profstack

Last week I decided to replace the 3-year old battery in the Ohm Urban 700 to a new one, with much more storage.

The original battery, Bionx, 36V, shown here, started with 355Wh, and now had 265Wh capacity after about 3,500 miles. It would have been fine for another year if I used it just as a commuter bike. It can go 20+ miles with minimal battery boost usage, my usual mode of travel.


But I want to take longer rides. The original style battery is no longer available, so the shop put a mounting bracket on the downtube and relocated the water bottle holder with an adapter, and put on the current battery, rated at 48V and 555Wh. This is more than twice what I had before the switch.


I prefer the look of the bike with the new battery. 48V gives a little more boost than 36V. At my request, the shop set the system to "endurance" mode, which apparently lowers the initial acceleration a little bit, thus giving a longer range.

This is like the leash being removed, as I have enough storage for that long day ride I've been planning. The brake regeneration also seems to be stronger. Perhaps the new battery is capable of accepting more charge while doing this than the old battery.

I had thought of getting a newer e-bike, perhaps the new Kalkhoff Integrale or Focus Adventur or Faraday Porteur, but decided I like the smooth comfortable and very refined ride of the Ohm. So I'm good for another 3 years unless new battery technology brings along a stealthy 30# e-bike with over 400Wh of battery before then.

350htrr

Nice bike, definitely looks better with the upgrade and placement...

powell

Your new 48V BIONX battery should last much longer
IF
you do not discharge it more than say 70%-80% DOD /depth of discharge/ - the less the better.
And if you allow time to balance on charger./until green light/
Lithium in general including Lithium Manganese used by BIONX hate deep discharges.
I don't know what range do I have on my Bionx 36V 9.6Ah powered Tioba bike and I don't want to find out .
I never discharge more than 60%DOD and this battery is going to last much longer than 3000 miles.
The problem is that BIONX uses like many edrives manufacturers low current charger = hours to charge.

profstack

Thanks, Powell.

Yeah, that was the general use of the original battery. Seldom did the 8 bars go down to 4 or less, and the battery got charged after every ride. I had no complaints with the OEM battery, other than shorter range for longer rides of over 30 miles. It would have been fine for another year or two for commuting.

BTW, while I was waiting for the battery to come from Canada to Seattle, I rode the Ohm with full boost to see how much juice was left in the battery. On the last long ride, the last bar disappeared about a 1/2 mile from home. There still was juice left, sort of a reserve tank, I guess. Yesterday's ride with the new battery and a couple really steep hills used about 1/5 of the battery for 11 miles.

InTheRain

I'm hoping to get a lot more than 3500 miles from my battery before I start worrying about it. I currently have the bionx 555 Wh battery. 500 miles in just a few months. I don't believe I've ever used it beyond the 50 percent mark before recharging. I've never gone more than 2 consecutive days without riding the bike.

youthcom

I wonder how much life is left in my OHM Urban XU700. Bought it last August & have accumulated over 5500 miles on it with a 33mile daily commute since then. Mostly use level 2 assist & battery gets charged at work & then at home. If I stick with this bike long enough I was wondering what I'd do about the custom cased battery, but it's nice to see that a regular Bionx battery can be retrofitted too. Also thinking a rebuild could work. Did you ever open the old battery?

Nice bike though I wish it were more stealthy & not gray (only color dealer had & got a good price at the time for it.)

powell

I also think used up BIONX battery can be retroffited if you have access to weld eqipment and know how to weld cells terminals.
I would never subject cells to high temperature of soldering.
But BEFORE I would conduct simple experiment :
disconnect string of cells inside pack, connect it back after like 10-15min and see if battery can still power up BIONX .

profstack

Apparently, the newer 555Wh batteries have better battery management. Being a somewhat OCD guy, I use an Ensupra meter to see how many Wh it takes to charge the battery after x miles each day. That's what alerted me that the original battery was down about 25% after three years and 3500 miles. You have to consider miles AND time for the life of the battery. Personally, I think the original battery did well, and the only reason I upgraded was for longer rides.

YouAintTheHost

Hey powell. Been searching the web all over for information regarding E+ Tidal Force Hub batteries. I cannot PM you on this forum because of a 50 post rule.

My Tidal Force M750 E+ 1000W just died on me. I tried unplugging everything, waiting 30 minutes, and plugging back in. Controller does not appear to turn on at all.

Was either hoping for more troubleshooting options, or someone letting me know if "Rick" is still offering the battery swap. I see you are in Western Canada. I am actually in Calgary, and would love to hear if you have any contacts that may be able to help me out. My knowledge is extremely limited when it comes to electronics.

profstack

Today I did the (for me) longest ride ever on the Ohm Urban 700: 41.5 miles, averaging 13.2mph. Baggy mtn bike shorts and yellow cycling jersey kept things comfortable with the temps being in the mid 70's here in the Seattle area.

