Show Us Your Homemade Battery Housing

24AH 10S LiPo with insulation softcase, battery warmers inside, cardboard box with E-tape to seal against salty snow. Using bungee cord to hold in the box so that I can take it inside at night or when I go to work- No one really minds a cardboard box.

The bungee cord holds it in great-It's survived some falls no problem and has no problem leaning (pictured) I've dropped the bike a couple times and the battery shifted but did not fall.

These battery packs were made by reshaping 4" PVC. Link: https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=62646&start=50

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Modbikemax said:

I used the 2 front friction shifter brackets on the front down tube of an 80s road bike and brazed a second set on the back down tube....

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Ooo I like that one, it's a little off the beaten path!

Recently finished the below Commuter to make the short & relatively flat 10km round trip to work that much quicker & especially easier in the Brisbane Summer heat so I can avoid showering at work and/or the need to wear special riding clothes. The 4 x 12V 5Ah SLA (ex. UPS) Battery Pack is only temporary at this stage while I round up a set of appropriate LiPO packs and nut out an appropriate enclosure to keep them protected but as you can see here the simple frame geometry lends itself to a low & centered pack mount therefore keeping CoG in check and improving overall handling. As the SLAs are already in their own tough cases and as this is only a low-risk smooth road/path Commuter I decided against a full enclosure and just made up a simple tray to bolt to the Water Bottle mount then cable tie the SLAs to that. All wiring is exposed but after making the connections I just hit the whole thing with a flat black rattle can and bingo, all good to go!

I literally just received my 5000Ah LiPO packs and have a couple of Aluminium enclosures on their way so if everything fits the way I hope it will then the resulting pack will be just as powerful as the SLAs but easily half the size & weight. The plan is to modify the enclosures so I can get them mounted even lower still but I'll have to wait & see how that goes once I have them in my hands. The LiPOs are just cheap & cheerful heatshrunk Zippy packs from HobbyKing so they'll definitely need a hard case for protection however I did have a plan to use the hard cased variety and just stack them together and treat them in a similar way to the 'naked' SLAs seen here. The hard cases should provide ample protection so I thought why not?! Turns out the raw LiPO packs in heatshrink are a lot cheaper and far more compact so I went for the enclosure route instead. I'll update this thread once I've built & mounted the pack/s, probably about a month or two away yet.

So yeah, not so much a 'housing' but with strong cased batteries and low risk on-road riding then maybe a simple naked install is all that's required. Food for thought anyway

3D printed battery box for my BBS-02 Beach Cruiser. I'm going to make few more changes and print it in black, and then print a lid with slots for a pair of CellLogs. Here is a link to the build thread:

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=75890&p=1155161#p1155161

Not a bicycle but might be interesting (and simpler) to make a nice shapely wood housing for a bike pack . . . probably require a certain style of bike I suppose.

Tonight i started getting a new box ready for a build i'm planning, its not finished but i think its a good proof of concept, could use advice on one thing though.


Started with an mdf placeholder to test width and if it got in the way, looked lovely riding with this haha


mocked up a shape from some corflute i had laying around, couldn't find cardboard, theres a few projects going on haha


Grabbed a blowtorch and circular saw and tried to re-make it from acrylic (iv'e seen people use ABS but i couldn't find any, bunnings had acrylic sheeting so here we go.

test fit of 14s multistars


i needed to mount the acrylic to the frame without cracking it or transferring too much vibration so i cut down the rubber acoustic dampeners from a recording studio build i had left laying around


they worked much better than i hoped, its firm but vibration dampened, attached by 4 water bottle mounts, i will probably do one at the top as well



testing the balance it feels quite good with the weight down nice and low, the inside of the housing is lined with 3mm acoustic/vibration rubber i had laying around from same studio build


this is where im up to tonight, and where i could use a hand, i will permanantly fix one side to the box but the other i would like to hinge for easy access, there are a few options im considering, maybe make a fabric hinge from some seatbelt type webbing and run it along the corners of the box all round so it looks even, or a piano hinge but that would look ugly, i'm open to suggestions?




