Creo 320w Battery Strip

[Dazmanturbo]

Hi All. I have been buying up second hand batteries for my Creo here in the UK, with the intention of stripping one to see if it can be re-packed with better cells. I have now picked up 4 extra batteries. My original battery was on 56 cycles and for little money, £20 each (about $30 USD) I have picked up 4 additional batteries. One has 5 cycles, next has 8, next with 46 and one was dead. I have started to break up the dead one to get a better idea of what is involved.

The battery comes apart fairly easy with 6 star bolts holding it together and the top has tangs to it on. The battery has 26 cells inside and are housed in modules that are soldered and bolted together. It is very well isolated and quite difficult to strip down. I do need a new solder iron and unsolder the contact, so I can get in and view the cells. I can see they are pink like Samsung 30Q, but time will tell if that is the case.

Did look on-line and can't find any photos of the inside of the Creo battery, other then the see thru case ones

 

[Dazmanturbo]

I have now managed to view the batteries inside each module and they are an absolute bitch to open. Much to my surprise, the batteries are Sumsung 18650 35E, which are rated at 3500mah and amongst the strongest decent make batteries you can get. No point re-packing these as you will not get a better battery. I was expect some cheap china batteries and was really surprised to see some really decent ones. Thumbs up Specialized

 

[mschwett]

good to know! of the various places to cut corners and skimp, i wouldn’t have expected batteries to be one of them given the risks involved!

I have now managed to view the batteries inside each module and they are an absolute bitch to open. Much to my surprise, the batteries are Sumsung 18650 35E, which are rated at 3500mah and amongst the strongest decent make batteries you can get. No point re-packing these as you will not get a better battery. I was expect some cheap china batteries and was really surprised to see some really decent ones. Thumbs up Specialized

 

[Allan47.7339]

Hi All. I have been buying up second hand batteries for my Creo here in the UK, with the intention of stripping one to see if it can be re-packed with better cells. I have now picked up 4 extra batteries. My original battery was on 56 cycles and for little money, £20 each (about $30 USD) I have picked up 4 additional batteries. One has 5 cycles, next has 8, next with 46 and one was dead.

How were you able to find so many used batteries? Were tourists leaving them behind after their trips or crashed broken bikes?

 

[Dazmanturbo]

They just kept appearing on Ebay here in the UK and no one else bid. They were all listed as spare of repair as they had no way of testing them. Was a bonus result when I got the ones with 5 and 8 cycles on them

 

[Dazmanturbo]

I have now stripped the dead battery and found that to re-packed the cells on a Creo battery would be an extremely difficult thing to do. The batteries are held in 4 modules and housed in plastic holders. The connecting strip is then added after, effectively sealing the batteries in the plastic cage. You have to unsolder the modules and then cut the nickel strips and get the batteries out. Took a fair bit of working out as the nickel strips are covered in fish paper and can't easily been seen. Got a spare BMS now to play with, but the cell were all toast. Still got 4 good main batteries - lol

 

[coffeemaker]

Thanks for sharing. Did you try restoring the battery contacts? ie does the BMS permanently trigger over-discharge protection and brick the battery pack?

 

[Dazmanturbo]

Thanks for sharing. Did you try restoring the battery contacts? ie does the BMS permanently trigger over-discharge protection and brick the battery pack?

Sorry, just seen this as been on holiday for the last 3 weeks on Antarctica Cruise. I have not reset the contacts as yet. All the cells I tested in the dead battery, were completely dead