battery charging

[Bobajob]

I am not that well up on lithium technology regarding recharging cycles.
I have a Yamaha battery with a supposedly life of 800 charges.
My question is if you charge from say 40/50/60% or whatever, does that count as a recharge?

 

[Nealh]

No.
Part charges are accumulative and not counted as one.
To reach the cycle figure it would take 8 years and two complete charges every week.

 

[Michael Love]

Am I correct in saying that for a specific distance using the e-bike, a bigger battery that does not have to be charged as often will last longer than a smaller battery that has to be charged every day?
I have not seen any seller mention this in their adverts.

 

[Nealh]

Tbh yes, but it does depend on the cells used in side and the battery cost.
The devil is in the specs detail of the battery.
Two batteries of different capacity e.g, 11.6ah v's say 17.4ah using the same 2900mah cells would certainly have different life cycles over the same distance. In part will be down to charge cycles but the main difference will be the DOD of each battery, the larger capacity battery will fair better as the voltage discharge will be better also it would have more cells in parallel( 11.6/4 cells vs 17.4 6 cells).

As I mentioned in #2 it takes quite few years to complete the actual cycles manufacturer's claim, though one thing I didn't make clear is they use a minimal current discharge test to claim these figures. Typically this is 0.2c of the cell mah, so for a 2900mah cell it would be a continuous 0.58a draw per cell.

 

[Deleted member 25121]

Am I correct in saying that for a specific distance using the e-bike, a bigger battery that does not have to be charged as often will last longer than a smaller battery that has to be charged every day?
I have not seen any seller mention this in their adverts.

A bigger battery is able to store more energy so it will allow you to ride for longer between charges.

 

[Sturmey]

Some suppliers consider a battery still serviceable if its capacity (state of health) is above 60% of its nominal capacity. (At least thats in the fine print of my two batteries). That seems to indicate that you could lose 40% of your range but the supplier could refuse to replace battery. Am I right about this?

 

[Deleted member 25121]

Some suppliers consider a battery still serviceable if its capacity (state of health) is above 60% of its nominal capacity. (At least thats in the fine print of my two batteries). That seems to indicate that you could lose 40% of your range but the supplier could refuse to replace battery. Am I right about this?

That is right.

 

[Yak]

Coming in a bit late, but Is it better to top up a battery say after each use rather than wait until it is mostly discharged before charging? My ride seems to sap 30-40pc of the charge, so I was going to recharge after the second ride, but if the battery lasts better the other way, it is easy enough for me to pop it on charge after each ride...thanks for any thoughts/experiences.

 

[Tarka]

The problem I have is the % indicator on the Bafang stays at 100% for miles and miles yet when it eventually drops to 25 to 30% if I climb a steep hill the indicator will drop to 0% and is red. Once over the hill it goes back up again. It's not like a fuel gauge in a car.

I find it best to go by actual mileage as I know roughly the range I get on a charge, depending upon terrain.

 

[Jonah]

Coming in a bit late, but Is it better to top up a battery say after each use rather than wait until it is mostly discharged before charging? My ride seems to sap 30-40pc of the charge, so I was going to recharge after the second ride, but if the battery lasts better the other way, it is easy enough for me to pop it on charge after each ride...thanks for any thoughts/experiences.

Probably best to top up each time. Note it is best not to leave it fully charged and unused, ideally charge it up as close to when you are going to ride it as possible.

 

[Yak]

Im sure I’ll get to that point when I just ‘know’ when, but still wondered if charging is best done little and often, or deep discharge/recharge. For my Makita drill, the batteries just don’t care and I ve abused that poor thing and it laps up whatever I hand out. It’s 12 years old and they still hold charge almost like new (and I was a builder).

 

[Yak]

Aha! Thanks Jonah. We’re allowed out to ride here now in Spain so hope to be riding every other day. I’ve read on here about storing batteries (that thread morphed into a lockdown row, but I got the gist).

 

[kris2020]

I know this is a long shot. I just came into a Giant Revive Spirit with Panasonic motor and battery charger. The bike was in storage for about 15 years with very little use before. (nubs still on the tires) The key to the battery compartment has probably been lost. Giant no longer has parts. Any suggestions to getting battery out and last I read it was possible to replace battery (if indeed it is no longer good) with maybe a LiFePO4 pack. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Nealh]

Locksmith ?
Drill it out or possibly a thin blade drive in there and a pair of mole grips tp force turn the lock, then refit a new barrel /lock.

 

[Tarka]

Search for LockPickingLawyer on Youtube and find the type of lock you have.

For the rest of us, understand just how insecure locks in general are.

 

[kris2020]

I know this is a long shot. I just came into a Giant Revive Spirit with Panasonic motor and battery charger. The bike was in storage for about 15 years with very little use before. (nubs still on the tires) The key to the battery compartment has probably been lost. Giant no longer has parts. Any suggestions to getting battery out and last I read it was possible to replace battery (if indeed it is no longer good) with maybe a LiFePO4 pack. Any help is appreciated.

So we were able to take the whole battery cover off and unscrew the lock from the inside. Now onto the battery. It was sitting in garage for about 15 years. Battery charger was in a house. The charger was tested today and it has small amount of charge but after plugging battery in for 3 hours we think there is nothing. Any one know if there is a replaceable size battery. The last mentioned was the LiFePO4 about 5 years ago? I know nothing about this stuff so any help is great thanks.

 

[Michael Price]

You could try https://ebikebatteries.co.uk/ to get the battery recelled
They could also advise on the charger to check it is working OK