Battery Care

[LesleyA]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone could advise on best way to ensure good health of bike batteries when only infrequent leisure users. Thinking of picking up a couple of ebikes and looking for deals at the moment, but know that batteries don't like being idle and with winter coming, they may be laid up for weeks at a time. Even in summer, they would be weekend use anyway.

Any tips and tricks on best way to care for batteries please?

 

[Michael Price]

the main wisdom seems to say to keep it indoors and don't keep it outside, especially in cold weather.
If it is unlikely to be used for several weeks try and store it at about 50% charge
but - most importantly - do not allow the charge to drop too much so keep an eye on it

Personally we have 2 ebikes - mine gets used several times a week but my wife's seldom gets used - especially over the winter.
I tend to take her ebike out every few weeks to keep the battery from getting too static. Basically I fully charge it then take it out for about 10-15 miles at max assistance level so the charge gets used up a bit.
If the weather it good I will do a longer run until it is almost used up - then charge until it is about 50% before putting it back in the drawer.

 

[flecc]

I top up all lithium batteries, not just e-bike ones, every two months and maintain a calender card to ensure I don't miss one. They don't like being idle for three or more months which is when they can fail.

I don't worry too about part charging like 50% etc for storage and that has never cost me. Neglect rather than too much attention is what leads to premature failure.
.

 

[mike killay]

I top up all lithium batteries, not just e-bike ones, every two months and maintain a calender card to ensure I don't miss one. They don't like being idle for three or more months which is when they can fail.

I don't worry too about part charging like 50% etc for storage and that has never cost me. Neglect rather than too much attention is what leads to premature failure.
.

I always keep my bike batteries fully charged. One is now 9 years old and still going strong.
I didn't know about not leaving them in the cold. Mine have lived happily in the garage for years.

 

[Nealh]

Batteries are fine in the cold dry garage, damp is what they don't like.
Storing in a cold dry garage is good but charging isn't, so by all means in the garage is fine but remember to allow the battery to acclimatise indoors before charging.
Store at approx. 40 - 70% of voltage but it isn't overly important. What is, is that one checks battery % state every month or two and simply put the battery on charge for 10 mins to make sure all is ok.
Battery cells are transported from the manufactures at any thing from 3.5v - 3.7v per cell and they can be at sea or sat in warehouses for many many months.

 

[Michael Price]

I have read about avoiding the cold - but on thinking about it my old bike was stored in the shed for years and the batteries seemed to be fine - so maybe the cold isn't too bad when storing them

 

[Nealh]

Storing Li batterie's in the cold is fine but charging them when they are stone cold isn't.