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Battery Life when not riding

Old 08-16-21, 08:45 AM
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Sempervee
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Battery Life when not riding

Just got 14Amp Hr Li Ion bat with RAD bike. When in winter or rain mode are you just guessing at when to charge your battery kept inside or do you have an ebike charger to regulate the battery life during times of non usage? This is a real concern when you consider the high price of replacement. Thanks in advance.

* I suspect I could just use my digital Volt meter to check it and see from the underside of the battery?

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Old 08-16-21, 10:13 AM
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I assume (?) you mean you aren't riding the bike, but have brought the battery inside for storage that will last weeks or months?

I wish I could give you an easy answer. If I had the same battery, maybe I could.

But a lot depends on the design of the battery. The ones I have include charge indicators on the battery, so even if I keep it inside for a while, I can periodically look at the charge level, and put it on the charger for a bit if necessary. I haven't seen a charger that will automatically keep the battery somewhere around half full, although I am sure something like that exists somewhere.

Some well-designed batteries can be stored for months without losing a noticeable amount of charge. Unfortunately, not all systems are like that, so when you get a new battery you'll want to monitor it for a couple of months.

Good luck!
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Old 08-16-21, 11:09 AM
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Batteries stored at full charge (like six weeks or more) have been shown to not last as long as batteries stored at 50%. For a 48V battery, 50% is 48 volts, and 100% is 54.6V. For that reason, it's not recommended to keep a charger on them. Just remove charger when charged.

By the way, 0% is not 0 volts. Lithium has a minimum voltage, and going lower than that will damage the cells. For that reason, your Rad will shut off the bike around 42 volts, and the battery itself will shut off a few volts lower than that for added safety margin.You will ;have about 10-20% of unused battery capacity when the Rad shuts off. That's the way it works.

If you really want to get into extended battery life, you charge your battery to only 80-90%. Me, i found that a pain in the neck. I charge my daily riders to 100% after a ride, and they're ready for the next day. When winter comes, I leave them half charged after the last ride.
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Old 08-25-21, 03:05 PM
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Originally Posted by RedConveyor
I assume (?) you mean you aren't riding the bike, but have brought the battery inside for storage that will last weeks or months?

I wish I could give you an easy answer. If I had the same battery, maybe I could.

But a lot depends on the design of the battery. The ones I have include charge indicators on the battery, so even if I keep it inside for a while, I can periodically look at the charge level, and put it on the charger for a bit if necessary. I haven't seen a charger that will automatically keep the battery somewhere around half full, although I am sure something like that exists somewhere.

Some well-designed batteries can be stored for months without losing a noticeable amount of charge. Unfortunately, not all systems are like that, so when you get a new battery you'll want to monitor it for a couple of months.

Good luck!

I've gone through a couple of lightly used batteries in the last decade (too expensive for that). I think my problem is that they got too cold and too far below freezing. I used to keep AA batteries in the freezer, but I don't think these like that. Lord knows, if the cell voltage gets too low, there is no bringing them back. So, over winter I keep them inside and top it off every other month when not being used.

The points above are technically correct, but pale in comparison to having a cell go dead and ruin a pack.
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