Lime scooter battery

[MarkusAntonius]

I have been given a 48v/963.48Wh Lime scooter battery by someone who could not get it going (yeah I know it’s was most likely stolen), it tests 50v and around 4.1v each cell bank but no voltage on the yellow connector.
My guess is that it needs an ECU to wake it or get an output or to charge it?
I am looking at converting my bike to e-bike and this would make a great power bank - if I can get it to work.
Any useful ideas on getting it going ?

 

[gromike]

Not promoting using hot batteries, but to harvest the cells' power you would need to replace the battery's bms.

 

[MarkusAntonius]

I was hoping to be able to use it “as is” since it is in a very solid case and replacing the BMS would probably mean making a new case for it but yes, that was my next option.

 

[pwd]

I would attempt charging it for a few seconds and see what you get.

 

[Risky Rob]

You're probably up against anti-theft technology.

 

[docw009]

There is a canbus connector just in front of the XT90, The battery probably needs to be turned on by a controller in the scooter. Maybe you can google and find a simple canbus hack, but I doubt it.

It's a shame to not use that BMS, probably far better made than abything you can buy, It's also pretty hard to remove them, Cut the B0=B14 tabs off where they contact the cells. Maybe the BMS will lift off.

 

[MarkusAntonius]

Charging / discharging = nothing. I tried a suggestion on another group to try grounding the RST &/or Vcc pins to see if I could reset it that way but seemingly nothing, however…..
The electronic fuse (bottom LH circle) is open circuit but before I could try bypassing it I noticed that the IC in the Yellow circle was getting really hot which gave me a bit of a scare, so I just completely unsoldered and removed the BMS.

I might try playing with it some more by just hooking up 12 individual cells but not hopeful. There probably was a good reason it was dumped under some bushes….
Anyways - what are some good (48v) BMS to look for, for a bike conversion? (probably front wheel for simplicity)

 

[Bikeronin]

I’ve been noticing around central London Lime e-bike batteries just lying around on the pavement, especially near the bike parking areas, there’s been one sitting behind John Lewis on Oxford Street for a while now up for grabs.

Why buy batteries when you can just take it off the street? lol

Have you converted this one to a usable E bike battery yet or a new BMS?

 

[Apartunis]

I have messed with old dockless rental packs before. Despite usually being made from top shelf cells and other components, they are lousy with anti-tamper features including sometimes red negative, black positive wires. I decided they were only worth the time they consume if I were in a desperate situation.

For cell harvesting, they are a pretty good bet. Good cell quality and usually short service life. If the size and voltage of the pack work for you, then it could be worth installing a new BMS but keeping the cell connections.

 

[MarkusAntonius]

I’ve been noticing around central London Lime e-bike batteries just lying around on the pavement, especially near the bike parking areas, there’s been one sitting behind John Lewis on Oxford Street for a while now up for grabs.

Why buy batteries when you can just take it off the street? lol

Have you converted this one to a usable E bike battery yet or a new BMS?

Not yet - still need to buy a BMS for it. I just removed the existing BMS off it so long And there is enough space to fit a decent replacement one.
I also still need to get the parts to convert my bike anyway.

 

[99t4]

I’ve been noticing around central London Lime e-bike batteries just lying around on the pavement, especially near the bike parking areas

Interesting. I live in a high crime area but don't see rental batteries laying about. See plenty of rental ebikes, scooters, and a new model that looks like an ebike but instead of crank and pedals it has stationary platforms/ mini running boards for the feet. Think I'll call them scikes or maybe booters? (combination scooter/bike or bike/scooter)

They might be graffitied up beyond recognition, but with batteries intact.

Why are there loose batteries in your area?

 

[Bikeronin]

Not yet - still need to buy a BMS for it. I just removed the existing BMS off it so long And there is enough space to fit a decent replacement one.
I also still need to get the parts to convert my bike anyway.

I’ve been looking into solderless or modular battery systems for e-bikes because I’m not quite confident enough with BMS design and full pack assembly yet.

