Townie project is coming along! Battery?

[Ducky77]

Hello all!
A couple of months ago I bought a used Electra Townie off Craigslist for $100… I disassembled it, painted it ( Montana gold is awesome paint) meticulously sanded it and then sealed it with a 2k clear coat… i think it turned out better than a factory finish . My husband teased me as I was obsessively color sanding it … I have a very high stress career , I found it to be quite relaxing!
Now it’s time to install the 48V Tongsheng kit ( that will be my hubby’s job) . I still need to get a battery. I don’t want anything too big and bulky. Any suggestions? We were also considering building our own… not sure if we should even mess with that.

 

[indianajo]

I still need to get a battery. I don’t want anything too big and bulky. Any suggestions? We were also considering building our own… not sure if we should even mess with that.

Absolutely not. Requires welding on a metal can that catches fire if you burn a hole in it. The young & stupid drone pilots do it all the time in their apartments, putting everybody in the building at risk. Outside on a concrete or steel table only IMHO. If I get into it I'll wear a face shield & welder's gloves.
I got trash batteries from btrbattery of amazon & sun-ebike baldwin city warehouse of ebay. Got my money back on the amazon one, but the ebay one would only fail after 15 miles & the voltage would bounce back immediately. Took me more than 30 days to prove it was bad.
Littakal looks good. See parts & accessories. aliexp. One got lost in shipping someone said, no recourse, No fires yet. People talk a lot about Jenny Ma but I don't know how to contact her. ebikeling seems to have good quality but you have to buy a whole kit from him. Californiaebike has a reputation too, but I don't know how to contact them either. Buying anything from HK or ***** use a throwaway credit card. I don't want my bank account debit card # stored on a foreign server.

 

[Ducky77]

Absolutely not. Requires welding on a metal can that catches fire if you burn a hole in it. The young & stupid drone pilots do it all the time in their apartments, putting everybody in the building at risk. Outside on a concrete or steel table only IMHO. If I get into it I'll wear a face shield & welder's gloves.
I got trash batteries from btrbattery of amazon & sun-ebike baldwin city warehouse of ebay. Got my money back on the amazon one, but the ebay one would only fail after 15 miles & the voltage would bounce back immediately. Took me more than 30 days to prove it was bad.
Littakal looks good. See parts & accessories. aliexp. One got lost in shipping someone said, no recourse, No fires yet. People talk a lot about Jenny Ma but I don't know how to contact her. ebikeling seems to have good quality but you have to buy a whole kit from him. Californiaebike has a reputation too, but I don't know how to contact them either. Buying anything from HK or ***** use a throwaway credit card. I don't want my bank account debit card # stored on a foreign serve

Which battery are you looking for?
What capacity?
Rear rack battery or mid mounted on frame?

You can see Jenny's feedback all over EBR, but here are some of her feedbacks

Reention newly upgrade 48V 25Ah&36V 30Ah (505L) interchangeable for eBikes Surface 604,NCM,Rize,Magnum,Aventon

Hello all friends, this is Jenny from Shanghai Aijiu Energy Tech, and I am new to the forum. Thanks for your time reading the post. As a 13-year experienced manufacturer of lithium ion battery packs, we have our battery exported all around the world with good feedback. All batteries we sold...

electricbikereview.com

Got my new battery from Jenny Mao, Li-ion Battery Sales Engineer Shanghai Aijiu Energy Tech

Well my wife’s bike, a Lankeleisi ES300 only had a 12.8 Ah battery and my bike is a ET Cycle T1000 and it came with a 21Ah . So I decided to buy an extra battery for hers so if we go on some long rides we don’t have to worry about hers running out of power. Contacted Jenny and sent her...

electricbikereview.com

Just received a new Dorado 25ah battery

It has been mentioned in a few threads here but Reention is producing a new case for their Dorado series of batteries that allow 21700 cells to be used instead of 18650. This increases the max capacity of that battery to 25ah using Samsung 50E cells (@48v). The battery is available in 36v, 48v...

electricbikereview.com

thank you so much! I’ll reach out to her

 

[tomjasz]

EM3ev, California eBike, and Jenny Mao. All great choices. The first and last sources are battery packs, builders. CA eBike has both makers.

