Battery refurbishment

You should enjoy many years of service from your LifeCycle battery but as with all batteries they will at some point deteriorate. Here at Electric Bike World we offer a battery re-celling and refurbishment service using top quality Panasonic or Samsung cells to make your battery pack better than it was when it was new. We also offer this service to owners of almost all electric bike batteries. So if you are not sure about the health of your battery please click here and read the information on our specialist battery web site.

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Over the years we have re-built hundreds of batteries for people, and have hundreds of very happy customers. Of course we are not able to re-build every battery because there are so many different types, but our Electric Bike Battery Repairs web site will give you all the information that you need to make an informed decision about your electric bike battery

 

So if you have an electric bike battery that is not performing as it should, just click here and we will sort it out.

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Over the years we have re-built hundreds of batteries for people, and have hundreds of very happy customers. Of course we are not able to re-build every battery because there are so many different types, but give us a call and if we can help we will.

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LifeCycle Batteries Offer The Best Quality

When you first use a supermarket own label battery at first it appears to work just the same as a Duracell, but you know you only get what you pay for. The cheap battery will not have as much capacity, and will run down sooner and need replacing twice or even three times compared to the branded battery. In addition to an unsatisfactory performance during its short life, it also works out more expensive in the end, so it’s clearly a false economy. This is even more the case with an electric bike battery.

Our advice based on ten years of manufacturing electric bikes is to never use cheap unbranded Chinese batteries, even if they are initially less expensive and look like a bargain, because “If you buy cheap you buy twice.”

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LifeCycle Batteries Aren’t Cheap Chinese Units

Another very important point about batteries for electric bikes is the Voltage and the Ah (Amp Hours). Low voltage batteries of less than 36volts and Low Ah (amp hours) may be cheaper but they will have less power to defeat hills and also have a shorter life and a shorter range. That’s why LifeCycle batteries are 37volt, and have 18Ah Samsung units for the best performance and the longest range. You’ll only ever find these high quality batteries on a LifeCycle electric bike!

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Looking after the battery in your electric bike

All LifeCycle electric bikes have the latest generation of Lithium batteries with battery management circuitry built into them. This BMS is there to protect against overcharging and over draining the battery cells. It also ensures that all the battery cells charge and discharge evenly, giving the whole battery a longer life.

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The best way to look after the battery on your electric bike is to use it regularly. Leaving it discharged is likely to shorten its life. So ride your bike regularly and recharge it regularly. It’s usually lack of use that causes problems further down the line. To this end never leave your bike battery discharged for long periods of time. If you are not going to use your bike for a while, charge its battery every month anyway. If necessary get a monthly timer so it can be recharged every 4 weeks automatically. That way you can just plug it in and the timer will take care of it for you without you having to worry about it.

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When your bike is new, fully discharge by riding it, and re-charge the battery. Do this at least once when the battery is new. This conditions the battery cells, and after that, there is no need to discharge the battery before recharging. LifeCycle batteries have no memory effect so you can top them up at any time, and we recommend that you do this.

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You cannot overcharge a LifeCycle battery. The intelligent charger that comes with your bike reads the battery as it charges it and will switch itself off when the battery is full. Just plug it in and leave it overnight and it will be ready for you in the morning.

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When you are out and about and you decide to stop somewhere it is OK to partially top it up. For instance, if you decide to stop for something to eat or drink at a pub or restaurant. After locking your electric bike securely, remove the battery and take it in with you and ask if it’s OK to plug it in while you are eating or having a coffee. Then when you are ready to go, even if the battery is not quite full it's OK to just unplug it put it back on your bike and set off again.

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In the winter or when it is cold, the battery will become less efficient. This is true of all batteries. You will be aware that after a freezing night and on a cold morning, cars can be more difficult to start. That’s because the battery has got so cold. It is not quite the same with an electric bicycle, but if the battery is allowed to get very cold by being left out in a garage or shed, the battery efficiency will drop considerably. This will result in the bike feeling a bit slower and the range or distance it will travel before a recharge is required will be reduced.

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If you can bring your bike indoors when the weather is very cold it will not just help the battery. All the moving parts will run better as well, and the oils will be more efficient, and in addition this will reduce any drag as you ride and general wear on the bike.

Your electric bike relies on its batteries and you rely on your electric bike, so look after the battery and it will look after you.

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Electric bikes do need a bit more attention than ordinary bikes, but these simple precautions will prolong their life, and give you many happy years of electric bike cycling.

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Understanding Batteries

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The battery is the single most important part of your electric bike, so it’s vital that it’s a good one.

So what is a good one?

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Batteries are measured in Volts, Amp Hours, and Watt Hours. We all know volts, that part is straight forward. But what is Amp Hours, usually shortened to Ah. and Watt Hours (Wh)?

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Think of Ah as the batteries capacity. In other words how long it will keep suppling power to the motor before it needs re-charging.

A 10Ah battery can supply 1Amp for 10 hours, or 10Amps for one hour, and all the other combinations.

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So the more Ah the longer the battery will last before it needs re-charging. 

