Electric Bikes - Currie IZIP Baterry Life in Winter

I was wondering if anyone is riding out there in winter weather. I commute 20 to 30 miles each day. I am using the IZIP 24V10A battery. I have 2 batteries for 6 month. In the warmer weather I was getting 9 miles from each battery. When it drops below 20F I only get around 4 miles.

Can any one tell me how long the batteries normally last.

I was wondering if anyone is riding out there in winter weather. I commute 20 to 30 miles each day. I am using the IZIP 24V10A battery. I have 2 batteries for 6 month. In the warmer weather I was getting 9 miles from each battery. When it drops below 20F I only get around 4 miles.

Can any one tell me how long the batteries normally last.

Jerry,

All batteries, even LIFEPO4s, suffer a performance hit in cold weather. I added the Currie conversion kit to my mountain bike last summer. Now that it's winter, my SLA pack isn't lasting as long, but we've had persistently cold weather (our temps have remained about 20 degrees below normal since Novemeber) with several periods of sub-zero weather. I definitely get more than 4 miles on my one pack. The best thing you can do is keep the batteries in a heated area when you're not riding the bike (and certainly, recharge them after each use).

It sounds as if you're not pedaling at all. I pedal and reserve my battery use to help me on the hills here in the mountains. I've gone over 25 miles and still had power in my battery pack. If you start pedaling, you'll increase your battery's range significantly. You also can add LIFEPO4 packs to the Currie system once your SLAs need to be replaced. They'll also reduce the weight significantly.

I'm planning on ordering 20AH Thunder Sky prismatic LIFEPO4 cells form www.elitepowersolutions.com (http://www.elitepowersolutions.com) and building my own case so I can mount it in the Currie rack. Another Currie owner has done that already, here's a link to a thread where he posted pictures of his new LIFEPO4 pack in the rack. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13602&p=202299&hilit=dumbass#p202299


If you don't want to build your case for prismatic cells, you could order slightly smaller cylindrical cells and try to build a pack that will fit inside the Currie case. At least one member at Endless Sphere ordered a battery pack from Ping in China that was made to fit inside the Currie case. (That will limit the power of the battery, but using the rack mount system keeps a low center of gravity which is good.) You'd need to open your case and measure carefully to give Ping the exact dimensions. Even then, you might need to remove some of the interior of the case once you get the pack.

Good luck. Everyone living in a cold climate and who rides an ebike is seeing battery degradation issues due to the weather.

The batteries normally last for years at reduced capacity over a long period of time. What you should focus on is for buy yourself a better SLA battery charger with built-in battery desulfator. It will extend the batteries a much long time. If you want more details, just google the keyword "battery desulfator". :)

nwmtnbkr



I went to the site elitepowersoultions. The only battery I found is 12V. According to the picture it seems like one battery, even though it says 4 cells. I was wondering if you had any information on the wiring diagram for the batteries to make them 24 volts.


http://elitepowersolutions.com/products/product_info.php?cPath=16&products_id=74

nwmtnbkr



I went to the site elitepowersoultions. The only battery I found is 12V. According to the picture it seems like one battery, even though it says 4 cells. I was wondering if you had any information on the wiring diagram for the batteries to make them 24 volts.


http://elitepowersolutions.com/products/product_info.php?cPath=16&products_id=74

Jerry,

You're right, elitepowersolutions.com sells the Thunder Sky prismatic cells in 12V 20AH packs. You'll ned to buy two, but that's only $256 for 2 12V 20AH LIFEPO4 batteries that you can wire in series for one 24V 20AH battery. You could leave them in the case that elitepowersolutions.com provides, wire them in series and devise a way to mount them to your bike (maybe on top of the rack). Another option, which I will do is to remove the prismatic cells from the cases they're in and build a larger case for them that can be placed in the Currie rack. One of the links in my post above shows how an ezip owner built his own case for these cells that fits into the Currie rack. He didn't build this case immediately, but wired the 12V packs in series and mounted them on the top of his rack for several months. He's been impressed with the performance of the Thunder Sky LIPEPO4 cells and has ordered enough batteries to build 3 more packs (2 for his ezip bike and 2 for his wife's ezip). With pedaling, he's reported that they're getting 20 miles per pack. Good luck.

