Controller and Battery compatibility question.

[KTP]

Those are a pretty good deal. I also ordered 6 of them that are a day or two away from arriving. They work out to just under $0.46/WH which is pretty decent (I think there sometimes is a zippy 15C pack that is $0.41/WH but I read somewhere on here that people like the Turnigy wires better).

So your packs would be 10s2p and would have a nominal voltage of 37V and come hot of the charger if you go to 4.15V per cell at 41.5V. This seems perfect for your 36V controller since three lead acid batteries might be over 40V total right off the charger. The lipo will perform worlds better than the lead acid though. You might want to wait for Mwkeefer to chime in...I just started down the Lipo addic...*cough* I mean path..

 

[Toango]

Mwkeefer

I also have downtube nova looking to electrify

May i know what controller you are using? And if you have pics on where to mount the controller and batteries that would be good. I was thinking about using the bottle cage mounts for the batteries or a front bag for better weight balance

Hello and welcome!

The 24v 8hr battery 5C would be capable of providing 5 * 8 = 40A according to the specs so it should work with your existing 24v 35A controller but if the 5C is a "generous" rating... well the more current you pull, the less the battery actually provides in AH.

Are you looking for compatible stock equivilent replacement or added range, top end speed, etc?

I was curious about your bike so I did some research and for the most part you have an eZip/iZip (they didn't do much differently)... that means this is applicable to you:

http://www.ebikeforum.com/electric-bike-scooter/137788-my-ezip-izip-upgrade-round-up.html

The user upgraded to 36v (there is some log though out of date)... since I assume you have had this bike a while and that it's SLA powered 24v... you should have a viable controller (the newer ones must be replaced, older seem to be fine with upgraded voltages) already onboard... it opens alot of options (and some top end speed, 24mph supposedly).

I would split the difference and go with 8S but you could go as high as 10S (42v hot) with some double checking and testing... HobbyKing offers 8S lipo packs (5AH but 20C rated) and chargers for a comparable price to what you would pay for the NiCD... but the capacity rating is at a much higher discharge rate of 100A (for the lipo)...

So... yes the NiCD will work but, you have a multitude of options available for alternative light weight replacements to your 24v stock setup...

Example of 8S... I would probably spend the extra $$ and get 2 of those 8S packs to run in parallel as a single 8S 10AH power source - that's a 20C rated source so capable of 200A continuous, your 35A maximum would be silly in comparison You will get a FULL 10AH out of a Lipo pack and the weight savings...
Each 8S pack will weight about 2.4 lbs for a total weight of < 5 lbs of battery - less than the weight of just 1 of your 12v slas if I am not mistaken and 4x the capacity (more like 10x the capacity based on the numbers I could find for your bike).

Hope this helps!

-Mike