I'm 100% open to suggestions if you're looking at it thinking ( he should have done it like this) i'm happy to hear them haha

tomorrow ill fix the side panels, drill and groment some more holes for wiring and i'm also thinking about making a tube top dashboard from the same acrylic, with the master switch, CA and whatever else i need room for etc

webbing edges all done and the hinge mocked out, just have to do glue the hinge webbing on then the latch and its ready to mount up!

DONE!

Here's what I came up with for my Sturgis Bullet build, the 15.5" frame eliminated many other options, but when I realized I had adequate room for a Panasonic 11.5 AH pack (from Luna, with 18650 cells), I quit agonizing over not having a 20 AH pack. My other two bikes also have 11.5 AH packs, and I figure that I will borrow one (or both) of the other packs when really wanting and needing extra range, so as much as 34.5 AH if needed! The rest and most of the time, I'll have a lighter battery taking up less room, the Panasonic only weighs 6.5 lbs. I have an identical one for my currently being hot rodded Trail Viper, so I really wanted to make swapping out the two packs real quick and easy, one in a pack (only when on extended rides of course)and one in the rack, 23 AH

The right side of the brake formed aluminum box is somewhat permanent, or at least bolted down using the supplied rivnuts. By pulling the two aircraft hinge pins, the left side lifts off giving ready access. An additional bracket at the rear, secured by a couple of castellated bolts (more aircraft stuff.....a keeper pin through the castle nut and the hole in the bolt end prevents it coming off, but at the same time it's quickly removable without tools) totally eliminates any play or movement at all. I used, surprise, aircraft driven rivets to fab the box, though pop rivets could have been used.

My major brain fart on this project was when I realized NO front lid or cover was required, this gives good viz to the supplied digital volt meter, provides excellent cooling, and saved weight and work. For now a simple flap of EPDM rubber will keep the worst of the water out, the yet to be installed overall black fabric cover will provide further moisture protection. I really don't plan on inclement weather riding anyway, so I think this will be good enough. Some good high density foam on the bottom and rear, and some bubble wrap that came with battery (I think, maybe it came with the BBSHD) for the sides should provide adequate padding.

The 60 amp breaker is machine screwed to the rear, and has very robust 1/4" studs for the wiring ring terminals, it also functions as a stealthy way to kill the power, as good as a key, especially when the final covering will be in place, it's highly unlikely anyone would figure out where it is and what it does.. I have some left over fabric from a battery bag I made for my Montague conversion, and am covering it just to be a sneaky bastard, for stealth. A small velcro flap will provide access to the charger connection. I had everything on hand, and am real pleased with how it came out. I will next build a similar one (but vertically mounted) for the Trail Viper mod I'm doing, it will use the other 52 volt Panasonic pack, replacing the 36 that the TV came with, I really like the idea of having multiple interchangeable packs instead of a single monster one. I can even see, when on a mountain ride, stashing a depleted pack on the side of the trail or forest service road, after hooking up a fresh one, and then (hopefully remembering) picking up the dead one on the way back down.

A few more pictures.

Here is my version...

Great frame design and battery case space (which is one of the bigest out there... available in 4.25" and 5.25' width).
A lot of room...
Everything fits in there,
18 FETs controler,
LifePO4 cells 24S1P (72Vdc @ 15A C-rate 3 / 45A)
DC-DC module 80V to 12Vdc 10A
Hi-precision Shunt 150A
Twin 12Vdc brushless thermostatics fans (adjustable temperature)
4 waters tight air-vents
Industrial Marine fuse holder (up to 100A)
Polarized junction post
Industrial panic switch - emergency shut down
Industrial selector switch SPDT 600V-63A (Group Charge - OFF - RUN)
Ignition Switch with key
Industrial circular connector 48 pins (for single charge and analyzing cells)
Main power output connector is Anderson
All harness and cables are passed through Nylon strain reliefs...
Power Silicon Cable Hobby King #8AWG
All electrical contacts are covered with NCP-2 battery corrosion preventative and also some Dow Corning electrical dielectric silicon.