Watt hours can be calculated by multiplying the Voltage by the Amp Hours.
So a 36Volt, 10Ah battery has 360 Watt Hours.

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For electric bikes the science is well established and very clear.

A high quality well-made electric bike with a low rolling resistance will achieve about 2 to 3 miles per Amp hour. A cheaper made bike will be at the lower end of that calculation, and a very high quality bike will do a little more.

So a 10Ah battery will get at best 30 miles, but running a battery completely flat is not good because the bike will be extremely hard to pedal for the last five miles. So a 10Ah battery is really only good for 25 miles.

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If anyone tells you different, ask them if they have actually ridden the bike themselves for more than 25 miles, or are they just quoting the propaganda.

 

Some retailers don’t even mention the Ah rating of their batteries because they have a low Ah rating. Some of them just publish the Watt Hours instead because it sounds like a much bigger number. For example, a 320 Watt Hour battery sounds good until you realise it’s only 36volts and 9Ah with is actually quite pathetic.

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But now that you understand how batteries are really measured you no longer need to be confused and bamboozled by certain electric bikes companies making outrageous claims for their electric bikes.

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One little ruse they get up to is to claim vast ranges when the bike is set in the ECO mode. That’s a bit like claiming a car will do 200mpg if you only ever drive it at 5mph at tick over speed. And their final little trick is to not mention the battery at all, they just say just how far it will go.

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In all these cases the battery is certain to be a cheap low powered Chinese import inside a battery case that looks expensive. The Chinese are experts at that kind of deception.

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Electric Bike manufactures that install big powerful high quality batteries on their bikes brag about it big time, and why shouldn’t they? It’s the part that makes the bike go.

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If the battery has no brand name, or just the brand name of the bike on it, then it’s a cheap Chinese battery.

If it is a Samsung or any other decent brand then it will say so on the battery.

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All LifeCycle electric bikes are fitted with 18Ah Samsung batteries, and it says so on the battery case, and we are very proud to be associated with their excellent products.

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LifeCycle Electric Bikes are all powered by Samsung 37volt, 18Ah, 666Watt Hour batteries; When the bike is running flat out and at full speed, depending on the terrain and the rider, you will get a range of 50/60 miles and a lot more when set in ECO mode!

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And before you ask. Yes we have done this ourselves, several times, and so have many of our customers.

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Even more battery information

 

Have you noticed we keep going on about the battery, why? Because it's important and other manufacturers often hide the facts.

You should know by now that the single most important thing on an electric bike is the battery. It’s the battery that makes the bike go.

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A low Ah (amp hours) battery, means low range bike, and low means 10Ah or less.

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Some bike companies bury their battery details in the jargon, and some don’t mention it at all. There is a bike company that advertises heavily on the TV and in newspapers that refuses to disclose the battery capacity (Ah) at all, even if you phone and ask, and the reason? It’s a cheap 5.5Ah Chinese battery.

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But everyone will brag and boast about how far the bike might travel on a single charge. However the science is clear. It doesn’t matter whether you pay £500 or £5000 for your bike, you will get same 2.5 to 3 miles per Ah.  If you want more miles you must have more Ah.

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Some bike companies try to confuse by quoting Wh (Watt Hours) instead of Ah (Amp Hours) because it’s a bigger number. For example, 360 Wh sounds good until you realise its only 10Ah ( for a 36v system ) which is low.

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The reason they all do this kind of thing is because the batteries on their bikes are low capacity cheap Chinese batteries, and that makes the bikes cheap, or if the retail cost is high, it makes the dealer a lot of profit.

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So please remember, an electric bike is only as good as its battery, and to discover the hidden Ah, divide the Wh by the voltage and that will give you the Ah. You should always check this before buying your electric bike.

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At Electric Bike World all LifeCycle electric bikes have 37volt 18Ah Samsung batteries which is 666Wh. Do the maths, 18 Ah = 54 miles at a flat out speed, less speed = a longer range because you are not working the battery so hard.

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It really is quite straight forward, so don’t be fooled by confusing jargon and outrageous claims. 

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Electric bike repair kit

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Electric Bike World have been supplying electric bikes since 2007 and we now have launched a universal Electric Bike Repair Kit.

 

If you have an older electric bike that has stopped working and it needs a new controller that could be a problem especially if the bike is no longer in production

If your place of purchase can’t help you then we most likely can. We have developed an electric bike repair kit for exactly this situation.

 

It has all factory matched parts and easy connect cables and the latest integrated components to make your bike better than when it was new.

 

This electric bike repair kit contains everything you need to fix your bike It’s designed to be an easy DIY fit, with all plug and play colour coded connectors

Provided your bike has your bike has 36volt rear motor with a nine-pin connector then this repair kit has everything you need to get it going again

It includes a Controller, PAS, cables, LCD display, Throttle, Boost Button, and full instructions.

 

Just take off the old parts and replace them with these new ones connect them, and that’s it, your bike will be repaired and good as new. Click here to view the kit on our sister site, electricbikebatteryrepairs.

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