How Often Do You Replace Your E-Bike Battery?
- Thread starter Julianaa
- Start date
Catalyzt
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Yeah, I lost your outstanding thread/tutorial here (I think it was you?!) about using tool batteries as range extenders. I would really like to set that up for the Shimano 6010 battery. I have one mega-ride planned -- basically, riding from my house to the eastern edge of the Verdugos, riding the entire spine of the range, and descending on the Western/Northern edge, out by Burbank airport and returning -- that I think is about 40 miles round trip. A DIY range extender would give me a lot more peace of mind.
Running the batteries into the ground is also better environmentally. No need to send a battery to recycling until absolutely necessary.
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
If you're serious and want to try it, you could use two 20V 5AH DeWalt tool batteries in series to give almost half the capacity of the 36V 6010 battery.
If your battery mount on the bike looks like this and the distance between the pin centers is .25",
You should be able to use this 4 pin female connector wired to the DeWalt tool batteries:
Use these fused adapters and wire them in series:
DeWalt 20V batteries come in several capacities. I use 5AH with a standard charger:
Not sure of the pinnout of the Shimano connector, you would have to test it with a voltmeter before wiring. It's possible there is some proprietary wiring configuration that could cause a problem. This is especially true if it's a Bosch system. Also, keep in mind there is no low voltage cutoff in the DeWalt battery internal BMS. If you discharge below 15.3V (30.6V in series), you could damage them
Lots of options for carrying the batteries. I generally use panniers or a rear rack bag to offer some protection.
The whole rig should cost less than $175. I would measure the pin spacing and try to figure out the wiring diagram before ordering anything.
If your battery mount on the bike looks like this and the distance between the pin centers is .25",
You should be able to use this 4 pin female connector wired to the DeWalt tool batteries:
Amazon.com : HALLOMOTOR eBike Hailong Battery Power Discharge Connector 4Pin or 5Pin Male or Female for Hailong1 Hailong2 Battery Base/Plate Replacment (4 Pins Female) : Sports & Outdoors
Amazon.com : HALLOMOTOR eBike Hailong Battery Power Discharge Connector 4Pin or 5Pin Male or Female for Hailong1 Hailong2 Battery Base/Plate Replacment (4 Pins Female) : Sports & Outdoors
www.amazon.com
Use these fused adapters and wire them in series:
DeWalt 20V batteries come in several capacities. I use 5AH with a standard charger:
Not sure of the pinnout of the Shimano connector, you would have to test it with a voltmeter before wiring. It's possible there is some proprietary wiring configuration that could cause a problem. This is especially true if it's a Bosch system. Also, keep in mind there is no low voltage cutoff in the DeWalt battery internal BMS. If you discharge below 15.3V (30.6V in series), you could damage them
Lots of options for carrying the batteries. I generally use panniers or a rear rack bag to offer some protection.
The whole rig should cost less than $175. I would measure the pin spacing and try to figure out the wiring diagram before ordering anything.
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stompandgo
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
I don't believe that this would work for Bosch as the motor and display would not see the batteries. Bosch uses a CAN or CAN-like bus to communicate between components. Maybe if you gutted a bad battery for the electronics and encased them. The Bosch connectors are readily available.
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
I agree but the OP's Shimano 6010 battery isn't Bosch compatible. His is likely a Shimano system, which may or not work with the DeWalt batteries either.
Catalyzt
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
This is totally awesome, 6z.
What's the worst that could happen, or is this unknown? If the worst is it not working, I would totally try that. If the worst is bricking the controller or battery, that's more problematic. If the worst is blowing up the batteries, and dying pointlessly in an avoidable accident, maybe I won't try it! BTW, I hereby indemnify you for the results of your answer-- best guess is all I'm looking for.
I take it what I would be doing here would be completely taking off the battery, sticking it in a backpack (unfortunately-- I'm not gonna add a rack or pannies for a rare situation like this) and being comically unbalanced for the last five or 10 miles home. Which I could totally live with.
As for mounting the battery on the bike, things about this are super interesting.
I also wonder about using two DeWalt batteries for fitness riding locally without even bringing the 6010. That would shave a bunch of weight, which is always welcome, but not helpful for the long rides which have the steepest grades where lower weight would be most welcome.