Extra informations: I am a pretty heavy guy... (6ft - 248Lbs) and my best top speed reached was 72Km/h
I never tested the maximum range with one full charge... but I would say close to 70km if I am going to a descent speed (not too fast)

As shown below you will notice an accessory bar I have installed (to free the handle bar) which is very handy to install all type of instruments...

The next mod I must do.. is to replace the wheel with 19'' motorcycle tires and rims... those bicycle rated tires and rims are not made to support that much weight neither the speed... too dangerous...

I also wish one day to convert into direct belt mid-drive... (with this type of motor... http://www.revolt.org.il/) which is a lot lighter, more powerful and require less power
to obtain the same result in efficiency...

Wow that is some real top notch set up you got there!
Are you running it at 45 amps? And what Phase amps?
And what range do you get? At what speed?

Bison_69 said:

Here is my version...

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Love it, love it, LOVE IT! Amazing work Bison and if I needed that kinda grunt that's similar or close to exactly what I would've done. You're obviously a details man. Nice work.

Ended up going with a bigger controller which took up WAYY more space than i planned, and upgrading to 24S so i needed to make some room!

Managed to finish my 14S LiPO pack (7 x 2S 5000mAh HK Zippy packs) to replace the temporary 4 x 12V SLA pack I fitted originally just to get me moving. The LiPO pack is less than a third the size & weight of the SLAs (2.5kg versus 8kg!) and that includes the aluminium enclosure they slide into! The enclosure is mounted low and central and has greatly improved the ride & handling of the bike. I've cut & filed the enclosure to make it 'hug' the seat post and have then used the water bottle mounts to anchor it also which has resulted in an incredibly rigid mounting, I can't even budge it by hand. Rock solid. I've squeezed in a simple blade fuse holder, a Merit connector and a 15-Pin 'VGA' connector on the drive side allowing me to connect the ThunderPower balance charger as I chose not to bother with an onboard BMS. Working extremely well so far and I've commuted over 30km (with light pedal assistance) on a single charge without getting anywhere near 3V per cell 'danger zone' so I'm really impressed at the energy density of such a small pack. Fingers crossed I can get 40-50km out of it as that's my weekly commute!

by SteveAndBelle » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:55 am

Managed to finish my 14S LiPO pack (7 x 2S 5000mAh HK Zippy packs) to replace the temporary 4 x 12V SLA pack I fitted originally just to get me moving. The LiPO pack is less than....

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Hi,
Really tidy and nice looking! Where did you get the enclosure? Do you have a link?
Regards.

fesanand said:

Really tidy and nice looking! Where did you get the enclosure? Do you have a link?

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Thanks The enclosure is from Element14: http://au.element14.com/hammond/1455q2201bk/case-aluminium-52x120x220mm/dp/1511224?CMP=i-55c5-00001621 Here are a couple of pics during the initial fitting process before I had finished chopping up the enclosure, soldering the LiPO packs together and adding the sockets. The seven Zippy packs slide in and fit like a glove...

On our Giant comfort bikes we use plastic panniers to hold the batteries. The panniers are re-purposed panniers from NZ post, used by posties to deliver the mail. Ironically, the reason these are surplus to requirements is that they have upgraded their bikes to be e-bike compatible, and they use a different pannier for the mail. We made new lids and removed all the NZ post branding. There are 6 headway 40152 15ah cells in each side, with a BMS and charging and output connections on one side, with connecting wires over the top. Great balance, reasonably stealthy (the panniers also hide the hub motors from some angles!) and very strong, especially when we drop the bikes. Controllers and connections are in the small bags under the saddles.

Bikepacking is normalising frame bags so it's hard to tell the difference at a glance. Using this at legal assist limit for longer range to see a little farther without battery overload, to get beyond usual pedal-only range and keep the pedal-only ride/reward feeling of recreational riding with no destination or time required.

