Suex Xjoy 7 battery upgrade

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Frogman82

Contributor
Messages
148
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Location
Bergen, Norway
# of dives
500 - 999
It's been almost seven years since I upgraded my suex with li-ion batteries and since I've been asked about this several times over the years I thought this post might be helpful to others. This is in a way a follow up of this thread Comparison of batteries

Background:

I bought a new Suex Xjoy 7 in 2013. By the time I got mine I had logged many dives using different buddies' SS-scooters, and what made me choose the suex was that it was an affordable way into the DPV world, and it was considerably lighter weight than the SS ones. For me it was the perfect scooter and the only shortcoming it had was the original battery (which I discovered after using it for a while). Almost all my dives are scooter dives, and it's not uncommon for me to be on the trigger for most of the dive. Since I like the option to do two dives in a day I was looking into possibly upgrading the battery to li-ion technology.

Fast forward to 2014 and I had a three month recovery from shoulder surgery and wasn't able to dive. By the time I got back in the water the original SLA battery in the scooter had developed a problem. After 2-3 minutes it would suffer a noticeable power loss, and it was concluded that it most likely was a faulty cell. My battery failed after a year (suex only has six months warranty on batteries), and I decided to modify and upgrade the scooter.

I ordered the battery from bmsbattery.com 24V20Ah Li-Ion EBike Battery Pack
It's a e-bike battery pack that comes complete with a charger. At the time I made my order they offered this pack in two different sizes - I got the size 205x165x70, but a friend of mine upgraded his and he got 115x270x80 and it fits great as well. I'm not sure if they offer different sizes anymore, but it may be available at request. Battery is wrapped in heat shrinkable plastic.

I bought two extra Anderson connectors as the battery is delivered with another type. Had to make an extension as well from the cables on the old battery to get the correct length on the cable in the new one.
By doing this I didn't have to change the plug that goes to the motor.

In hindsight I believe I could have gotten an even bigger battery in the scooter as I have quite a bit of extra space in the battery compartement, but I didn't want to end up with a too big battery pack, so I played it safe.

It was pretty straight forward to swap it out, but you have to fiddle around a bit after to get the weighting and trim of the scooter right. I think I added around 12 lbs as the new battery is much lighter than the original lead acid. I fitted the battery the same way the original was. I attached two small aluminum plates to the battery to make it a little more rigid where the connection screws are. I got some thick lead rope from work and ended up zip tieing it to the two support rods inside the scooter and then covering them with black insulating tape. Then I mounted some folded sheets of lead on the back of those to get the additional weight required.

All in all it was a major upgrade to the scooter. I've had mine for almost eight years, seven of them with the lithium battery, and it was like night and day compared to the original battery. Much more power and thrust. I've not done an actual burn test, but if my calculations are right I should now have around 80 min runtime on high and around 110 min on low setting. That is more than adequate for me.
 

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Hi Frogman,
I have a SUEX XJoy 14. How much did that new battery system set you back? I got my Suex used from a tech dive shop going out of business. I thought it would be really powerful and was disappointed when it wasn't. Did you have to do anything else to make the battery system work?
Thanks for your input.
 
You dont happen to know if the newer 7Seven is about the same size as the xjoy 7, and will fit the 270mm pack?

Stuggeling to find a used budget dpv these days, so kinda considering the 7Seven, and upgrade the battery to the one you used.

Regards from a little further north in Norway.
 
You dont happen to know if the newer 7Seven is about the same size as the xjoy 7, and will fit the 270mm pack?

Stuggeling to find a used budget dpv these days, so kinda considering the 7Seven, and upgrade the battery to the one you used.

Regards from a little further north in Norway.

The spare battery for the 7Seven looks identical to the Xjoy7 one at least.
IMO I would call or email Reel Diving in Gothenburg if I were you, there is very little (if anything) that they don't know about Suex.
Contacting Suex themselves could also be an option of course, but I'm willing to bet you'll get a faster response from Reel.
 
