Discharge Converters?

Cisco-man

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Sep 27, 2023
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Hi all. Does anyone have a view on these discharge converters you see on Aliexpress or ebay? They say it will allow you to connect two or three battery packs at the same time, but none of them actually clarify what technology they are using to achieve this. Are they just blocking diode packs, or relay boxes, or sold-state switching? Your thoughts please!
 

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AGS

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2023
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Those cheap ones are just straight connections between the two batteries. Some sellers actually warn you to ensure both batteries are at the same voltage before connecting together.

More expensive “battery blenders“ are available so you can connect two batteries together and the higher voltage battery won‘t try to charge the lower voltage battery.

I don’t think you can use regenerative braking with proper battery blenders.
 

Woosh

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I guess they use a pair of ideal diodes.
 

saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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Hi all. Does anyone have a view on these discharge converters you see on Aliexpress or ebay? They say it will allow you to connect two or three battery packs at the same time, but none of them actually clarify what technology they are using to achieve this. Are they just blocking diode packs, or relay boxes, or sold-state switching? Your thoughts please!
Inside the three battery ones are three pairs of ideal diodes, a capacitor and a few other minor components. basically three of these. The two battery ones have two of them, and the one battery ones have zero:
 

Cisco-man

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Sep 27, 2023
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Thanks all. Wow, a total rip-off it would seem. You can put inline diodes in your wiring harness under some shrink tube and get the same effect for £3 ish. I’m all for getting off the bike, turning it off, and unplugging the flat battery, plugging in the fresh one, and away. It’s free and safe!
 

saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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Thanks all. Wow, a total rip-off it would seem. You can put inline diodes in your wiring harness under some shrink tube and get the same effect for £3 ish. I’m all for getting off the bike, turning it off, and unplugging the flat battery, plugging in the fresh one, and away. It’s free and safe!
They're not too much of a rip-off. You can get them for about £20 including shipping from Aliexpress. By the time you've bought the diodes, wire, something to mount them on, some insulation and connectors, you won't be far off that. Obviously, it's cheaper to use just connectors and unplug the battery not in use, which is the method I'd use. It's probably safer too.
 
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Sturmey

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Thanks all. Wow, a total rip-off it would seem. You can put inline diodes in your wiring harness under some shrink tube and get the same effect for £3 ish. I’m all for getting off the bike, turning it off, and unplugging the flat battery, plugging in the fresh one, and away. It’s free and safe!
I have to disagree. Running two batteries in parallel reduces the stress and sag of the batteries and I think is better, compared to switching batteries.
The mosfets in the product above are better (less loss) than schottky diodes which loose about half a volt at full current.
 
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saneagle

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The mosfets in the product above are better (less loss) than schottky diodes which loose about half a volt at full current.
What mosfets. If id did have mosfets, like the Bosch system, your argument about sag goes out the window.
 

Sturmey

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What mosfets. If id did have mosfets, like the Bosch system, your argument about sag goes out the window.
The mosfets are mentioned in video above at about 5 minutes and as shown in photo below.(which I labeled for your convenience). I'm not sure whether that particular device allows parallel working of batteries or just switches.



54565
 
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AGS

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Feb 12, 2023
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Here is a top of the range battery blender at a top of the range price.

It looks like it’s only available through Big Game Bikes in the UK and Spark in the US.

 

saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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The mosfets are mentioned in video above at about 5 minutes and as shown in photo below.(which I labeled for your convenience). I'm not sure whether that particular device allows parallel working of batteries or just switches.



View attachment 54565
If they're mosfets, where's the 12v to switch them? There's no regulator. The guy said at 5:34 that he didn't know anything about those componets.
 

Sturmey

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If they're mosfets, where's the 12v to switch them? There's no regulator. The guy said at 5:34 that he didn't know anything about those componets.
Its the ideal diode setup, something like as shown below. I think the (insertion) loss is about 50mV.

54567
 
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Cisco-man

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Sep 27, 2023
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I have to disagree. Running two batteries in parallel reduces the stress and sag of the batteries and I think is better, compared to switching batteries.
The mosfets in the product above are better (less loss) than schottky diodes which loose about half a volt at full current.
I accept your point fully Sturmey. I’m not rubbishing the tech - the posts that follow show sound functionalities. What I’m decrying is that these are on sale on aliexpress and ebay for small bucks up to big bucks, and we’ve got no simple means of knowing what the box is doing - whether they are safe, ineffectual, or otherwise.
 

Woosh

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The box itself is miles safer than soldering a couple of ideal diodes in a heat shrink junction. I think the tech is safe but there are always shorting risks. It is best to avoid adding more wiring to your bike unless it's unavoidable.
 

Cisco-man

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Sep 27, 2023
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The box itself is miles safer than soldering a couple of ideal diodes in a heat shrink junction. I think the tech is safe but there are always shorting risks. It is best to avoid adding more wiring to your bike unless it's unavoidable.
Yup. Mine is starting to look like a back-to-the-future delorian!
 

Sturmey

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I accept your point fully Sturmey. I’m not rubbishing the tech - the posts that follow show sound functionalities. What I’m decrying is that these are on sale on aliexpress and ebay for small bucks up to big bucks, and we’ve got no simple means of knowing what the box is doing - whether they are safe, ineffectual, or otherwise.
They are very easy items to test. All you need is a multimeter. I use the older homemade schottky diode version. There is one major supplier presently selling a version for 15 euros so I dont see any reason why I would distrust the technology. Ideal blocking diodes now are dirt cheap as they are used in solar panel installations. I dont see any reason why ebike users should be fearful of new technology that meets their needs once its safe and comes from reputable suppliers. Anyhow that's my opinion.
 
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afzal

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Mar 26, 2023
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The box itself is miles safer than soldering a couple of ideal diodes in a heat shrink junction.
I second that, there is a possibility of heat shrink getting shrunk into non existence

PS: I meant if using normal diodes
 

Cisco-man

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Sep 27, 2023
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I second that, there is a possibility of heat shrink getting shrunk into non existence

PS: I meant if using normal diodes
Fully accepted. I was just being flippant to illustrate a point I was trying to make.