Hi.I know its been asked before but what is THE BEST WAY to charge/condition a new Battery !!!!!!!! its off a Freego Eagle and its 36v - 16amp.
Regards Steve
Regards Steve
Mine was a FordAllegedly running it flat (or as flat as the BMW allows)
According to the FreeGo manual, you need to fully charge the battery first, then do the 3-5 charge/discharge cycles to get the battery to come up to full capacity. BUT Most dealers would have already done this before selling you the bike/battery.Allegedly running it flat (or as flat as the BMW allows) and then charging it up to full for 3-5 cycles is best for them. In reality I've never seen any real world evidence to support this on modern lithium chemistry batteries.
I do not believe that a dealer has time to run down and recharge a 16amp battery 3 to 5 times. With a 50mile range, this could be up to 250 miles of riding. The customer letting the battery go down to the last light on the control and then recharging 3 to 5 times is more realistic. Following the guidelines in the manual will maximize your battery life in most cases.According to the FreeGo manual, you need to fully charge the battery first, then do the 3-5 charge/discharge cycles to get the battery to come up to full capacity. BUT Most dealers would have already done this before selling you the bike/battery.
To get optimum life out of the battery most sources state it is best not to discharge the battery past 80% DOD
Hi Thamossy,I've a couple more questions about batteries that I hope someone can help with.
The first is about the use of chargers for different Li-ion and LiFePo4 batteries. In the family we now have 3 electric bike conversions – two with Li-ion batteries and one using LiFePo4 – and the batteries each came supplied with an independent charger. However, ALL chargers deliver the same charging rate, 42V at 2A, and I’m wondering whether there’s any reason one charger could not be used to charge all three batteries. I’m thinking specifically of taking just one charger when we’re on holiday.
My only worry is in the case of the LifePo4 battery where the charger has a case that’s kind of “universal” and which could be marked with an appropriate red dot for charging either Lead-acid, Lipo (I assume Li-ion), or LiFePo4. That tends to imply it’s important to match charger and battery and that current/voltage characteristics aren’t the only criterion important for charging.
So, I wonder if the charger and battery BMS need to be carefully matched, and whether I could use one charger indiscriminately.
The second question is about delivering a less than maximum charge to the battery so as to increase its longevity. Charging to only 80% is recommended in a few places and since our batteries are rarely fully discharged when we’re out riding, charging to only around 80-90% seems a sensible thing to do, especially because an extra year or more of use would save quite a few pennies!
Hi Emo,
You are correct, there is no longer any need to put the battery through any charge discharge cycles now. The latest lithium batteries dont need this kind of conditioning, however they will improve a little over the first few uses.
I have just looked at the latest 2014 Kalkhoff Agattu Impulse manual and it says to run down battery 3 times initially to get best use. Comments anyone?