Misadventures in being too cheap: E-Klunker Update

I got to ride it a few miles last Tuesday, and I was reminded how an e-bike can be a wonderful thing when you're facing a Lubbock summer.

It was 99 degrees outside. I was riding into a 15 mph wind. And I was travelling 15mph. And it all felt great! Other than the PAS not working, I knew it was finally, truly, an e-bike I could ride.

So I took it for a ride on Wednesday, and it was once again pretty darn cool - for about half of a mile. And then the battery died. Actually, it still had voltage (38 volts) but the amp-hour capacity was depleted.

In real-world terms, my salvaged battery cells aren't up to the job of hauling me and the bike more than a few miles.

In West Texas terms, they were rode hard and put up wet before I got 'em.

So, I ended up ordering a small stack of these from IMR Batteries.

So, after the new cells arrive, it's time to rebuild the battery pack (again). 

The battery pack folly list:

$80 worth of used cordless drill battery packs - salvaged the cells

1st mistake -  Checked them for voltage BUT not capacity

Used BMS from Ebay ($10) worked just fine but was designed to limit voltage to no more than 32.8 volts, which is about 10 volts too low for a 36 volt controller.

So, if you're running a tally, that's about $100 wasted; more important, it's several weeks of prime summer riding time without the e-bike.

Overall, though, there's still forward progress. I hope to have it back together very soon and commute to work on it a few times this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

May you pedal more and wrench less; and may we all work for better!