Cyclone electric bike kit review - 500W - battery failure

[competitions]

Do not buy Cyclone electric bike kits.

I'm wondering if the battery (24V 10A) on my cyclone kit is dead. When I connect the charger, the green light flashes even after 4 hours on the charger. Then when I connect the motor, the throttle LED is red. Paco from Cyclone Taiwan hasn't replied to my email so support from Cyclone is probably non existent.

Previous to this problem arising, I never rode the bike until throttle was red, but after my last ride, I did leave the motor connected (with throttle turned off) - would this have drained the battery?

Does anyone know if Cyclone battery packs usually have a LVC to protect the battery?

Who is a the best supplier alternative for a battery pack for a 500V cyclone motor?

 

[dogman dan]

The single most likely source of your problem is that the connector between the battery and the charger is broken, or some other place that wire does not connect, like where it's soldered into the charger.

Charger disconnected, and battery full give the same light indicator on the charger. Perfect. You know you are either fully charged or fully not charged for sure.


So look at your batteries actual voltage, and check to see if any voltage is leaving the charger.

 

[heathyoung]

Check the individual cell voltages - if you have a dead cell, then it will trigger LVC. I had one of the headway BMS's (red PCB) blow a shunt transistor shorted, so it had one cell that got dragged down when the battery was sitting.

 

[competitions]

4 cells - no reading at all.

50% fail rate and very disappointing considering I've ridden the bike less than 20 times.

 

[ChinaPhil]

Suggest you try Paco again, normally he is quite good at responding to email - could be Chinese Lunar Year delay.

 

[competitions]

Suggest you try Paco again, normally he is quite good at responding to email - could be Chinese Lunar Year delay.

Thanks mate... he has emailed me back now and suggested sending back the pack and he would send a replacement (at what appears to be a reasonable cost), the only problem being that Aussie Post won't accept lithium batteries for sending overseas!

 

[kentlim26]

please check your battery voltage 1st .. what is the volts you tested on your battery pack ?your battery pack could be fine and okay, cyclone on 500watts kit , at times have this problem.when you connected your battery to the motor, it flash red link Blink , likely is the internal controller has a problem. check one.. Ensure the power red and black really goes to the motor. , if is still blink with red light,, (that doesn't mean your battery is weak or no power). i know this problem.. Is my battey has a problem,,? I run the other motor,, it runs!,, the other no run.. it is the controller has a problem, confirmed.

cyclone battery are good ones,, huge cells. 10c if im not wrong. Bmsbattery.com also has those kind of cells is 38140s, 10C out put too. the difference,, they have much better price compare.

cheers
kentlim

 

[heathyoung]

Well that sucks. 4 of 8 cells, probably the green PSI ones. Does it have a BMS? EMTB.com.au has 10AH lifepo4 cells at $25 each. These would be an ideal replacement.

 

[kentlim26]

wow.. $25.. that is very expensive.

market price now..
38140s for each cells is 12amps, 10c , Usd 17.50 Only.. for each cells 16amps Usd23.99 only.

sorry. I didn't read it carefully. 4cells is spoil.


kentlim

 

[heathyoung]

Yeah, but a trustworthy Australian supplier with warrantee is a useful commodity too.

Where are you seeing the 16Ah for 23usd?

 

[competitions]

Well that sucks. 4 of 8 cells, probably the green PSI ones. Does it have a BMS? EMTB.com.au has 10AH lifepo4 cells at $25 each. These would be an ideal replacement.

it sure does suck! they are the green ones - do they have a reputation for being crap?

thanks for the link... it appears to have a BMS as there is a circuit board mounted on the top of the batteries - although I have little faith the thing works. when you said an ideal replacement, do you mean to replace just the 4 stuffed ones or replace the lot of 8?

 

[heathyoung]

Depends on your budget. They would work fine as 4 of 8 but 8 of 8 would be a better idea.

EMTB has a pack 24V10AH that would work with your charger for $310 - These are headway packs. Blue cells, nicely put together.

The early PSI's did not have a favorable reputation. They are the green buggers - right?

If the BMS was halfway decent it should have disconnected the load at the LVC point, even if you had left the battery connected. Very poor show.

I gave up on LiFePo4 after killing a few packs, LiPo is a better way to go BUT its got a sting in its tail. You need individual LVC boards and balancing chargers (50W ones are CHEAP on fleabay, you will only be running 6 Series - half the weight and size of its equivalent energy in LiFePo4. The 500W setup can pull some pretty serious current, you are not the first person to kill one of these packs.

