battery case

[walawn]

So I went out for a half day ride today. On the way back I hit a bump and WHAM, my battery came flying off the bike and bounced/slid down the asphalt trail I was on. Scratched all to hell and back. I rode for hours without realizing that I failed to lock it down with the key. I slide it back in and rode straight home. No internal damage it seems (just cosmetic) since it got me back and charged up fine. That was a lesson learned for me today and one which I want to share with all of YOU. From now on I am leaving the battery locked on the bike and charging it on the bike. After I charged it I sanded down on the gouges and scratches with coarse to ultra-fine sand paper. I then cleaned it and taped off everything I didn't want to cover with plastidip. I painted it with multiple coats of plastidip (black of course, although orange would look good too). It came out pretty well if I say so myself. The plastidip seem to cover most of the damage so the battery looks much better now. I'm sure 10 coats of the stuff would make it look like new, but I didn't have the time nor patience. My question to the community is this: Does anyone know if we can purchase the dolphin battery case seperately? Without the internals of course. I'm pretty sure that the manufacturer doesn't sell it since they don't want the end user taking the battery apart to cause a fire or worse.

 

[TenBlinkers]

Here's one: (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

 

[walawn]

@TenBlinkers Thank you so much! You are a livesaver. I spent money on the sandpaper and can of plastidip, not to mention a lot of my TIME to make it look like new again, so I'm torn if I should replace it or not now lol. Knowing me and the perfectionist I am though; I will eventually order and replace the cover. I searched forever yesterday online so thank you again!!!

 

[walawn]

Just ordered the case. I guess I couldn't wait lol. 48V black case was cheap at $37, but shipping was outrageous at $41.46! Should be here in 5-7 days. I will update you guys on the swap-over.

 

[Tara D.]

I will eventually order and replace the cover.

Woah @walawn you weren't joking about lacking patience eventually ended up being 10 minutes later, I guess the perfectionist won out ! Did you get any photos of the damage and your repair? I'd like to see! Sounds like locking the battery back in place after charging is something I would forget to do as well!

 

[walawn]

@Tara D. I didn't get before pictures, but I will be glad to post pics of the "repair." I actually did it twice. I taped off everything and sprayed several coats, but didn't like how it came out. So I repeated the process for a second time without taping off anything. I just sprayed over the whole battery with several coats. I've done motorcycle gear in the past, and platidip is very easy to work with. A small crease will cut the dip and it cleans up easy. I scored places where I wanted to remove the dip after I was done (like the power button, lock tumbler, battery status lights, USB port, and fuse port) and peeled off the plastic with my fingers. If you look closely at the pictures you can see the damage that was too big to sand down and the marks where the tape was from my first attempt. I didn't peel the plastic from the case before starting the second attempt. Trust me, it looks way better than when I got home after the fall.

 

[walawn]

Well, I took a bunch of pics, but apparently they are too large to upload (16MP per pic). So I retook them at 3 MP each. Hope you can see the details.

 

[walawn]

I fully depleted the battery yesterday. It took from 10 am to 4 pm (6 hours) to fully charge. I'm still waiting on the new battery case.

 

[J.R.]

I fully depleted the battery yesterday. It took from 10 am to 4 pm (6 hours) to fully charge. I'm still waiting on the new battery case.

The battery doesn't look like it took too bad a hit. I'll be interested to see you switch cases. We seldom get to see the inner workings of a pack so new. A couple of years ago when I started to get into ebikes, I read many articles about charging and many of the Li-ion battery experts including some experienced members here like Court, suggested to let a battery rest/cool a couple hours after use, prior to placing on charge. For both my ebikes I've followed this whenever possible and almost 2 years it seems to be working for me. I'm nearing 8000 miles in that time and haven't suffered any noticeable degradation. I also try to charge in a climate controlled space, 66F to 76F +/-. It's not always convenient, if you finish riding late in the day and want to use the bike early the next day. Typically I charge over night, but the few times I charged in the day, it was not unusual for charging and balancing to take 5 + hours. Like you I'm charging at 2 amps for a 16 amp hour and 11.6 amp hour battery.

 

[walawn]

@J.R. The more time goes by the more I'm starting to think that my battery is in good shape and didn't take any damage in the fall. We will know when I disassemble and check everything though. I will post a full write up with pictures. I'll take your advice and let mine cool from now on. I think I've only placed it on charge once right after a ride. I did 26 miles on it today (3/4 in ECO mode 2 and 1/4 in STD mode 3) so it's nice to know that it has the range of my old Prodeco Phantom X3 which is what I wanted.