 

[Ducky77]

Absolutely not. Requires welding on a metal can that catches fire if you burn a hole in it. The young & stupid drone pilots do it all the time in their apartments, putting everybody in the building at risk. Outside on a concrete or steel table only IMHO. If I get into it I'll wear a face shield & welder's gloves.
I got trash batteries from btrbattery of amazon & sun-ebike baldwin city warehouse of ebay. Got my money back on the amazon one, but the ebay one would only fail after 15 miles & the voltage would bounce back immediately. Took me more than 30 days to prove it was bad.
Littakal looks good. See parts & accessories. aliexp. One got lost in shipping someone said, no recourse, No fires yet. People talk a lot about Jenny Ma but I don't know how to contact her. ebikeling seems to have good quality but you have to buy a whole kit from him. Californiaebike has a reputation too, but I don't know how to contact them either. Buying anything from HK or ***** use a throwaway credit card. I don't want my bank account debit card # stored on a foreign server.

I should mention that we have welding and soldering equipment and a safe environment to do this! My husband professionally restores cars so we’re not exactly your average DIYer.

 

[Ducky77]

Before contacting her, I would at least make sure which battery case you want.
There are so many options, and from what I can see, most EBR members already know exactly what they want.

Kunshan Reention Mechanical and Electrical Co., Ltd.

Kunshan Ruien New Mechanical and Electrical Co., Ltd. is located in Kunshan High-tech Zone, is a professional design, production and sales of electric bicycles lithium battery boxes and other plastic accessories enterprises. Our products have unique shape, excellent quality and reasonable price...

www.reention.com

Also the cells, voltages, spec of BMS (usually 30A), etc.
If you don't give Jenny exact specs, it's very hard for her to build a battery.

I‘m clear on the voltage & cells… researching the BMS now.

 

[PedalUma]

In the off chance you are in the SF Bay Area, I just had some very nice batteries made and they arrive next week. I am not a retailer, just a fellow builder willing to be helpful, so you do not have to wait six weeks. These have premium cells and BMS. The 48V look a lot like water bottles and are 7Ah or 10.5Ah. They also lock with a key and have a USB port, On/Off switch, and charging port under a cover of the battery's lid. I like having a USB port. I can use it to slowly discharge a battery for safe storage or transport. Being able to turn a battery off is also a nice thing for safety.
Good luck with your build. Are you willing to post some photos of your paint job?

 

[tomjasz]

Even that, I don't think building a common spec battery would not make sense to you.

Actually it’s a fun project. Just not cost effective on a small scale. These days there are a more than a few spot welders suited to home builders. Been there done that….

You? Or just parroted anecdotes?

 

[tomjasz]

it may not make much sense since you won't be saving any money.

I don’t see where she indicates it is money saving.

 

[tomjasz]

Requires welding on a metal can that catches fire if you burn a hole in it. T

Littakal looks good.

I’m sorry you got ripped off. But there are trust worthy sources. With due diligence there are great builders. A welder like kweld and JP welders won’t burn a hole. Both have lots of support.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Absolutely not. Requires welding on a metal can that catches fire if you burn a hole in it. The young & stupid drone pilots do it all the time in their apartments, putting everybody in the building at risk. Outside on a concrete or steel table only IMHO. If I get into it I'll wear a face shield & welder's gloves.
I got trash batteries from btrbattery of amazon & sun-ebike baldwin city warehouse of ebay. Got my money back on the amazon one, but the ebay one would only fail after 15 miles & the voltage would bounce back immediately. Took me more than 30 days to prove it was bad.
Littakal looks good. See parts & accessories. aliexp. One got lost in shipping someone said, no recourse, No fires yet. People talk a lot about Jenny Ma but I don't know how to contact her. ebikeling seems to have good quality but you have to buy a whole kit from him. Californiaebike has a reputation too, but I don't know how to contact them either. Buying anything from HK or ***** use a throwaway credit card. I don't want my bank account debit card # stored on a foreign server.

