Hi,im Dan,im a technician at Powacycle. Please feel free to ask me any Powacycle related question and i will do my best to answer your queries.
Powacycle Technician
- Thread starter 20 inch terror
- Start date
Hi Dan, we used to have Carl of Powacycle in the early days answering questions on them and he has been missed in here since he left the company.
Therefore it's an especially warm welcome to you, and your contributions will be greatly appreciated. We already have members involved in several other makes making valuable contributions and your input will bring us to full representation of all the leading brands.
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Therefore it's an especially warm welcome to you, and your contributions will be greatly appreciated. We already have members involved in several other makes making valuable contributions and your input will bring us to full representation of all the leading brands.
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As a Powacycle owner I'd glad to see you on here, I thought it a shame that since the other official representative left this forum no one has taken over the role..
I take it that you are doing this with the full support and blessings of Wazz Mughal and the Powacycle sales/marketing / customer service team?
For your own benefit as well as the community on here I would definitely ensure you have their full agreement, there may be occasions where customers find there is a reliability / customer service issue on their machine and they wish to discuss this in public and everything you post on here and every comment about the products, both positive and negative is a matter of public record and discussion.
in most jobs there are restrictions on "speaking on behalf of the company" to the general public (as opposed to a personal opinion on the products) - OTOH I don't see why if Powacycle wants to be a market leader and a forward-thinking company it should not be 100% supportive of your presence on here.
One reason I chose Wisper for my newest e-bike was because of how well the representatives of the company (who post here) dealt with online discussions including some long-standing teething problems with earlier models, ensuring at all times they were resolved to customers satisfaction - even when dealers had let down the customer.
All e-bike companies can learn from this!
But the main man from Wisper who posts here is a director and shareholder of the company and has only himself to answer to, unlike the vastly different corporate structure of Ultima Networks...
I've kept my Powacycle Salisbury for shorter distances into town as for a modest powered bike the extra carrying capability is still an advantage...
I take it that you are doing this with the full support and blessings of Wazz Mughal and the Powacycle sales/marketing / customer service team?
For your own benefit as well as the community on here I would definitely ensure you have their full agreement, there may be occasions where customers find there is a reliability / customer service issue on their machine and they wish to discuss this in public and everything you post on here and every comment about the products, both positive and negative is a matter of public record and discussion.
in most jobs there are restrictions on "speaking on behalf of the company" to the general public (as opposed to a personal opinion on the products) - OTOH I don't see why if Powacycle wants to be a market leader and a forward-thinking company it should not be 100% supportive of your presence on here.
One reason I chose Wisper for my newest e-bike was because of how well the representatives of the company (who post here) dealt with online discussions including some long-standing teething problems with earlier models, ensuring at all times they were resolved to customers satisfaction - even when dealers had let down the customer.
All e-bike companies can learn from this!
But the main man from Wisper who posts here is a director and shareholder of the company and has only himself to answer to, unlike the vastly different corporate structure of Ultima Networks...
I've kept my Powacycle Salisbury for shorter distances into town as for a modest powered bike the extra carrying capability is still an advantage...
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I am not sure Wazz is clear what i am doing,maybe i should see what his stance is... however,i can help purely from a personal viewpoint without getting involved with the company side of things.
i would be amazed if he didnt want some sort of presence on here as nearly all the major manufacturers have some sort of presence onsite......
i would be amazed if he didnt want some sort of presence on here as nearly all the major manufacturers have some sort of presence onsite......
I would speak to him and/or check your conditions of employment.
I say this as I was a young enthusiastic lad in a similar high-tech company about 10 years ago and they explicitly forbade you from speaking on a personal level about company stuff, everything had to go through the proper channels. That said, compared to Ultima this company wasn't very well run at all (it lost a market lead and millions of pounds lost sales through bad management decisions and had to downsize) and had some rather malign influence from American corporate ideals.
