Most of the regulars on Technibble know that recently I converted my vintage 10-speed bicycle to electric assist. I've been riding the heck out of it (375 miles) until I got side-lined with shoulder surgery (torn rotator-cuff muscles, bone spurs and bicep tendon repairs) two weeks ago and am in an immobilizing sling for 10+ weeks. Regardless I am already looking forward to next spring and return to riding. I'm also looking to add electric assist drives to my daughter and her husband's bikes as they enjoy biking and have been renting Bcycles almost every weekend.
I also have been looking for a quirky electric vehicle for local on-site work call outs. As mentioned in the thread I have a ZAP Xebra available to me but it needs new batteries. Even with fresh lead-acid batteries it only has about a 10 mile radius from my house (20 mile range with hills) and even that is pushing hard on lead-acid batteries shortening their life which are only rated at 2-3 years. I'm looking to convert it to lithium-ion which will double the range both on the energy gained and the weight lost by using lithium batteries. Getting it to be a work vehicle is a long-term project that remains to be seen but is the final goal.
Half the expense of either of these projects are the lithium batteries. These are the same cylindrical batteries that come in the removable (not flat-pack internal) laptop batteries. I have the equipment to cycle and test to determine good from bad cells in the packs. Most packs fail because either a cell or two went bad or the BMS (Battery Management System) failed and still have good cells in them. I've got a good start on the bikes from the old laptop batteries from my shop but finding more is proving to be a bigger challenge than anticipated. I sent everything to recycling that I had several months ago not anticipating these projects. The local townships have recycling centers but my timing has been poor there also as they've been picked up a matter of days before I stopped and they accumulate them very slowly. I don't have the IT contacts in too many larger corporations around here but am pursuing the ones I do have. I'm also working my way through the local computer repair shops outside my area but most don't know me or view me as a competitor and are not very receptive.
Now that I've rambled on forever the favor that I'd like to ask is if anyone would please box up their old laptop batteries (external removable kind, not internal flat packs) and send them my way I'd be incredibly grateful. I'm more than happy to pay for postage and handling (North America only please). Just PM me a name, address and how much and I'll send a check your way (or PayPal if preferred). Maybe someone has a better idea of how I should go about this, but the group here has access to quite a supply of retired batteries and feels they know me pretty well by now to know I'm truly on the level with this request. Again, it's asking allot and I've debated even making the request for awhile but don't know of a better way to pursue this project. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks
I also have been looking for a quirky electric vehicle for local on-site work call outs. As mentioned in the thread I have a ZAP Xebra available to me but it needs new batteries. Even with fresh lead-acid batteries it only has about a 10 mile radius from my house (20 mile range with hills) and even that is pushing hard on lead-acid batteries shortening their life which are only rated at 2-3 years. I'm looking to convert it to lithium-ion which will double the range both on the energy gained and the weight lost by using lithium batteries. Getting it to be a work vehicle is a long-term project that remains to be seen but is the final goal.
Half the expense of either of these projects are the lithium batteries. These are the same cylindrical batteries that come in the removable (not flat-pack internal) laptop batteries. I have the equipment to cycle and test to determine good from bad cells in the packs. Most packs fail because either a cell or two went bad or the BMS (Battery Management System) failed and still have good cells in them. I've got a good start on the bikes from the old laptop batteries from my shop but finding more is proving to be a bigger challenge than anticipated. I sent everything to recycling that I had several months ago not anticipating these projects. The local townships have recycling centers but my timing has been poor there also as they've been picked up a matter of days before I stopped and they accumulate them very slowly. I don't have the IT contacts in too many larger corporations around here but am pursuing the ones I do have. I'm also working my way through the local computer repair shops outside my area but most don't know me or view me as a competitor and are not very receptive.
Now that I've rambled on forever the favor that I'd like to ask is if anyone would please box up their old laptop batteries (external removable kind, not internal flat packs) and send them my way I'd be incredibly grateful. I'm more than happy to pay for postage and handling (North America only please). Just PM me a name, address and how much and I'll send a check your way (or PayPal if preferred). Maybe someone has a better idea of how I should go about this, but the group here has access to quite a supply of retired batteries and feels they know me pretty well by now to know I'm truly on the level with this request. Again, it's asking allot and I've debated even making the request for awhile but don't know of a better way to pursue this project. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks
