XT-90 LIPO connectors. Basically you can click the 2 bodies toghether after having sticked in the bullet connector and screw them toghether with 12 AWG wire in between the two. So far it is working very ok. I suggest for 3d printer owners to print it in temperature resistent material as ABS PETG or Nylon. I used PLA so far but just to do fitting tests. I will definitly move to differen material for real use. If anyone needs I can give the stl file.

Is that all the lipo's you have?
Why make it so wide?
Just a single width, everything in triangle, wires all pointing to one area.
I had a bike like that, still have it. Some can't pedal like that, its just not natural.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=70658&p=1066158&hilit=too+wide+pedal#p1066158

No they are not all the lipos I have to fit I need to stick 9 more . It is not that wide I tried before with fitting samples and the width ( 11 cm ) is just fine.
I am from south of Rome and I am trying to have a bike that can commute roughly 60 km in a day with 400 meters of altitude change . I will fit the controller ( Sabvoton 072060) below the battery. I want to have everything in the triangle as you said but it's quite challenging. Cables will be minimum length also to avoid resistance

Alan B said:

Welcome to ES. Looking forward to your pics.

Ebikes handle so much better when the weight distribution is right.

Click to expand...

That's especially true on trikes as well.

@TRIKETECH....very nice machine...looks quite advanced designing and refining

I usually deal with battery placement with modular solutions. I first fit a 4 bricks pack on the front of the DH fork, sometimes 8 small bricks, total weight making less than 10 lbs. That, combined with slacker steering angle mod, is the best balance/handling I can achieve. In hard acceleration especially, some weight and geometry mod on the front are making the bike more stable. The controller goes under the top tube. Triangle mounted batteries are best when you need a lot, when their weight does exceed the weight of the rear motor at least. The idea is to try making the bike weight balancing on the front of the BB.

When I need extra batteries for range, they are going in a frame bag or carried as luggage. Since my rides are mostly sport and short, I prefer to avoid a permanent setup of heavy battery.

Status of work around 80% now.