When is the "right time" to charge the battery in order to take well care of it ?

[elbikefun]

In daily use, how low in power do you run down your batteries before charging them ?

Some say modern batteries do not have memory-effect; and can be charged at any-time without this affecting the lifespan of the battery. Others say batteries are best charged up allready when power is down to 40 % or so. So now, having a usd 1000 battery to take care of, I want to be more systematic in this.

So what are youre thoughts on how take best care of your Stromer-batteries ?

 

[Adrian]

For longest possible useable life;

1) don't discharge below 20%.
2) don't charge above 80%.
3) charge as slowly as possible - 1amp if you have the time and the possibility.
4) discharge as slowly as possible - the fewer full throttle runs up very steep hills the better.
5) never store the battery for long periods fully charged - 50% is probably best.
6) don't charge the battery when it's too cold or too hot.
20C is probably ideal. Below freezing is definitely not.

None of the above has anything to do with "memory".

Much of the above can be alleviated by buying an oversized battery to your requirements - better, high performance cells, double or more capacity than you need to get where you want to go.

On a Stromer, you'll need a custom charger to do some of the above I think.

 

[elbikefun]

For longest possible useable life;

1) don't discharge below 20%.
2) don't charge above 80%.
3) charge as slowly as possible - 1amp if you have the time and the possibility.
4) discharge as slowly as possible - the fewer full throttle runs up very steep hills the better.
5) never store the battery for long periods fully charged - 50% is probably best.
6) don't charge the battery when it's too cold or too hot.
20C is probably ideal. Below freezing is definitely not.

None of the above has anything to do with "memory".

Much of the above can be alleviated by buying an oversized battery to your requirements - better, high performance cells, double of more capacity than you need to get where you want to go.

On a Stromer, you'll need a custom charger to do some of the above I think.

Thanks for your answer, Adrian.
Thats some very specific instructions you refer there.

Do you live by them yourself ? Got an alternative charger ?



What about the rest of you, do you have precautions in order to take extra care of the battery during everyday use ?

 

[Dunbar]

The Cycle Satiator will allow you to charge the battery to virtually any voltage. It will also track total charge cycles. In general, the lower you charge, the more charge cycles you get. 80% is a pretty good number to stay at or below. I'm not sure what connector you would need to adapt it to the Stromer charge port.

http://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/cycle-satiator.html

 

[Adrian]

Thanks for your answer, Adrian.
Thats some very specific instructions you refer there.

Do you live by them yourself ? Got an alternative charger ?



What about the rest of you, do you have precautions in order to take extra care of the battery during everyday use ?

Generally, I charge to 80% most of the time (I have a Luna cycles charger) at 2amps (could do 1amp charges but I'm not that patient) and charge before I hit the 20% mark. Now and then I use my stock 2amp charger to charge to 100% as most, if not all, bms in battery packs will balance the cells when the pack hits 100%.

I don't have a Stromer but these are best case, "ideal" operating conditions for any Li-Ion battery pack for increasing longevity. Also, these aren't opinions but based on published test data. You can google or go over on the endless sphere forum to find them.

If you want a smart charger that will work on a Stromer you can mail the guys at Lunacycle's shop and ask their advice - I think other Stromer users have used their smart charger.

Edit: just saw the post above - and yes, the satiator is arguably the best charger available. It is expensive though and has many features most people don't need. But I wish I'd bought one instead of the Luna.

 

[opimax]

I have 3 batteries for the st1 and 2 for the st2. I charge after every use. I charge the the batteries that have cooled down as soon as I get home and charge the battery I rode home with the next morning when I leave for work.

I charge my 3 usb lights in the morning as I go to work so they don't sit on the charger all night and all day.

 

[Brian(J)]

The advice from Adrian certainly matches up with everything I've heard and my BMW i3 cares for it's battery in just that way, regulating charge rate and temp, and it is widely known that the i3 has a 21 kW battery that is spec'ed as an 18.5 kW because the charge controller won't let it charge beyond 18.5 to get a longer life.
However I charge my bike to 100% and leave it on the charger 22 hours a day, and when I travel it's on the charger sometimes for weeks. The only good thing I've done was to buy a second charger off Amazon and I charge it at work, otherwise I would run it down to 10 or 20% most days. With two chargers I rarely get below 50% charge. The cost of a $100 charger seemed a good investment when compared to the cost of the battery, plus the extra range available when leaving work.
Three years and 2,500 miles later I'm not seeing any drop in range and seem to be getting away with a casual approach to battery care.

 

[Adrian]

The advice from Adrian certainly matches up with everything I've heard and my BMW i3 cares for it's battery in just that way, regulating charge rate and temp, and it is widely known that the i3 has a 21 kW battery that is spec'ed as an 18.5 kW because the charge controller won't let it charge beyond 18.5 to get a longer life.
However I charge my bike to 100% and leave it on the charger 22 hours a day, and when I travel it's on the charger sometimes for weeks. The only good thing I've done was to buy a second charger off Amazon and I charge it at work, otherwise I would run it down to 10 or 20% most days. With two chargers I rarely get below 50% charge. The cost of a $100 charger seemed a good investment when compared to the cost of the battery, plus the extra range available when leaving work.
Three years and 2,500 miles later I'm not seeing any drop in range and seem to be getting away with a casual approach to battery care.

Pretty amazing really. My first battery pack didn't fair so well being charged to 100% every day and with a very high amp draw all the time.

From what I've seen elsewhere, the most damaging activity is probably high constant discharge rates followed by very high charge rates. So, charge slowly and don't draw peak amps for long periods and the rest, perhaps, don't make such a huge difference in real world use.

 

[BillTex]

My battery has just rapidly declined from 80% to 40% or less. I estimate around 200 charge/discharge cycles for 2800 miles in 14 months. I thought the supplied charger would be "smart" and properly condition the batteries. But it looks like I need to be more involved and not leave it on the charger? This is on a Diamondback Trace EXC.

The cycle satiator product looks interesting, but maybe I can do something similar with a timer that doesn't charger 100%, and top it off in the mornings I ride. Or really, charge at work to 100% and then arrive at home at 50-75% only charging at home if I'm going on other errands on the weekend. That might be perfect since it will not sit at 100% very long. Hmmm. I like simple solutions.

 

[Dunbar]

There isn't really any "conditioning" for li-ion batteries. The cells can become unbalanced if the charger doesn't have a good BMS. Those Luna Cycles advanced chargers are nice if you don't want to spend ~$300 on a Cycle Satiator. If I charge to 100% I generally don't let it sit there for very long. If you don't need the range it's better to keep the battery at 80% charge or less. Contrary to what some people believe you won't hurt an e-bike battery from running into the low voltage cutoff. The notion that you need to stay above 20% battery charge is not really supported by evidence.

 

[Brian(J)]

Pretty amazing really. My first battery pack didn't fair so well being charged to 100% every day and with a very high amp draw all the time..

I posted upthread that I didn't have a problem charging to 100% twice a day, and that was true at that point. However, the battery just lost about 1/2 of it's capacity almost overnight, and the new battery was $600. So I am correcting my misleading post and buying an intelligent battery charger.

 

[bluecat]

... and buying an intelligent battery charger.

???

• Charge your battery at room temperature.
• Perform as many partial charges as possible, do not ride the battery until it is completely empty and recharge it even after a short period of operation.

1st of all, myStromer AG grants warranty on the Battery - 75% of capacity within 2 years
2nd you should never ever use other than the original charger from myStromer AG
3rd if you insist using your own device, keep the whole stuff out of your house.
4th for those which want to program their own EnergyBus protocol, check out this:

Thema: energyBus Daten lesen