Review Woosh Rio MTB Review/Initial Impressions

[Woosh]

Use a star nut then. Problem solved.

it can still rotate with a star nut.

 

[Volusia25]

I gave up with the supplied front mudguard and mounted one on the forks, there is a screw hole in the back. If a bit short on thread depth it works ok. My motor has a got a bit noisier as its "run-in" slightly disappointing but its not a big deal.
I am concerned about water ingress into the systems of this bike I have added some additional water proofing around the battery but I am wondering about the controller now.

You could try black silicone sealant in the cable entry holes in the frame.
To be honest it could well be that my break down in the rain was coincidence, because when I took the old controller out there was no sign of water ingress or water/dirt stains. It could have been harsh vibrations which damaged a cable solder joint in the controller. I think this because leading up to the controller swap, it would intermittently work for a few seconds randomly, then stop again.
Tony, when you receive the old wheel, take the tyre off and have a look at the inner tube. I left it on there and its full of slime, it will be interesting to see how many (if any) punctures the slime successfully plugged in 600 miles of riding. Because I didn't once get a puncture

 

[Woosh]

will do.
This is the first time that the Rio had a fault, I am grateful for your patience.
We have much to learn how to do things better next time.

 

[Damian.Doherty]

I have had quite a few commutes to and from work now, I've mentioned it before but on the way home is 2 mile uphill which used to kill me on my road bike.

Yesterday I was going up that hill and I passed another cyclist on an old fashioned industrial age human powered bike.......the inner joy I felt as I Wooshed past him like he was going backwards still has me smiling today!

 

[Damian.Doherty]

Charging question: I felt it a bit late to plug the bike in last night and as a result I waited up til nearly 1am til the light went green.

1. Is it okay to simply leave the charger on? I assume once the light has gone green its no longer charging? Meaning plug it in and go to bed and unplug it in the morning like we all do with our phones?

2. If its not okay to leave it on, is their any harm in turning it off before the light goes green? In an earlier post I'm sure that Tony mentioned that at the end of the charge cycle the BMS will balance the cells, it's this comment that has me thinking that it could be damaging the battery to unplug it before the light has gone green?

3. Is there any harm in plugging the bike in every day to charge or is it better for the longevity of the battery to let it run down to near flat before charging. I park my bike right next to the charger so I could keep the battery full by plugging it in every day when I get home from work. My commute to and from work is only 4 miles so I barely use 1 bar of battery per day......maybe I could charge it every other day?

 

[Woosh]

1. Is it okay to simply leave the charger on? I assume once the light has gone green its no longer charging? Meaning plug it in and go to bed and unplug it in the morning like we all do with our phones?

Overnight is OK, do switch off the charger in the morning.
The battery is happier if it is neither totally full nor totally empty.

2. If its not okay to leave it on, is their any harm in turning it off before the light goes green? In an earlier post I'm sure that Tony mentioned that at the end of the charge cycle the BMS will balance the cells, it's this comment that has me thinking that it could be damaging the battery to unplug it before the light has gone green?

No, but you do need to let the battery rebalance itself once every 15-20 charges. To do that, run the battery until it is fairly flat then leave it to charge until full, leave the charger on for 15 more minutes after it's gone green.

3. Is there any harm in plugging the bike in every day to charge or is it better for the longevity of the battery to let it run down to near flat before charging. I park my bike right next to the charger so I could keep the battery full by plugging it in every day when I get home from work. My commute to and from work is only 4 miles so I barely use 1 bar of battery per day......maybe I could charge it every other day?

No harm.
If you ride every day, charge every day.
But if you leave it for any length of time, remember that the battery's electrodes are gunged up when it's left too full, they need exercise, so ride a mile or 2 before putting the bike in the shed for a a week or two.

 

[Damian.Doherty]

Overnight is OK, do switch off the charger in the morning.
The battery is happier if it is neither totally full nor totally empty.



