Charging and storing battery equipment.

[ericmark]

In the main there is some thing which tells one the state of charge, be it an electric bike, or a phone recharging pack, however not all, the rechargeable touch, and rear lights for my bike have nothing to say ¼, ½, ¾ or fully charged, clearly one knows when fully discharged. Some items like my battery drill say fully charged on charger other items say nothing.

Reading the instructions for electric bike unlike lead acid it should be stored 60% charged.

Recharging the Battery Pack prior to and during Storage
When not using the battery pack for a longer period, charge it to approx. 60% (3 to 4 LEDs lit on the charge-control indicator 3).
Check the charge condition after 6 months. When only one LED of the charge-control indicator 3 lights up, recharge the battery pack again approx. 60 %.
Note: When the battery pack is stored discharged (empty) for longer periods, it can become damaged despite the low self discharging feature and the battery-pack capacity may be strongly reduced.
It is not recommended to have the battery pack connected permanently to the charger.

With a new pack costing around £300 clearly one wants to follow the instructions, Li-ion batteries is seems need different storing and using to the old lead acid, in my PC the battery is always kept fully charged the e-bike is first time I have seen it recommended not to either fully charge or fully discharge the battery to store. Old Ni-iron was fully discharge to store.

Instructions like don't charge when unattended, can't really see how one can comply with that when it takes 6.5 hours to charge, it would be like watching paint dry.

400 Wh (11Ah at 36 volt) is a fair bit of energy so I suppose if it goes wrong it can do a lot of damage, as to if best charged in garage where if it goes on fire damage is limited, or in the house where if it goes on fire you see what has happened and can react to it, I don't know?

As to bike tail light, plugged in and taking 0.03A, then it went to 0.25A and then fell to 0.6A so I assume it is charged and will light for rated 6 hours, had I not got a USB amp/volt meter I would not have a clue when charged. Just a green LED to show charging which does not go out when complete, and all instructions in German.

I have had batteries become blotted in phones and dumped then, and batteries fail completely and fail to give high current output, since moving from NiCad to Li-ion I have in general treated the new just like the old, rechargeable AA cells going in the same charger. However maybe that's wrong?

Reading Wikipedia it seems Li-ion is not a single battery type, it gives LiCoO2 etc. However look on my equipment and batteries it just says Li-ion not LiFePO4 or any other ID as to what type. So how should we treat these devices?

Well my rear light is now drawing zero current and green light has gone off, I assume charged, English instructions would be nice, even Welsh instructions as sold in Wales, but German instructions are totally useless to me.

 

[big-all]

have you tried googling for the instruction manual that should be included iff purchased with the eu from a compliant seller
can you remove and charge the battery pack
if so take it home to look after

 

[SimonH2]

The "never leave unattended" bit is one of those get out clauses so that if (say) the thing bursts into flames and you're not there to switch it off then they can throw the blame on to you for not following the instructions.

As to battery management, it can be a bit of a black art - and can need some knowledge of the specific setup.
For example, some equipment I have just trickle charges an SLA battery with a current limiting resistor - leave that on charge after the battery is full and it will dry the battery out and kill it. In that case, it's a matter of charging it for a while (you have to guestimate how long) and then unplug it.
Some other kit has a multi-stage charger which is specifically designed to stay on charge permanently - it'll fully charge the SLA battery and then keep it on float so it stays fully charged but doesn't kill it.
As for NiCd, NiMH, etc - well that's a whole other kettle of fish.

 

[ericmark]

Lead Acid be it open cells or valve regulated can have problems but unless your trying to charge rather quickly reasonable safe. NiCd, NiMH and Li-ion are however very different, for the rear light I think it is 0.3W LED which should last 210 minutes, with Li-ion battery, and needs a 5 volt 1A charger using USB and after charging it I have found the green LED goes out once charged. So likely battery is 1 Wh approx.

I was forced to buy this after fitting a rear rack to the bike, rear lights connected to seat can be hidden from view by anything on the rack or simply my coat as I sit on the saddle, this was the only light I could find designed to fit on the rear rack.

Years ago the hub dynamo was an easy way to ensure you were legal and had lights as required, but in 1989 laws were brought in which required a set candelas output which they with tungsten bulbs could not achieve. Since then we have moved to LED and to lumen with the law changing to allow flashing lights on cycles, law is still in candelas but is around 45 - 50 lumen. 0.3W LED at 100 lumen per watt is around 30 lumen so it seems likely my lights don't comply, so possibly I need a second rear lamp? BS3648, or BS6102/3, or an equivalent EC standard is easy enough to say, but find any lamp with a BS standard and you are doing well.

Cycle lamps are two a pound, (use to say two a penny) but legal cycle lamps is some thing different. However seeing the sizes of some car lamps cycles are not the only thing to have problems complying. I did not realise amber reflectors on pedals was a legal requirement.

We are told the Germans are very tight on cycle lighting law, so maybe the light I have has two 30 lumen LED's so would be fully legal, however since I can't read German how would I know?

At the moment we are still in the EU so if legal in Germany also legal here, but once we leave am I legal? And if instructions are in German how would the Police know?

However BS7671 seems to say instructions should be given in the official language/s of the county in which the item is sold, so it should be in English and Welsh. Even if in Shotton 3 miles from border it is unlikely you will find anyone where Welsh is first language, Polish maybe, but Welsh unlikely.

But returning to the electric bike, and Li-ion batteries, if the instructions are not in English and if bought in Wales also Welsh, then how would one know if the method used did not comply with instructions. You can say as many times as you want "do not charge unattended" in German, it means nothing.

Oh and yes did try to find English instructions but found nothing.