Battery casing

[tonrob]

I have a 2 day old E Zip (Currie) 250w (for Australia...bummer) . I pranged it on my 2nd ride! Learned that a 30+ kg clunker of an electric bike doesnt bunny hop as easily as my decent unelectric mountain bike.
I was lucky cause I only broke 3 things on the bike.........1. front brake which i can fix.......2. one of the wires that goes in near the brake lever on the throtle side (where do I post that on this board to get some advice?).......3. the battery casing (& my groin...ouch!!) took most of the impact, just some initial scratches but on the 5k ride home I didnt notice the inside of the case been worn away by the tire. As a result there is a deep groove been cut in the box. It has recharged ok but I am worried about how much plastic remains ......what sort of glue/sealant can I use? It is a lead acid battery. Technically this is all new to me....but I'm looking forward to learning a lot.
Many thanks.

 

[albie]

have you got piccies of the damage.

if your bike is like my bike... i would suggest that you ditch the currie batts and go for some proper batteries.

How did you prang your bike anyways?

 

[tonrob]

I'll try & post some photos. ( the worst damage is not to the bike but to my groin...the bruising now goes from the top edge of my hip down to the inside of my groin & down to the inside of my knee, not pretty & I'm sure you dont want to see photos of that.....my wife took some to send to the relos so they could have a laugh!)

I'm only a novice when it comes to the technology here so I figure I may as well use up the life cycle of the supplied battery while investigating better options. Do these motors handle bigger voltage batteries & hence go quicker<? I understand vagually about the different types of batteries & there ability to be recharged more times & quicker, Are there comparisons available on this board somewhere?

I pranged by going to pass a pedestrian who was on the bike path, so I wentoff onto the grass & as I went to go back onto the concrete path I didnt see the 4" step between the grass & concrete til the last moment so I tried to bunny hop up onto the path at full throtle but my timing & angle was all out........I have done this hundreds of times before on a normal mountain bike!!

 

[Ypedal]

Lol.. i don't mean to laugh.. but " been there.. done that " makes it funny as hell.. glad to hear you are mostly ok tho.. phew..

Pictures would certainly help ( The " Browse " button at the bottom of a post window lets you attach pictures directly )

JB weld is surprisingly strong stuff.. but depends on the application.

The wires going to the brake lever are usually just " Brake Cut-Off" for the motor.. no biggie..

but pictures would help.

cheers.

 

[tonrob]

Here is a photo of case & wire break (I hope)

 

[tonrob]

ooopss, here is the broken wire photo

 

[albie]

the damage doesn't look too bad especially on the case.

the wire from the handlebars can be fixed. I think that wire is either for the PAS or cut-off but something i wouldn't use so no biggie if it doesn't work....

battery casing... your options are to go for another currietech battery (expensive) or modify the bike to use normal SLA batteries.

The motor and controller is rated for 24v BUT you can run 36v without issues (see my bike as you have the same one as mine) although be prepared to lug around extra weight if you go with a 36v setup. If you have any mates who are electricaly inclined, they can help you out with building a pack. also you will need a new charger setup if you do go 36v.

With that said.... i was on the 24v battery setup for like 2 days till i got bored (24v is way way too slow) then moved up to a 36v and love it.

 

[tonrob]

thanks for the info Albie. I'm happy with the 24v for now but an upgrade makes sense except the extra weight. What difference in handling do you notice with the weight up high on the rack in your set up?
I have to install a speedo yet so as to work out speed & range. How do you work out current used & left more accurately than the 3 leds on the throttle?

 

[albie]

everyone who has ridden the bike says that its really back heavy... but after 500km of riding the bike you kinda get used to it (even in the wet! haha).

speedwise... you would be looking at 32km/h - 36km/h on the flats (without pedalling / depending on overall weight). range without pedalling (i've got 20aH SLA packs on my bike) is around 15- 20km depending how fast you go. If I'm extremely lazy and just going to a mates place... i can easily get there without pedalling and not using the car. However, when biking to/from work I would definitely pedal as the speed really drops.

Install a speedo and it will give you a good idea when the battery will run out (even a Doc Wattson or wattsup power meter). I'm getting my Doc Wattson power meter hopefully either this week or next week from Powerwerx. Although from the tracking code they haven't sent it out yet...

I don't trust the 3 leds on the throttle!

 

[Lessss]

That wire on the break looks like the motor cutoff. i.e. pull the break and the motor turns off. Since it looks like if you pull the brake the brake lever gets close to the wire end, it is a closed circuit that cuts off the motor having that wire missing won't prevent the motor from working. It should be fixed though (re safety).

The battery case,

hangs over the tires like this?? Looks like you need to adjust the way the battery hangs so it doesn't rub the tires. Damage is minimal. The battery itself is inside the case and will be perfectly fine. Worst thing is you are losing alot of energy to the friction on the tire.

Going from 24 to 36V. Limiting factor on that is the controller. Specifically the capacitors etc.. just open the case and look at the V ratings. For instance a 48V battry pack off the charger will measure at 54V so caps labelled 50V will not suffice 54>50=pop dead cap. So figure 2.5V per battery 24+2.5+2.5=29V +12+2.5=43.5. So if your caps are labelled 50V or greater you'll do fine.

 

[tonrob]

For Lesss
Yes it is the brake/ motorcut off, so still rideable while I'm working out how to fix it.

The Izip is similar to the photo, no front disk brake though. I've straightned the carrier/ rack / battery pack holder so it is not rubbing any more.
Your sugestion of opening the case to check the V rating I can follow but you r description of how to calculate things is beyond my limited electrical/electronics understanding but I want to learn, that is why I am here. I assume Albie has already checked this as he has 36v on his bike which is the same as mine.