Wind sucks

[anon4]

Thanks to brutal wind my battery died with a mile and a half uphill left, had a monster hill on my journey which didn't help. I should probably learn to knock the Pas settings down... My display has option to limit amps, unfortunately it doesn't actually do anything, motor pulls 15a most of the time regardless of what I set. When I have the money I'm upgrading to a KT which will be a lot better, anything I can do in the meantime to maximize range? Obviously pedaling harder is a given, I hate knocking the Pas down on this because it is speed limited rather than current. And I'm not going to be made to wear lycra lol

 

[Wicky]

Bigger capacity battery?

 

[Andy-Mat]

Thanks to brutal wind my battery died with a mile and a half uphill left, had a monster hill on my journey which didn't help. I should probably learn to knock the Pas settings down... My display has option to limit amps, unfortunately it doesn't actually do anything, motor pulls 15a most of the time regardless of what I set. When I have the money I'm upgrading to a KT which will be a lot better, anything I can do in the meantime to maximize range? Obviously pedaling harder is a given, I hate knocking the Pas down on this because it is speed limited rather than current. And I'm not going to be made to wear lycra lol

I take a second battery with me if I can see this happening, as I like to fully discharge a battery before charging, though this is not considered a problem by the experts.
I am very lucky to be able to buy batteries in 3 different AH sizes for my bike.
I have the middle sized one for normal use and the small one as reserve. I have forgotten exactly the AH, but I believe 13 AH and 9 AH....both 36 volts of course.
If I park the bike, I simply carry the spare battery with me to prevent it being stolen.....though the bike has a sensitive alarm that I always use.. Carrying a spare battery is not a problem, though I only need to do this maybe 10 times a year or so...or less!
regards
Andy

 

[Nealh]

I always go out with more ah/wh then I need, when I get back my batteries are often at a good storage level so I do a cursory voltage check then leave them till needed again.

 

[anon4]

Bigger capacity battery?

I thought 48v 13ah should be more than enough for 15 miles, though at full whack with a gigantic hill in the cold maybe this was a bit optimistic. On a flatter route I do regularly in the same conditions I achieve the same milage with 4.6v, this battery is pretty much spent at 4.3v so I probs don't have much to play with either way

 

[anon4]

I take a second battery with me if I can see this happening, as I like to fully discharge a battery before charging, though this is not considered a problem by the experts.
I am very lucky to be able to buy batteries in 3 different AH sizes for my bike.
I have the middle sized one for normal use and the small one as reserve. I have forgotten exactly the AH, but I believe 13 AH and 9 AH....both 36 volts of course.
If I park the bike, I simply carry the spare battery with me to prevent it being stolen.....though the bike has a sensitive alarm that I always use.. Carrying a spare battery is not a problem, though I only need to do this maybe 10 times a year or so...or less!
regards
Andy

I had a spare with my old bike that came in handy, I just don't have 200 quid lying around or I'd get one. Easy to find being a hailong case though

 

[georgehenry]

On my old Oxygen rear hub I try to remember to turn the power down when going down steeper hills. I live at the top of a steep hill and have three main routes up it and choose the least steep so that my old rear hub motor is not labouring in bottom gear where hub motors tend to be least efficient.

 

[Andy-Mat]

On my old Oxygen rear hub I try to remember to turn the power down when going down steeper hills. I live at the top of a steep hill and have three main routes up it and choose the least steep so that my old rear hub motor is not labouring in bottom gear where hub motors tend to be least efficient.

With the e-bike motors I have driven, there are no gears, just the one fixed if you will!
I do not believe that most bike motors have gears. There may be one somewhere, probably exotic and expensive that does, but due to the way revs and torque are delivered by electric motors, the weight and cost of motor gears is simply not needed. It is a misunderstanding I have seen here before.
The only gears on most e-bikes are only there for the human to use. As its the human who labours in bottom gear, not the motor, it labours in the same gear!!
Maybe you are mixing up the two?
With regard to the hills, the only answer for you that I can think of is the second battery, and its not a cheap option as you say, but probably the best. I am a pensioner, so I know where you are coming from....
Or maybe you should walk up some hills to save power each day, give yourself more time....
For your next e-bike, I am told that some can now use the downhill stretches to recharge the battery while braking as well, as all electric cars do, that sounds pretty good.
Maybe someone here can recommend one of those...for the future of course....I myself have never even seen one.....!!
Regards
Andy
PS. On downhills, you do not need to turn the power down, just simply stop peddling, that way you will use less electricity than still peddling. The motor should actually use no power at all with the pedals "still"....