Before electric.


Food container modified for LiPo physical protection. A replica standby battery pair in the same container (but blue clips/seal) for stowing or swapping in or at present just cycling first test ride discharge/storage/charge cycles.


After electric:


They also stack into my trunk bag on my Bosch commuter/trailer tower 600-1200Whr (80% discharge) auxiliary range increase over the 400Wh (320Whr 80%) standard battery.


I've also got a GoE On-Wheel hopefully arriving next month and looking forward to only needing a single 6S battery, so can use the standard bottle battery they ship with, or go longer range parallel the pair in this container for some long range pedal only path riding (I've got inlaws 150km away that I'm yet to cycle, some minimal use friction boost on throttle demand for headwinds to keep up 25kph average for 6hr trip time would be nice). 1200Whr plus the original 160Whr battery, should work out. Or take the Bosch.
This is the Additive V1 frame bag the container pack would go into for friction assist (solid tyres too).

Handy use of wood for the edges, plastic sheet for the sides...

http://imgur.com/a/uCQQg

Although it's not homemade I though I'd post a picture up. I think people are genuinely surprised it's an electric assist bike (until I set off from the traffic lights ).

sketchism said:

Tonight i started getting a new box ready for a build i'm planning, its not finished but i think its a good proof of concept, could use advice on one thing though.


Started with an mdf placeholder to test width and if it got in the way, looked lovely riding with this haha
View attachment 9

mocked up a shape from some corflute i had laying around, couldn't find cardboard, theres a few projects going on haha
View attachment 8

Grabbed a blowtorch and circular saw and tried to re-make it from acrylic (iv'e seen people use ABS but i couldn't find any, bunnings had acrylic sheeting so here we go.View attachment 7

test fit of 14s multistars
View attachment 6

i needed to mount the acrylic to the frame without cracking it or transferring too much vibration so i cut down the rubber acoustic dampeners from a recording studio build i had left laying around
View attachment 5

they worked much better than i hoped, its firm but vibration dampened, attached by 4 water bottle mounts, i will probably do one at the top as well
[ATTACH type="full" alt="fixings.


testing the balance it feels quite good with the weight down nice and low, the inside of the housing is lined with 3mm acoustic/vibration rubber i had laying around from same studio build
[attachment=1]batt test 2 with rubber .jpg"]2[/ATTACH]

this is where im up to tonight, and where i could use a hand, i will permanantly fix one side to the box but the other i would like to hinge for easy access, there are a few options im considering, maybe make a fabric hinge from some seatbelt type webbing and run it along the corners of the box all round so it looks even, or a piano hinge but that would look ugly, i'm open to suggestions?




I'm 100% open to suggestions if you're looking at it thinking ( he should have done it like this) i'm happy to hear them haha

tomorrow ill fix the side panels, drill and groment some more holes for wiring and i'm also thinking about making a tube top dashboard from the same acrylic, with the master switch, CA and whatever else i need room for etc

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Nice car!!

From my build thread https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80874 -- which has more details. But I got inspiration from this thread.. so figured I'd post a few pic here too.

my housing made from things I had lying around. 1.5" Alum L-shaped bar (cut/filed ot mach frame shape), some left over wood flooring, a few mounting brackets.



I covered with some HDPE plastic from a old triangular "car top" sign mount. Added an old light switch and a mil-spec connector that I use for charging. (yes I have some pretty weird stuff lying around). The top pieces have a seam The top ridge is the sides from the triangle and I tie-wrapped them then applied white tape. (I'll eventually get some stickers for the sides).



With the HDPE I also made twwo headway cell holders by drilling 3/4" holes in the right pattern. Holds them very nicely with just a little air gap. (HDPE is also used in various plastic cutting boards but better to reuse than buy) The pattern is just 9.25 x 4.25" so just comfortable for the triangle. Used one free hole to bolt it to the wooden frame, and have a strap over it as well.

Interesting fork on that Fatty.
..any details ?

deepfraught said:

After electric:

]

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