New battery purchase questions...

[morphix]

Impressions of BMS Lithium-Ion 36V 10Ah Battery

Well I've just got back from my daily ride to the sorting office across town.. I don't know how far exactly it is, but I reckon it's about 4 miles round-trip. I had planned to film it and got my camera jacket all ready for my Vado only to discover the battery was flat, so no video :-/

I charged the bike battery before I left and it took about 40 minutes only so I'm assuming it had some charge in it.

Right away there was a noticeable difference with the new battery.. I was in a hurry on my way there and pedalled on the maximum power assist level. My speedometer was showing me 34kmh/21mph on the flat with light pedalling and 29km/18mph on throttle only, which is significantly quicker than my 5Ah battery normally gives. I left at 5:16 (last post is 6.30) and to my surprise I arrived at 5:25, which I think is my quickest time ever.

The speedometer barely dropped below 24kmh/15mph on the way back even up hills often without pedalling. But it's on hills that I really noticed the difference with the bigger capacity just as flecc said. There was just much more pulling power and the bike didn't strain as much it does on my 5Ah battery.

Two things I noticed... firstly the motor is less noisy particularly when running on throttle from a standing start or when climbing hills. And secondly, the stopping distance/time has increased if using throttle mode. the brakes don't seem to be able to stop the motor like they can on my 5Ah battery. Obviously you should release the throttle but sometimes you forget or have to brake suddenly.. so might have to adjust my brakes and make them more responsive..

The extra weight on the handlebar didn't make that much difference to handling, only when sitting on the bike and carrying it. It's not too bad though really.

Overall I'm very impressed! I'm interested to see now how long the battery lasts between charges and whether I can get two of my sorting office runs out of a single charge..

 

[morphix]

Wearing my gloves and pullovers again for first time in ages...getting a bit cold isn't it! I urgently need to get some lights for my bike, got nothing and it's getting dark earlier now I just about got back in time.

 

[amigafan2003]

Ordered my 36v 15ah shrink wrap battery from BMS battery on 1st September - still waiting for it. Order status just says "testing". I've raised a PayPal dispute.

 

[Scottyf]

Probably best to keep the battery topped up as much as possible to help with cycle life if you can.
I do with all my lithium batteries just to make sure there tip top.

Better there topped up than run down just for the sake of it unless your cycling them on the first few charges.

The larger capacity will actually have less voltage sag which is why your feeling more power / faster.

 

[morphix]

Ordered my 36v 15ah shrink wrap battery from BMS battery on 1st September - still waiting for it. Order status just says "testing". I've raised a PayPal dispute.

I had quite a few problems ordering mine, the order wouldn't seem to be accepted and then it kept saying "no carrier for your country" I think their shopping cart is a bit flaky. Took quite a few attempts and they didn't respond to e-mails (don't think their English is very good) but once the order was finally placed it was processed very quick.

 

[amigafan2003]

Probably best to keep the battery topped up as much as possible to help with cycle life if you can.
I do with all my lithium batteries just to make sure there tip top.

Better there topped up than run down just for the sake of it unless your cycling them on the first few charges.

The larger capacity will actually have less voltage sag which is why your feeling more power / faster.

Actually, storing li-ion batteries at max charge shorten their service life:-

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

Third table down.

 

[Scottyf]

I meant if your using it regularly.

Best way to keep a battery is to reach a storage voltage and then freeze the damn thing. But that's nit much use really.

Infect keeping the battery between charges of 20% and 80% increases life but then you'd have to buy a much larger battery to do the range you need.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I had quite a few problems ordering mine, the order wouldn't seem to be accepted and then it kept saying "no carrier for your country" I think their shopping cart is a bit flaky. Took quite a few attempts and they didn't respond to e-mails (don't think their English is very good) but once the order was finally placed it was processed very quick.

The problem with the carrier on their ordering system is something to do with cookies on your computer. You have to delete all cookies or go on another computer, then the carrier options appear. For other people ordering from them, don't forget that you have to type the tracking number in lower case to track it, otherwise it won't be recognised - even though they give it to you in upper case.

 

[amigafan2003]

Just escalated my paypal dispute to ask for a refund -still no response from them and order status still shows "testing" on the website.

Looks like I'll be heading down the 4x5000mah 6s Lipo route for my build

 

[johnamon]

I shouldn't worry too much about the delays with BMSbattery.

They took two or three weeks to produce my battery - apparently they order them in individually and then they run a few charge / discharge cycles through the battery to try and accertain that the cells inside are all good before the ship it.

Although it took about 3 weeks to leave the workshop in china, I had it delivered within 36hrs from the otherside of the world. I knew to expect a delay but I am delighted with the goods.

 

[amigafan2003]

I wouldn't be worried about the delay if they would reply to my emails stating what they are doing/waiting on. It's the lack of communication that concerns me.

