Cheap Battery Option For Ezee - Advice Appreciated

[cyclefan]

Hi everyone. Just wondered if any of you technical guys could help me. I have an Ezee Forza and I'm looking to buy a Lifepo4 battery. I know Ping batteries have a great reputation and am considering that. I just wondered if this battery might be worth a try, but I'm not the best with the technical specification. Fairly light for a 20ah battery and the feedback looks good. Any thoughts on this one ?

LiFePO4 36V 20AH Battery Charger BMS Rechargeable Power Outdoor Scooter 7-8 Week | eBay

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Good find. It looks like a good battery for the money. You just need to think about where you're going to put it. I've got a 20aH Ping battery on a rack and it makes the bike a bit top heavy. Your rack will be a bit lower than mine, so should be better.

 

[cyclefan]

Thanks for your reply. I think I may give it a go at that price. 6.8kg doesn't seem overly heavy for 20ah so I'd probably try it on the rack.

I know it's been said a thousand times before but I just don't understand why a 14ah battery is 500 quid in the uk when it too is coming from ....china...I know you get a warranty, but it seems like an expensive warranty to me. It's frustrating isn't it when you try so hard to save money and run into brick walls ! Either a flat batter or a flat wallet

Ps. How are you finding the Ping battery is working out range wise ? What bike do you have it on ?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Ps. How are you finding the Ping battery is working out range wise ? What bike do you have it on ?

It's difficult to talk about range because I've never run it down past 12aH, and besides that, it depends how hard you pedal. With my old 10aH battery, I used to pedal moderately hard during my 30 mile commute, and I used 5 to 6aH. I always needed to keep a bit in reserve because the last part of the journey is a 2 mile uphill. Since my Ping, I've become lazy and rarely exert myself. That's why it's gone up a lot. Also I average about 16mph now compared with about 14 mph before. In summary, I'd say that it should do a very comfortable (in the way of not pedaling hard) 50 miles provided that it's not blowing a gale.

Let us know how you get on with your replacement battery. I'm sure that others are thinking about what you're doing but are too scared to take the risk.

Bike:

 

[cyclefan]

The battery is a nice neat fit considering you've got 20ah there, and that range info is very encouraging. It becomes so economical with a decent enough range.

Will keep you posted on how I get on with my replacement battery. Just in the process of getting rid of the car...which will make for an interesting winter ! E-biking is pretty amazing though and I'm kind of looking forward to giving myself no other option every day. Hopefully I'll still be saying that by january !

 

[cyclefan]

Incidently, I've received very prompt, friendly responses, with excellent english from the ebay seller I mentioned above. So I think I may take the plunge at that price..

 

[jerrysimon]

Worth checking on the endless sphere web site.

Some of the construction of these types of batteries can be poor.

I am not saying this one is but some of them can be. The largest costs is the cells, if they then skimp on the construction i.e. cell joining and BMS then its a waste of the cells unless you know how to replace the BMS or fix the cell joining yourself.

Regards

Jerry

 

[cyclefan]

Thanks Jerry, I will do. I'll also message some of the buyers in his ebay feedback to see what their experience has been.

 

[eddieo]

Do you really need that kind of range? Surely a smaller better fit battery is going to help the bike look and handle better....

 

[cyclefan]

Hi Eddie. It's a fair point. I was getting around 40 miles out of my onbike 14ah lipo (which is nearly 2 years old now and still fairly good), so a ping 15ah is certainly tempting if it can perform to a similar level but over a longer period.

I practically live on the bike though and it would be nice to have a battery that could maintain that 40 miles per charge or so for a good long period. Back in my youth, before a nasty bout of glandular fever led to M.E. which I've just about beaten (I thought my riding days were done, until I got the electric bike), I was riding in excess of 300 miles per week on the racer, so I'm a bit of a range monster, but I know there's a happy medium with regards to handling and a great clunking battery.

Ps. having said all that, Roger (username Bode) has just kindly messaged me with some glowing feedback on the ping 20ah lifepo4. So there's lots of options which is great. Incidently his feedback on that battery is here...

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/10046-new-ping-battery.html

Decisions, decisions

 

[lessped]

Hi everyone. Just wondered if any of you technical guys could help me. I have an Ezee Forza and I'm looking to buy a Lifepo4 battery. I know Ping batteries have a great reputation and am considering that. I just wondered if this battery might be worth a try, but I'm not the best with the technical specification. Fairly light for a 20ah battery and the feedback looks good. Any thoughts on this one ?

LiFePO4 36V 20AH Battery Charger BMS Rechargeable Power Outdoor Scooter 7-8 Week | eBay

I too am dreading when the time comes to buy a new batt. for my G.T.S. 500 is a lot of note's mind it wont be for a couple of years yet fingers crossed .!

 

[jhruk]

Hi cyclefan,

I have a 36v 15Ah Ping which I swap between bikes, including an Ezee Torq, & so far it's performed faultlessly.

I've done leisurely 50+ mile trips with it but never exceeded 12Ah. Only yesterday I strapped it to the back of the Torq and went for a 42 mile ride - using 9.3Ah. Of course your usage will be different.

