How can I get myself a new battery for my old E-bike?

[Cycles]

Hello everyone! I have recently acquired a Prodecotech Stride 500 for an extremely cheap price. The problem is, the battery on it is quite small (9.6 AH, 36V) and is also quite old. I think it could go about 10-15 miles tops, so I have been thinking about getting a bigger extra battery for it that could take me perhaps on longer road trips.
However, apparently the company that made these bikes is out of business, so it only leaves me with the option of getting aftermarket batteries. There are 2 main issues I am concerned with though:

1. The battery the E-bike has is actually a LiFePO4 battery, not a regular Li-ion battery. So I'm not sure if getting a regular E-bike battery could do anything to the bike.
2. Even if I do get another LiFePO4 battery, it has this really weird connector, not your usual 5-pin one. And apparently the battery is also proprietary, so it has some "signal" that only recognizes Prodecotech Batteries(according to FTHPower when I called them to explore some options.)

Are there any suggestions for any further steps I could take to get another battery for my E-bike? Any help would be appreciated thanks!

Note that a bit of the plastic holding the 2 metals prongs on the Ebike controller has fell off, resulting in one of the prongs being a bit loose. I kinda strapped it down with electric tape so it doesn't touch the metal bits next to it and possibly short circuit.

 

[Chargeride]

Im guess youve looked but contacting these companies might get you some info on the circuitry reqd.

ProdecoTech eBike Battery Rebuild Service

www.hicbattery.com

https://ebikemarketplace.com/products/prodecotech-e-bike-battery-replacement?srsltid=AfmBOoqIqb8WyoeMykwWUNSN6AJEOi66T8QSZd96RByFcUj5m_3ciZ33

This commenter seems to think there is no proprietary system for the prodeco battery

Pouches! I don't need now stinkin' pouches!

I am having a problem with my Prodeco Mariner folding 20" ebike, purchased used about 5 years ago. I think these bikes were made in 2013, 2014. I let it sit too long, so the battery was dead, would not charge. I watched videos and bought a Jesverty DC Power Supply Variable, 0-60V 0-5A Adjustable...

endless-sphere.com

It's safer to replace the entire battery, since the Prodeco systems don't have any proprietary stuff between controller and battery--any battery of the same capabilities as the original will work. (it can be higher Ah, and capable of higher A, but it can't be lower, and it has to be the same voltage range

Heres a list of replies on Endless.

Search results for query: Prodeco

endless-sphere.com

 

[indianajo]

I would cut the proprietary male connector off the harness and install andersn, XT90, or male & female .250 Dorman insulated flag terminals. California-ebike.com seems out of the battery business but ebikeling has 13 AH and 20 AH 36 v batteries today. https://ebikeling.com/ Buy his 36 v charger. LiIon versus LiFePo4 matters only for the charger cut-off voltage.
Mounting the battery on the downtube? I can cage any battery with 3/4"x1/16" aluminum angle from Home Depot or Lowes, but there may be some sort of screw receptor (nut) in the dolphin case. In that case make clamps out of 1" x 7" 20 ga steel strip cut from a box fan shell or other junk. I use weiss snips. I use SS machine screws and elastic stop nuts from mcmaster.com so they do not come unscrewed or rust in the rain. 5 mm should work, but a different size/thread may fit the nuts in the dolphin case. See this thread for a picture of one of my plastic & aluminum wrapped batteries. https://forums.electricbikereview.com/threads/lion-battery-draw-tester.56759/

 

[Cycles]

Im guess youve looked but contacting these companies might get you some info on the circuitry reqd.

ProdecoTech eBike Battery Rebuild Service

www.hicbattery.com

https://ebikemarketplace.com/products/prodecotech-e-bike-battery-replacement?srsltid=AfmBOoqIqb8WyoeMykwWUNSN6AJEOi66T8QSZd96RByFcUj5m_3ciZ33

This commenter seems to think there is no proprietary system for the prodeco battery

Pouches! I don't need now stinkin' pouches!

I am having a problem with my Prodeco Mariner folding 20" ebike, purchased used about 5 years ago. I think these bikes were made in 2013, 2014. I let it sit too long, so the battery was dead, would not charge. I watched videos and bought a Jesverty DC Power Supply Variable, 0-60V 0-5A Adjustable...

endless-sphere.com

It's safer to replace the entire battery, since the Prodeco systems don't have any proprietary stuff between controller and battery--any battery of the same capabilities as the original will work. (it can be higher Ah, and capable of higher A, but it can't be lower, and it has to be the same voltage range

Heres a list of replies on Endless.

Search results for query: Prodeco

endless-sphere.com

Oh it doesn’t? Well that certainly does increase my options a LOT.
Do you know anything about the connectors though? I am honestly not very comfortable replacing connectors as I cannot solder nor have much equipment. Do you know what sort of connector this is and if I can get any adapters for it so that it may fit more conventional batteries?