I came across a “Powerwall”-style solderless kit concept that’s somewhat similar to what Grin (e-bike.ca) does where each series group is its own module and you can stack parallel groups to increase capacity. It’s a really elegant idea. Being able to drop in cells and expand the pack without spot welding makes a lot of sense from a serviceability standpoint.

I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t become more mainstream as a consumer product — something properly engineered, vibration-safe, and scalable where you can just stack additional capacity as needed.

p.s.

This battery pack is just laying there behind John Lewis if anybody wants to grab it, I went to double check if it’s still there and it’s still there! 1 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0LA

 

[MarkusAntonius]

That is the exact pack I got. Nice thick alli case too.

 

[rikoswave]

I have been given a 48v/963.48Wh Lime scooter battery by someone who could not get it going (yeah I know it’s was most likely stolen), it tests 50v and around 4.1v each cell bank but no voltage on the yellow connector.
My guess is that it needs an ECU to wake it or get an output or to charge it?
I am looking at converting my bike to e-bike and this would make a great power bank - if I can get it to work.
Any useful ideas on getting it going ?

Short the negative terminal and pin 4 (the one between the positive and negative terminals) this should unlock the full voltage

THese pins are easiest accessible on the outside of the battery with the case on

 

[MarkusAntonius]

Thanks but I have removed the BMS since I noticed one of the ic’s started getting hot.
Useful for future reference though.

 

[User6969]

I have a very similar looking smaller 36V version of this scooter battery, bought it second hand. I ended up replacing the BMS with a Daly 20A BMS and 3D printing a light case so i can carry it in panniers easily. The new BMS would have fit in the original case with some angle grinding.

I also dumped the firmware on the Atmel SAMD21 microcontroller on the BMS. It was not locked. If you want to reuse the BMS you could dump it with a Raspberry Pi Pico (Picoprobe) and try to reverse engineer the firmware to see what CAN commands are needed to unlock it.
There also is a BMS IC on my PCB (BQ76930) that drives the charge and discharge mosfets. Its controlled via I2C by the Atmel SAMD

 

[MarkusAntonius]

Interesting.

 

[mindgames11]

oh is that from those where the battery is in a steel case that looks like it should pop right out of the scooter body? someone gave me a partial one of these scooters (" yo you want this? I know you like this kinda shit, I cant get it to do nuthin no more.") and I've had it sitting at my parents place after playing crowbar with it for a little while and now it's waiting for me to come back and use the angle grinder to cut it free somehow. I guess there's some kind of wireless activated release or something.. im interested to see what it is.

 

[MarkusAntonius]

These are aluminum cases, just a bunch of screws holding them together. they come apart quite easily with the right tool.

 

[jsauce454]

Hi a little late to the party but for anyone else wondering on how to get a lime battery GEN 4 going all you have to do is run a thick jumper wire from B+ to P+/C+ and from B- to P-/C- **Make sure your controller has battery under voltage protection or else you will kill the battery as this essentially bypasses the BMS for the power output** and then you charge it through the same wires as power output and the BMS will still balance the cellsView attachment 612.jpg

 

[MarkusAntonius]

Thanks, that’s handy to know.

 

[User6969]

Hi a little late to the party but for anyone else wondering on how to get a lime battery GEN 4 going all you have to do is run a thick jumper wire from B+ to P+/C+ and from B- to P-/C- **Make sure your controller has battery under voltage protection or else you will kill the battery as this essentially bypasses the BMS for the power output** and then you charge it through the same wires as power output and the BMS will still balance the cellsView attachment 389159

Just dont forget to install a fuse if you wire it like this so it doesnt catch fire when the controller shorts out.
Id rather install a daly BMS instead of bridging it to have some protection while charging

 

[izrailovalex]

Vergiss nur nicht, eine Sicherung einzubauen, wenn du es so verkabelst, damit es nicht in Brand gerät, wenn der Controller einen Kurzschluss verursacht.