Ryobi One+ Electric Bike Build

i have a feeling this build wont fit out the door of your house! Nothing against anything your doing...

But it seems from the looks of things you have enough knowledge/skill in electronics to just open the Ryobi one batteries and take the NICD cells out of them and just build a normal battery pack for a Ebike that would fit in the triangle of your frame and be way easier to charge, nevermind it would weigh atleast 40 pounds less and handle so much better.

are you trying to not open the packs for a warranty issue? so you can keep returning/exchanging them at home depot?

not sure how true this is but i also hear Ryobi's source of cells is second hand/used stuff that didnt pass QC with other tool manufacturers? anyone else hear this?

good luck with your build! keep us posted!
 
LOL! It will fit through the door. It's not as big as it looks, the front picture shows it's not that big. And as far as weight, with all the guys on here talking about how they weigh over 250 lbs, i don't think weight is an issue. :D

Yeah, I could take all the batteries out of the plastic and just roll them all up into 1 gigantic tape ball, but that's a hobby. This is my car. I need something that doesn't take me 8 hours on the weekend to change out 1 bad cell. I don't have time to kill like that.
 
Finished off the top with a hinged lid. I took this idea from my first design....just like having an easy way to the electronics. I'll mount the Crystalyte controller on this hinged lid like I did last time. I also added an aluminum bar across the top in the front and back of the box for added support. This is in addition to the steel angle braces.


Box with top closed.JPG

Box with top Open.JPG
 
I have spent a lot of time working on the guts of the battery box. I finished one side of the box, wired up each battery to a DPDT switch so that I can independently switch each battery from "Battery Engaged" to "Charging". In the photos below, each section of 4 switches represents one level of the battery box (or one 72V string of NiCads in other words). So far 3 sections complete, 3 more to go. So in total there will be 6 parallel strings or 24 NiCads.

Switch Panel.JPG

 
Definitely the heaviest!
 
So I've been working on dampening the shock to the box and the electronics inside. I had this big piece of packing foam so I put a layer of gorilla tape over it and put it between the battery box and the base board. I'll see how well it works.

Base1.JPG

Foam2.JPG


I have heard a lot of guys complain that the controllers can't absorb alot of shock so I've been experimenting with a way to dampen the shock to the controller. This is some soft bumpy foam that I have the controller riding on. I think I'm going to try this for now.

View attachment 1

Rear1.JPG
 
I would stay away from any national monuments, they might think you are going to bomb them with that thing! LOL ! very nice dedication and construction though!
 
Wow I didnt like carrying 40lbs of Thundersky. I got a problem carrying 20lbs of Lipo. Seems like yo got 20lbs wrapped up in wood.. not even counting batteries... but very impressive build either way.
 
Finally got the switch panel completed and wired up. Everything is wired in order so I know which battery I am switching from RUN - OUT OF SERVICE - CHARGE (it's a DPDT, "center off" switch so I'm able to disconnect a battery completely from the Controller or Charging circuitry). The picture below shows everything in the "RUN" position.

SwitchPanel.JPG

Each bank of 4 switches represents one of the banks on the battery box. There are a total of 6 banks, 3 on the left side and 3 on the right. Each bank is approx. 82 Volts when the batteries are fully charged.

Here's a couple of photos from the side. My son's cat wanted to get some camera action also.

SideView1.JPG

SideView2.JPG

I took the bike for a spin this afternoon. I kept it under 20 mph since I'm only running two banks right now and don't want to stress the batteries. I'm very happy with the foam suspension for the battery box and the motor controller. I hits some rough road bumps and I didn't hear any rattling and knocking sounds so I believe this is going to work very well to cushion the electronics and batteries from the hard bumps.

Next, I will be adding a hinged battery cover to each side to protect the batteries from the weather. You guys start buying Ryobi stock because I'm getting ready to start buying batteries for my battery box. :lol:
 
It looks better than I thought it would, but there is no way those Ryobi batteries are cheaper than Lipo. If your Ryobi battery dies, you throw your drill out and just buy a new one for the same price as the packs they sell in Home Depot.

Interesting pack arrangement you have, perhaps your day job is as a street vendor? :mrgreen: if the batteries don't work, you could always sell sunglasses or jewelry out of the box. :lol:
 
No, I'll never go back to LIPO. I was reading a post on the forum earlier, not sure who it was, but they were commenting how fragile the LIPO batteries are. He said a LIPO rated 20C is more like 5C, and I believe it. I think that is why I burned up my first 20C LIPO pack. I thought it would be 100Amps MAX, and it was more like 25Amps Max. I think that is why HobbyKing is so CHEAP....the quality is very sub par. I used to wonder why hobbyking prices is about 1/2 to 1/3 the prices of other LIPO vendors....well now I know. But maybe even the expensive LIPO packs are just as low quality and fragile as hobbyking.

