Help! SLA to Lithium Battery Swap (Izip EZGO project))

[Jay_vloggs]

Hi there folks,

I'm attempting to swap the batterys out on my Izip EZGO but I'm a bit stuck. I'm a novice in electronics but after looking on here I saw a similar thread several years ago that was really helpful where a guy named Billy did a similar thing. Some of the help was amazing so I'm here to pick your brains a little further in the hopes you can help.

Now as far as I am aware, the Izip has a 500W brushless rear hub motor. This is powered by 2 12V SLA's. So the battery pack is a 24V 12A behemoth with a 3 pin output/charging input and a 40A fuse.

The controller is located just beneath it but other than a sticker stating it takes a 40A fuse there are no other specs. I've opened it up but its just a sealed board with no fuse (I'm guessing the fuse it refers to is the one in the battery pack?).

I still need to check it will fit in the housing but before I get click happy and end up blowing my controller or motor, is the right spec battery?:

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It says its a 24V 15A 350W lithium battery and it has the option of a 3 pin output connection so I'd only need to bore a hole for the new charger port and epoxy it in place by the looks of things. But is it the correct or best voltage/ampage/wattage for my bike?

Many thanks!

 

[Nealh]

I think you might get your fingers burnt looking briefly at that listing, £50 for 24v 15ah lion battery ????? Also no way will it supply 40a that you say your fuse is rated for, the rating is for 15a continuous discharge.

 

[Jay_vloggs]

Hey Neath, thanks for the reply.

I honestly know nothing about electronics but I'm building a bit of a project while I'm off work for the foreseeable. It's main doner is the izip ezgo I picked up for £40 at the LBS but its getting the lowrider treatment.

I know that these SLA's aren't what they used to be and if I'm replacing them I may as well upgrade them right. I'm doing it on a shoestring budget due to the ol' corona shutdown so the cheaper the better really. It's going to be a rat rod inspired lowrider so I'm not too fussy on it looking good, but ideally I'd like to shave some weight, get better battery life and get a bit more power from the motor if possible but knowing nothing about this side of bicycles is proving challenging.

I saw other members reccomendations on an old thread for that battery, Including shipping it's about £125 but if its the wrong battery then any ideas on which battery to get? Kind regards!

 

[Nealh]

At the suggested price the cells will be no name cheap China cell of unknown quality and real term capacity, though 2500mah cells and 10ah battery capacity they might actuall only deliver a quarter of that. For instance the crappy Trustfire type lion cells sold on ebay and the like are quoted as 9900mah cells which we all know is a lie and false, the big boys can only get 3500/3600 mah out of their cells, the TF have been put through the mill and only ouput 900 -980mah and some are complete duffers with sand/sawdust and other ballast used inside to make cells weigh about 46 grams.

 

[Nealh]

You have to tell us the current rating of the controller, without knowing that a lithium battery will be shagged in no time if it can't output the current required and could cause it to overheat and catch fire.

 

[Jay_vloggs]

Blimey! What a ruthless way to sell consumer electronics! Glad I stumbled across this forum and thanks for the advice!

Much of the izip appears to be cheap Chinese components and poor quality. Even the controller as below is Chinese.

It appears to be an "Exclusive Currie Electro-Drive 24-volt, fully potted with Power Gauge function".

Hopefully this helps?!

 

[Jay_vloggs]

I found this wiring guide for the rough idea of how its set up

Specs from the Izip site are as below:



As I've swapped out some parts the weight etc has changed. It has some schwinn 20" springer forks, apehangers, sissybar and banana saddle so the weights crept up. I've kept the 16" wheels but I'm considering respoking to a 20" rear if I get a suitable donor to add some size for the rat rod theme. It's just the power side of things that I'm struggling with really. I've got a lot of land to play with so I wouldn't mind having extra power and speed if its possible without costing the earth. The misses doesn't like it when I spend frivolously you see so its another reason I'm keeping the budget low, that and having to get creative makes it all the more sweet when you get to whizz past the traffic in the city center on something that resembles the lovechild of frankenstien and a schwinn cruiser

 

[sjpt]

Almost all the electrical parts will be Chinese; even if named Bosch or whatever. The difference is between poor quality and good quality Chinese stuff.