I would expect/hope that Wazz and the rest of the staff are supportive as Carl Percival did a very good job when he was on this forum, and its much better for your own career prospects and personal development to "do the right thing"... However, as a paying customer who has been in touch with your service department I am willing to email Wazz myself and give my support for your presence on here, provided that response times to customers using other support channels remain acceptable - there is (or was) a slight issue with this but perhaps thats the reason you were (recently?) employed!
if e-bikes are to succeed they also need to be marketed and become popular to fitter, healthier people in their 20s and 30s (who may wish to use them as a subsitute to a car motorcycle but find constantly riding a normal push bike can become a chore) as well as the older generation. Many folk like bikes but not everyone always wants to be Bradley Wiggins! The Powacycle Salisbury is a good affordable e-bike for those who cannot justify the expense of a Wisper or similar high end model.
I get a lot of people asking me "where did you get that bike from?" - but there is an issue with availability and timely response of customer service for e-bikers in East Anglia, which makes me reluctant to recommend them to non-engineers - which is a shame as Powacycle (as a local company!) as well as other British e-bike firms could do really well otherwise.
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You've scared him off now....
I agree about EA, we really are the forgotten lump on the side of the country, or the pig's backside, depends how you look at the map .
I agree about EA, we really are the forgotten lump on the side of the country, or the pig's backside, depends how you look at the map
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Strange isn't it? Even the M11 leaves London heading for East Anglia with the best of intentions and then appears to think better of it and swerve away.I agree about EA, we really are the forgotten lump on the side of the country, or the pig's backside, depends how you look at the map
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lol! not scared off.....not yet anyways!
i do like however like the fact i have been mistaken for a young boy......lmao!
i do like however like the fact i have been mistaken for a young boy......lmao!
my intention wasn't to scare anyone but to try and avoid a potentially negative/embarrassing situation for what appears to be a decent British company - and also to judge whether this company is a forward-thinking progressive one before I encourage more people to spend their money there.
I am a very strong believer in transparent/ethical business practices, which some e-bike companies are fairly good at...
if 20 inch terror sounds younger thats a good thing as it shows he's happy at his job - what would make things even more positive is if he is able to act as an official Powacycle rep (adding to the companies existing customer support processers) like his predecessor - it was the advice Carl gave in his (relatively short?) time at Ultima which made me choose Powacycle as my first e-bike..
Salisbury Powacycle queries
I'm not sure if "20 inch terror" is still available to answer Powacycle queries but any way here's my story !
I bought a Salisbury from Makro on 2nd December 2009. When I unpacked it the switch on the handlebars had broken away. Also when I charged the battery up and road tested the bike it only went for about 100 metres then the motor cut out. If I turned the key off and then back on again it would go for another 100 metres - and so on. So I rang Bob Jones, workshop manager at Powacycle and he said the bike must be faulty. Anyway Makro were fine about it and got me another bike a week later.
I have cycled all my life including to work daily and this is my first electric bike so when I eventually got on the road I was impressed by it, particularly as I am 68 The only worry was that they only guarantee the battery for 6 months.
However I have had some problems with the replacement bike. For instance on 4 or 5 occassions the motor has stopped when in Pedelec mode and again I have to turn the key off and then back on. Also with regard to the battery charger - it doesnt go to green when the battery is apparently fully charged. i.e. the battery is supposed to be fully recharged after 4 to 6 hours but the charger indicates red after 7 hours. When you turn the charger off at the mains and check the battery indicator it says full (3 lights on).
I havent done a test to see how far the battery takes me but it usually goes down to half full indication after about 8 miles in pedelec mode - so I don't know if it will take me the 30 plus miles claimed in pedelec mode.
So I have concerns about the long term reliability of the bike . Furthermore there doesnt appear to be a specialist powacycle dealer within 50 miles of me (I live in Wimborne Dorset - just north of Bournemouth and Poole). It doesnt help that support at powacycle website doesnt answer ANY of my emails - I have sent 3 to date detailing the above problems and other general queries.
Any comments would be appreciated.
I'm not sure if "20 inch terror" is still available to answer Powacycle queries but any way here's my story !