I don't know if they did any changes to the newer model, but maybe you could find a detailed spec sheet on their website?
 
That's an amazing thread

@Frogman82, the battery you put the link to seems to be out of stock.. Do you happen to know any other alternative?
It's been almost seven years since I upgraded my suex with li-ion batteries and since I've been asked about this several times over the years I thought this post might be helpful to others. This is in a way a follow up of this thread Comparison of batteries

Background:

I bought a new Suex Xjoy 7 in 2013. By the time I got mine I had logged many dives using different buddies' SS-scooters, and what made me choose the suex was that it was an affordable way into the DPV world, and it was considerably lighter weight than the SS ones. For me it was the perfect scooter and the only shortcoming it had was the original battery (which I discovered after using it for a while). Almost all my dives are scooter dives, and it's not uncommon for me to be on the trigger for most of the dive. Since I like the option to do two dives in a day I was looking into possibly upgrading the battery to li-ion technology.

Fast forward to 2014 and I had a three month recovery from shoulder surgery and wasn't able to dive. By the time I got back in the water the original SLA battery in the scooter had developed a problem. After 2-3 minutes it would suffer a noticeable power loss, and it was concluded that it most likely was a faulty cell. My battery failed after a year (suex only has six months warranty on batteries), and I decided to modify and upgrade the scooter.

I ordered the battery from bmsbattery.com 24V20Ah Li-Ion EBike Battery Pack
It's a e-bike battery pack that comes complete with a charger. At the time I made my order they offered this pack in two different sizes - I got the size 205x165x70, but a friend of mine upgraded his and he got 115x270x80 and it fits great as well. I'm not sure if they offer different sizes anymore, but it may be available at request. Battery is wrapped in heat shrinkable plastic.

I bought two extra Anderson connectors as the battery is delivered with another type. Had to make an extension as well from the cables on the old battery to get the correct length on the cable in the new one.
By doing this I didn't have to change the plug that goes to the motor.

In hindsight I believe I could have gotten an even bigger battery in the scooter as I have quite a bit of extra space in the battery compartement, but I didn't want to end up with a too big battery pack, so I played it safe.

It was pretty straight forward to swap it out, but you have to fiddle around a bit after to get the weighting and trim of the scooter right. I think I added around 12 lbs as the new battery is much lighter than the original lead acid. I fitted the battery the same way the original was. I attached two small aluminum plates to the battery to make it a little more rigid where the connection screws are. I got some thick lead rope from work and ended up zip tieing it to the two support rods inside the scooter and then covering them with black insulating tape. Then I mounted some folded sheets of lead on the back of those to get the additional weight required.

All in all it was a major upgrade to the scooter. I've had mine for almost eight years, seven of them with the lithium battery, and it was like night and day compared to the original battery. Much more power and thrust. I've not done an actual burn test, but if my calculations are right I should now have around 80 min runtime on high and around 110 min on low setting. That is more than adequate for me.

@the_dragon_no1, did you manage to find an answer to that
You dont happen to know if the newer 7Seven is about the same size as the xjoy 7, and will fit the 270mm pack?

Stuggeling to find a used budget dpv these days, so kinda considering the 7Seven, and upgrade the battery to the one you used.

Regards from a little further north in Norway.
 
Im just going to drop these photos here.

2013 Xjoy 7 with my home built battery.
4 hours of run time with 4 bladed prop.
Bluetooth communication with battery to check levels.

I have also built batteries for XJ-T and about to build one for a Xjoy 37
 

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Im just going to drop these photos here.

2013 Xjoy 7 with my home built battery.
4 hours of run time with 4 bladed prop.
Bluetooth communication with battery to check levels.

I have also built batteries for XJ-T and about to build one for a Xjoy 37
Might be worth dropping some photos of the pack when installed in the scoot.
 
Photos installed,...

Built 3 of these so far, in the next few weeks i have to build 3 more...
 

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