Extending the range and power of the bike by adding two cells in the luggage carrier

Before this project, the battery of my bike consisted of 8 cells in series of 6 batteries LiFePo4 A123 in parallel each, and I realized that I could have some more top speed and range by adding two cells with the previously left over LiFePO4 A123 batteries, and changing the BMS for the one I found of 10S and 60A (much better than the previous 15Ah only):

BMS / Control LiFePo4 charging battery cells 10 and 60A  maximum.

I will not cease repeating that if ye ride yourselves a Lithium Ion battery, you must put always a BMS, as this is essential prottection for the battery, cutting the flow of current in both overload and over - discharge in any of the cells.

One important note: This only works if you use the SAME type and state of cells for the additional cells (or you will get an unballanced battery fast, or worse, damaged cells that can't cope with the current).

On the other hand, increasing only 6V maximum load, I can still use the configuration of the motor control for 24V (having automatic cut if they drop too low voltage with the BAC-281P ebike controller, we cut prematurely the current if we use 33V battery with a 36V configuration). 

Features of BMS 10S LifePo4 60A load balancing ref. BMS-10SQZ6060LF375 :

Important data:

• 10 Cells LiFe 3.6V, 36V full.
• Maximum peak current: 90A
• Constant current approx. without sink: 30A
• Standby power consumption: 0.1 mAh (100 microamperes / hour).
• For the rolling is effective with only 70mAh per cell balancing, the load should be as slow as possible (depending on the difference of load cells), recommended < 500 mAh.

As  I noted, the 12 could fit on a damaged old hard drive enclosure aluminum made. 

Reusing power sources to power devices of different voltages: voltage converters

42V DC Power 19V 2A regulated DC to charge a laptop that spends 3A

In this post we will see how to feed these appliances we have at home, whose power supplies had stopped working and left, forgotten, in a drawer.

For example, that portable power supply can have a second life and continue feeding any device that requires a power exceeding the capacity (watts) of the transformer. While we maintain the amps equal or exceeding the needings by the apparatus we want to power, we just have to make sure that the voltage output is the same or little less of your device needs.

If for example we need an  e-bike charger, or need a charger of a given voltage, we can adapt economically the output voltage: This is where the boosters and converters come into play modifying voltage DC to DC.

Types of Batterie Management Systems (BMS); building new batteries for our equipment

Complementing the already abundant information on this blog about batteries, recycling and repair, and BMS, I will analyze the types of BMS and qualities that we can find among Chinese BMS. The main reason for the short life of batteries any type is often their poor maintenance ; either because they remain flat or that are downloaded more than convenient (both lead as Li-ion do not tolerate discharges well below a certain level). To protect the batteries (particularly lithium dangerous if overloaded or short -circuited), the " battery Management Systems " or BMS come into play to good use and long battery life.

How to Choose the BMS we need

Repairing a Chinese Li-ion battery charger 42V "Rait" brand

The circuit: in one UF1004 dissipating diode and a MOSFET 600V N  MDP11N60 (left)

A collegue had broken his battery charger, he told me that he had left running, hitting an explosion when going to charge his battery 20Ah scooter for the last time .

Normally when a small explosion sounds, it is that any electronic component has gone to hell, so I checked the components and at first sight there was nothing broken, not even the MOSFET had been damaged.

It is  quite simple transformer of 180 / 240VAC to 42 Vdc with 5A load capacity (although the actual output voltage 40,7V are even better for the longevity of the battery), of unknown Chinese brand that came with the battery of 20Ah Chinese acquired.

In reviewing the tracks below, we see what happened: the track that connects with the departure had not stood the peak intensity of the moment to connect to charge the battery (capacitors can deliver a significant current at the time of connection); It is that by design has 3 tracks (possibly to put resistors as a fuse in the Tinned areas) but only one was connected.

Replacing the battery ARRAY Ni-MH battery with a Li-Ion one

In this post we will see another example of updating a NI-MH battery for Li-ion another , much more durable and with no memory effect, in addition to saving bucks in the long run on batteries. These modified batteries are two years running without any problem, and that they were batteries in its final cycle of use, recycled.

Disk arrays on servers usually have an acceleration unit with memory and a battery to prevent data loss in the event that there is a black-out.

Since the Ni-MH array accelerator many HP servers work with 3.6V (three 1.2V rechargeable batteries in series) is replaced by a single Li-ion protected working between 3 and 4 battery , 2V (at 3.6V is 40% capacity).

The original battery, spare ref. 307132-001 HP is 500mAh, so a Li-ion 2600 mAh far exceeds that capacity, so it will retain more energy and for more years than the original having no "memory effect" (probably last longer the server itself), protecting better against unexpected power outages data (also recommended a UPS).

Changing the battery of your tablet for a few bucks

In this post we will change a spent battery to a 9-inch tablet

Currently it is not uncommon to see every family with an Android or Apple tablet, and over time the piece gets more wear of this useful accessory is the li-ion battery, especially if it is of poor quality, and when it lasts less than an hour we should change it, improving the original capacity if possible. In this case we have a Edertix Tablet 9.7" whose battery lasts less than half of its original capacity.

Extending the battery life of your phone past 3 DAYS

S5 with housing and battery Zerolemon What's hot?

Granted, cheating is so fashionable today... but if not, "you wouldn't go read" this entry. No, there are no magic tricks to make your smartphone lasts, in normal use, more than calculated by the manufacturer (beyond a few more hours);  if you want your battery to last more, the only answer to your praye is to change the battery with a higher capacity one at the expense of giving more thickness to the mobile, yes, and if the change includes a cover that protects it from knocks great, welcome are the "fatphone"! 

But do not go! This entry is not sponsored! The Zerolemon are not the typical Chinese fat batteries, with a shabby housing to accommodate them. It is quality batteries, yes manufactured in China, but with reliable Design and Quality; I tell you I've been using for the last year one for my S3 with results that have exceeded my expectations, with actual 6000 mAh .

Fuel economy in a car: Charging battery the Arduino way: 2nd and last part

26650 LifePo4 A123 batteries (2.3 Ah)

After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of changing the car battery for a homemade LiFePo4 one as we discussed, I've finally discharged it for the following reasons :

The Li-ion 18650 for sale on the Internet: There are more false than legitimate

When I started acquiring Li-ion batteries 18650 back in 2012 to restore some packs, there were still no stores in Spain that had them and I started to import them through Chinese pages like DX.com, aliexpress, Ebay, etc.

Note: The reference "18650" refers to the shape and dimensions; 18 is the diameter in mm, 65 is length and 0 indicates the shape; in this case cylindrical.

At first I was confident and I trusted the ads in some extent, I knew the false capacities of some NI-MH before, where manufacturers also indicated many times more capacity than real, so I was prepared. I compared, and bought cheap, but not the cheapest, high capacity (announced) batteries, , and hoped that there would not be much difference.

This problem is very well explained in Energizes or Bateriasdelitio.net , which echo the deceptions of Chinese "smart" guys.

I was wrong. I came to ordering (ouch!) For 3 €/unit. 18 batteries "Fandy-FIRE", the "manufacturer" marked them as 3600 mAh capacity, when in fact they only had 800 or less! When they arrived the first thing that struck me was how little weighed; the larger capacity usually weigh 47 grams / unit, when these did not reach the 30 g / pc., although some manufacturers are "approaching" the weight of the good ones filling them with materials as diverse as flour!

Repairing and Adflo Speedglas battery ref 837621 with LI-ION 4.2V Cells

Lately I have been repairing multiple wireless devices whose NI-MH batteries have deteriorated ; usually get considerably cheaper make you the battery pack with a new charger is to buy it new; in this tutorial I will show how to build a battery of 4500 mAh 12.6V and 3 packs of 3 cell li-ion parallel each to replace a battery 10.8V and 4000 mAh NI-MH (9 batteries in series 1.2V) with just 32 € (charger not included).

Update: I uploaded how I repair them to youtube:

HD version

And slim version.

LITHIUM battery types depending on their composition

The Lithium-ION technology has improved a lot as  the advantages of having no memory effect and higher energy density per kilogram than any other current technology , we can add that  depending on the type of materials used , allows different power / energy densities; we can have instantaneous powers from 1C (2A / time to a cell 2000 mAh) of the LI-Cobalt portable typical 5C of manganese (LiNiMnCoO2) or 15C for the past employed in Automobiles (LiNiCoAlO2) or 30C with LiFePO4 .

Modifying an airsoft HK 416 UMAREX with 11,1V for increased rate of fire: from 13 bps to 18 bps

HK 416 from UMAREX, very high quality materials and precision

Recently I personalized with more cadence one airsoft replica HK 416 from UMAREX, the best available today replica of the lethal original, getting to shoot 18 balls per second instead of 13 with the recommended battery.

For this we have got 11,1V instead of the 7.4V li-ion recommended by the manufacturer, using 6 standard size batteries 2000 mAh 18650 and 1C discharge . Usually LiPo is more desirable for these cases, for the effort that must hold the batteries, they probably will last less than normal ... but what can we do... life is short;) and we just had them available.

Putting 11,1V to the repeater you are breaking the guarantee, but it have such good material and design that we'd rather risk getting a machine of epic massacres;)

In the following video a Youtube friend did the same and is working very well:

Rehabilitating one Metabo screwdriver with a Li-ion 4400 mAh 12.6V

Metabo BZ 12 SP with DIY Li-Ion Battery

As a gift, I was given an old screwdriver that was going to go to waste. It used the old Ni-MH battery technology or Ni-CD, and you know me ... I love those tools that works wirelessly, so I started to build for it a more economical, durable and powerful li-ion battery than the original, as there are no li-ion batteries for this screwdriver.

Note : Adapting these instructions you will be able to build batteries for any wireless device that you have at home and that, for its price or quality of their batteries, you are considering to throw away.

This requires using Li-ion batteries that allow discharge at 2C at least, or they could be damaged quickly. Lipo could be used but these have half life than other liIon chemistries. The Li-Mn (manganese) allow faster discharging without damage, but are quite expensive, and LiFePo, A123 manufacturer would be ideal, but pricy too.

I found a middle ground in Lico of  Boston Power-shaped like two 18650 united , but actually is a single battery, ovalish format, making better use of the space, and with very good capacity for cases where two batteries are used in parallel (such as laptop batteries), and they have a very good chemistry that is not damaged by 8Ah instantaneous demands such as a screwdriver, retaining its capacity better than others between uses:

See below Load controller chip

How to Build a battery for a Krautkramer USM 25 ultrasound equipment

Krautkramer USM 25 ( source )

Today was the challenge ahead: Search spare parts for rechargeable NI-MH battery 4.8V of anultrasound machine Krautkramer USM 25 Nr. 35274. 

The price for a spare rechargeable battery from the brand owner, GE, was outrageous, so I had to find a way to manufacture it and save good money. This battery is disarmed: 

It has 4 rechargeable batteries 1.2 V each; 1.2 * 4 = 4.8 Volts, wrapped in plastic and a PVC tube outside

The problem I couln´t find the appropiate battery with those measures; about 43 mm. . x Ø22 mm, but thanks to wikipedia and looking at types of batteries , I located your name: Sub C.

It's funny, because it takes a piece of PVC to separate one of them, I guess to make it harder to replace (spare parts worth their thing). And they go into a plasticized PVC cartridge.