 

[kentlim26]

BMSbattery.com selling them, headway battery. 10C capable output. the common ones is 1 to 2c small battey cells.
lipo is the upcoming brand.. and is very famous used by serious ebike users. they are the lightest in weight for battery
pack.

i still used lifepo4 batteries, it is 10c out put. My draw from my hub motor max draw current is 32amps the most i ever seen.
and this is less then 2c.. so okay for most of normal battery and also works for any kinds of lifepo4 5c, or 10c.. lifepspan will not
be affected. max draw current is below 1600watts, and is 52km/h top speed.

kentlim

 

[competitions]

Depends on your budget. They would work fine as 4 of 8 but 8 of 8 would be a better idea.

EMTB has a pack 24V10AH that would work with your charger for $310 - These are headway packs. Blue cells, nicely put together.

The early PSI's did not have a favorable reputation. They are the green buggers - right?

If the BMS was halfway decent it should have disconnected the load at the LVC point, even if you had left the battery connected. Very poor show.

I gave up on LiFePo4 after killing a few packs, LiPo is a better way to go BUT its got a sting in its tail. You need individual LVC boards and balancing chargers (50W ones are CHEAP on fleabay, you will only be running 6 Series - half the weight and size of its equivalent energy in LiFePo4. The 500W setup can pull some pretty serious current, you are not the first person to kill one of these packs.

Yes, green ones. Useless Cyclone system, would not recommend it to anyone. Annoys me when I think what I paid for that rubbish could have been an eighth of a Stealth Fighter.

 

[FMB42]

Ya, Cyclone recommends their 24v 20ah HP Li-Ion battery for their 500w kits.


Quote from the Cyclone USA website:

"At cruising speeds, the motor will draw about 15-20 amps and when accelerating and climbing it can draw up to 40 amps. The 500 watt motor performs best when coupled with our high performance 24v 20Ahr Li-Ion battery. With this battery we have gone over 45 miles on level ground at average speeds of 15-18mph. Higher speeds and/or hilly terrain will reduce range from 20% to 50%."

"In order to achieve maximum performance from our 500 watt motor, you must use a battery that is capable of supplying sufficient current. Our 12v 18ahr SLA and our 24v 13ahr NiMH batteries are not recommended for use with the 500 watt motor. Using batteries that are too small will give poor climbing, slow top speeds, shorter range and may damage the motor controller."

 

[competitions]

Ya, Cyclone recommends their 24v 20ah HP Li-Ion battery for their 500w kits.


Quote from the Cyclone USA website:

"At cruising speeds, the motor will draw about 15-20 amps and when accelerating and climbing it can draw up to 40 amps. The 500 watt motor performs best when coupled with our high performance 24v 20Ahr Li-Ion battery. With this battery we have gone over 45 miles on level ground at average speeds of 15-18mph. Higher speeds and/or hilly terrain will reduce range from 20% to 50%."

"In order to achieve maximum performance from our 500 watt motor, you must use a battery that is capable of supplying sufficient current. Our 12v 18ahr SLA and our 24v 13ahr NiMH batteries are not recommended for use with the 500 watt motor. Using batteries that are too small will give poor climbing, slow top speeds, shorter range and may damage the motor controller."

Thanks, sounds like Cyclone Taiwan are selling useless kits then. When I bought mine, it had a 10AH battery, now they supply less with a 8AH battery.

 

[heathyoung]

Yes - the current draw on the 500W is excessive for a 24V battery. 8Ah is just plain stupid.

LiPo is a very good solution for these, especially if you are using it offroad an need low weight as well. I'd be getting some Turnigy 6S 5000mah packs (22.2V) and a cheap balancing charger. There are a few people selling the LVC circuits for these, I'm doing another run if you want to use an Aus supplier.

 

[competitions]

Yes - the current draw on the 500W is excessive for a 24V battery. 8Ah is just plain stupid.

LiPo is a very good solution for these, especially if you are using it offroad an need low weight as well. I'd be getting some Turnigy 6S 5000mah packs (22.2V) and a cheap balancing charger. There are a few people selling the LVC circuits for these, I'm doing another run if you want to use an Aus supplier.

Thanks, I'm feeling a bit disillusioned and disappointed with e-bikes after the way this kit turned out. Can you PM me the details please, although I'm not sure I'll proceed, throwing good money after bad isn't something I'm keen on!

 

[E-bike4life]

Look for good batteries for that kit here http://www.emissions-free.com/id47.html or here http://stores.headway-headquarters.com/-strse-BATTERY-PACKS/Categories.bok.

 

[StudEbiker]

Look for good batteries for that kit here http://www.emissions-free.com/id47.html or here http://stores.headway-headquarters.com/-strse-BATTERY-PACKS/Categories.bok.

I have a bike with a 360w Cyclone kit, which can still draw 40a. I am considering the Cell_man a123 packs, but the BMS is only good for 30a correct? Will there be problems trying to run the Cyclone kit on the A123 pack?? It is starting to seem like the only batteries that will play nice with a Cyclone is SLA and LiPo neither of which are very practical options for the application I am looking for. :|