Evolve Carbon AT with 50km+ range

randyc1 said:
Ok so B0 and B10 would each have 2 wires each , 1 going to (jst connector) and 1 to (Evolve Charger plug) correct ?

yea, pretty much. think I just got a JST switch and 2 thick 10AWG cables coming out of the shrink tube and I connected the charging wires with the evolve jack at the 10AWG main poles. but yea, however you do it will be fine! 8)
 
built a new pack for the evolve carbon these days! did a much better job overall compared to my very first pack, many small details are better, much better cells with the Sanyo NCR18650GA (even though the panasonic hold up well tbh).

Ill just drop some pictures here, maybe it will motivate you to make your own pack. :)

new bench from my granddad, fixed up with hard wood and aluminum angle for much easier and more professional alignment of up to 10 cells parallel:
evolve_battery_newbench1.jpg


evolve_battery_newbench2.jpg


like on my 10S4P battery, I this time gave it more thoughts about currents and how much each component can carry - set up the nickel strips to carry copper wires again since the nickel only supports up to 15A current. got a cool flux pen now - much easier and faster to work with :D
evolve_battery_flux.jpg


solder dots between cells, so minimum heat ends up in the cells:
evolve_battery_prepareserial1.jpg


evolve_battery_prepareserial2.jpg


serial connections fixated with spot welding:
evolve_battery_serialconnection1.jpg


phew, all 10x 6P packs connected:
evolve_battery_allparalleldone.jpg


and off we go connecting parallel packs in series:
evolve_battery_serialconnection2.jpg


the outer areas show all copper reinforced serial connections again:
evolve_battery_serialouter.jpg


while the middle connections are done by 6 nickel strips (= current up to 90A):
evolve_battery_serialmiddle.jpg


after lots of fiiber reinforced taping and prepared the "cable channel". it will be created when I fold the battery like a butterfly and provides a smooth protected channel for balancer and minus pole main power cable.
evolve_battery_balancer.jpg


look at the backside - looks pretty beautiful. every rectangular bent nickel strip has a balancer cable attached with soldering iron.
evolve_battery_backsidechannel.jpg


adding minus pole:
evolve_battery_minus1.jpg

and off into cable channel:
evolve_battery_minus2.jpg


nice rainbow exit of all cables:
evolve_battery_rainbow.jpg


shrinkwrap & balancer 11-pin port:
evolve_battery_shrinkwrap.jpg



work time: about 1 day!
 
do you have the original bms taken by evolve ? or that is a bms from another manufacturer , and if so would be a link super.

I trust my building not properly and looking for someone who would build a battery might build me with bms and all

can give me write a pm
 
@whitepony

I have been searching everywhere for a distance/battery mod for my AT (carbon series) and I happened to stumble across this thread.
Your creation is nothing short of marvelous! An absolute amazing feat of engineering and innovation!

I would kindly like to ask if you would consider building another one of these "super batteries."
I would pay, of course, for all your expenses in building it and would reimburse all labor and shipping costs.

Let me know if this is possible!
I'm a cinematographer and I use the Evolve AT for moving stabilized shots whilst using a 3-Axis Rig and I also use it to operate drones whilst driving after moving subjects on the go.
I have always wanted a longer battery life for extended filming, this would be like a dream come true.

If you so happen to accept this long-shot offer, I will be forever grateful.

Cheers,
Arseniy from Orlando, FL

(I just joined this forum since I randomly stumbled across the thread during a google search, but I am here to stay!)
 
hey atlasta, cool use of the evolve :D

you are not the first person with that battery building request --- sadly it is nearly impossible to ship batteries of that size from the EU to the US, especially after all these hover board failures they made air regulations regarding lithium even more strict in 2016.

I would suggest you contact any custom battery manufacturer (which the US has plenty of) and tell them to read this thread or contact me if they have any questions. building this kind of battery isnt really rocket science, all dimension details are in post no1, to make it plug and play with the evolve carbon bms, all you need is an 11pin JST 2mm balancer connector.

if you find anyone to make this kind of battery, tell them to use Sanyo GA, LG MJ1 or Samsung 35E (like my 2nd battery for a guy in israel) instead of my panasonics (first battery I built for myself).

good luck :)
 
Thank you so much for your fast reply and intel regarding the shipment regulations.

I have sent you a PM.

