FreeRide Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) WARNING ** THIS BATTERY MAY LIMIT YOUR TOP SPEED ** OVERVIEW: More4Mini is selling a new 3rd-Party battery made for them by the OEM WorldPower Shenzhen World Electric Co. Ltd. “Extended Range Replacement Battery for Segway miniPRO - 355wh 6400mAh” Specifications are listed as: Model: WP-DMR-01 Configuration: 15S2P Voltage: 55.5VDC Capacity: 355Wh / 6400mAh Listed on the battery is LG INR18650, implying that it is based on 18650 cells by LG, The More4Mini website also states that LG cells are used, but could not provide the specific model number of the cells. So it is really just about name-dropping, and not about verifiable specifications. Somewhat useful given the problems with battery manufacturing, but lacking for a technical product. If we can assume the specifications are done similar to the original batteries, then the 355Wh / 6400mAh hour capacity would be when charged to 63V rather than the 55.5V Nominal voltage, or the 59.5V used by the standard North American Charger. More4Mini claims a 20% increase in mileage, but does not have any basis for this statement that they were willing to share. Based on the full Wh or mAh capacity, the increase would be somewhere between 12% and 14%, but the dynamics for estimating the increase are too varied given the potentially different discharge profile of the battery, and the operating environment variables such as rider weight, terrain, individual user’s speed/acceleration profile, enforced speed reductions by the MiniPro, etc. I would assume the stated 20% increase would be based on the 59.5V charge of the standard charger, but it is not explicitly stated. COST METRICS: Using the full 355Wh spec and the current cost of $200US, this works out to $0.56/Wh, which is an OK price, but not a super deal in terms of pure $/Wh. The Segway 310Wh battery, based on More4Mini pricing ($255) works out to $0.82/Wh which is on the expensive side. Keep in mind one is not getting the full capacity of these batteries if using the stock charger, so the real theoretical cost is higher. The actual cost would need to measure the actual Watt/Hours used during operating the device as all these numbers are nominal and can vary widely from actual use on the widely varying motor load of the MiniPro. Raw cost of 18650 capacity for a general consumer ranges from $0.20-$0.80/Wh ($0.40 for quality cells), and one would actually expect to get a discount when buying in bulk such as a battery pack as the extra electronics usually are very inexpensive. so a cost of $0.40/Wh is good value in a pack like this, but since it is custom with limited demand, the $0.56/Wh cost of this battery is reasonable. TESTING: I bought this battery just for fun, and to see how well it worked with the MiniPro. I feel the reported increase in capacity is not enough for someone to want to upgrade their battery, but if one is looking for a new battery or a second battery, then the increased capacity would be nice. It should be able to maintaining a higher top-speed for longer at the very least, and that is useful as I really hate how the MiniPro must reduce top speed as the battery is discharged. The battery weighed 1923g. This is roughly 110g less than a fully charged Segway 310Wh battery. The voltage of the battery when delivered was 57.9V. The battery is sealed, so I won’t be ripping it open today before testing. The standard charger connector is used with the threaded collar just as the original, and the connector cover is good. I like the charge connector cover better than the original, it stays put, and I think it will last as long. The battery did not include the small rubber insulators/seals/washers for the 4 screw holes, but it does have the recesses for them. This is unfortunate, but not a huge deal. There is a little LED on the back of the battery, or at least a window for one, but it does not blink or do anything when the battery is not connected to a charger. There was no light on the battery when connected to a charger either, at least not at its current charge state. I suspect the light is non functional. NO BMS COMMUNICATION. As expected the battery has no communication from the BMS in the pack (I presume there is one), with the MiniPro, so there is “no” battery information provided in the App. The App shows the speed is limited to 10km/h on my Segway, I’m using v4.0 of the Ninebot App, and I’ll have to check the firmware version. Alexey from More4Mini, said he was not speed limited, but did not use the App. I will need to do a road test to see if that is true, but I’m not very hopeful as I think the firmware has limited the speed with the battery. If true this is a real show-stopper, if it just means one cannot use the App when using the battery this is less of an issue, but inconvenient since you won't be able to watch your speed. tried charging the battery from its delivered state using the stock Ninebot charger specified as 59.5V (OC Voltage measures 59.61V). After 80 minutes the charger light turned to the undocumented yellow/amberish color, the battery measured 59.18V (charger connected), then at 90min it had turned to green and the battery measured 59.21V (charger connected). The ending voltage of the battery (charger disconnected, 15+ min rest) was 59.15V. So it would appear that charging the battery with the stock MiniPro charger worked as expected. I moved it onto a 63V charger, since I figured at this point it was best to have a full charge on the