I bought a Salisbury from Makro on 2nd December 2009. When I unpacked it the switch on the handlebars had broken away. Also when I charged the battery up and road tested the bike it only went for about 100 metres then the motor cut out. If I turned the key off and then back on again it would go for another 100 metres - and so on. So I rang Bob Jones, workshop manager at Powacycle and he said the bike must be faulty. Anyway Makro were fine about it and got me another bike a week later.
I have cycled all my life including to work daily and this is my first electric bike so when I eventually got on the road I was impressed by it, particularly as I am 68 The only worry was that they only guarantee the battery for 6 months.
However I have had some problems with the replacement bike. For instance on 4 or 5 occassions the motor has stopped when in Pedelec mode and again I have to turn the key off and then back on. Also with regard to the battery charger - it doesnt go to green when the battery is apparently fully charged. i.e. the battery is supposed to be fully recharged after 4 to 6 hours but the charger indicates red after 7 hours. When you turn the charger off at the mains and check the battery indicator it says full (3 lights on).
I havent done a test to see how far the battery takes me but it usually goes down to half full indication after about 8 miles in pedelec mode - so I don't know if it will take me the 30 plus miles claimed in pedelec mode.
So I have concerns about the long term reliability of the bike . Furthermore there doesnt appear to be a specialist powacycle dealer within 50 miles of me (I live in Wimborne Dorset - just north of Bournemouth and Poole). It doesnt help that support at powacycle website doesnt answer ANY of my emails - I have sent 3 to date detailing the above problems and other general queries.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Hello Dave,
Have you done the conditioning cycles on the battery? If not, do them as soon as possible. The conditioning cycle is charging the battery as full as possible, then riding the bike until the battery is empty and the bike starts cutting out on you. Then repeat this cycle again for a second time. The riding until the battery is empty can be done in stages. The purpose of these conditioning cycles for lithium batteries is to even out the electrolyte and allow the battery to get to maximum capacity.
30 miles range on this bike and battery is a bit ambitious, A to B on test got around 26/27 miles, some get less, some more. Manufacturers do tend to claim as much as possible based on ideal conditions of course, but reality is often a bit less. However, the range should be quite reasonable in your Wimborne area which is mostly not too hilly, unless you are riding some particularly hilly bits.
Don't worry about the six months warranty too much, batteries are regarded as consumables (parts that don't last the life of the main item) and commercial practice with consumables is for warranties to be shorter than the usual one or two years and the law permits that.
Anyway, try the conditioning if you haven't done that yet and then see how the bike performs. If you still get very premature cutouts, post back here and we'll try to advise further.
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Have you done the conditioning cycles on the battery? If not, do them as soon as possible. The conditioning cycle is charging the battery as full as possible, then riding the bike until the battery is empty and the bike starts cutting out on you. Then repeat this cycle again for a second time. The riding until the battery is empty can be done in stages. The purpose of these conditioning cycles for lithium batteries is to even out the electrolyte and allow the battery to get to maximum capacity.
30 miles range on this bike and battery is a bit ambitious, A to B on test got around 26/27 miles, some get less, some more. Manufacturers do tend to claim as much as possible based on ideal conditions of course, but reality is often a bit less. However, the range should be quite reasonable in your Wimborne area which is mostly not too hilly, unless you are riding some particularly hilly bits.
Don't worry about the six months warranty too much, batteries are regarded as consumables (parts that don't last the life of the main item) and commercial practice with consumables is for warranties to be shorter than the usual one or two years and the law permits that.
Anyway, try the conditioning if you haven't done that yet and then see how the bike performs. If you still get very premature cutouts, post back here and we'll try to advise further.
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Welcome to the world of ebiking
Pretty much as Flecc says, battery does seem to improve with further charging. Max for me is around 25 miles, normally 20ish miles on hilly routes
Mine still charges within around 6 hrs (fully emptied), less when only a partial charge.
The pedelec sensor could be slipping on the crank shaft, also check the wiring connectors from the battery, even remove the battery cover for a quick inspection.
I've had some weird and wonderful events with Poawcycle wiring, all simple to fix
Pretty much as Flecc says, battery does seem to improve with further charging. Max for me is around 25 miles, normally 20ish miles on hilly routes
Mine still charges within around 6 hrs (fully emptied), less when only a partial charge.
