Ping 2.0 Reports

[ZapPat]

Actually 1 killowatt is still a pretty expensive setup. Like a thou in us dollars, and will pay off at a rate of about a dime a day, so it still takes years to break even. Nevertheless, totally green transportation- Priceless.

You actually don't need a 1 kW panel, you just need a panel sized to charge in the amount of time you want it to (that is 1kW-hour total). This could be 100W X 10 hours, etc...

Too bad the newest Pings have the old BMS. I had wondered why the specs really hadn't changed from the old ones when the cells were supposed to have a higher discharge rate. Maybe when the new bms comes out, maybe the newest packs can be retrofitted so a higher discharge rate could be done without reducing the number of cycles the pack delivers. Something in the range of 35 amps rated, 50 amps continuous would then make the use of a Phoenix motor ok, or maybe with two batteries or more parralelled, etek motorcycles. Since Lifepo4 lasts for years, my plan is to buy some every year for some time, till I have enough to make a bigger ev.

Even with the old BMS my 48V-20Ah pack will give the maximum that these cells can give safely, and that's 2C discharge continous, so 40 Amps continous. At 48V we're talking about almost 2000W of power - more than enough for most bike users. And personnaly I don't see much of a point in going to 72Volts, since I don't want to go so fast as to have the wind steal all my energy anyways. I'd rather have more current available for extra hill-climbing and acceleration torque (and extra range), so if I do add to this 48V pack, it would be in parallel, which the present BMS has no problem doing right now.

 

[dogman dan]

Yup, posting too early in the morning. 100 watts would make a killowatt in 10 hours, if you keep turning it into the sun. I get real good insolation in NM so we get the equivilant of 6 hours a day average for the year. That costs more like 2 or 3 hundred. Green energy, still priceless.

Your 48v 20 ah battery is what I keep recomending people buy, since most bikes will do most of the discharging under 1c , and make the battery go even more cycles. I'm sure mine pulls 30 amps or more when I climb a hill with my 36v 20 ah ping, and hopefullly that is under 2c so I'm not actually damaging the battery. I have never had it cut out. But if buying a bit bigger battery makes it last longer, AND allows even more replacement of the car, I think buying the 10ah sise is just poor economy, saving a few hundred here only to spend thousands there. I love the idea of being a guy who 10 years from now can say, yeah I got one of the first duct tape lifepo4's and look it's still running today but with less range. I'd put it in a museum, but it still works too good to retire.

As for the bms, it is fine for my bike too, but if the new cells are that good, it would be nice to get all the benefit, if you have the kind of bike or scooter that needs it. I'm sure mr Ping will deliver as soon as he can.

 

[paul-home]

Sadly, In the UK we dont get enough sun to get 1kwh from a 100w panel in a day. Nowhere near in fact more like 250wh on a pretty good day.
Regarding the payback of solar recharged EVs, I look at it as cost of petrol and car maintenance vs cost of panel & bike. I think I could buy a new electric bike every 18 months and still save money. Its great to have found this place where like minded people from all over the world are exchanging ideas about this remarkable and fast evolving technology.

 

[jha07]

According to Ping, my pack has been shipped to Hong Kong through UPS. I guess I should have it in a week. Question for those of you that have bought Ping packs. Did UPS charge you a huge brokerage fee? I'm a bit worried due to my previous experiences with UPS.

 

[ururk]

According to Ping, my pack has been shipped to Hong Kong through UPS. I guess I should have it in a week. Question for those of you that have bought Ping packs. Did UPS charge you a huge brokerage fee? I'm a bit worried due to my previous experiences with UPS.

I didn't. Plus, it took only 3 or 4 days to arrive (Michigan).

 

[jha07]

I'm happy to say I recieved my new Ping battery, but now I have a question. I have the charger hooked up, but I can't tell if it's actually charging. Are the lights suppose to changer color, or is the fan suppose to turn on? Nothing changes on the charger when I connect it to the battery. Both leds on the charger are red.
The battery voltage is at 49V (48V pack), could it be that the battery is already full charged that therefore not accepting a charge?

 

[jha07]

I was wrong about both LED's on the charger being red. One is red, one is green. But neither change when the battery is connected. So I still don't know if it's charging. The battery voltage don't seem to change. What color should the LED's be when charging, and what color when charging is done?

 

[ZapPat]

I was wrong about both LED's on the charger being red. One is red, one is green. But neither change when the battery is connected. So I still don't know if it's charging. The battery voltage don't seem to change. What color should the LED's be when charging, and what color when charging is done?

I just got mine too, and the charger has two leds: one red for power, and another red/green one to indicate charging/done respectively. My 48V Ping pack is at about 55V after removing minimal surface charge, but the charger charges until about 60V or so before turning off and lighting the green led (this will cycle on/off if left plugged in - I presume this might be good for balancing the cells).

Are you sure you are using the right pins on the 3 pin connector that was provided with the charger? There are only two that are used, so use your multimeter to test for + and -. Use the special charging negative wire on you battery too when charging.

I'll be posting about my pack's performance after I get a chance to try it out.

Good luck!

 

[recumbent]

... Are you sure you are using the right pins on the 3 pin connector? There are only two that are used, so use your multimeter to test for + and -. Use the special charging negative wire on you battery too when charging.

Special negative wire on the battery?
My 48V charger only has two wires also, but none are more special than the other, am i missing something?

