How To Discharge Ebike Battery [Know Before You Do]
You may have always wondered how to effectively or fast charge your ebike battery or how to keep the charge for a long time, but you may have never thought about discharging the battery. In order to store the ebike batteries, a certain amount of charge must be drained.
How To Discharge Ebike Battery
Riding out an ebike battery is the simplest and most effective method to discharge it. Connect your e-bike’s battery, go for a joyride, and keep the throttle up. Discharging your ebike battery should take no more than 12 to 15 minutes. If you can’t go for a ride let’s see what more you can do.
Discharging At Home Without Tools
Assume you are unable to leave your home due to severe snowfall or it has been raining cats and dogs and you choose to remain at home.
In such cases, place your ebike on an open space and spin the throttle while keeping the tires in the air or off the ground. Keep the charge at least above 50% for storage purposes; otherwise, cell damage may occur.
Or try this Battery Discharge Prevention Device To Store Your Battery
Discharging Using Battery Discharge Connectors
Now imagine you’re in an even tighter circumstance; you don’t have enough space to set the bike down, or you just have the battery with you and want to discharge it; you might have to put in more effort.
Here is a step by step guide for doing it.
Step 1: Initiating the wiring process
Get two pieces of electrical wire, each about two feet long (60cm). Remove 3 cm of the rubber insulation to reveal the metallic wire.
Step 2: Getting a discharge connector
Select an appropriate discharge connector kit, the pin type (2pin, 5pin, etc.) should be compatible with your battery plate. Put the wires through the discharge connection. If you wish to save time, you may buy a pre-assembled discharge connector.
Step 3: The discharging begins
After connecting one end of the discharge connector to the battery palate, connect the other end of the wire to any electrical device. Check that the electrical gadget is not putting too much strain on the battery.
A standard table lamp or any other custom-made light series would be ideal for the job. Keep it running until the charge reaches 50%.
Should You Drain Ebike Battery?
Most riders ignore the instructions and almost drain the battery to zero percent. So most technical experts advise riders to avoid draining the battery. You should keep at least 30% charge before your next charging.
If you are planning on storing the ebike battery then you might need to discharge the battery to a certain extent. Because it is not advised to store a battery with a full charge.
Where Should Ebike Batteries Be Stored?
First and foremost, it must be in a dry and warm setting. The chemical components of batteries, whether lithium-ion or lead acid, do not handle cold temperatures well.
You should put them somewhere easy to reach since you will need to handle the self-discharge phenomenon of ebike batteries and will need to charge the battery once in a while or ensure that the battery charge does not fall below 50%.
How Do You Store E-bikes In A Garage?
You can use wall-mounted racks or any simple rack to store the ebike.
Does The Cold Affect Ebike Batteries?
The effects of cold on ebike battery performance are undeniable. Even in the winter, you may ride your ebike without any major incident, but you will notice a substantial loss in power and performance.
You can blame it on the law of thermodynamics. Temperature fluctuations have a direct impact on the functioning of the motor and other corresponding parameters.
If somehow your bike gets completely frozen then you are up for a great deal of trouble. The circuit will become hard and brittle with multiple fractures. Metal parts shrinking and deformation are just the tip of the iceberg; there is even more.
In simple words, cold is bad for your ebike.
How To Check The State Of A Battery
When the battery is connected to the bike, the battery charge and other data are usually displayed on the screen. If you have removed your ebike battery and are considering storing it, or if you are unable to get a reading from your screen, or if the reading is in volts, there is an easy way to interpret it.
To obtain the voltage data, you would need to use a multimeter. If the ebike battery is 48V and the multimeter detects 48v, the battery is fully charged. If it reads 47 volts, the battery is 91.67% charged. There would be a 8.33% charge loss for every 1 value drop in voltage. So the SafeZone for a 48v battery discharge would be 42v, implying the battery is 50% charged.
when connected to the multimeter, sometimes a 48v battery might give a higher reading. If you are getting 50v reading out of your 48v battery, there is no need to panic. In this case, 48v is the nominal voltage and 50v is the maximum voltage. You would need to count the maximum voltage as the benchmark and discharge to 44v ( battery charger 50%).
How Many Times Can You Charge An Ebike Battery
The charging cycle of different types of batteries tends to vary. You can expect to receive around 600 to 900 charging cycles out of mid to high-grade lithium-ion batteries.
However, if the material quality of the lithium-ion battery is low then it might not exceed 500 charging cycles.
If you use lead-acid batteries, you should expect 200 to 300 charging cycles on average. It is roughly 350 to 400 charging cycles for nickel batteries.
Tips For Prolonging The Life Of Your Battery
Here is some guidance for extending your battery life
- Use the dedicated charger for your ebike battery
- You should always fully charge a new battery before riding
- Keep the battery away from extreme heat and cold
- Charging to 100% every time might not be a good idea, keep it around 80%.
How To Discharge Ebike Battery For Storage
If you are planning on storing the battery indoors and may or may not go out for a ride in months then it’s a good idea to keep the battery charge around 60% to 70%.
If you discharge the battery to zero and think about storing it, you are taking the wrong approach. Whenever an ebike battery charge drops down to 0%, there is sure to be cell damage inside the battery.
Some batteries have a fail-safe system and may stop draining before reaching 0% to avoid or reduce damage, but it is not safe to keep it until charging it to at least 50% capacity.
Ebike Battery Discharge Connector
The discharge connector is used for draining the battery. Typically, one end of the discharge connection has a pin (2,3, or 5 pin) connected, while the other end of the wire is exposed. To drain an ebike battery, just connect the exposed cable to any electrical equipment and insert the discharge connector into the battery.
Discharge connectors come in a variety of current ratings, including 15 amp,30 amp and more. The majority of them are interchangeable, although the pin crimp may vary.
Some of the most popular discharge connectors are as follows:
- Genderless: 2 plug (Male and female) one is positive other one is negative.
- Stackable: used for making multiple or parallel connections.
FAQ
Should ebike batteries be stored fully charged?
It’s not recommended to store ebike batteries fully charged or fully drained. Keeping the charge around at least 60 to 70 percent is advisable.
How cold is too cold for eBike battery?
At zero degree Celsius (32°F) there would be a huge drop in performance and at around -10°C or (-2°F) the ebike battery would be completely unusable.
Should you charge your ebike battery after every ride?
It is not necessary to charge the ebike battery after each ride. However, if it is less than 50%, you must charge it.
How long does it take to charge an e-bike battery?
On average, it takes at least 3.5 hours to fully charge an ebike battery.
Is it good to fully discharge lithium ion batteries?
No, it’s not advisable to fully discharge lithium-ion batteries.
Conclusion
There are several methods for discharging your ebike battery. The simplest and most successful approaches include going on a joyful ride or just turning the throttle until you drain a particular amount of energy.
Besides, connecting an electrical item to the batteries may drain a huge portion of the charge as well. However, regardless of what you connect in or how you drain the battery, discharging the battery below 30 percent is highly discouraged.