batteries. After 45min the charger had a green light, and I didn’t give it any extra balance or top up time, the battery measured 62.3V Unfortunately the road-test failed. Speed was severely limited I could not not ride it, it was just too annoying. Tilt-back would just bring me to a standstill as I tried to go up a small incline near my place. it worked ok for a 5km/h, or less, trip to the garbage bins, but anything more than that it was not tolerable for me. Since it was dark and starting to snow I didn’t spend any time trying different things. I never connected with the App after installing the battery, so clearly, as is pretty well understood, the firmware was limiting the speed. I used my oldest Segway but it uses, v1.4.0 firmware and I don’t plan to update it as I’ve heard nothing about the latest updates and I’m worried they will restrict the 63V chargers or may other annoying changes as they have done in the past. It is hard to downgrade the firmware and I don't want to mess with that. CONCLUSION: I’d recommend sticking with the official batteries if you are on firmware 1.4.0 or later as this battery is not really usable with a 10km/h limit (or possibly even slower before tiltback kicks in). Maybe someone else will test it with earlier firmware or More4Mini will provide more information on what is required to remove the speed restriction, but it seems to work the same as all the other 3rd-Party batteries so I’m not sure anything really can be done outside of changing the firmware. I guess this was a case of too-good-to-be-true. Edited February 18, 2018 by FreeRide 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icom Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vik's Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) On 17.02.2018 at 10:05 PM, FreeRide said: ... NO BMS COMMUNICATION. As expected the battery has no communication from the BMS in the pack (I presume there is one), with the MiniPro, so there is “no” battery information provided in the App. The App shows the speed is limited to 10km/h on my Segway, . And that's all we need to know.. Good thing that you've got the time and resources to help other people to avoid this battery. Edited February 20, 2018 by Vik's 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4M Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Our goal to make extended battery did not succeed. The new app's update slowed down miniPRO that use batteries without Ninebot code. We took extended range More4Mini batteries off the market. It is a little sad since we have receive a lot of requests from the Client. If you need a replacement Ninebot battery you can still get it at More4Mini. Best, More4Mini team Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRN76 Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 Hello. I can help the author of this post. If it soldered the programmer link, for a fee I can sew a firmware, allowing you to go 22-24km / h with this battery. https://electrotransport.ru/ussr/index.php?topic=48365.0 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 On 4/11/2018 at 2:58 PM, MRN76 said: Hello. I can help the author of this post. If it soldered the programmer link, for a fee I can sew a firmware, allowing you to go 22-24km / h with this battery. https://electrotransport.ru/ussr/index.php?topic=48365.0 Sounds interesting. I'll send a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atharif Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Interesting to know that the change to non-original battery affects these devices. Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David keaney Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Hi there. I have a Segway mini lite with a36v battery .I want to know if I can up grade to a bigger battery.and does the mini pro battery fit into the mini light. I use it on the golf course and love it.I need more battery time. David K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David keaney Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 What does that mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRN76 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 mini/pro/offroad battery 55v, mini lite battery 36v. +Different connector layout 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojo33 Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 (edited) Exactly @MRN76 Below Mini Lite battery and Mini/S/MINI PRO/S PRO Battery Edited May 30, 2020 by jojo33 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invader Zog Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) If you have the swallowbot firmware (board from M4M), do you still get a speed penalty when using a non-standard battery? Edited February 23, 2020 by Invader Zog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRN76 Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 On 2/24/2020 at 1:17 AM, Invader Zog said: If you have the swallowbot firmware (board from M4M), do you still get a speed penalty when using a non-standard battery? Swallow and other firmware will be in error with this battery. If the company is interested, then in Russia they can make BMS for these batteries. The minimum lot will be 25 pieces. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetricUSA Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 Woot.com had mini pro for sell at $250 this past week...I should have brought one just for battery!!!🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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