Many thanks!
What's the worst that could happen, or is this unknown? If the worst is it not working, I would totally try that. If the worst is bricking the controller or battery, that's more problematic. If the worst is blowing up the batteries, and dying pointlessly in an avoidable accident, maybe I won't try it! BTW, I hereby indemnify you for the results of your answer-- best guess is all I'm looking for.
I take it what I would be doing here would be completely taking off the battery, sticking it in a backpack (unfortunately-- I'm not gonna add a rack or pannies for a rare situation like this) and being comically unbalanced for the last five or 10 miles home. Which I could totally live with.
As for mounting the battery on the bike, things about this are super interesting.
I also wonder about using two DeWalt batteries for fitness riding locally without even bringing the 6010. That would shave a bunch of weight, which is always welcome, but not helpful for the long rides which have the steepest grades where lower weight would be most welcome.
Many thanks!
6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
Since your bike uses a Shimano 6010 battery, I assume it also uses a 36V Shimano controller. Any 36V controller will accept voltages slightly above 42V and should not have a problem with the 40V DeWalt batteries. Since the batteries are fused individually, it isn't likely they would be damaged either.
The biggest problem is figuring out the correct wiring to match the connector on the bike and if there is some sort of "handshake" arrangement between the bike & battery.
If the battery has an on/off switch, you could tap into the circuit using a short pigtail with a connector. That way, you could leave the battery in place, turn off the switch and plug in the tool batteries. They are smaller, lighter and more easily carried. My battery has such a switch and that's what I do.
Good luck!
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Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
The good BMS turned the protection on. The LED on the charger started flashing and the charging stopped. I think no thermal runaway would have happened but...
I have already survived a non-battery related fire. Wouldn't like to die in another.
harryS
Well-Known Member
It depends on quality, Good quality batteries will go 600 cycles and still might have enough capacity for the owner, if they only need a modest range, Low quality packs might not even get to 100 cycles.
What happens there is an individual cell failure that shuts the battery down. This is more a factor of time rather than charge cycles, Lithium cells range from flashlight quality to automotive quality. If they use flashlight cells in an ebike, and some sellers do that, it just won;t last,
My sister is still chugging along on an ebike with original battery that I bought 10 years ago.
Jeremy McCreary
Bought it anyway
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
As a fellow SL rider, very encouraging!
I try to keep my battery at around 50% SOC so before a ride, I charge enough to END the ride at around 50% SOC. That way when not in use, the battery stays happy. My ebike will go 35-40mi. on a full charge but I never ride even close to that far so I'm never draining the battery below 20%. I fly RC airplanes that use LIPO packs and that community is very picky about storing at 50%, and never over discharging. I have some lipo packs that are 10 years old and still perform well. Capacity is down a little but otherwise they still have good punch and have not swelled. When a LIPO battery is over discharged, the pack will actually swell and when it does that, it's pretty much game over
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Have you checked it with BLEvo?
Chazmo
fat-tire biker
- Region
- USA
- City
- Central Massachusetts
Yeah, what I’ve read suggests that you do more to lower a lithium battery’s longevity with a deep discharge than with a full charge. Of course if you need to do either, than you gotta’ do what you gotta’ do.
Well, when they're not strong enough for riding anymore, please dispose of them properly. Or, even better, they can usually store some charge for quite a long time, so some people have managed to hook them up to their solar/house battery array along w/ old car and laptop batteries.
CanNik
Active Member
- Region
- United Kingdom
I have NiCd batteries 30 years old still working perfectly, I have NiMh batteries 15 years old still perfect, it is impossible to say what the life of a battery is
As for my ebikes, 3 years and still perfect
As for recycling batteries, I have three old car batteries, that are kept for winter, used for electric via an inverter when/if we ever have a power cut, I will do the same with others when replaced
As for my ebikes, 3 years and still perfect
As for recycling batteries, I have three old car batteries, that are kept for winter, used for electric via an inverter when/if we ever have a power cut, I will do the same with others when replaced
Chazmo
fat-tire biker
- Region
- USA
- City
- Central Massachusetts
Well, the tool batteries are expensive (and rightly so). But if you’ve got ‘em already...
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