Basically, I went from home to the I-90 bridge eastward and then around the north part of Lake Washington, through Bellevue, Kirkland, Kenmore, and along the Burke-Gilman trail and back to Seattle and up Queen Anne hill and home.

The new battery (see photo) used 5 of the 8 bars with me using boost 3 of 4 most of the way. The new battery does much better in accepting regen down long hills. The original battery would stop accepting regen energy and coast down the hill with no resistance. The new one showed no sign of that.

So, I could go a reasonable 60 miles per charge on the somewhat hilly route. Next time I'll go around the entire lake, which will be around 60+ miles in total.

On the bike trails I kept it at 15mph or less, as that is what the speed limit is and I didn't want to call attention to myself and the motorized assist.

The cushy ride of the Ohm made it very pleasant, even as my body got tired at the end.

The Sammamish Slough empties into the north part of Lake Washington.

YouAintTheHost

Got your message... I could not reply (says I need to have 50 posts). Seems like an unnecessary evil to spam someone's forum just so you can PM someone.

powell

...

powell

.....

profstack

Today I did a "fitness" ride on the Ohm Urban with new battery. I used a boost of 1 for most of the ride until going to 3 and 4 to get up the hill and home.

It took 126Wh to recharge the battery, or about 102 miles if I maintained the same pace and battery usage.
That would be doubtful, but it's great to have the extended range.

The following picture shows a "Plymouth Rock" which came from that fabled landing site for the early pilgrims in the (later called the) USA to Alki Beach in Seattle, around 1920 by automobile caravan.
That was a feat back then. I'm impressed by just riding 20 miles!

350htrr

102 miles is not out of the question at all with that bigger battery, mine is the smaller 48v 8.8amp battery and I have gone 80 Miles on 1 charge on level 1... using level 3 or 4 once in awhile and also using the re-gen when applicable.

InTheRain

I've often wondered what the range would be on my bionx 48v 11.6 battery. My commute is about 13.5 miles round trip. I've done it on level 4 assist for an entire ride both ways and I've used up 3 of 8 bars. I'm impressed with it, that's 230 lbs rider, 50 lbs bike, and probably 20 lbs of gear... a 300 lbs load. One day, I plan on doing a 50 mile ride and seeing how the battery holds up (I won't be on level 4 much of the time... if at all.)

InTheRain

A question about your Ohm. Is it limited to 20 mph? I have seen some of the new Ohm's with the 500 watt motor that are limited at 28 mph. Apparently this is exclusive to Ohm and Bionx but not available on a retrofit kit. I'm not sure if any of the other Bionx motors less than 500 watts are cabable of 28 mph.

profstack

Yes, my Ohm Urban with the G1 350W motor is limited to 20 mph. I have no need or interest in the 28mph limit. My Moto Guzzi Breva 750 can go much faster.

The new D motor, at 500W, is capable of 28mph. I think the Bionx software can set it at 20 or 28, according to your preferences. I imagine a retrofit kit would be able to be set to 28 mph.

Some of the new stuff from Europe (Kalkhoff, for one) has a 28 mph limit. Look at the 50Cycles site for more info on that.

2old

AFAIK, Ohm has 28mph domestically with pedal assist only, but the kits are still 20 mph.

InTheRain

yes, that is what the bionx dealer in Seattle told me. He said that the Ohm bikes could have the 28 mph limit, but not retrofit kits. I didn't ask him if that was exclusive to the 500 watt motor, that's why I was asking about the 350 watt Ohm.

2old

Ohm CS told me the 28mph was exclusive to the 500 system on their bikes.

profstack

Here's a quick followup about the new Bionx 555Wh battery for my Ohm Urban:

After 175 miles, it has averaged 70 miles per charge, with a high of 130 miles after today's 20 mile ride, mostly in power boost 1 of 4 and using brake regen whenever possible. I got decent cardio and muscle workout today.

I wanted to get more range capacity for the e-bike with the new battery, and now have more than I want to use on any one ride. The good thing is that I no longer have to "sweat" running out of e-juice before taking the last hill up to home.

This upgrade was well worth it.

2old

Really impressive getting 130 miles. What's the longest ride you've taken at any one time? How did your body hold up?

profstack

Yeah, that's the reality of it. My 60+ body doesn't recover as quickly as it used to. Duh. Realistically, I think with Seattle's hills, I could ride for around 60 miles with a few breaks for food and drink. If I wanted to.

The longest ride was 42 miles, but I intend to do 50 before heading back to work.

The summer break from teaching gives me lots of time to get out and ride. In a month, things will change and I'll be preparing calculus lessons instead of going for long rides.

It's just nice knowing that I don't have to worry about the battery getting drained before I get home.

2old

You have a much better riding environment than we do in socal; 50 miles without getting hit by a texting driver would be a miracle. Fortunately there are some little used dirt "bike trails" that are fun. The few times I've encountered anyone, my bike becomes pedal only.