 

[anon4]

With the e-bike motors I have driven, there are no gears, just the one fixed if you will!
I do not believe that most bike motors have gears. There may be one somewhere, probably exotic and expensive that does, but due to the way revs and torque are delivered by electric motors, the weight and cost of motor gears is simply not needed. It is a misunderstanding I have seen here before.
The only gears on most e-bikes are only there for the human to use. As its the human who labours in bottom gear, not the motor, it labours in the same gear!!
Maybe you are mixing up the two?
With regard to the hills, the only answer for you that I can think of is the second battery, and its not a cheap option as you say, but probably the best. I am a pensioner, so I know where you are coming from....
Or maybe you should walk up some hills to save power each day, give yourself more time....
For your next e-bike, I am told that some can now use the downhill stretches to recharge the battery while braking as well, as all electric cars do, that sounds pretty good.
Maybe someone here can recommend one of those...for the future of course....I myself have never even seen one.....!!
Regards
Andy
PS. On downhills, you do not need to turn the power down, just simply stop peddling, that way you will use less electricity than still peddling. The motor should actually use no power at all with the pedals "still"....

Thing is this battery should have been adequate, I probably just need a controller that's more efficient with its power use, the fact that this belts full amps out on any setting doesn't help, KT controllers limit the amps instead of the voltage, which is the way it should be as you get full speed and less drain on the battery. The hill in question is an absolute beast, I made the journey previously fine with the Pas turned down to 3 (out of 5) I just got greedy with fighting the wind and wanting to get home quick. I would love the regen feature but I think that only works with the direct drive hubs, plus you need brake sensors which I don't currently use. I'm sure as it warms up again this will be less of an issue anyway cold always makes me think my battery has gone crap when it hasn't, in extreme cases range feels like it's almost halved!

 

[Andy-Mat]

Thing is this battery should have been adequate, I probably just need a controller that's more efficient with its power use, the fact that this belts full amps out on any setting doesn't help, KT controllers limit the amps instead of the voltage, which is the way it should be as you get full speed and less drain on the battery. The hill in question is an absolute beast, I made the journey previously fine with the Pas turned down to 3 (out of 5) I just got greedy with fighting the wind and wanting to get home quick. I would love the regen feature but I think that only works with the direct drive hubs, plus you need brake sensors which I don't currently use. I'm sure as it warms up again this will be less of an issue anyway cold always makes me think my battery has gone crap when it hasn't, in extreme cases range feels like it's almost halved!

You make a good point that a cold battery probably does not help. Maybe park the bike indoors as a test to see if it can be demonstratively improved upon.
Though I read that due to the protective insulation around a battery, they tend to warm up in usage anyway.....Can anyone support that thought!
regards
Andy

 

[anon4]

You make a good point that a cold battery probably does not help. Maybe park the bike indoors as a test to see if it can be demonstratively improved upon.
Though I read that due to the protective insulation around a battery, they tend to warm up in usage anyway.....Can anyone support that thought!
regards
Andy

Most of my journeys I have to keep it locked outside one way so nothing I can do about that. Although bringing in the battery to charge doesn't seem to affect range either so cold weather just eats range in general

 

[flecc]

I do not believe that most bike motors have gears. There may be one somewhere, probably exotic and expensive that does, but due to the way revs and torque are delivered by electric motors, the weight and cost of motor gears is simply not needed. It is a misunderstanding I have seen here before.

There are two two speed hub motors on the market, one from SRAM and one from Xionda which is the better. They are both automatic, switching to the lower gear when slogging with current consumption getting very high. They do give advantages in hill climbing ability with reduced battery drain. The system isn't complicated, just using two freewheels in opposite directions, the motor reversing to give the other gear.

For your next e-bike, I am told that some can now use the downhill stretches to recharge the battery while braking as well, as all electric cars do, that sounds pretty good.

Hardly any more now, it's often been tried but the low mass and speed of e-bikes mean it's not worthwhile. Especially since it means the motor cannot have a freewheel so there's high drag when trying to pedal above the motor cutoff speed.

Frankly regeneration isn't even so good on e-cars as I've found with my Nissan Leaf. The gain is offset to a fair extent by more motor drive time against the drag of the system.
.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Bigger capacity battery?

No, vélomobile

Hills eat Watts linearly - the steeper the hill, the more Watts. Air eats Watts exponentially - the faster you go the more watts squared. Wind resistance eats about 85% of your Wh, reduce wind resistance = increase range.

 

[MikelBikel]

Tongue in cheek, what battery & motor would be required to make 25kph against the 130kph winds forecast soon in Ireland with Orange alert for Storm Gareth? Hehe, I'll get my coat.

 

[soundwave]

Tongue in cheek, what battery & motor would be required to make 25kph against the 130kph winds forecast soon in Ireland with Orange alert for Storm Gareth? Hehe, I'll get my coat.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Tongue in cheek, what battery & motor would be required to make 25kph against the 130kph winds forecast soon in Ireland with Orange alert for Storm Gareth? Hehe, I'll get my coat.

4,404 Watts - I calculated for an un-suspended eMTB with wide road tyres.

 

[MikelBikel]

something like the Sur-Ron LBX then, an electric motorcycle, can be fitted with pedals! Not v.stealthy Haha

 

[Deno]

Tongue in cheek, what battery & motor would be required to make 25kph against the 130kph winds forecast soon in Ireland with Orange alert for Storm Gareth? Hehe, I'll get my coat.

Ah its only forecasting 50km/h in the face for half my commute home

I only ever run out of range in adverse windy conditions. However I have started leaning on my handlebars with my elbows which usually nets me a couple of km/h more.