Ping Battery

[Psycosis]

I hope no-one else has posted anything like this before, but i figured it may be useful for those people who are a bit unsure about the packaging etc..
I ordered myself a 20amp 48v ping battery after many month of saving and deciding whether to go for a cheaper, heavier alternative, but i finally decided its worth the extra for the couple of KG weight saving.

I ordered my battery last month and it took 3 weeks to arrive, most likely due to the volcano eruption in Iceland. Chances are it would take 2 weeks at the best anyway so i wasn't too fussed. I fortunately didn't have to pay any duty or VAT which made me happy, so i guess i must thank ping for his gift

The battery was well packaged and undamaged. There was no movement in the box as there was lots of polystyrene on all sides.

The external packaging contained the charger and power cable and the internal packaging contained the battery.
The battery was covered in foil and loads of tape. Looks like a 9Kg of coke rather than a battery.

The battery was well covered in polystyrene.

 

[Psycosis]

here it is partially exposed

Finally the battery is unpacked, looking good and smaller than i thought.
Rubbery compound covers the connectors i guess to protect against water ingress.

I connected the two leads and connected the multimeter and got a reading of over 50v (i will check tomorrow again for an exact figure) so looking good so far.

 

[Fordulike]

Looks to be packed really well and inspires bags of confidence in purchasing from Ping.
May i ask what amp charger is shown in the piccy?

 

[Psycosis]

Thats the 5amp charger and it comes with a spare glass fuse.

 

[Fordulike]

Thought it looked pretty meaty.
Keep everyone informed on how you get on with this battery

 

[Psycosis]

As soon as i get it all wired up i'll keep this thread updated with how it works out. Interested to see myself whats going to happen.

 

[Psycosis]

I assume this is something to do with the battery doing its own thing as opposed to some sort of problem.
The lights on the BMS, some are on permanently and some flash, this was on while it was still connected to the charger, and shortly after it was disconnected.

 

[Psycosis]

here is the turnigy output after my 5.5 mile test
average speed was 11mph, but some of that was walking.

YouTube - Turnigy Output

 

[Psycosis]

I don't know if this is useful or not.
When the BMS limit is hit, there should be no lights on the throttle.
To get the battery working again, it needs to be disconnected from the controller, then reconnected. This serves to reset it and get it working again.

I had an email from Li Ping with these details.

 

[Fordulike]

Sorry newbie here. The BMS limit for what?

 

[Psycosis]

The BMS is the Battery Management System.
Someone can probably fill you in with better details but from my understanding it does a few things.

Makes sure the cells are all balanced during charging, so you don't end up with different voltages/charges on individual cells.
The other thing it does is to stop you pulling too much power from the battery and damaging it, like a kind of failsafe. It seems different batteries have different limits.

 

[Fordulike]

I know what a BMS is , i meant what limit does it hit, low voltage from battery or too many amps drawn?

 

[flecc]

I know what a BMS is , i meant what limit does it hit, low voltage from battery or too many amps drawn?

It's normally low voltage, on the BMS for most lithium types that's typically 3.15 volts per cell, but could be a slightly different for LiFePO4.
.

 

[Fordulike]

Thanks flecc. I guess that with this particular battery, it would be a good idea to aim for a motor controller that is rated to cut off slightly above the battery cut off point. Probably save the carry on with disconnect/reconnect that Psycosis mentioned.
Also thanks to Psycosis for pointing this out. Reckon a few people have thought their battery was buggered when it happened

 

[flecc]

Yes, a controller like that would help. The early li-ion batteries were very prone to dipping below 32 volts when with
the more powerful motors and I got used to having to switch off and then back on. It seemed almost odd when the
better ones arrived that stood anything thrown at them!
.

 

[Psycosis]

First test completed, then followed rapidly by the real thing.

I did a test ride in a very roundabout way with a few gentle hills to gauge the range of the battery.
Last night i rode for 20 miles from walton to kingston bridge, then a very roundabout way home to bump up the miles to a nice round 20.
I made sure my bike computer was set up and it proudly said i had averaged 20mph.

I checked the turnigy afterwards and it said 13amps had been drawn from the 20amp pack, but had peaked at 50amp at some point.
I may extend the wires to find out when this load is coming, but overall very happy.

This was with no actual pedaling, 100% throttle.
Based on this i would guess i can do about 30miles on a full charge.

I rode to work this morning and recorded the figured.
1:30 for me to get in (30mins to kingston and 1 hour from kingston to london)
13amps drawn again, so at least consistent
just over 20miles covered
average speed 18.9mph

All up a good result.
I didn't have the controller overheat at all, and the battery performed well.
I have the return journey now to contend with and the battery needs charging at work.

 

[Psycosis]

Just an update.
I had some strange problem with my battery/charger where the charger blew and seemed to knock out the BMS.
There are no lights on the BMS at all when its been charging for several hours.

So at the request on Mr Ping i pulled off the plastic cover on the BMS and pulled out the white plug. From here each cell can be tested.
There are 16 cells in total and the testing goes as follows:
#1-#2 3.01v
#2-#3 2.99v
#3-#4 2.49v
#4-#5 2.81v
#5-#6 3.01v
#6-#7 2.72v
#7-#8 2.99v
#8-#9 2.90v
#9-#10 3.0v
#10-#11 2.86v
#11-#12 3.01v
#12-#13 2.95v
#13-#14 2.94v
#14-#15 2.93v
#15-#16 2.94v
#16-“B-“ 2.82v

This may prove useful for anyone else with limited knowledge as myself.
The output from the discharge wires was only reporting 46.5v even after a full charge.

 

[NRG]

So what is Mr Ping recommending you do now? They look out of balance and cell 6 looks to be a weak one....

 

[Psycosis]

He is sending me a new charger and a new BMS as the existing one looks to be not working.
He hasn't responded yet to my email with the individual cell values, so we shall see. Once its all charged back up i hopefully will have a better idea if its all working properly he may ask for some more info.

 

[Fordulike]

Psycosis, when you first charged the battery did you wait for the charger and bms to balance the individual cells? I've heard that the Ping batteries go through many cycles before they are balanced properly and this can take a long time. The cell voltages don't look good if they are meant to be balanced