 

[Cycles]

I would cut the proprietary male connector off the harness and install andersn, XT90, or male & female .250 Dorman insulated flag terminals. California-ebike.com seems out of the battery business but ebikeling has 13 AH and 20 AH 36 v batteries today. https://ebikeling.com/ Buy his 36 v charger. LiIon versus LiFePo4 matters only for the charger cut-off voltage.
Mounting the battery on the downtube? I can cage any battery with 3/4"x1/16" aluminum angle from Home Depot or Lowes, but there may be some sort of screw receptor (nut) in the dolphin case. In that case make clamps out of 1" x 7" 20 ga steel strip cut from a box fan shell or other junk. I use weiss snips. I use SS machine screws and elastic stop nuts from mcmaster.com so they do not come unscrewed or rust in the rain. 5 mm should work, but a different size/thread may fit the nuts in the dolphin case. See this thread for a picture of one of my plastic & aluminum wrapped batteries. https://forums.electricbikereview.com/threads/lion-battery-draw-tester.56759/

Hi, it seems according to Chargeride that the Prodecotech bike doesn’t have a proprietary controller. I think that could increase our options.
Also, I’m not very comfortable with cutting and soldering wire due to not having a lot of equipment. It’ll be nice if you knew what sort of connector the e-bike has and I’ll just ask the battery company to install the female connector.
Thanks.

 

[indianajo]

Andersn connector has screw clamps. I had no luck soldering XT90. When I got it hot enough to attach to 14 ga wire, the PVC body melted and the sockets went out of line. Dorman .250" flag insulated terminals are crimped on, not soldered. Sold at auto supplies like O'Reilly's. I use a Klein or Ideal crimp tool from HD, not the garbage sold on 99000 hooks in stores. Pull test after crimping, you can even screw those up. Dorman in the multi pack is ****ese , the same garbage as Radio Shack used to sell. Ebay & Amazon still do. Dorman in the individual pack is from taiwan, read the back. Better crimp connectors from 3M, Panduit, T&B, Ideal, TE connectivity (the inventor) but you have to buy 100 packs of 3M from mcmaster.com or pay freight from newark digikey or mouser.
Using flag terminals, put the male on the minus of the battery and the female on the plus. Or the opposite if that floats your boat. Whatever, you never want to hook it up backwards. I have same connectors on the charge wires of my battery, same sex on plus of course. The charge wires are 16 ga, the controller wires are 14 ga.

 

[PCeBiker]

I had no luck soldering XT90. When I got it hot enough to attach to 14 ga wire, the PVC body melted and the sockets went out of line.

This heat sink is supposed to help a lot,.

 

[Chargeride]

Hi, it seems according to Chargeride that the Prodecotech bike doesn’t have a proprietary controller. I think that could increase our options.
Also, I’m not very comfortable with cutting and soldering wire due to not having a lot of equipment. It’ll be nice if you knew what sort of connector the e-bike has and I’ll just ask the battery company to install the female connector.
Thanks.

That's just one commenter on the forum, I don't know which battery it applies to

 

[Cycles]

That's just one commenter on the forum, I don't know which battery it applies to

I see, I saw another forum saying the stride 500 has a proprietary battery but honestly I don't see how those 2 prongs would be able to tell.

 

[harryS]

If you're going to be putting new batteries on old bikes, you have to learn to solder. Buy a good Weller iron. 60/40 solder with lead in it. Get one of these helping hand fixtures, and it's easy to solder connectors.

Couple of years ago, I ran out of solder and ran over to Home Depot for a roll. Aagh. They only sold the lead-free solder. which requires a much higher temperature and is hard to use at home. I wonder if a lot of solder problems seen by newbies is because they bought the wrong solder,

 

[Cycles]

If you're going to be putting new batteries on old bikes, you have to learn to solder. Buy a good Weller iron. 60/40 solder with lead in it. Get one of these helping hand fixtures, and it's easy to solder connectors.

View attachment 183616

Couple of years ago, I ran out of solder and ran over to Home Depot for a roll. Aagh. They only sold the lead-free solder. which requires a much higher temperature and is hard to use at home. I wonder if a lot of solder problems seen by newbies is because they bought the wrong solder,

I see, what do I solder though?

 

[Chargeride]

First start pronouncing the L you heathens.

 

[PCeBiker]

First start pronouncing the L you heathens.

I like the way you guys say Aluminium.
You give it an extra syllable.

The second "i" is silent in the America's

 

[indianajo]

I see, what do I solder though?

If you have to use XT90 or XT60, they have to be soldered. The heatsink in post 7 might make the process doable. The Weller iron in post 10 is not useful. I've owned a half dozen of those and the tip stops conducting heat from the handle in about a year. I'm now using a vari-temp iron from Parts-express.com for electronics projects. Putting an XT90 on 14 ga controller wires is too big a project for one of those. IMHO, use andersn connectors, or crimp on .250" insulated flags, or .157" (4 mm) bullet connectors. The taiwanese ones are big enough for 40 amp loads, the ****ese ones melt at that current. Andersn are big and clunky, but screw terminals are reliable at up to 50 amps. The only place I saw those for sale without a battery was parts-express.com but I think they have deleted them.

 

[il Munduato]

Soldering XT connectors is not recommended as a beginners task as it requires a lot of fast heat.
I would buy ready made leads and crimp them in with Butt connectors