Li ion charge

[Gaynor]

How long are you charging your Li ion batterys?

Has my Quando 2 is new, after the frst full charge, I tried to drain the battery on the first use, but as I was half freezing out there, eventualy gave up, then went out again the next day without charging, then charged up yesterday for aprox 3 hours -untill green light appeared, then used the bike today... but coming home I ran out of juice pretty quickly near the top of the hill...I saw that on the flat the light either stayed on yellow on red, which surprized me as the first charge was a lot longer, as I was about to make a much longer shopping trip...so now giving it another charge until the green light comes on. It doesnt specify in the instructions how long you charge for...I just stop when the green light appears.. now ive charged the bike up 3 times, so now i can charge it up every now and again, as this is the preferance with Li ion batterys. The hills are much easier than my old acid lead Elran bike, on average i went up to 8 miles in range, but as its very hilly here, which is probably why the range is a lot less than it should be. I was curious as to know how many miles an hour i am getting, I once bought a speed test to put on my bike, but it was useless, are there any simple bike computers out there that are not difficault to set up and easier to read?

 

[flecc]

You didn't run out of juice Gaynor, don't take any notice of the meter on the move since opening the throttle will also drop the lights down to amber and red. Check the charge when you're standing still, then the meter is near enough right.

Also, cold weather drops the battery voltage which makes the red come on early. You'll get at least 10 and probably more like 15 miles range on a charge.

Charging until the green light comes on is all you need to do, then use it and ignore that meter when on the move.

The Cateye Velo 5 cycle computer available at many cycle shops is easy to fit on the Quando, and the illustrated instructions are on my site here.

 

[MazB]

Not a Li ion question - but still a Battery one

Hi All,

I was just about to place an order on PowerScoots for a replacement battery £60 for the Currie Kit, but then found the following site:

[url=http://www.electrodrive.co.uk]electro-drive [/URL]

They have a replacement for the Currie rack mount 9a/hr NiMh for £185.

I presume the NiMh would be a lot lighter than the standard lead acid batteries, but is there any other benefits to justify paying 3 times the amount. The above site does have a Q&A but would be interested to see what you all have to say (I trust you lot for some stange reason )

Gaynor glad your enjoying your Quando

Maz.

 

[flecc]

Hi Maz

They are a whole lot lighter than the lead acid, so there's small gains from that, performance, bike handling etc, and if used with the correct charger they last longer.

That price is a touch on the high side* in today's market for 24 volt NiMh as others sell them as low as £99 now for 8 Ah, hardly any different in capacity.


*Edited since I see charger is included, so the price isn't bad.

 

[rsscott]

Flecc, would you expect any degredation to be present in the SLA battery given its age (even if sold as new) ?

 

[flecc]

SLA not usually a problem, it's usage that ages them.

SLAs come in two types, for high load discharge and charge as we use them, and for permanent trickle charge in standby as in burglar alarms where they are used for mains failure protection. The latter last for many years, and as the difference between them isn't too great, a reasonable period of new battery storage shouldn't be a problem.

A used battery could be very different though, as that depends upon the conditions of use it's already experienced.