Battery Extension Cable

[mbsound]

Hello!

After a series of folks in my city getting accosted for their ebikes I'm trying to make my RadMission a little more stealth by moving the battery into a modified pannier bag (and maybe add another battery). I figure I can choose neon red or visible electric bike, but both turn too many heads if this trend continues.

I can't for the life of me figure out what the 2-pole connector Rad uses coming off the battery sled. I have no qualms chopping it off and putting on a properly rated (and IP rated) connector, but does anyone here know of anything pre-made before I go the destruction route? Every website that makes battery extensions to like XT90 just lists it as "RadPower battery connector".

Thanks!

[RadJohn]

This 1000mm one worked on my 2020 RadMini 4 (not sure about your Mission though):

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001631241583.html

It only took a little over 3 weeks to make its way to New York.

The connector appears to be a Mutual Z215AM:

http://www.mutuallc.com/Z215AM-2-pin-Battery-connector-pd49912085.html

Good luck on trying to find them separately, but Bolton does sell the Female end as part of their Rad Battery Adapters here (when they have them in stock):

http://boltonebikes.com/products/radpower-battery-adapter

[mbsound]

The Z215AM seems to fit the bill, it's a bummer on the 3 week shipping. I guess something we could just buy off Mouser would be way too easy - I'm impressed by the esoteric knowledge!

I think I have to look at some other connector though if this one is really only rated for 200 mating cycles, but if I'm going to chop something up might as well crack the controller open and put a suitable length of wire on so I don't have to deal with an extension and 2 additional points of failure exposed to nature.

Thanks for the knowledge!

[RadJohn]

...only rated for 200 mating cycles...

I don't replug on every ride so that might not be as much of a limiting factor for me, but I hoped to get more if needed in the future because I use dielectric grease in all of the connectors on my Mini 4 (AND to mitigate the intrusion of nasties). Proper power management is also conducive to longer connector life, it's best to turn off the display and battery power switch before plugging/unplugging batteries to avoid/minimize arcing (even on stock Rads or those with Anti-Spark XT90 connectors).   

I looked at the cable as an interim thing to avoid cutting the OEM harness while the bike was still under warranty. After that, I'll probably go with something like XT90s and an AB switch.

FWIW, the cable appears to use ~14 gauge wire, maybe slightly larger by my measurement (but not a full 13G). It should be adequate for handling the supposed 17.5 max Amps of the Rad OEM controller, depending on which AWG chart you want to believe. It sort of depends on whether one interprets its one meter/metre length as falling into the "transmission" or "chassis wiring" category. After a sustained 750 Watt max assist, ~¼ mile climb on my closest test hill, the cable/connectors didn't seem unduly overheated by the time I could stop and try to measure things, but it was winter and less than 32° F ambient, which was totally screwing up the calibration on my thermal imager.  I might repeat the test in late June when higher ambient temperatures make the imager easier to use/believe.

So, although apparently adequate on a bone stock Rad, I might not feel comfortable recommending this cable for someone using a 35 or higher Amp aftermarket controller and/or overdriven/750 or higher Watt motor (but those people have probably already cut off their stock OEM 2 pin battery connectors anyhow).

[mbsound]

I looked at the cable as an interim thing to avoid cutting the OEM harness while the bike was still under warranty.

You raise a good point...that I maybe should have heeded, but what's done is done. I had some 14AWG speaker wire and some professional loudspeaker connectors in a bin (rated for 40A), and now I have sort of slick hidden battery in a Pannier bag. All-in-all, about 45 minutes of time well spent I think.

I'll definitely hit 200 mating cycles within like two months, it's a daily driver and I'm not about to leave a bike with a bag locked to a pole anywhere in NYC!

The Radmission controller is built really surprisingly well, I need to go back in at some point and re-epoxy all the waterproofing goop I scooped out, but that's a project for another weekend.