Orbea Gain spare battery DIY?

[IvanSNP]

Oh I agree, but I have two range extenders and they have both been faulty. So much for engineered perfection. My home made one has to be at the exact capacity of the main battery and in over a year I have had no problems with battery or bike

Martin, I have an issue about this system. I want to travel by plane with my Orbea Gain and I can't do it because of lithium battery system. Reading IATA docs I have found that I can carry spare batteries up to 20 units, max range 100kw/h each one, this is only for spare units. I know Ebikemotion X35 has a battery/control system that is made by 20 Panasonic cells. I could remove the whole unit but I don't know if is possible to open it and remove the 20 Panasonic cells, carry them with me, and restore them to the system at destination. Do you know something about this, if it's possible to do this? Thanks.

 

[IvanSNP]

@Martin romford , your setup sounds really cool - could you post some pictures and maybe links to parts?

There is an interesting guide to build home DIY here. I have started reading this article last week and now I am thinking that this can be a real solution for an extra charge or even to use as a main battery, in 3 modules of 100W / h, the limit for transport on carry on luggage, which will allow me to travel on planes.

Ebikeschool.com

 

[James Myres]

I located the manufacturer of the Gain Power connectors. Message me if you are interested in getting a set. These are the same shown in the photos attached.

 

[James Myres]

Working on a Extender for emotion bikes.
It will use (10) 5ah 3.6 volt lipo cells to yield 180 watts at 42 volts fully charged.

 

[James Myres]

I have prototyped the bottle extender on my 3d printer housing 10ea 5000mah cells (21700 size) for a total of 180 watts. I have tested it on wife's bike this last weekend with good results. Because the lack of interest in the connectors I found, I have been unable to meet the minimum 100 set purchase requirements. Instead I decided to go ahead by splicing in my own charge connector (XT60) and using the ebikemotion connector for the prototype extender out at the bottom of the battery.

The prototype extender worked very well for the first half of the ride, but the coachsmart computer that comes with the Gain sometimes goes out of sync and the levels cannot be switched. This requires the bike to be turned off and on again. This has happened a few times before the extender was ever conceived so I don't believe it is related to using the extender. However, the prototype extender does not have a switch so the bike turns on and stays on when the extender is plugged in, so the the bike and coachsmart computer cannot be reset without unplugging the extender.

For this and other reasons I'm in the process of adding a switch and charge connector mounted at or near the top of the extender with the ebikemotion connector coming out the bottom. This will also allow me to arrange the switch circuit so that when on the switch is on the extender and bike battery can be charged together and when off only the bike battery is charged. Also, by unplugging the extender from the bike, the extender can be charged by it's self. I believe the bike charging circuit limits the charging current to 2amps, so it is better that the extender be charged to higher or full level first before charging the bike and extender together. I don't know whether the current would flow from the bike to the extender if the battery levels were high in the bike and a high current flow backward could fry the connector wires if the extender was a lot lower than the bike battery.

See the attached images for the prototype extender and the prototype extender top with the switch and female XT60 charge connector.
If there was enough interest in the emotion type charge connectors that I posted about on September 22nd, I could make this a lot nicer.

 

[Ric_Paq]

I built one and it works.
I purchased a 6.2Ah 36v bottle battery from Alibaba, it turned out to be 4Ah but still increases the range.
I used xt60 connectors, cut the lead from the charger to the bike and spliced in the connectors.
These connectors need to be soldered to stop vibration.
It allows me to connect the original charger when charging and i can carry the bottle battery when extra range or altitude required.
Went to the french Alps and increased my climbing to over 4000ft whilst at full power from the motor.
I found the Canbus system did not interfere with the battery.
Certain precautions need to be taken.
Both batteries must be at maximum voltage of 41.2.
The spare must be turned on first and then after the bike wakes up, select the power setting required.
If the power between the batteries is different then the spare battery cannot be used from this point.
Do not stop long enough to allow the bike to go into standby mode, if it does then power everything down and start again.
I did the Prudential 46 and rode to the start and all the way back with an additional 25 miles. So even though the bike and i could have completed it on eco i was on medium power for nearly all the route except for the steepest hills.
My friend borrowed it for the TDB and she completed the 76 mile route.
Total cost under 180 pounds.
Get a bigger battery say a 7Ah or higher and 100 will be very easy.
Hope that helps and i accept no liability if it goes wrong.
I have photos if that helps to anyone wishing to build one.

Well done! Would like to see those pictures to make sure I understand.

 

[James Myres]

Newest and final version on my and my wife's DIY Extenders. 3D Printed with 180 watt hours to add to the 250 built into the bikes.
Bought a small battery welder on Amazon and lost the terminals and soldering. Batteries now ride quiet without any movement of the cells.

 

[USta70]

Newest and final version on my and my wife's DIY Extenders. 3D Printed with 180 watt hours to add to the 250 built into the bikes.
Bought a small battery welder on Amazon and lost the terminals and soldering. Batteries now ride quiet without any movement of the cells.

Hi James, ...do you have some more experiences with your great DIY solution and would share? Could you maybe provide a parts list of the components you used? That would be great.
Thx a lot in advance.
Cheers Uli