The battery was purchased 20 months ago & not long after buying it I did a bench test which I stopped after it past its claimed capacity of 15ah - I haven't noticed any deterioration although I haven't taken it past 12Ah since and I don't use it everyday.

I bought the Torq s/h with a depleted battery so I've never used it with one in its proper place. Personally I'd be reluctant to put any more weight high on the rack. The Torq has a fairly stiff frame so you don't notice it under way but it does feel rather top heavy when slow speed manoeuvring. I also use it on a 20” Dahon folder & having a much lower rack find it a lot less noticeable on that.

As you say it's a tricky balance between weight, range, cost, physical size & claimed longevity but if I had to replace mine tomorrow I think I'd choose the same again.

Good Luck

 

[bode]

For me, the point about a battery with a big range is that I never now have to think about needing to head home because of a fear of running out; if I am enjoying myself I can just keep going!

As for the weight on the back carrier, my secondhand Sprint came with a SLA battery there, weighing 11.5kg, so the Ping 20Ah one at 7.2kg was an improvement! I have never ridden the bike without a battery on the carrier, but it seems to handle just fine; it's a fairly heavy machine anyway.

 

[cyclefan]

Very interesting info jhruk. Those Ping batteries sound great and that's brilliant after 20 months. Been talking to Dave at Kudos about wiring in a 10ah rack battery and keeping another as spare. Ping are sounding extremely impressive though and thanks Roger for explaining how to wire it. I think it's great that Li Ping offers such good after sales support. This is so important and alot of the others don't seem to get this, with grainy little images of wires and confusing instructions. It would only take 10 minutes with a good camera to make things clearer. Customer service swings it for me.

 

[jhruk]

Very interesting info jhruk. Those Ping batteries sound great and that's brilliant after 20 months. Been talking to Dave at Kudos about wiring in a 10ah rack battery and keeping another as spare. Ping are sounding extremely impressive though and thanks Roger for explaining how to wire it. I think it's great that Li Ping offers such good after sales support. This is so important and alot of the others don't seem to get this, with grainy little images of wires and confusing instructions. It would only take 10 minutes with a good camera to make things clearer. Customer service swings it for me.

Yes, the Kudos batteries do sound interesting and two 10Ah would give much greater flexibility - particularly if one of them would fit behind the seat tube in place of the original battery. Do you happen to know their size & weight ?

If customer service is top of your list then it would certainly be better to buy from a reputable UK supplier. Luckily I haven’t needed to test Ping’s legendary after sales support but they are still in China & having to exchange anything would probably not be quick or cheap.

 

[cyclefan]

I don't know the size and weight of the batteries but I'm sure Dave at Kudos can give us that information. 2 10ah batts work out about the same price as Ping option but with greater flexibility. Dave also suggested I upload an image of a kudos battery so others can perhaps advise on the easiest way to connect it to an ezee bike ie. does the battery case need opening etc.

China is a long way to exchange items but I've read people have had good experience doing this.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Two 10aH batteries gives more flexibility, but is not so convenient. Also, not as powerful and not as much range. Itt's not as simple as one and one makes two, It's more like 0.8 +0.8 = 1.5 concerning power and range. You have to decide how much rangr you need and then choose an appropriate battery. If you want 15aH, BMSbattery do a rack-mounting one, or a Ping battery costs a bit more, but is a highly reputed battery. If you need 20aH, that first one looks pretty good. it has pouch cells, so shouldn't be blighted by the unreliability of connections on the other cheap Chines Lifepo4 batteries.

 

[jhruk]

Two 10aH batteries gives more flexibility, but is not so convenient. Also, not as powerful and not as much range. Itt's not as simple as one and one makes two, It's more like 0.8 +0.8 = 1.5 concerning power and range. You have to decide how much rangr you need and then choose an appropriate battery. If you want 15aH, BMSbattery do a rack-mounting one, or a Ping battery costs a bit more, but is a highly reputed battery. If you need 20aH, that first one looks pretty good. it has pouch cells, so shouldn't be blighted by the unreliability of connections on the other cheap Chines Lifepo4 batteries.

I agree it would be less convenient – two lots of connections to make, two chargers if you charge them simultaneously, more complicated wiring etc. I was envisaging using them connected in parallel, with the appropriate diodes of course, in which case there shouldn’t be much loss of capacity. Ezee do sell a battery extension ‘kit’ using this configuration but at £440.00 for an 8Ah LiFePO4 is rather on the expensive side. As you say if you were to use them individually there would be a significant power loss compared to a single battery of combined capacity, plus it would stress them more & shorten their life.

The flexibility would be in positioning. One behind the seat tube and one on the rack or one slung each side of the rack.

Not sure if it would be worth all the effort.

 

[cyclefan]

If only Ezee did a 14 or 15ah LifePO4 battery I'd be slightly happier to part with 500 quid..

 

[jhruk]

If only Ezee did a 14 or 15ah LifePO4 battery I'd be slightly happier to part with 500 quid..

Unfortunately I don’t think they could make a LifePO4 of that capacity small enough to fit in their battery case – at any price.