Cheers,
Atlasta
 
Hi whitepony,

Like alasta I am dreaming about a longer range on my eC-AT.After trying to work out how to do the battery based on your first description I stumbled on your second one which is great! I am German and I now live in Scotland - fortunately, I don't have problems with the German links. Any modifications / suggestions you would consider for living in one of the wettest countries in Europe? Would you consider building a battery if it is ground shipped? I will be in Germany this summer, could even pick up (depending where you live). Thank you very much again for your accurate descriptions and all the best
 
think the batteries I built were both nearly waterproof - they were shrink wrapped and the open ends that extended beyond the battery folded under heat, so that after hardening, the ends are also basically sealed. I wouldnt recommend running the carbon in wet conditions though either way - the electronic box isnt waterproof, the charging port and power switch isnt, the receiver in the rear kick certainly isnt and Im not really sure about the motor.

about building a battery: I got a LOT of pm's about that from people all over the world - problem is shipment and my time. basically air mail is impossible with batteries of that size, since Id have to prove various things, many of them requiring basically the destruction of a sample battery --> not going to happen. the other problem is my time - I work often more than fulltime, got 2 dogs and my own DIY projects. so, usually I try to discourage people from making me build a battery and encourage them to make one themselves. :D Id help out on all the details on the way!

if you are really serious about it, send me a pm. my 2nd battery I build for someone else actually, the first of its kind - went to a bar owner in tel aviv/israel, who had a buddy pick it up in germany and SOMEHOW fly to israel. dont ask me how he did it, Im not sure if I even wanna know. :lol:
 
This is gorgeous :p
whitepony said:
look at the backside - looks pretty beautiful. every rectangular bent nickel strip has a balancer cable attached with soldering iron.
evolve_battery_backsidechannel.jpg

(= current up to 90A)
evolve_battery_shrinkwrap.jpg

work time: about 1 day !
what a professionnal conception !!
now Im reading about 18650 seens a week ... must pass the course :!:
 
This is amazing. Any battery builders in Australia willing to cook me up one of these?!

Though now that Evolve have just announced a new dual motor model I might be upgrading soon anyway!
 
Nice work. Just a question: you used to solder the middle section with the "butterfly mechanism" with nickel strips, are those connection also necessary from an electrical perspective or would it be ok to just connect the parallel packs in series without the middle connections between the packs? Assuming that the serial connection itself is capable of 90A?

Background of the question is, that if I'm using a soldering iron only and not a spot welder those middle stripes are difficult to attach beside the horizontal connections.
 
elkick said:
Nice work. Just a question: you used to solder the middle section with the "butterfly mechanism" with nickel strips, are those connection also necessary from an electrical perspective or would it be ok to just connect the parallel packs in series without the middle connections between the packs?

the nickel strip middle connections are all serial connections! check the battery layout on the first post for clarification:

battery.png
 
I never opened it cause I wanted to sell it, but the original battery was a 10Ah lipo pouch battery, so half of my capacity and a little thinner ... and about the same weight. :lol:
 
whitepony said:
the nickel strip middle connections are all serial connections! check the battery layout on the first post for clarification:
The concept is obvious, I understood that and that's how I'm doing them as well. For flexibility reasons I was thinking of connecting both rows at their end instead of connecting them in the middle with stripes.

Something like this (sorry for the low quality drawing):
 

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ahhh, like that! didnt understand you the first time. yea sure, its possible - its not like you need the flexibility in that direction though and 6 nickel strips are probably a lot better than 1 copper reinforced nickel strip of the outer serial connections (which used to be the weak spot of my first battery tbh). also, I would be afraid that whatever you put between the 2 rows of cells for insulation would wear thin and youd end up worst case with a short over time!
 
Thanks for your answer and you're right about the insulation, it might require plastic holders and additional stuff in between them. Which complicates it again. I was just uncertain if there are reasons from an electrical perspective against it.

Keep up your professional work, I really appreciate your build threads! :)
 
Hi Whitepony , did you use a small nickel strip to bridge the gap on the series connections ?,... your 10s4p had 1 long nickel strip for the series connection.
 
torqueboards said:
@whitepony - Are you using a BMS with your setup?

Have you thought of using A123 26650 cells for higher cycle life?

nope, no bms. I build 3 batteries now for my own use, my very first evolve battery is now exactly 1 year and probably 50-60 cycles old, none of them ever showed even the slightest idea of drift. I dont see the point of a bms anymore really - just treat your battery well and buy quality cells, then everything should be fine. a bms for the currents im interested in isnt even too cheap. would need 60A+ for all of my batteries.

and yea, the A123 cells look interesting for applications where large currents are needed. I just think for the battery sizes Im using, 18650 is pretty much perfect and comparably cheap. if Id try anything else someday, I would go for ultra flat lipo pouches, inserted into a board. :)
 
Hey there!

I sold my girlfriend's Evolve Carbon Street/AT last saturday. She never rode fast with the AT kit, or at least full speed for a long time. Just cruising. The guy told me that he rode full speed/throtlle with the AT kit... for one minute and the throttle just cut. I never did that with the AT kit... I used to ride full speed with street kit... but man... not one full minute at least!

There maybe a protection somewhere on the ESC or BMS...? have you heard of that ?!

Thanks!
 
plenty of reasons for cutting. remote is known to loose connection, battery could be worn out, temperature sensor might hit (never happened to me), contacts loose/worn out somewhere. its impossible to tell from a distance!

I sold me evolve this weekend as well, not riding it anymore with tesseract & trampa around ;)
 
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