dgk02

This was the first year of Trek's Ride Plus. While I loved the bike when it worked, spokes were always breaking and twice the axle broke. The first was under warranty, the second I managed to get a wheel for $350 at Bicycle Habitat in NYC because someone ordered it and never picked it up. I haven't ridden it much the last few years because I put a kit on a cheap Schwinn mountain bike I had lying around and it's been so great that I used that to commute and run around. Well, years have gone by, both batteries are aging, but the Trek battery is just about shot. I'm retired and have started riding the Trek around again, and I really do love that bike. It's so smooth that you don't even know assist is on. I also had a local bike shop cut good spokes to fit so that no longer seems a problem.

Anyway, I need to decide whether to send the battery to someone like this guy or give up on the bike. I can't know if that wheel is going to break again, and if it does, that's it for the bike. I guess I could then sell the battery on eBay to someone else like me.

I would think the rebuild pack would be really good, and it's much cheaper than buying a new ebike. Thanks for any ideas.

Doc_Wui

I'd rebuild it. One kicker though is whether you can send a battery by truck these days as an individual while following all the rules. It seems very complex/expensive.

Firedog91902

It looks like a decent bike. If you like it and you are sure the battery BMS is good, fix the battery. It's not that difficult to rebuild the battery yourself. You need a cell spot welder, soldering iron and a source of genuine LG, Samsung, other., high rate cells at a decent price.

Even easier, with no special equipment needed, is to use tool batteries. They are lighter, much cheaper and great quality. Millions of tool batteries are sold every year (economy of scale). I found the cells inside the "name brands" are always genuine with honest capacity and amp ratings. The same or better quality than cells used in "real" e bike batteries. I converted dozen of older e bikes by just adding simple tool battery mounts. The battery then mount to your bike, just like to your drill. Your bike is 36v so two 18V in series. Add 2 more in parallel if you need, or just carry a couple for long rides, They charge off the bike on the tool battery charger in and hour or so. Since tool batteries are less than 200wh, they are shipped for the most part without restrictions or extra fees.

I use Makitas because they are compact and the mounting is simple. But, all the name brands are good. I use enough to have custom 15 cell batteries (5s3p) built using 3.5ah cells. These high capacity cells are not as high rate at most tool cells. But, 3 in parallel deliver 30a continuous which is more than adequate for 28mph e bikes. 2 batteries (36v10.5ah) cost me much less than $200. You can also find genuine Makita, Milwaukee, etc. batteries and chargers deeply discounted by dealers breaking up "tool/battery/charger" packages. Check ebay and craigslist. A Makita guy may have 40 tools, but he can only use 1 or 2 batteries and chargers at a time. The batteries and chargers last so no need to buy more.

The usual response to tool battery use is pretty much the same as hitching the bike to a reindeer. That's Ok. Tool batteries work for me.

The pic is of a 2014 Izip E3 Dash. Originally it had 46.8v@8.7ah (13s3p) battery. The Currie drive will supports 54V so I bump the battery up to 54v@10.5ah. 39% increase in watt hours; smaller, lighter and 70% less money than Izip's replacement battery.


Tool battery replacement

dgk02

The problem with tool batteries is that the Trek uses the Bionx system and that's apparently very proprietary. Parts of the firmware on in the controller, wheel, and battery and you can't just use another 36 volt battery - or so I've heard. If anyone says different then let me know.

There are issues with me rebuilding it myself. A few years back I researched this particular battery because it's really non-standard and came up with this guy.. That's my battery and it is far from trivial to deal with it. He charges a lot more than the Ebay guy but maybe he does a better job?

I took the bike for a fairly long ride yesterday and I really do like it. I'm leaning towards doing it.

Firedog91902

I've converted 3 of high end e bikes (with serial data buses) to a simple 36,48 or 54v battery connection. You do loose the battery % report on the display but all other functions including low voltage cutoff and power choice seemed to work fine. A CA or $12 watt meter can be installed to give a precise digital report of battery use (ah and wh), voltage and power. I think that level of detail is better anyway.

I have no idea if all proprietary e bikes can be converted, but it's a simple matter to connect a simple battery in the shop and see what happens. It is extremely unlikely that test would do any damage.

BrocLuno

You have a few good battery rebuilders back that way. Drive, or send the battery to one of the good known shops and let them rebuild it (new cells) and your bike will run fine again

bazooba37

Hi,I’ve just acquired this bike off a friend,the battery is shot at,is there a conversion out there that will power the motor etc??…I’m totally not electronic 🙃

Many thanks in advance 😊

Doc_Wui

Here's what is involved. It's interesting to me, especially at the end where is he is praying that the battery will wake up.

This guy rebuilds them. However, cell prices have gone up because automotive buyers are crunching demand.I don't see how he can make any money only charging $500 today, but ask him.
https://netherswholesale.com/product/bionx/

\

dgk02

Well this is a blast from the past. I did end up having the battery rebuilt by a guy on ebay and it's been working fine. My problem with it now is that I'm getting too old to swing my foot over the seat to get on. I guess the bike was always a bit big for me. I also never got it calibrated correctly so it's always telling me it's low on power when it can probably go another 40 miles. But I don't go that far these days, and I still do love riding that bike.