Re-celling of my aged eBike battery has transformed its performance (and mine too :-) The battery was over 7 years old and was losing power / cutting off on long rides. I called Jimmy and he gave me a... See more
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Great responsive communications by phone and e-mail. Excellent swift collection an return and good price for upgraded battery pack. The old cell pack was returned to confirm all new cells used.
The re-cell of my battery was done very promptly and well. However, my battery pack then developed further problems, which were to prove particularly difficult to solve due to lack of information from... See more
The eBike battery Tiger Shark from this company powered my bicycle on a ride from Cricklewood to Hackney and back on a single charge on 13 Nov 2023. This included the hill over Hampstead in both dir... See more
Company details
Information provided by various external sources
In just the space of just a few years, we have established ourselves as THE premier eBike battery builder - not just nationwide, but worldwide! Using Sunstone Engineering's state-of-the-art 250i2 EV Copper welder, we are able to manufacture the world's best eBike batteries using copper interconnects. Don't just take our word for it, contact us to be the envy of the eBike fraternity!
Contact info
1A Gateway Mews, N11 2UT, London, United Kingdom
- +44 (0) 208 361 1790
- info@ebikebatteries.co.uk
- www.insatinternational.com
I purchased a second hand powabyke…
I purchased a second hand powabyke recently which after 3 months failed to work. It wouldn't charge and wouldn't power on at all. I was gutted.
I searched the net and come across the pedelec forum which contained many posts with problems similar to mine and they all recommended Jimmy at BGA/Insat who apparently does a great job at recells.
Anyway after several emails with Jimmy explaining my situation he suggested a solution so i sent my battery off and a couple off weeks later i received it.
Well...what can i say...its like ive brought a brand new eBike. I would usually do 20-30 mile bike rides and when i got home my battery was usually flat. With this new recell version i have been on three bike rides and the first light on the battery still hasn't gone out and the bike just seems faster and a lot more responsive. I have no idea what sort of sorcery Jimmy uses but its genuinely like magic what he does.
I cant recommend this company enough and i dont dish out praise lightly. If you EVER have any battery issues whether its for eBikes or other devices please go and seek out Jimmy. They may not be the cheapest but in my opinion they are the best and that alone is priceless.
Cheers
2 August 2018
Unprompted review
Incompetent and disrespectful
I have experienced the worst customer service ever from this company. Not only are the products highly overpriced in comparison to the equivalent from other international companies but this company doesn’t accept any sort of liability for any faulty product. I have paid £1,100 which is £400 more than all my friends paid for a lithium battery of equal parameters because Jimmy, the only person with sufficient technical knowledge hyped it up with his sweet talk. The fact that the company is fairly local to me was the decisive factor in choosing this company despite the unfavourable price.
Initially the battery didn’t work so I returned it and even after I came back after a 6 week long holiday the battery wasn’t ready. After my enquiry I had to wait further week and half to finally have the battery in working order after having already spent £320 on acid batteries to replace this battery in the meanwhile.
The extra expense and the grief caused to me by the incompetence of the company was never considered by Jimmy or any other staff who are all close family members. When Jimmy is not available there is no other person of sufficient knowledge to take over the technical service so things can easily be put on hold even for 2 months. First time my battery stopped to function Jimmy insisted it was due to my misuse which I wasn’t aware of. However, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and paid him £100 regardless of the warranty and having to return there twice because the first time he didn’t repair it properly. The battery again stopped to function properly within a week and after further 3 weeks with Jimmy he was again asking for “at least £100”.
I didn’t feel he and the company was being fair to me so when I came to collect the battery I tried to make a compromise with him. As always in a very polite manner I explained my point of view. Within 5 minutes Jimmy shouted at me calling me “a freaking idiot” telling me to give him the full amount he’s asking or “F off”. I was in shock to say the least, seeing a “gentleman” in his 70s displaying such thuggish behaviour. Despite such disrespect, I refused to communicate in that manner. Jimmy also patronised me questioning my English skills, because I wasn’t immediately clear about his explanation of some technical details that even his family seem to struggle to understand in good enough depth as Jimmy still remains as the only technical engineer in the whole company.
Jimmy’s claim was that I overcharged the batteries even though the same charger is continuously used to charge other batteries without any issues. I have now been using a battery from a Chinese supplier which cost me £300 less with 5amps of capacity more than Jimmy’s battery. It is more compact in size and has been working very smoothly so far (knock on wood). I wish everybody only the very best but beware of this company!
13 June 2018
Unprompted review
Reply from eBikebatteries.co.uk
This review is entirely unfair and is disingenuous in the extreme, not to mention disrespectful. Marian is on the surface a polite and amiable person. However, over the time we have got to know him he has proved to be a very difficult and unreasonable person, not to mention extremely argumentative.
The very first time the battery was faulty Jimmy was undergoing radiotherapy treatment for his prostate cancer (thankfully now he is in remission with regular follow-up tests) and endured a very torrid time from November '17 to February '18, during which time he was fitted with a catheter. He cannot remember on that occasion what the fault was and whether or not it was through mis-use. While it was of course regrettable that we couldn't work on Marian's battery during this period, I should mention that Marian displayed little to no empathy for Jimmy's plight, and instead seemed far more concerned that he had to spend more money on batteries from elsewhere and questioned why we didn't have a contingency for him. I think this kind of attitude speaks volumes about a person's priorities and moral compass.