I got a big TERD from LIITOKALA... And though I got a full refund (50% from Ali +50% from Visa) it was a bit of work to prove it had a bad cell group and this battery should have never left the factory.

I can give @Jenny Mao a second recommendation as I got what I asked for from her with excellent communication. Full disclosure... Very happy but I've only had the battery a short time.

I second the paint job pics!

 

[tomjasz]

I got a big TERD from LIITOKALA... And though I got a full refund (50% from Ali +50% from Visa) it was a bit of work to prove it had a bad cell group and this battery should have never left the factory.

I can give @Jenny Mao a second recommendation as I got what I asked for from her with excellent communication. Full disclosure... Very happy but I've only had the battery a short time.

My 21700 pack has been tested and found to be exactly as she promised. 36V 20Ah 20A 5A charging. @Jenny Mao

 

[Ducky77]

In the off chance you are in the SF Bay Area, I just had some very nice batteries made and they arrive next week. I am not a retailer, just a fellow builder willing to be helpful, so you do not have to wait six weeks. These have premium cells and BMS. The 48V look a lot like water bottles and are 7Ah or 10.5Ah. They also lock with a key and have a USB port, On/Off switch, and charging port under a cover of the battery's lid. I like having a USB port. I can use it to slowly discharge a battery for safe storage or transport. Being able to turn a battery off is also a nice thing for safety.
Good luck with your build. Are you willing to post some photos of your paint job

 

[Ducky77]

Hi PedalUma!
I’m very interested in one of your batteries. I’m in SoCal though… perhaps we can chat? I’ll send you a private message with my contact info.
We still haven’t assembled the bike… doing that tomorrow and installing the motor.
Here is a pic of the fender. You cant tell anything from this photo… but I’m very impressed with the results I got from rattle cans!
in case anyone is wondering… I used Montana Gold paint ( and their universal primer) with SprayMax 2k clear coat. Lots of prep work, color sanding and buffing with a buffer and compound. I did not strip the frame to bare metal prior to priming… I just sanded it till it was dull.
I’ll post updated pics when it’s finished!!

 

[Ducky77]

I don’t see where she indicates it is money saving.

I just like the idea of knowing exactly what cells are in it.

 

[Ducky77]

Okay, she did mention about her husband restore cars.

You're absolutely right, she didn't say anything about saving money.

But in the car / motorcycle community, when people do their own project, instead of taking it to a shop, one of the satisfactions you get from doing DIY work, flipping cars, modifying cars, etc... is saving money. Not having to pay expensive labor by letting somebody else do the work.

If tuning cars and motorcycles costed more than taking it to a shop, I would never have done it my

I guess I have a bit of a diy mindset. I was just toying with the idea. I’ve already decided against it. We have enough other things to do and it would be nice to get out and enjoy our bikes while the weather is still nice!

 

[tomjasz]

Okay that's understandable.

I guess if you pick reputable battery builders, you won't be getting any counterfeit cells.

Also, even you purchase cells only, there still is a risk that you will still be getting counterfeit cells.

Bullshit! While you are a helpful google searcher you have ZERO experience.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I don't know why you keep talking about Google and your own experience.
This happens even when I provide sources.

In addition, I imagine members here would agree that with proper citation, with sources, is acceptable, or something that's worth considering.
The readers can do their own critical analysis and determine whether or not the information cited is credible.

I would not dismiss anything simply for the fact that it can be searched on Bing, Yahoo, Google, etc.

The fact that you mentioned Bing makes you suspect

 

[Gionnirocket]

why?

Seriously? Does anyone use Bing? I mean other than those who still have AOL
But seriously it is a horrific search engine.

 

[Ducky77]

You guys are funny… and no offense Timpo, I haven’t heard anyone mention Bing since 2010 .