 

[wasp]

" I'd put it in a museum"...lmao
next we will have autografed by ping...
no disrespect intended just thought it was funny

as for the guy talking about following the sun with his solar panels
using recaptured freon and some tubing you can create a almost free
sutracker and get max yield from your panels...jmo

thx wasp

 

[ZapPat]

... Are you sure you are using the right pins on the 3 pin connector? There are only two that are used, so use your multimeter to test for + and -. Use the special charging negative wire on you battery too when charging.

Special negative wire on the battery?
My 48V charger only has two wires also, but none are more special than the other, am i missing something?

Sorry, I was not very clear there.

I meant the battery's special negative charging wire, since as you say there are only two wires used on the charger (although it has an unmarked three wire connector just to make things confusing for anyone not owning a multi-meter).

BTW, does anyone know if it bad or impossible to use the regular negative wire (non-recharging one) on ping's battery packs to pump energy back into the pack, such as with a regen setup? If no one knows, I think I'll cut open the BMS's shrink wrap to check out the circuit.

 

[nomad85]

I was wrong about both LED's on the charger being red. One is red, one is green. But neither change when the battery is connected. So I still don't know if it's charging. The battery voltage don't seem to change. What color should the LED's be when charging, and what color when charging is done?

Both LED's will be red when it is charging. I bet you have it hooked up wrong. I paralleled a positive wire from the main positive battery wire and used a different connector for only 2 wires.

 

[jha07]

I definitely have all the wires hooked up right. I removed the connector on the charger so there's no chances of using the wrong pin.
I've been in contact with Ping and he has asked me to check the voltages coming from the battery to BMS. I won't be able to check it until tonight but I'll let you know what I find.

 

[jha07]

I measured all the cell voltages coming from the pack to the BMS and 1 of the 16 reads 0V. Ping thinks that the BMS was bad and caused this.
He has offered to ship me a new pack after I send him this pack back, or send me new cells and BMS to repair it. In addition, he would send me a 5A charger for my troubles if I chose to repair it myself. It would be quicker for me to repair it, so I'm thinking that's what I'll do. My only concern is that I might do some damage to the pack while trying to replace the cells. Has anyone unwrapped a new ping pack? I'm just wondering how delicate the cells are. I have good soldering skills, but I'm still a bit worried.

 

[dogman dan]

I think there is some posts about ping repairs in those endless duct tape threads. Do you figure it was shipping damage? Ping is pretty good about testing before shipping , unlike most of china.

 

[jha07]

I don't think the damage was caused by shipping. There was no obvious sign of physical damage on the pack.
I'm going to unwrap the pack tonight and re-measure the voltage directly from the cell. After the pack is unwrapped, I think I'll know if this is something I can fix.

 

[nomad85]

Can you get a picture of the pack and charger wiring?

 

[jha07]

Can you get a picture of the pack and charger wiring?

I could, but there's not that much to see. The pack has 3 wires, a common positive, and two negatives, one for charge, one for discharge. And the charger has 2 wires, pos and neg.

 

[jha07]

I opened up the pack last night and measured the cell voltage directly. One group of cells are definitely bad. I unsoldered the bad cells and removed them from the pack. It wasn't that difficult, but the cell tabs are fed through a slot in a small circuit board and soldered, so to removed them without breaking the tabs was a bit time consuming. The group of bad cells were located at the corner of the pack, and looked a bit misshaped. I told this to Ping and suggested that maybe the damage was cause by shock during shipping, since those cells were at the corner. He didn't think the cells were that weak and still thinks the fault lies with the BMS.
He will be sending me replacing parts tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to give a proper report on the performance soon. Can't wait till i can ditch my NiMh pack. I've only got maybe 150 cycles on them and they seem to already be dropping off in performance.

 

[dogman dan]

I agree, the bms may have allowed some cells to overdischarge. With lifepo4 that is death for em. One of my many dead chargers worked perfectly one time and then mysteriously quit, without leaking smoke. So something like that must have happened to your bms. Stuff happens unfortunatley. Surely it worked fine when he boxed it up.

I just crossed the 1,200 mile mark on my Ping, and it works good as new. Worked too good actually, letting me ride far enough in hot weather to kill a hubmotor.

 

[sandmanhi]

I wish I was in the situation of taking advantage of the "25% Cashback on Anything* Bought at eBay" promotion that is outlined at http://www.mymoneyblog.com so I could buy one of these. Unfortunately, I don't have the cash in Paypal right now and I don't know if it will still be around by the time I get money transferred in. But 25% off of a ping pack sounds like a cool deal to me.

 

[miro13car]

UPS charged me around $30 for batt and charger /8kg/ from Taiwan to Canada.
Best

 

[grwsaltspring]

Hi Miro;

Which pack and charger was that? I live in BC so am interested in the UPS charges.

Cheers Greg

 

[swbluto]

Whenever anyone gets the ping 2.0 battery, can a battery capacity test for real-life bicycling be done? I'm interested in seeing how they compare to their rated specs. My 1.0 version seems to be much lower than what it's rated at.

 

[olaf-lampe]

I agree, the bms may have allowed some cells to overdischarge. With lifepo4 that is death for em.

Not exactly true, dogman. A few weeks ago I read a Valence test report and they discharged their LiFePOs to 0V and kept them at that level for several weeks. After a slow recharge the cells where as good as new.

Don't try this at home
Olaf