What can I do with my old batteries?

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CrashTestPhoto@reddit

It looks as though you keep buying different no name cheap battery packs that contain crappy cells that are quickly able to become unbalanced due to bad BMS units.

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Derraj_OF@reddit (OP)

What should I be looking for when I have to buy my fourth? How will I know that battery will work for me?

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That's part of owning a no name brand piece of shit Chinese e-waste. We keep dumping more money on disposable batteries when we could have bought a brand name for more money that would cost less in the long run. I'm in the same boat.

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OBLIVIATER@reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/1scejbt/am_i_cooked/

He's also been doing electrical work on his bike without any idea what he's doing... I'm willing to bet that has something to do with it lol

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Derraj_OF@reddit (OP)

The bike has close to 3k miles on it. Just running the batteries to the ground.

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Queasy_Recover5164@reddit

I have 10,000km (6,214 miles) on an electric cargo bike and 15,000km in my commuter ebike. Batteries still going strong. But they are name brand, Bosch and Specialized.

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LinkForsaken5435@reddit

ok but what's going with that rusty chain lol

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Derraj_OF@reddit (OP)

We’re working on it!

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Derraj_OF@reddit (OP)

It’s working now.

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Antheral@reddit

Wow I went to that thread, and he was just electrical taping wires together. Not even stripping or soldering or any connection of any sort. Holy shit lmao.

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Keep_it_on_the_low@reddit

China makes everything so even the good ones come from there

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Superb_Raccoon@reddit

But these are the ones on the far left of the bell curve.

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Particular-Doubt-566@reddit

Over a year and 1100 miles on my cheap POS Chinese ewaste bike that has paid for itself several times over and still holds a great charge. A little bit of research goes aong way but I have dealt with many Chinese merchants that will blow away almost anyone when it comes to customer service and being knowledgeable and helpful with their products. It's crazy right? Because any American car I've owned in the last 25 years has been absolute trash.

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IceNein@reddit

It’s the good old Terry Pratchet theory of how being poor costs more money.

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Ill_Ad_3147@reddit

Buy , battery from chamrider they sell on AliExpress and Alibaba, they use Samsung cells mainly, I have mine from 2020 and still charges to full capacity , I have two of them both from 2020, also thy have now Bluetooth BMS with app and can set parameters and see charging cycles

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ur_ynome@reddit

Em3ev makes good batteries

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rvralph803@reddit

Shit dude. If you had just bought a reputable pack you'd be ahead on money at this point.

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Southern_Sky1925@reddit

Buy what you can afford but take precautions in case they go off, even the best cells are able to cause a fire and these elitist people telling you to stop buying affordable batteries are cringe af

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CrashTestPhoto@reddit

That really depends on which bike you have.

Search on AI such as Gemini for compatible high rated packs which use branded cells.

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Scharfschutzen@reddit

I've called three different battery recycling centers and none of them will take my name brand ebike battery. I tried Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Menards. No one will take them.

One recycling center said if I cut it open and separated the cells, they would take it then. I'm not trying to do that lol.

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Dinolinooo@reddit

You know that you can recharge them?

Jokes aside, just bring them to the recycling center or something similar. Maybe give them a call before and ask if they take the batteries.

But being on 3 batteries is quite much unless you ride long distance every day for years.

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Fire_Power@reddit

You can take it to a battery repair shop and they can build you a new battery from the spare cells inside. Its cheaper than buying a new batt.

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Inciteful_Analysis@reddit

Please dont store old and possibly defective large lithium ion batteries next to stacks of combustible paper towels. This just makes the fire risk even worse.

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Veganarchy-Zetetic@reddit

Don't store them at all. My old defective battery nearly killed me and my girlfriend in our sleep.

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Inciteful_Analysis@reddit

Even better advise. That must have been terrifying.

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Veganarchy-Zetetic@reddit

I just presumed that a defective battery with no power in it would be safe. I left it in a spare room with the idea of gutting it and keeping the case but I forgot all about it for months.

One night my girlfriend woke me up because she had a dream that I was blowing smoke from a cigarette in her face. Our home was filled with toxic fumes and I was so out of it that I didn't understand what was happening. No idea how long we had been breathing that poisonous stuff in for. I eventually found the battery and ran out into the street in the middle of the night in my boxer shorts. By that time the battery was bellowing out so much thick black toxic smoke. The fire service ended up coming and dunking the battery into a wheelie bin full of water.

My girlfriend might have saved both of our lives that night.

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dewyke@reddit

Lithium ion battery fires emit quite a lot of carbon monoxide, so yeah, she probably did.

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Accomplished_Tour588@reddit

Give em to me lol

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Few-Anywhere607@reddit

You can try to rebuild or repair the pack. I've tried with 2 batteries. The first was as simple as changing the bms. The second, i ended up changing out 11 of the 104 batteries (48v 13s8p).

If you're not handy:

You can try to sell them or give them away "as-is", someone could use them to rebuild or source. Maybe a local trade school may take them. Anything is better than dumping in landfill. If you're in NYC, let me know.

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Superb_Raccoon@reddit

gif

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RyanEmanuel@reddit

Take them apart, use a multimeter to determine good batteries from bad batteries, get a charger and charg the good ones up and use them for flashlights or you can buy portable chargers that use the types of batteries inside of these and just have a bunch of portable power on demand. I have two batteries that went bad on me and salvaged around 75 batteries from them and use them for just such a purpose

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Middle-West-872@reddit

Also, from two packs, you can recombine the good cells into a new pack. Lots of work, though, and can be dangerous.

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TheRealGenkiGenki@reddit

Batteries contain a good ammount of copper. They usally end up in third world countries where they burn them for scrap. Its how the industry cleans its hands away from the environmental impact by ruining it in other remote locations.

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BlueMageNeedsFood@reddit

Throw them in the ocean

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33666daddy@reddit

if you have the skills you can take them apart, salvage the good cells, and build a new pack.

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Going_my_own_way73@reddit

My Aventon Level 2 was stolen without the battery. I took the battery to Lowe’s and dropped it into the rechargeable battery recycling bin located right inside the door and walked right back out. No one ever stopped and questioned me.

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kashuntr188@reddit

Yup. Home depot or best buy have bins for batteries.

But I would probsbly try taking it apart and salvage the individual cells.

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