Why you need to protect and maintain your electric bicycle battery
Your bicycle battery is one of the most important parts of a pedelec. The electric motor of your bike is 100% dependent on the power and health of your pedelec batteries. The information below will inform you about how to maintain, use and safely manage the battery of your pedelec.
Safety measures
Improper use of the battery pack can lead to an extreme temperature rise, fire and/or explosion resulting in serious personal injury.
Precautions for use:
For your own safety, read this complete instruction before use.
- Fully charge the battery before using it for the first time.
- Charge the battery pack at an ambient temperature between 10°C and 30°C and use between 0°C and 40°C. Charging or operating
- Remove the battery when not in use. A small amount of power is still used while the battery is attached to the bike, and this may cause the battery to be used excessively, resulting in a shorter battery life or complete battery failure and therefore your warranty may be void.
- Always store the battery in a cool, dry place.
- Fully charge the battery before storing it, charge it every 3 months. Failure to charge the batteries may damage the battery and void your warranty.
- If battery life or driving range is extremely short after charging or it becomes impossible to charge the battery, your battery has reached the end of its life. Replace it with a new one.
- Remove the battery from the charger after it is fully charged. Do not leave the battery in the charger for a long period of time. Failure to remove the battery could damage the battery and void your warranty.
- If you are worried about your battery, do not use it and ask for expert help.
- Always dispose of used batteries in an approved recycling location, never dispose of them in your normal household waste.
Maintenance battery pack:
Follow these instructions.
- Always make sure your battery is locked on your bike or in a safe location.
- Do not heat or burn the battery.
- Do not attempt to reconstruct, disassemble, deform, or short-circuit the battery.
- Do not touch the terminals of the battery with metal objects such as jewelry, keys, coins, hairpins, etc.
- Do not drop the battery or subject it to strong shock or impact.
- Do not leave the battery in direct sunlight, near heating equipment, in a closed car, or on a summer's day.
- Your battery is built to repel water. However, do not let the battery get too wet or immerse it completely in water.
- Do not allow sand, dust, water, or dust to come into contact with the terminals of the battery.
- Do not charge the battery with a non-approved battery charger.
- Make sure that the voltage of your battery chargers always matches that of your battery.
- Do not leave your battery behind or lie if it is less than 40%.
- Remove the battery from the charger when it is fully charged
Bike Battery Types
- There are different types of bike batteries, with the power and quality varying dependent on the battery you have chosen to purchase. Depending on the power demands or energy consumption of your bike, the riding range and life of a battery can vary.
- Your batteries life will be measured in cycles. A cycle is measured from a full charge to when you need to recharge it. So, the more often you must recharge a battery, the more cycles you are doing. With larger powered batteries, or increased amp hours (AH), the less often you will have to recharge and the longer the life you can expect from your battery.
How far can you ride with a full battery?
Most high-quality ebike battery cells, like Samsung, Panasonic, LG etc., are very similar in their weight and energy density (power). Most ebike batteries built in the past 8 years use a lithium 18650 cell, which are used in a wide variety of applications, from bikes, power tools, to the International space station.
The most common question related to purchasing a new ebike battery is, how far will my new battery power my bike for? With the answer to this question being very complex and dependent on a range of factors.
Riders often look for lighter batteries, expecting greater range, only to be disappointed with the outcome. As the rule of thumb is, the heavier the battery, the greater the power and the greater the range.
When purchasing a battery of the same shape, size and voltage, your batteries weight will increase, as you increase you the amp hours (AH) of the battery. While many batteries can look the same physically, you need to rely on the voltage and AH rating to guide your decision.
The energy consumed by your bike will depend on many of the following factors;
- Your body weight and luggage (backpacks etc.), greater the load, greater the energy consumption required
- Your power setting, the higher you set your power setting the greater energy you will consume. Minimizing your use of power when at a comfortable cruising speed, will maintain your batteries power for when you require it.
- Head winds, strong heads winds will slow you down, requiring greater energy consumption
- Terrain flatter the terrain the less energy you will consume, as most of the energy is used to assist you getting to cruising speed. Whilst, riding up hill, you never achieve a cruising speed and are constantly consuming energy at the maximum rate.
- Weather can impact your batteries power and how far you can ride, a good gauge for this is, if you are comfortable outside riding, your battery is more than likely at its peak operating conditions.
- Most bikes will come with an estimation of the range you can expect from the bike under power assistance. When purchasing your replacement battery, use your old batteries range (when in a good condition) as the best gauge of which battery to replace it with. If you found the range provided by your old battery as acceptable, then purchase another with the same voltage and AH. If looking for greater distance, then increase your AH to increase your riding range.
- Increasing your batteries voltage is strongly advised against, unless your motor has a multiple voltage system.
- Remembering the greater your AH, the greater the distance you can ride.
- Attaching your battery to your bike
- You need to consider several things when attaching your battery to your bike, especially if this is a completely new battery.
- The best place for attaching a battery is always on the rear rack (if fitted to your bike), as in this location it is high up and away from most dirt and water that can be flicked onto the battery. However, all our batteries are built to repel water, dust and dirt.
- For rear rack batteries you need to consider that most of these batteries are under 4 kg. So, while light they are adding extra weight to the rear of the bike, so consider any handling issues, especially if a child is the intended rider or the rider is very light in weight. This concern has normally been engineered out of bikes built to carry rear rack batteries.
- When attaching your battery to your bikes frame, inside the frame and between the wheels is the best and most common location, this also provides for the best possible weight distribution and ride comfort. These batteries are most commonly referred to as down tube batteries.
Fitment example:
- When purchasing a down-tube battery, you need to ensure you have adequate space to fit the battery and your riding style. All down-tube batteries will be wider than the frame of your bike, so ensure the protruding edges of the battery will not impede your riding pleasure. This issue is not normally a concern but should always be considered prior to purchase.
Common installation tips
- All batteries should be well attached to your frame or rear rack, to avoid damage and excessive vibration to the battery
- Never drill holes into the battery case, this can cause a serious safety risk, while damaging your battery beyond repair. Always use the attachment holes provided on your batteries mounting bracket
- Ensure that the batteries connecting ends (where the battery connects to the mounting frame) are facing down, this will help keep water out of the battery. As this is the most vulnerable location for water to access your batteries casing.
- Use stainless steel screws, nuts and bolts to attach your battery, to avoid corrosion later
- Do not leave any exposed or unsealed wiring
- Ensure you leave access to your batteries charging port
- If your battery is fitted with a USB port, consider the location of this when installing
- Never use force on the battery when installing it, this could cause internal damage and cause a safety risk
- Attach all cables from your battery to controller and motor to the frame. Lose cables can cause damage to your battery and bikes, while providing a safety risk