The pedelec sensor could be slipping on the crank shaft, also check the wiring connectors from the battery, even remove the battery cover for a quick inspection.
I've had some weird and wonderful events with Poawcycle wiring, all simple to fix
Thanks for Replies
Thanks for the replies.
I will start on the process of conditioning the battery. Could take a bit of time though looking at the weather (We're starting to get snow even down here ).
Will do a post when its done or if I have more problems.
Its good to know help may be at hand this way even if Powacycle aren't interested. Thanks to all.
Thanks for the replies.
I will start on the process of conditioning the battery. Could take a bit of time though looking at the weather (We're starting to get snow even down here ).
Will do a post when its done or if I have more problems.
Its good to know help may be at hand this way even if Powacycle aren't interested. Thanks to all.
Hello Strider
Could you do a couple of checks for me so that I can help further?
First lift the back wheel off the ground and open the throttle. Let me know if the wheel spins ok then.
Second check. With the bike switched off, wheel it forward gently. Then wheel it backwards gently. Let me know if it has more resistance in one direction than the other, one direction very easy, the other resisting and posssibly a bit jerky feeling.
Thanks.
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I found they did eventually answer a query of mine but were very slow and had to be chased.
They can also be telephoned on 01279 416176 (the support number) or01279 821243 (main office).
I found that as with most companies, involving people from the Sales Department and higher managers tended to get at least some acknowledgement of the problem and push the solution along.
I suspect that they may actually have sold loads of Makro bikes and simply don't have the support resources to deal with the influx of queries in a timely manner and/or are triaging worse incidents such as replacing DOA/unreliable bikes and repairing others over and above general customer queries.
They were struggling with this before the big Makro deal. This may account for why 20 inch terror is no longer regular on here as he may have too much "proper" work to do. I still think it is disappointing that there was no attempt made to set once again an "official" communication channel on here like other companies have done, and that there are still various reliability problems with this bike.
BTW I was regularly getting 26 miles on one charge before I switched to the Wisper 905. I usually got one lamp go out after 8 miles.
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Thanks Strider, test two shows that the internal gears are intact and all the motor parts mechanical relationships are ok.
Test one indicates there's probably a loss of connection on one or more of the Hall sensor wires. Basically your motor cable has 8 wires. Three of them are thick wires carrying the power current from the controller to the phase windings, the remaining five are thin wires carrying the motor's status information to the controller so that it knows when to send the current pulses through the three thick wires.
The most likely cause of the problem is in the connections of those thin wires, so trace along the cable from the motor and chack to see if there's any connectors along there which you can unplug and replug to make sure the connections are ok. If none, the connections may just be inside the controller box that the cable leads to, so if possible get access to those to see if they are ok by unplugging and replugging.
One other thing to check is the security of the battery connections by unplugging and replugging the battery, and if you don't normally remove the battery regularly, check that first since a very poor battery connection can cause the same symptoms as the motor connections.
If your bike is under one year old and still under warranty, obviously take care not to cause any damage in doing those checks and if unsure, push the problem back at Powacycle since they will still have a responsibility in that first year. Let us know how you get on with those checks.
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Test one indicates there's probably a loss of connection on one or more of the Hall sensor wires. Basically your motor cable has 8 wires. Three of them are thick wires carrying the power current from the controller to the phase windings, the remaining five are thin wires carrying the motor's status information to the controller so that it knows when to send the current pulses through the three thick wires.
The most likely cause of the problem is in the connections of those thin wires, so trace along the cable from the motor and chack to see if there's any connectors along there which you can unplug and replug to make sure the connections are ok. If none, the connections may just be inside the controller box that the cable leads to, so if possible get access to those to see if they are ok by unplugging and replugging.
One other thing to check is the security of the battery connections by unplugging and replugging the battery, and if you don't normally remove the battery regularly, check that first since a very poor battery connection can cause the same symptoms as the motor connections.
If your bike is under one year old and still under warranty, obviously take care not to cause any damage in doing those checks and if unsure, push the problem back at Powacycle since they will still have a responsibility in that first year. Let us know how you get on with those checks.
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