Jerry,

You're right, elitepowersolutions.com sells the Thunder Sky prismatic cells in 12V 20AH packs. You'll ned to buy two, but that's only $256 for 2 12V 20AH LIFEPO4 batteries that you can wire in series for one 24V 20AH battery. You could leave them in the case that elitepowersolutions.com provides, wire them in series and devise a way to mount them to your bike (maybe on top of the rack). Another option, which I will do is to remove the prismatic cells from the cases they're in and build a larger case for them that can be placed in the Currie rack. One of the links in my post above shows how an ezip owner built his own case for these cells that fits into the Currie rack. He didn't build this case immediately, but wired the 12V packs in series and mounted them on the top of his rack for several months. He's been impressed with the performance of the Thunder Sky LIPEPO4 cells and has ordered enough batteries to build 3 more packs (2 for his ezip bike and 2 for his wife's ezip). With pedaling, he's reported that they're getting 20 miles per pack. Good luck.

How would that be any difference then the original IZIP 24V10A battery? Which is rated at 12 to 20 miles.

Realizing that a number of factors like terrain and rider size can affect mileage, the one ezip owner that I know who has bought these batteries is getting over 25 miles per LIFEPO4 pack. You don't want to over discharge any battery, especially LIFEPO4s, so you should invest in a watts meter/power analyzer (you can get a good one from Hobby City for less than $30). HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store : Turnigy Watt Meter and power Analyzer $23.95 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10080)
Since these LIFEPO4s don't have a built-in BMS, I'm going to be buying the inexpensive Cell Logic Voltage Monitor, which is a monitor that will monitor up to 8 individual cells and sound an audible alarm if a cell drops to low or is charged too high. HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store : Cell-Log Cell Voltage Monitor 2-8S Lipo $27.98 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9282) Both the Cell Logic monitor and Turnigy watts meter/power analyzer are out-of-stock right now, but you can sign up to be notified by e-mail when new stock arrives. I also don't want to build my own wire leads to the Cell Logic charging/discharging monitor so I'm buying one of these. Chargery Power DB8 8S 40cm Balance Charge Leads - eBay (item 270470253072 end time Feb-11-10 11:46:59 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270470253072&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm38%26_nkw%3D270470253072%26_sacat%3 DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1)

If you do buy LIFEPO4 batteries, be careful about charging a LIFEPO4 pack in an unheated garage. You can easily over charge your batteries, as explained in this thread on Endless Sphere.

Endless-sphere.com • View topic - The frost killed my LiPo4 (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15436)

Realizing that a number of factors like terrain and rider size can affect mileage, the one ezip owner that I know who has bought these batteries is getting over 25 miles per LIFEPO4 pack. You don't want to over discharge any battery, especially LIFEPO4s, so you should invest in a watts meter/power analyzer (you can get a good one from Hobby City for less than $30). HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store : Turnigy Watt Meter and power Analyzer $23.95 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10080)
Since these LIFEPO4s don't have a built-in BMS, I'm going to be buying the inexpensive Cell Logic Voltage Monitor, which is a monitor that will monitor up to 8 individual cells and sound an audible alarm if a cell drops to low or is charged too high. HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store : Cell-Log Cell Voltage Monitor 2-8S Lipo $27.98 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9282) Both the Cell Logic monitor and Turnigy watts meter/power analyzer are out-of-stock right now, but you can sign up to be notified by e-mail when new stock arrives. I also don't want to build my own wire leads to the Cell Logic charging/discharging monitor so I'm buying one of these. Chargery Power DB8 8S 40cm Balance Charge Leads - eBay (item 270470253072 end time Feb-11-10 11:46:59 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270470253072&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm38%26_nkw%3D270470253072%26_sacat%3 DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1)

If you do buy LIFEPO4 batteries, be careful about charging a LIFEPO4 pack in an unheated garage. You can easily over charge your batteries, as explained in this thread on Endless Sphere.

Endless-sphere.com • View topic - The frost killed my LiPo4 (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15436)

Thank you for all the info, I will give it a try and let you know how it works out.