Since then however, every time Marian has claimed the battery has been faulty it has been self inflicted. He initially brought it back when upon inspection it was found that two balance wires had become completely detached from the lug holes that they're attached to. For this to occur a lot of pulling force would of had to have been applied. This is obviously mis-use and cannot be claimed as a warranty repair.
Jimmy also identified that the battery voltage was around 58v, far too much for a 48v (54.6v fully charged) battery. He advised that for this to occur the customer had to be using a charger for a 52v (58.8v fully charged) battery. He warned in no uncertain terms that the charger in question should not be used again and that continued usage would result in the same end result with very high chance of damaging the cells.
Despite us being able to provide fact based evidence that the battery had gone faulty due to mis-use, Marian was very reluctant to pay to have the battery fixed. He seems to have a very odd notion of what constitutes a warranty repair and seems to be of the opinion that he can mis-use products (at least batteries) and then insist that they're under warranty and be repaired for him in record time and free of charge.
A few weeks later Marian returned complaining the battery had developed a fault again. And once again, Jimmy tested the battery to find the cell voltages to be up in the 58v bracket. So, despite multiple warnings not to use the battery charger previously used, Marian ignored Jimmy's advice. And herein is Marian's problem - he thinks he knows best. He sites that he used the same charger for other batteries as if it has some kind of scientific relevance.
Jimmy duly spent hours re-balancing the cells (coming in on weekends when we're officially closed) and when Marian came to collect the battery he once again refused to pay for Jimmy's time and effort. This is when things came to a head and Marian's true character was revealed; he is a master wind-up merchant. He remains calm and technically polite, yet he adopts a pig-headed and stubborn tone - he feels by adopting this stance he can claim the moral high ground, when he can clearly see he is getting under the skin of the other party and eliciting a negative reaction.
He has no electronics or technical knowledge, yet flat out refused (refuses) to accept any of Jimmy's technical explanations as to why his battery was faulty and why it didn't constitute a warranty repair claim, constantly citing that the charger is used to charge other batteries ad infinitum - as if that's all the evidence one needs to form a scientific conclusion.
While it is unfortunate that Jimmy did lose his temper with Marian, it should give you an insight into just how unreasonable, obstinate and argumentative Marian is. He refuses to listen to empirical evidence and just keeps repeating opinions or unrelated things as if they're facts. He is like a stuck record which is what resulted in Jimmy's outburst.
At this point I, as Jimmy's son, stepped in to attempt to diffuse the situation and asked Marian to stop being so unreasonable and argumentative and at the same time implored Jimmy to calm down. I reminded Marian that Jimmy was a recovering cancer patient and that it wasn't fair to wind him up as he was, to which his response was something like: 'Yes, you've told me that before'. Still complete indifference from Maran but this time with the added insult of a barbed dig, as if to say 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, that excuse is getting a bit old now guys". The guy is actually unreal and emotionally stunted.
And to add insult to injury, Jimmy let Marian get away with paying £50.00 for the repair instead of the £100.00. When I explain to Marian that a plumber charges around £90.00 per hour and Jimmy has spent a lot more time and effort on the battery than that he just looks back blankly and starts playing the victim again!
In concluding, as per what Marian has already been told - he is lucky that his battery is working at all due to the over-charging. The cheaper battery he speaks of probably uses cheap Chinese cells which will not be able to match the performance (power or Ah) of one of ours. Apparently it has 5Ah more capacity - based on what exactly? If that battery goes wrong let's see how he gets on with a warranty claim.
independently tested
I had the battery independently tested by my local eBike shop & have it in writing that the battery was faulty, now that the guarantee has run out i have managed to repair the wiring myself & found no waterproof seal protecting the inside, don't let these cowboys rip you off saying "oh its water damage" or any other excuse just to get more money out of you & don't ever change the fuse or you will be accused of tampering
6 November 2017
Unprompted review
Refuse any responsibility when things go wrong.
Insat arranged courier to pickup my battery for repair, courier lost/stole/broke the item and InSat refused any liability. As they (the retailer) arranged courier, legally they are entirely responsible for the item from pickup, but unfortunately as the battery was inoperative, value would be difficult to legally judge. Cost me hundreds. Stay away from these cowboys.
By accepting the package at point of pickup, UPS have accepted the standard of packaging. The packaging and what happened to it is irrelevant, the responsibility lies with the retailer who had the contract with the courier.
9 October 2017
Unprompted review
Reply from eBikebatteries.co.uk
Customer used a tube with end caps to send battery in. Irrespective of how well he thinks he secured the ends, and irrespective of what actually happened in transit (theft, loss etc) the package did not meet UPS packaging standards. While this is an unfortunate turn of events, Insat has no responsibility (legal or otherwise) to provide a replacement battery.
We certainly aren't cowboys as the customer states.That we are the go-to company for an increasing number of bike shops and individual customers where ebike batteries are concerned is proof of that. In fact, we are the premier UK ebike battery specialist - please feel free to visit www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum for independent, unbiased thoughts and reviews about our work.
Need work to make things better
Need some work on customer service though Jem was really helpful and resolved the issues. Got my battery working but unfortunately they did not close the back panel which means I will still have to have some small work done to it which is dissapointing.
19 December 2016
Unprompted review
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