I'm hoping the PayPal dispute will get them to "pull their finger out".

 

[banbury frank]

Hi Don't Panic
the battery will arrive as I have said allow up to 6 weeks also the have just had a public holiday in China last week for a week so you can add another week to that



Frank

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I wouldn't be worried about the delay if they would reply to my emails stating what they are doing/waiting on. It's the lack of communication that concerns me.

I'm hoping the PayPal dispute will get them to "pull their finger out".

No need to panic yet. I've learnt that the Chinese don't like to give you a negative answer. When the answer is "no" or "not ready yet", it seems that they would rather not answer until the answer is "yes" or "shipped". The Paypal dispute will force their hand. I hope they don't refund you today just before they were about to ship it. My battery was ordered on the 28th August and still says "testing". I ordered some motors a week later and they arrived a week ago.

A good way to ask them questions is by using their on-line chat. They're always polite and answer your questions. I think the system sends them a text and then they jump on a computer to log in and chat, so it can take about 10 mins before they're chatting.

I ordered a Ping battery about a week ago. I got an invoice from Fedex today for £16 duty, so I guess it's already in the UK. It was valued at $50 on the invoice - don't tell them!

 

[Scottyf]

The chat thing is actually very good.

I love the chinese work eithic. But it really is a very good way of finding out whats going on with your order. As there's no chance in hell of you phoing them and getting through the manguage barrier. A Chat application is about the next best thing.

As long as you keep your englinsh short sweet and to the point it works very very well.

 

[morphix]

The chat thing is actually very good.

I love the chinese work eithic. But it really is a very good way of finding out whats going on with your order. As there's no chance in hell of you phoing them and getting through the manguage barrier. A Chat application is about the next best thing.

As long as you keep your englinsh short sweet and to the point it works very very well.

where battery is? you send? when? Sorry couldn't resist

 

[amigafan2003]

They just messaged me - battery will be shipped Friday - paypal dispute did the trick ;-)

 

[morphix]

They just messaged me - battery will be shipped Friday - paypal dispute did the trick ;-)

Seems to be a bit hit and miss with BMS doesn't it..if the item is in stock like mine, they're really quick I got mine in like 4 days...other times it can take 2 weeks.

I haven't been charged any VAT or Duty (yet) on my battery, the invoice said it was $70 value so it's above the £18 threshold still, will have to see if I get billed by Fedex.

 

[amigafan2003]

Seems to be a bit hit and miss with BMS doesn't it..if the item is in stock like mine, they're really quick I got mine in like 4 days...other times it can take 2 weeks.

I haven't been charged any VAT or Duty (yet) on my battery, the invoice said it was $70 value so it's above the £18 threshold still, will have to see if I get billed by Fedex.

Do you have the battery in your physical possesion- i.e. it's been delivered to you?

If so you'll be fine - you don't get charged import/customs/vat retrospectively - if they are going to be charged at all then it's done the moment the item goes through customs - you'd get a card from the courier wit the fees payable and you'd have to pay them before they'd deliver the item.

 

[amigafan2003]

BMSBattery have just refunded me stating they do not have enough cells to build my pack. Could have told me that three weeks ago so I could have ordered from elsewhere

Just ordered 10ah of 44v Lipo from HobbyKing:-

1x #T200W/11444 Turnigy A-6-10 200W Balance charger & discharger = $38.35
1x #T-20PS/13765 Turnigy T-20Pro Quality 16A Power Supply 180~240V (220W) = $24.99
1x #PB-XH-EC3/19431 Parallel charging Board for 6 packs 2~6S (EC3) = $9.95
1x #EC3-CHG-C/7881 EC3 Charging Cable 16AWG 30cm = $2.72
1x #AM-8014/7879 EC3 Battery Harness 14AWG for 2 Packs in Series = $3.21
2x #AM-8015/7880 EC3 Battery Harness 14AWG for 2 Packs in Parallel = $7.12
1x #EC3x10/9625 EC3 plugs (10pairs/set) = $4.94
1x #HKing-6S/7227 Hobby King Battery Monitor 6S = $3.49
4x #Z50006S-15/7639 ZIPPY Flightmax 5000mAh 6S1P 15C = $179.96

Extra voltage should add a few mph as well Just need to look after the packs a bit more carefully.

 

[Scottyf]

Pretty much the same as my setup...

Really like the A6-10 charger. I brought mine from a UK company rc supplies uk for £46 with next day delivery.

And yes that is an Xbox 360 Ac to DC power Supply powering it all.

On full tilt it will charge the 4 lipo bricks in about 2 ish hours from empty.
Probably about the cheapest Lipo setup without gonig to larger power supplies like means wells etc...

I do have a para board but on that setup i'm just bulk parallel charging without taps and then break up the packs when it hits 4.15v

I really think that if you have a small amount of knowledge you can cope with these setup's daily.