mikedufty Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Yes, got the cheaper charger mentioned above. I didn't get a watt meter, had a look trying to top up to my postage option max weight, but didn't think it was necessary. If it all goes well I'll probably get a second pair of batteries later, might get one then. I'm interested to hear how the 36V option goes. Reading the oset christmas newsletter it seemed to suggest the different controller for 36V was much better than the 24V one. I'd also be worried about destroying the motor. My sole experience of this was sticking a 12V battery in a 6V toy quad bike, which made it much more fun, so it got used continuously for about 10 minutes until the motor brushes melted. Better to stand back and watch what others do, at least until my kids start asking for more power. The younger one (5) is still asking me to set it slower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhy Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Yes, got the cheaper charger mentioned above. I didn't get a watt meter, had a look trying to top up to my postage option max weight, but didn't think it was necessary. If it all goes well I'll probably get a second pair of batteries later, might get one then. I'm interested to hear how the 36V option goes. Reading the oset christmas newsletter it seemed to suggest the different controller for 36V was much better than the 24V one. I'd also be worried about destroying the motor. My sole experience of this was sticking a 12V battery in a 6V toy quad bike, which made it much more fun, so it got used continuously for about 10 minutes until the motor brushes melted. Better to stand back and watch what others do, at least until my kids start asking for more power. The younger one (5) is still asking me to set it slower. By increasing the voltage from 24 to 36 there will be a speed and power increase of around 30% and as far as I know the controllers should be current limited to around 30A so this should protect the motor ( as long as the controllers are ok on 36v ). The motor should be fine running on 36v if its a 24v motor. You do not have to up the voltage to get more power just the amount of current that can be drawn by the motor..so if you just want more power but without more speed then you will need to lift the current limiting which is done with the speed controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Got my stuff in the mail today. I take it the best approach is to charge each 6 cell pack separately? There seems to be a warning in the charger manual not to connect cells in parallel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhy Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 (edited) Got my stuff in the mail today. I take it the best approach is to charge each 6 cell pack separately? There seems to be a warning in the charger manual not to connect cells in parallel. Charge each 6cell pack separably first and check that the pack is balanced ( each cell is within about 0.02 of a volt from each other ) It may be wise to run a balance cycle on each cell pack first off anyway. once you happy with the batterys ( i.e all the cells are charging and discarging at the same rate ) you can parallel them up to charge them but you will have to either make yourself or buy a charging harness to allow this. Parallel charging is ok ( as long as the batterys are the same voltage and capacity ) but you really have to think about when you are connecting the batterys together to charge ( i.e the balance taps and the main outputs ) but this should be no problem if you are taking the batterys out of the bike to charge. Edit: I would also advise to put the batterys into a vented enclosure to help protect them from being damaged ( punctured ) in a fall. I use a diecast aluminum box like this one diecast box Use rubber grommets to bring the wires out of the box and drill a couple of small holes in one end to act as a vent Edited April 28, 2011 by gwhy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 I will be running the batteries in parallel on the bike, as suggested at the start of this topic, so they are already wired together, would actually be more fiddly to separate them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhy Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 I will be running the batteries in parallel on the bike, as suggested at the start of this topic, so they are already wired together, would actually be more fiddly to separate them. Your quite right, I was just talking about charging. The big risk when using different configurations of there batterys is if like me running 44.4v ( 2x 6cell) paralled with another 44.4v and only charging them with a 6cell charger but if your using just 6cell in parallel with another 6cell then all should be good. Still be wise to check each 6cell pack are balanced initially before paralleling them up. If one cell is no good in one pack this can kill the 2 packs, and that's not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Are you using 44.4 with the standard motor and controller? 24V or 36V? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhy Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Are you using 44.4 with the standard motor and controller? 24V or 36V? No, Sorry that was a little mis-leading, yes Im using 44 volts but not on a oset,, Its a grown up version of a electric trials bike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted May 8, 2011 Report Share Posted May 8, 2011 No, Sorry that was a little mis-leading, yes Im using 44 volts but not on a oset,, Its a grown up version of a electric trials bike The grown up bike sounds interesting, have you posted details anywhere? I got my oset wired up with the LiPo batteries today. Seems to go well, defintitely lighter. Did 6km around the house and took 5000mAh charge after, so theoretically half the stated capacity. Seemed to be still pulling well, whereas it would be very sluggish after that distance on the lead acid batteries. Best bit is there is plenty of space to double the batteries. Is there anyone here who has actually tried the 36V? Very tempting although my kids really have more problems with wheelspin than lack of power at the moment - need to learn some technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhy Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 The grown up bike sounds interesting, have you posted details anywhere? I got my oset wired up with the LiPo batteries today. Seems to go well, defintitely lighter. Did 6km around the house and took 5000mAh charge after, so theoretically half the stated capacity. Seemed to be still pulling well, whereas it would be very sluggish after that distance on the lead acid batteries. Best bit is there is plenty of space to double the batteries. Is there anyone here who has actually tried the 36V? Very tempting although my kids really have more problems with wheelspin than lack of power at the moment - need to learn some technique. What make of lipo's did you get ?, Lipo do need a settle down period before you start to get that max capacity out of them but less than half stated capacity do seem excessive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossi Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 What make of lipo's did you get ?, Lipo do need a settle down period before you start to get that max capacity out of them but less than half stated capacity do seem excessive. I think he meant that he only used 1/2 the charge on the batteries. "They were still pulling well" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted May 11, 2011 Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 That's right, they were still going OK. I'm guessing based on the recharge that I used somewhere between half and all the useful capacity, won't know where until I actually run them until performanc starts dropping. The indicator lights on the throttle actually seemed slightly more usefull with the LiPo than the standard battery, it slowly dropped from 3 down to one. With the pb it tends to show full almost till it stops going. I got the cheap zippy batteries listed above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 Some Pictures of my conversion. Very quick and easy apart from soldering the XT60 connectors with my dodgy soldering iron and skills. Album http://imgur.com/a/wBwL4 Batteries wiring and a bit of foam to stop things moving around. Same thing from further back and with the original cover holding it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhy Posted May 25, 2011 Report Share Posted May 25, 2011 Some Pictures of my conversion. Very quick and easy apart from soldering the XT60 connectors with my dodgy soldering iron and skills. Album http://imgur.com/a/wBwL4 Batteries wiring and a bit of foam to stop things moving around. Same thing from further back and with the original cover holding it in. Those lipo's look a bit lost in there , Personally I would still put them in a ali box for safety reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedufty Posted May 25, 2011 Report Share Posted May 25, 2011 Something else you can do with 20Ah of hobbyking batteries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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