Upgrading 2016 Battery

[SpiderDice]

Like many of you, I'm sure you still love your 2016 RadRover. With over 1700 miles on mine, I can definitely tell the battery is on it's last legs.

I've been looking at the Bolton eBikes upgrade to the HMU and controller (which I will probably do), and I think a new battery is due as well. Seems as though Luna doesn't stock the old school "dolphin" style packs any longer, but I found a few on AliExpress that look promising.

52v 14Ah
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.7.19472c3bwmEtXO

48v 14.5Ah
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...l?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.17.6a46691475ltQt

Do you think it's the same connection as the stock RadRover? (Looks like the same one to one.)

Thanks for your help!

SpiderDice

 

[AHicks]

When going with a new battery with more amps available, I would look forward to scrapping the stock battery connections for fear they would create an amperage bottleneck in the power flow from the battery to the controller.

Given the option, I would go with the 52v battery.

 

[harryS]

I don't know about RadRover, but I've got three Dolphins packs from 2015-2016 and that one has a different base. But if the base were different and you weren't planning to use the old battery, you could just mount the new base,

You're right though. The Dolphin pack is going away and I have three ebikes that still use it,

 

[tomjasz]

Like many of you, I'm sure you still love your 2016 RadRover. With over 1700 miles on mine, I can definitely tell the battery is on it's last legs.

I've been looking at the Bolton eBikes upgrade to the HMU and controller (which I will probably do), and I think a new battery is due as well. Seems as though Luna doesn't stock the old school "dolphin" style packs any longer, but I found a few on AliExpress that look promising.

52v 14Ah
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.7.19472c3bwmEtXO

48v 14.5Ah
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...l?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.17.6a46691475ltQt

Do you think it's the same connection as the stock RadRover? (Looks like the same one to one.)

Thanks for your help!

SpiderDice

Neither are Dolphin”. I think Luna and others call it the Whale. FWIW
Both choices are a coin flip. Cheap batteries, nickel plated steel welded on cells where there should be pure nickel. Super cheap BMS have high fail rates.

EM3ev will build a Dolphin pack. One of the most robust cases. I Gabe 4 and they are my favorite frame pack. Changing connectors is an easy skill to pick up.

 

[SpiderDice]

Neither are Dolphin”. I think Luna and others call it the Whale. FWIW
Both choices are a coin flip. Cheap batteries, nickel plated steel welded on cells where there should be pure nickel. Super cheap BMS have high fail rates.

EM3ev will build a Dolphin pack. One of the most robust cases. I Gabe 4 and they are my favorite frame pack. Changing connectors is an easy skill to pick up.

Cool, thanks for the advice! I'll contact EM3ev and see what they can do to help out.

 

[vincent]

Please keep us up to date on what your solution ends up being

Guessing several of us will run into this in the next year or two

I have around 2000 miles on my rover and the battery still seems to be charging up well according to my Luna charger with the readout on it

 

[SpiderDice]

Please keep us up to date on what your solution ends up being

Guessing several of us will run into this in the next year or two

I have around 2000 miles on my rover and the battery still seems to be charging up well according to my Luna charger with the readout on it

What kind of Luna charger do you have?

 

[vincent]

this one



https://lunacycle.com/luna-charger-48v-advanced-300w-ebike-charger/

 

[rich c]

Like many of you, I'm sure you still love your 2016 RadRover. With over 1700 miles on mine, I can definitely tell the battery is on it's last legs.

Really shocked to see you think the battery is shot with 1,700 miles on it. That's around 50 full charging cycles! You should get at least 10 times that much as a minimum. My 2016 Bosch batteries have 1,000 more miles and I don't see any degrade. I'd talk to Rad about that horrible battery life.

 

[tomjasz]

FWIW, I believe this is the current Rad battery builder.
suncellbattery.com
But they weren't working together in 2016, from what I've gleaned.

 

[Ebiker01]

Like many of you, I'm sure you still love your 2016 RadRover. With over 1700 miles on mine, I can definitely tell the battery is on it's last legs.

I've been looking at the Bolton eBikes upgrade to the HMU and controller (which I will probably do), and I think a new battery is due as well. Seems as though Luna doesn't stock the old school "dolphin" style packs any longer, but I found a few on AliExpress that look promising.

52v 14Ah
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.7.19472c3bwmEtXO

48v 14.5Ah
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...l?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.17.6a46691475ltQt

Do you think it's the same connection as the stock RadRover? (Looks like the same one to one.)

Thanks for your help!

SpiderDice

Thats a really poor performance for the battery pack..
Well you get what you pay for. Pony up a little bit over 7-800$ and get yourself a proper battery.
It will last 7-800 cycles easiy ! The 5-600cycles is manufacturer base line but good packs last many years.

 

[SpiderDice]

Really shocked to see you think the battery is shot with 1,700 miles on it. That's around 50 full charging cycles! You should get at least 10 times that much as a minimum. My 2016 Bosch batteries have 1,000 more miles and I don't see any degrade. I'd talk to Rad about that horrible battery life.

I've charged it way more than 50 times..

 

[tomjasz]

Thats a really poor performance for the battery pack..

Not knowing the history or other mitigating factors, it could be that a battery was exposed to high heat, changed when very cold, run below LVC...and more. Not saying this was the case here but it’s easy to beat a battery and have an early demise. I’ve got one 48v 13ah battery I totally abused, it’ll never see 500 cycles.
$700-800 is seriusly over priced for a RAD battery!

 

[vincent]

Does rad not have these batteries available anymore? Last time I looked I thought they were on there for 400 or 500 ??

 

[SpiderDice]

Does rad not have these batteries available anymore? Last time I looked I thought they were on there for 400 or 500 ??

They are currently on backorder and priced at $399.

 

[SpiderDice]

this one

https://lunacycle.com/luna-charger-48v-advanced-300w-ebike-charger/

Did you have to solder the connection to charge the pack?

 

[vincent]

No, I bought an adapter with it that plugs into the end of the luna charger
unfortunately those adapters are backordered right now, I need another one and will have to order the stuff and get someone to make it for me

That is annoying, I did not realize people were phasing out those packs so I guess that’s why that adapter has been backordered for months now

 

[tomjasz]

No, I bought an adapter with it that plugs into the end of the luna charger
unfortunately those adapters are backordered right now, I need another one and will have to order the stuff and get someone to make it for me

That is annoying, I did not realize people were phasing out those packs so I guess that’s why that adapter has been backordered for months now

They’re so easy to make. And the parts are cheap. Which two connectors do you need?

 

[tomjasz]

You're right though. The Dolphin pack is going away and I have three ebikes that still use it,

They can be easily accessed. Hailong has gained popularity and I’m about to build a Shark pack. Only because Grin has a controller that replaces a section of the Shark pack base.

IMO the Dolphin, Atlas DA-5C by Reention, is one of the most rugged cases. It fell out of favor when it was discovered that the Hailong height suited more frames. But the Hailong with slotted connectors developed a problem of arcing and frying when not inspected and maintained. I’ve never had a report where the Dolphin corroded and arced. Now Reention has a pack very similar. And frankly Reention builds a better case than Shanshan.
http://www.reention.com/product/detail/41

 

[vincent]

Thanks Thomas that is to good info

I have two Luna chargers and want a second plug for the other one but it has not been a priority so I havent messed with it

Hoping to take one of my bikes to Phoenix in a couple of weeks to have a bike builder try to program my bafang controller and was going to ask him if he could build me one if I get the parts or he does

Sure they are easy to make, it’s just annoying that Luna does not have anymore and they’ve been backordered for months