One exception is the cells in the batteries; even batteries assembled in China often use cells from other countries.

 

[Jay_vloggs]

Almost all the electrical parts will be Chinese; even if named Bosch or whatever. The difference is between poor quality and good quality Chinese stuff.

One exception is the cells in the batteries; even batteries assembled in China often use cells from other countries.

I imagine its similar to TV's and the like. A nice top of the range Samsung 8k will have far superior components to a cheaper Bush TV from Argos but they will predominantly be Chinese components either way.

So as Nealh explained, the battery I linked above previously wouldn't work due to the 15A discharge when I have a 40A fuse. But the batterys in the case now say they are 12A. Would I need a 24V 40A 500W lithium battery instead?

 

[sjpt]

You may be confusing amps (A, amount of current that flows)
with amp hours (Ah, related to battery capacity).

Similarly watts (w = amps * voltage, power the battery is delivering at any moment)
with watt hours ( wh = amp hours * voltage, capacity of the battery).

 

[Jay_vloggs]

You may be confusing amps (A, amount of current that flows)
with amp hours (Ah, related to battery capacity).

Similarly watts (w = amps * voltage, power the battery is delivering at any moment)
with watt hours ( wh = amp hours * voltage, capacity of the battery).

Yep, I most certainly am! Apologies for the error there. It appears I really am awful at this.

I've also just seen that hub motor is actually 200w not 500w that I read somewhere.

So I've concluded that the current setup is x2 12v 12a batteries in sequence, making it 24v 12a pack, passing through a 40a blade fuse and into the 24v Ananda 2415DLC Controller. This then outputs to the 200W currie tech hub motor.

So is it possible to get a li-ion 24V 12A battery provided it fits in the case?

 

[Nealh]

Ananda is a reputable brand they supplies a lot of early ebikes way before the likes of Lishui and Kuenteng.

 

[Benjahmin]

Just an observation. As the controller number is 2415DLC, could this be a 24v 15amp controller. In which case the battery would need to be 24v with a maximum current rating of at least 15amps. 22Amps would be better, giving some headroom to reduce battery strain and voltage sag.
Ah rating is up to what you can afford/range you want. The bigger the Ah the longer it'll go for.
Quality named cells will serve you way better than some unamed fleabay offering.
I suggest that the 40A fuse would have been there for short circuit protection/fire protection, nothing to do with system capacity.

 

[Nealh]

40a on a 15a controller is a bit excessive for an ebike.

 

[Jay_vloggs]

Just an observation. As the controller number is 2415DLC, could this be a 24v 15amp controller. In which case the battery would need to be 24v with a maximum current rating of at least 15amps. 22Amps would be better, giving some headroom to reduce battery strain and voltage sag.
Ah rating is up to what you can afford/range you want. The bigger the Ah the longer it'll go for.
Quality named cells will serve you way better than some unamed fleabay offering.
I suggest that the 40A fuse would have been there for short circuit protection/fire protection, nothing to do with system capacity.

And this is why I came to the forum! I'd completely missed that in the hordes of numbers I've been looking at lately! I think you're spot on there Benjahmin. Thanks for the input!

The current setup seems fine in terms of range, it's rare i'd go anywhere over 8 miles in a day. I'm only 5'8 and about 10st wet through but as I mentioned the lowrider parts have added a fair bit of extra weight.

Ideally I'd like to keep the range about the same, if it's possible to get more speed out of the thing to help get around site that would be great, as I mentioned I'm pretty strapped so I'd want to go as cheap as reasonably possible without wasting money on duff batteries. What battery would you suggest?

 

[Jay_vloggs]

40a on a 15a controller is a bit excessive for an ebike.

I agree, but when I got the bike I pulled the pack apart and the fuse was a right state. I've never seen anything so melted and bubbled in my life. How it hadn't blown is beyond me! I swapped it out for a nice shiny new one and installed a proper housing for it and it's been great ever since