We have an 2015 Electra Loft 7d ST in pristine condition and want to convert to ebike, preferably mid-drive. I've seen a Bafang kit that has everything but the battery. Anybody have any suggestions for a downtube battery mount or something other than hanging the battery weight up high and out back on a rear rack mount? There are water bottle bosses on the lower downtube only. Nothing on the other tubes. Suggestions or is a rack mount battery the only reasonable option?
Battery for Electra Loft 7d mid-drive conversion
- Thread starter Mike G
- Start date
Gionnirocket
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Y. O.
JRA
Well-Known Member
Plenty of room for a Hailong style battery and lots of those to choose from. They are very popular with Bafang mid drive conversions in general. Note I said style as that is the case form that many battery manufacturers have. Go for a mid priced one to be safe shouldn't be more than $400. Just make sure you get one that will fit in between the down tubes, it will attach to those water bottle brazeons.
harryS
Well-Known Member
Hailongs are a popular choice. I've installed a couple of the Hailongs. I feel they're kind of flimsy with only the two water bottle cage screws holding them.
One way is to put a couple of extra rivnuts into the downtube so you can
have additional screws. Instead, I attach a pair of hose clamps to the cradle, rather than drill the frame.
Buy them with quality cells, Samsung, Panasonic, or LG. It's worth it,
One way is to put a couple of extra rivnuts into the downtube so you can
have additional screws. Instead, I attach a pair of hose clamps to the cradle, rather than drill the frame.
Buy them with quality cells, Samsung, Panasonic, or LG. It's worth it,
Last edited:
tomjasz
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Minnesnowta
EM3ev. Forget cheap Hailong cases by Shan Shan. Reention Polly cases are vastly superior. Beware of cheap batteries without cell separation and cheap nickel coated steel connections and $5 BMS.
The Shark style case is a popular choice, due to it’s small size, for it’s relatively high capacity. It’s long, but sleek profile, means it can fit into most frames and it looks pretty good. However, it was not all good. The Hailong case that was used for most of the Shark batteries that are in circulation, suffered from several issues.
The issues on the Hailong case included:
- There is space for a controller on the Hailong Slider. This controller (that is rarely even fitted) takes away valuable space from the battery. It also means that the slider mounting points do not align with the water bottle mounting points on most bikes (some will drill a hole through the controller and add an additional bolt, or even drill a hole through their bike frame..). The slider section on the Hailong is only thin plastic, with no metallic structure.
- The tabs on the base of the case and the slider (these hold the battery to the slider) are very thin on the Hailong case (~2.7mm) and poorly supported/designed. Also, due to the Short length of the slider (due to the controller), there are only 6 tabs.
- Thin materials used throughout the case, with little supporting structure. Typically, the material thickness is ~2.8mm.
- The Hailong Case is designed for 52 cells (13 series, 4 parallel), which is commonly referred to as a 48V battery. In order to fit the additional cells to make it into a 14 series, 52V battery, the standard cell holder must be discarded and the cells glued together. Without the cell holders, safety is compromised and the removal of the cell holder structure, will not help with the case’s structural integrity.
- Hailong cases were generally only supplied with a DC2.1 charge connector. These are rated 3A (which is not much for a battery that might be almost 14Ah in capacity).
Last edited:
Gionnirocket
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Y. O.
Maybe I've got the wrong impression from the op... But jamming a giant battery into this delicate looking frame will look ehh'... especially if you start adding hose clamps and such for support.
A water bottle battery if possible seems to be a much more appropriate choice.
For illustration purposes only:
A water bottle battery if possible seems to be a much more appropriate choice.
For illustration purposes only:
Amazon.com: Wallen Power Ebike Battery 36V 10AH Water Bottle Battery Kettle Electric Lithium Battery with 42V 2A Charger,Switch, 25A BMS Protection Board for 700W 500W 350W 250W 200W Motor : Sports & Outdoors
Amazon.com: Wallen Power Ebike Battery 36V 10AH Water Bottle Battery Kettle Electric Lithium Battery with 42V 2A Charger,Switch, 25A BMS Protection Board for 700W 500W 350W 250W 200W Motor : Sports & Outdoors
www.amazon.com
tomjasz
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Minnesnowta
Good idea to look for a better fit but those ancient cases sre ugly.
In 7 years and hundreds of battery sales and a dozen of my own frame packs i saw no frame failures using bottle mounts. Again a win with @JRA creater of Bottle Bob. I use black hose clamps on my black frames.
@PedalUma uses versions that look like water bottles. And many don’t need high Ah. @JRA reminded us of “side out” cases for tight fitting.
Side Release Batteries for tight situations
Just a bit of public service info as this type of battery is not that well known as the Hailong style case ones but can be a good match for tighter triangles especially...
electricbikereview.com
Last edited:
AHicks
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Snow Bird - Summer S.E. Michigan, Winter Gulf Coast North Central Fl.
My emphasis prior to starting, would be finding a battery that would fit between the upper and lower bars. That might be a challenge? Fitted to the upper bar, and your step through plan just became a step over.
That's exactly my thoughts. The minimum distance between the upper and lower downtubes is 2 5/8" increasing as you move toward the bottom bracket to over 4". There are many different batteries for sale from what seems like an endless number of vendors and I was hoping I would be able to find someone who has already blazed this trail and would have a couple of definitive suggestions as to what works. The quest begins.
Gionnirocket
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Y. O.
The only thing that I'm aware of that will work with those dimensions is a custom build.
Perhaps @Jenny Mao can help.
My triangle is tight though due to suspension and I had her build me a not so custom heatshrink pack which I then made a custom bracket out of aluminum bar which I bolted to the water bottle mounts.. then wrapped with a frame bag.
The initial battery used in the frame bag link is not the same as the one I now have from Jenny.
If you go through the thread @m@Robertson links to a guy in Russia that sells quality custom frame bags if you can't find something off the shelf.
This is all the long route...but as suggested earlier a bottle battery on the top bar or seat post might work well enough and leave you with a half_step through.
Last edited:
Similar threads
