Replacement Phylion Batteries

C

Cyclezee

Guest
Has anyone with a faulty Ezee battery received a replacement yet from the batch sent to 50cycles by Mr.Ching?

John
 

jeronimo479

Finding my (electric) wheels
Feb 6, 2008
12
0
Is there somthing going around?

I had my original battery die early. I received a replacement that was poor in capacity and intermittent in use. It took them over a year to get these taken care of so now I am out of the warranty period. BUT, my credit card company has extended the one year warranty to two years. I have $600 in cash to buy a new batt & charger. Now my decision... go with another Lithium that may again die in 6 months (the new warranty period) or go with a more proven NiMH technology.

Please elaborate on this "new" Phylion battery.
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,262
30,649
I understand the battery is fundamentally the same Li-ion manganese, but the cut-off point has been altered to help overcome early activation of the safety cut-out when the motor is under very high load.
.
 

Ian

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 1, 2007
1,333
0
Leicester LE4, UK.
The original question Jeronimo479 was aimed at Ezee customers in the UK and relates to an offer made by Ezee to replace faulty batteries out of their normal UK 6 month warranty, I doubt it applies to customers outside of the UK.

Interesting that you made a claim on your credit card, many cards offer free extended warranties on electrical goods purchased with them, something I'd completely forgotten about, I bet no one else has thought of claiming in that way either.
 

Django

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 11, 2007
453
1
No, I haven't received mine, despite the fact that they have been with 50cycles for some time now. I'm not going to speculate as to why . . . yet!

Cheers,

Django
 

Tiberius

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 9, 2007
919
1
Somerset
Have they arrived at 50 cycles? I have heard nothing since the flurry of stuff at the original announcement.

Nick
 

JamesC

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 1, 2007
435
5
Peterborough, UK
I collected a replacement Li-ion battery from Loughborough in the early part of January, following confirmation from Mr Wai Won Ching regarding his offer.

This battery is now sharing the load on my Torq in a dual Li-ion battery arrangement, thinking that it should assist battery life by avoiding full discharge.

Did a ride of 41 miles today on the double system in gently rolling area near Oundle, Northants and still on green at the end as one would expect. Individually, the batteries achieved 27/28 miles to reach red during running in. (Bike in restricted mode)

James
 

Django

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 11, 2007
453
1
James and all,

Was your original battery unsatisfactory - that being the condition of the offer?

Whatever, do we conclude that 50cycles are doing a stroppy teenager act and only letting those who call in person have one - despite the offer from others to pay handling and postage charges? I wish they would tell us rather than let their personal irritation with the manufacturer destroy potential good relationships with customers.

Cheers,

Django
 

JamesC

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 1, 2007
435
5
Peterborough, UK
The pedelecs forum have always recognised that there are a wide variety of reasons that bring individuals into ebiking, and that there are a wide variety of solutions to best meet individual's needs.

In my case (57, arterial disease, post heart attack and bypass surgery) I wanted to be outside, getting fit and seeing life anew after many years of 7 days a week effort in building up a business, and taking insufficient exercise along the way.

So for me, whilst wanting the exercise and wanting to enjoy the great outdoors once again, it was a cosntant pleasure to be out riding the Torq whenever I could.

I had bought the bike in January 2007; not that long after the change from NiMH to Li-ion. I could not have told you about the different battery types then, because my interest in the detail of the machinery did not take off until discovering the forum in September 2007.


Psychologically, I was looking for reassurance that I was getting fitter; in reality I knew that I was and I was certainly feeling a whole lot better.

What I did not know at the time was that battery chemistry differs between types just as human chemistry differs between individuals.

With my Li-ions (I had bought a spare with the bike), I started by riding the bike 2 or 3 times to empty, noting that my level of unfitness allowed me to achieve some 25 miles of range, and what joy to be out and about on a bicycle again.

As my workouts progressed, I knew that I was getting fitter, but, perversely, the range was getting shorter - if I wasn't careful I would be caught out with a dead battery on a shorter ride than normal.

Was it me or was it the battery that was getting weaker ?

What a pleasure it was to come upon a group of knowledgeable people who had come to ebikes from a variety of directions, and several of whom were using the Torq.

I learnt that a Li-ion battery dies a little on a daily basis, does not like being discharged completely (except for initial conditioning on the first couple of uses) and is not able to deliver very high currents for extended periods.

Conversely, a NiMH battery benefits from full discharge and is known to grow in capacity over the first 100 charges or so.


So, looking back, I can see that I was looking for a psychological boost to my returning fitness by measuring the extra distance that I could ride.

NiMH probably provides this better than Li-ion, but the chemistry of Li-ion probably does not benefit from being ridden to exhaustion so frequently.

By October, I was using the capacity of 2 batteries to achieve less distance than on 1 back in January. Of these the poorest, was giving about 9 miles.

If I had used the bike differently (eg shorter daily commutes between charges), then most likely the capacity would not have dropped away so much. There have been instances mentioned on the forum where Li-ion has achieved long life by frequent replenishment.


So, for 2008, I still want to use the bike for longer distances and I hope to maintain the excellent range of a new Li-ion battery by sharing the work between two, and not riding to empty.

It should be noted that the ezee Torq of 2007 is a high geared bike that can be hungry on rider and battery. The revised Torq Trekking has been regeared to reduce the pressure on the battery.


If anything deeper than this is helpful, then I hope that the battery guys on the forum will pick up on it.

James
 
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Tiberius

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 9, 2007
919
1
Somerset
I can give an update on this question and its not good news.

When the offer was made I contacted 50 cycles. I was told to email in and given an email address. I recently tried to follow this up only to be told that all the batteries have gone and they have no record of receiving the email from me.

The email I sent was copied to eZee in china and they did reply to it.

The person I spoke to at 50cycles was basically trying to disassociate himself from the whole process. He could not be described as sympathetic or helpful.

Nick