Not sure what etard means by buy another drill if a Ryobi battery goes bad. I'm buying the 2 Pack of NiCds which are going for $59 now at Home Depot. They were $50 several weeks ago, but the american dollar is rapidly dying so prices are rising.

I'll start the charging system soon. Each battery can be Charged/Discharged independently. The discharging circuit will be used to "recondition" the NiCd which must be done from time to time. Also, since each charging circuit is independent and microcontroller controlled, I can switch out NiCds for the Ryobi Lithium Ions as time goes by. I can program the microcontroller to switch between NiCd or Lithium, per battery position so everything is independent. Although, I may find that the NiCds perform just fine.
 
I love the plug in drill battery concept....and I love the ingenuity and the skills :) workmanship looks great!

as for street vending, I think second hand paperbacks is the way to go with this build.

I gotta wonder about the weight though......how much does that structure weigh once it's loaded?
 
EVBiker2000 said:
No, I'll never go back to LIPO. I was reading a post on the forum earlier, not sure who it was, but they were commenting how fragile the LIPO batteries are. He said a LIPO rated 20C is more like 5C, and I believe it. I think that is why I burned up my first 20C LIPO pack. I thought it would be 100Amps MAX, and it was more like 25Amps Max. I think that is why HobbyKing is so CHEAP....the quality is very sub par. I used to wonder why hobbyking prices is about 1/2 to 1/3 the prices of other LIPO vendors....well now I know. But maybe even the expensive LIPO packs are just as low quality and fragile as hobbyking.

fine.
Click to expand...

Wow if you can support your claim then dont spit out the criticism. I have 12 Turnigy lipos. All arrived perfect. No balance issues. They put out what they advertise and just because I can dump 400-500A constant in my setup doesnt mean I go seeking for a setup to milk every last drop of performance. I only ask 60A from my setup which is only askin 3C out of my 66v 20AH pack. Fragile... I dont expect them to take a bullet but I did go the extra mile to protect my packs wit a DIY hardcase for them. I dont know what you were doing but you obviously werent a canidate for lipo and just trashing it because of your insecurities with it.
 
Hmm?.. it will be interesting to get some honest feedback from you on these Ryobi packs after a few months use.
I have had some dissapointing experiences with cordless drill batteries ( why are there so many available as customer warranty returns ?) that dont last long before refusing to take a charge.
With the quantities you are using, i would be surprised if you dont experience a few "duds" ...
...but i guess you can always unplug them and get a warranty replacement ! :lol:
 
Hillhater said:
Hmm?.. it will be interesting to get some honest feedback from you on these Ryobi packs after a few months use.
I have had some dissapointing experiences with cordless drill batteries ( why are there so many available as customer warranty returns ?) that dont last long before refusing to take a charge.
With the quantities you are using, i would be surprised if you dont experience a few "duds" ...
...but i guess you can always unplug them and get a warranty replacement ! :lol:
Click to expand...

yeah, I will keep you guys posted. I ain't married to any technology here. I divorced Mrs. LIPO, I'll divorce Mrs. NiCd if things don't work out. This is all fun and experimental. I just want something that is easy to keep it going. I don't want to have to order batteries from Hong Kong. And after reading some great information on NiCds, I think the technology has been very misunderstood by the masses. It requires some very careful upkeep just like Lithium but when it first came out I don't think the manufacturers wanted people to have to deal with the upkeep...plus it sold more NiCds if people didn't understand the proper care and feeding of NiCds.

I can say one thing, the Ryobi battery is tough! I took the bike out tonight for a ride, after 4 miles one of the Ryobi's managed to shake lose from it's connector when I was going out 20 mph (I don't have the battery box covers on yet). I heard this CLUNK CLACK CLUNK sound behind me and look back and saw one of the Ryobi's bouncing down the street. I went back to pick it up and it had knicks and scuff marks all over it. I stuck it back in the box and off I went without any problems. :lol:
 
dude this is awesome. i admire your dedication. i love wacky toolpack builds. i ran around on a 2s setup my very first ebike battery powering my 4011. A whopping 12-15mph, but got me around town for a few miles at a charge and gave me my first ev grin. they didn't last long those poor batts. :wink:

DSCN3469.JPG
 
Oh man, two 18V Ryobi's in series? Yeah, I'm sure those Ryobi's were ready to RIP after a few weeks of that. :lol: since I only have two 72 Volt banks in parallel right now, I'm afraid to ride it much. According to my CA, I was pulling 30 Amps MAX at one point the other night, which is 15 amps from each bank and I don't feel comfortable doing that to my Ryobi's. Once I get all six banks of batteries, then pulling 30 amps is only 5 amps from each bank and I believe the Ryobi's can handle 5 amps through them for short durations such as climbing a hill. When I'm cruising at 20 mph, I pull about 8 to 9 amps total, so with 6 banks going that is a little over 1 amp per bank and that is no problem for these batteries. It's nothing to be proud of, but it will suffice for me since this is basically a second car for me on the days when the weather is good.
 
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