Snowbird Battery Storage

[telcoguy]

I am a Florida snowbird. I am going to buy a Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 SL to use in Florida. When I go back to Buffalo the bike will sit in a Florida condo for 7 months. If I leave the battery at 60% or 80% in May will it survive 7 months without a charge? I might be able to get my condo checker to charge it, but he is usually in and out fairly quickly. The battery in the Vado SL is not removable from the bike so that makes it difficult to leave it with a friend for the 7 months. Any ideas about battery care for snowbirds with ebikes?

 

[AHicks]

We do 6 months on each end and our batteries seem to be doing fine at 60-80% like you mention.

 

[6zfshdb]

Every battery has different characteristics. I can't speak for your Turbo Vado's but my five Pedego batteries all loose about 15% of their charge over 5 months. I charge them to 75% when storing over the winter and all are above 50% in the spring.

IMO, you should be fine charging to 80% and storing for 7 months.

 

[telcoguy]

Thanks for the replies. One idea I read said to use a timer to give the battery a slight charge once a week. I can figure that out after reading the bike manual about battery maintenance.

Thanks again.

 

[6zfshdb]

Thanks for the replies. One idea I read said to use a timer to give the battery a slight charge once a week. I can figure that out after reading the bike manual about battery maintenance.

Thanks again.

If you do this, make sure the charger doesn't discharge the battery when the AC power is switched off. The diodes in some chargers have "leakage" that can discharge a battery if left connected for extended periods.

 

[AHicks]

Thanks for the replies. One idea I read said to use a timer to give the battery a slight charge once a week. I can figure that out after reading the bike manual about battery maintenance.

Thanks again.

For me, it seems like overkill. That, and it seems like there's too much that COULD go wrong. IMHO, KISS plan is better.

 

[fooferdoggie]

For me, it seems like overkill. That, and it seems like there's too much that COULD go wrong. IMHO, KISS plan is better.

yes and in a week it wont drop much.

 

[harryS]

Connecting a charger to your bike, walking away for six months, and expecting a timer to keep watch. What could go wrong?

I won't even let a charger work on my battery while I'm sleeping,

 

[6zfshdb]

Connecting a charger to your bike, walking away for six months, and expecting a timer to keep watch. What could go wrong?

I won't even let a charger work on my battery while I'm sleeping,

This is always a good practice.

A timer does add an extra layer of protection though. If the automatic shutoff in the charger should fail, the timer will disconnect it from AC power. If the timer fails, the charger auto shutoff will act as a backup. The odds of both failing are astronomical.

 

[tammin]

I bought a smartplug specifically so I could charge mine up in a controlled fashion since the charger isn't a 'smart' charger - it's either on or it's off.

The good news is the battery charges at a very linear rate, making it easy to calculate how many minutes I need to charge it to get it to whatever my target is. Usually 60% because I'm riding less these days. The smart plug makes this trivial once I figure out how many minutes I need. And I can tell the charger to turn on from anywhere if I decide to go for a long ride and need 100%.

 

[6zfshdb]

I bought a smartplug specifically so I could charge mine up in a controlled fashion since the charger isn't a 'smart' charger - it's either on or it's off.

The good news is the battery charges at a very linear rate, making it easy to calculate how many minutes I need to charge it to get it to whatever my target is. Usually 60% because I'm riding less these days. The smart plug makes this trivial once I figure out how many minutes I need. And I can tell the charger to turn on from anywhere if I decide to go for a long ride and need 100%.

This is certainly a convenient solution but not necessarily the safest. I do something similar but always when I'm home. Charging a large lithium e-bike battery when you're not nearby is a bad idea.
Also, some bike manufacturers, including mine, don't recommend leaving the battery connected to the charger when not being used for long periods. Diodes in the charger can leak down and discharge the battery over time.

 

[tammin]

Re leak down, my Giant hasn’t done that so far. That said, I take your point about not leaving it plugged in even with the power off. Good safety tip.

 

[tomjasz]

Every battery has different characteristics. I can't speak for your Turbo Vado's but my five Pedego batteries all loose about 15% of their charge over 5 months. I charge them to 75% when storing over the winter and all are above 50% in the spring.

IMO, you should be fine charging to 80% and storing for 7 months.

I bought an EM3ev latest battery build. Had some health isdues, forgot about it and 6 months later it wouldn’t “wake up” it was shipped at 30%. My other EM3ev batteries were well managed, stored at 70-80%, at 60F, for the same amount of time and served me from 2014 through 2021. Now replaced January 2022.