My stealthy, auxiliary Bottle battery

First off, this is not a high capacity(for it's size), work of art battery like Nader builds;

https://www.electricbike.com/mini-hub-motors/

But a battery to serve as a back-up in case I run my main pack flat.
It starts w/ a Stanley single wall water bottle and a Topeak "Java" bottle holder;

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018XNYXEE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NQ94EK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the heart of the matter', I went w/ 4) Multistar 3S/3000mAh "high-capacity" bricks that will be configured 12S/1P, or the 4 in series to get 12S/3000 mAh;

View attachment 6

They are very small, but the problem w/ using larger "bricks" of LiPoly, is their length. For example, to fit the 2 6S/5000 mAh bricks I use on my 2WD, I use a 300 m/m long container;



But since I don't need lot of capacity, I choose not to lengthen the Stanley bottle and use these.

(A note on capacity-Nader, I'm sure he uses round cells, probably Li-Ion to get his 5000 mAh capacity. 1200 mAh LiPoly cells could be stacked 4 tiers high to get 12S to 14S/4800 mAh, but it would require a bottle 75 m/m X 250 m/m. The Stanley bottle is 75 X 200.)

Next I replaced the XT60's w/ 4 m/m bullets. I don't solder them on, but use a torch to melt the solder into the receptical cups and push the bare wire in.
The plastic shields can be a bear to get on and I heat them gently w/ a lighter around the area where is a ridge inside and push like Hell against a hard surface to get them to "snap" on. It helps to place a bare connector inside the one you are working on to get in to go all the way in.

Next I install the 3S + 3S to 6S balance adaptors. It's really important to get the direction right or the wires will melt.
Note that the red balance wire is w/ the red power wire and the blk. is w/ the blk.;



Then 3 of the little bricks go in the bottom and one on top. Lot's of room for the wires and connectors;



And there is an plastic X reinforcement in the spout of the cap that I jammed 2 bullets into;



This battery is not wired into the system. When I need it, I pull my charger connections out of the main pack pouch and plug them in(After disconnecting the main pack, I wouldn't want to parallel the 2 packs);





The bottle weighs about 3 pounds and combined w/ the 10.4 Ah in the frame bag, gives a total of 13.4 Ah.s.

A tiny, affordable reserve pack is one very good use for the cheaper pouch lipos. Just a few ah more when you need it, for that day the wind is against you for example.

I like the bottle, but you could just as easily carry a pack that small in a handlebar bag, or whatever.

Lipo is also a cheap way to make a big increase in your pack size, for those once in a while really long rides.

My current battery stash is two NMC packs, totaling 33 ah nominal. When that is not enough, I have another 20 ah of lipo that only gets used monthly or less. All of it gives me at least 80 miles range, towing a small trailer.

I don't enjoy dealing with the lipo charging and monitoring constantly, so I prefer the bms packs for most of the riding I do. But for an additional 20 ah, nothing much cheaper out there. I can afford to let lipo get old used seldom. I store it cool as possible, half charged, so I get a decent couple years, and maybe two more with less capacity out of the purchase.

I like the bottle, but you could just as easily carry a pack that small in a handlebar bag, or whatever.

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Yeah, Lord knows I'm not adverse to small bags, but it's just both of my MTB frames have all that space between the frt. down tube and the tire. And the lugs were already there.

Lipo is also a cheap way to make a big increase in your pack size....

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And it's getting less expensive all the time. These little bricks were on sale for $15.98 ea., so $64 for the pack(it's so small, I'm not sure I can even call it that). I think the sale price was almost half off.
Right after I bought them, HK shut down their site 24 hr.s to revamp it. There are no more "sales" on batteries or discount pop-ups, But, it seems most of the batteries have had their prices cut by 20%. The Turnigy 6S/5000mAh, 20C's that I used to use before the Multistars went down from $50 ea. to $40.
I'm really liking the Multistars. Some one here summed them up by saying; "They have traded off dis-charge capacity for lightness and sm. size." And it's true. But on these little packs I am seeing some sag, more than the Turnigy 20C's even. I don't think my little aux. bottle would be very useful on a powerful bike.

I don't enjoy dealing with the lipo charging and monitoring constantly, so I prefer the bms packs for most of the riding I do.

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Well, I'm single, retired and don't have any dogs :wink: and fussing over my ebike and the LiPoly is my only hobby(sad but true).
My there is something satisfying about holding something so compact yet powerful in your hand(Maybe that's how my Ex felt when changing her AA batteries )
And after years and many balance chargers, I've got the charging routine down pretty good w/ a Mean Well HGL and my coveted Blue Battery Medics.
Even so, I just bought this little item for 12V charging in the boonies;



I'm only getting 110 Watts on my 12.6V server supply, but what attracted me to it(aside from it's ridiculously small form factor, is a feature called ; "High power, high current, high-performance power conversion circuit." Basicly, one can reverse the load and the 12V power source, use the LiPoly to recharge the truck battery, in theory anyhow. Haven't tried that out yet.

I just sleep better if all my lipo is out in the back yard in the old fridge. I got all day to fuss with em, but then they are inside the house.

I got the best deal ever on my last lipo order from HK. A real steal. I have no idea why they shipped my order twice. 8) I thought about telling them so I could pay for it, but then decided that now we were even for the dead packs they shipped me in 2009.

But make no mistake about it, a tiny lipo pack is the way to go when you need a range extender. As my pingbattery was dying, I used to carry a little 12s pack for the last few miles of my commute. Easy, and cheaper than replacing the big pack at that moment.

I went ahead an enlarged capacity to 12S/4000mAh using these.
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/multistar-lihv-high-capacity-4000mah-3s-multi-rotor-lipo-pack.html
I had to lengthen the bottle to 250mm and It was a tight fit to get the four bricks in.
I cut the bottom out and pushed the bottom third of a plastic water bottle on;

It's still reasonably stealthy;