No, but you do need to let the battery rebalance itself once every 15-20 charges. To do that, run the battery until it is fairly flat then leave it to charge until full, leave the charger on for 15 more minutes after it's gone green.



No harm.
If you ride every day, charge every day.
But if you leave it for any length of time, remember that the battery's electrodes are gunged up when it's left too full, they need exercise, so ride a mile or 2 before putting the bike in the shed for a a week or two.

Cheers Tony! That's the answers I was hoping for!

 

[Volusia25]

Small update.
Bike running well and has been crash tested. Nothing serious, I was looking behind me to check my rack bag and went into a raised curb. I fell into long grass so I was unmarked, the bike sustained an inch long scratch on the frame, but otherwise just fine.
Had some issues with the rear brake and Woosh promptly sent a kit out to burp it. I still couldn't correct the problem and so they sent another syringe out full of liquid. I've now got it back to how it was when I first got the bike. The rear brake still doesn't bite as early as the front brake and feels more spongy. Im wondering if this is partially due to the rear brake having a longer cable than the front?
Anyway I ordered 50ml mineral oil off ebay for only £4, so ill burp it again and top it up and keep an eye on it.
At around 590 miles now, gears, pedals, crank ect all working fine. No signs of rust other than on the bolts supplied with my aftermarket rack (Not from Woosh).
Tony have you recieved my old wheel and controller? Curious how the inner tube looks.
I would love to know the cause of failure on the controller, but I dont suppose its possible to know unless you disassemble it. Do you send the parts back to China for refund or keep them as spares?

 

[Woosh]

Tony have you recieved my old wheel and controller?

Yes, they arrived yesterday.

I would love to know the cause of failure on the controller, but I dont suppose its possible to know unless you disassemble it

I don't think we'll go as far as disassembling it.
Your controller still has the FETs functioning, I will check for brake sensing, PAS sensing, throttle function and compare the programmed parameters against those on the test bike.
Our main interest is to improve fault diagnosis, to sort out problems more quickly if a similar fault is reported.

Do you send the parts back to China for refund or keep them as spares?

We take pictures and serial numbers of faulty items to claim warranty replacements. The manufacturers always allow 1% of the shipment value free of charge, no question asked, after that, we have to supply a fault report. High value faulty items are sent back to China. However, most faulty items are simply photographed for filing and thrown away after 6 months.

 

[Volusia25]

Interested to see what your fault diagnosis uncovers. Theres definitely no water in the controller is there?

 

[Woosh]

I will be in the office this afternoon.
Will let you know.

 

[Woosh]

Volusia,

I got the returned wheel and controller going again.
Don't know what went wrong yet.
Will give it a good test tomorrow morning.

 

[Volusia25]

Volusia,

I got the returned wheel and controller going again.
Don't know what went wrong yet.
Will give it a good test tomorrow morning.

Weird. I'm still thinking its a connection issue on one of the solder joints in the controller. Maybe if you photo it then take it apart you'd find out. It is prone to a lot of vibrations particularly with my routes

 

[Woosh]

Lishui make those controllers for more than 10 years. It is a very well proven form factor and very well sealed against water ingress.
PS:
Andy has taken the bike out and confirmed your finding just now.
That means that we can find out why.

 

[Volusia25]

Lishui make those controllers for more than 10 years. It is a very well proven form factor and very well sealed against water ingress.
PS:
Andy has taken the bike out and confirmed your finding just now.
That means that we can find out why.

Yea it did look pretty well sealed with some glue gun glue type stuff around the cable entrances.

 

[Damian.Doherty]

So what your both saying is, I don't have to worry about riding in the rain? I've been pretty lucky up til now but because I commute everyday there is a good chance that I will have to brave the elements sooner rather later!

 

[Damian.Doherty]

Quick question:

I have a fairly limited understanding of electricity but volts X amps equals watts right?

When I was going through some of the menus a noticed that the Current Set is set to 15 amps.

And the battery is a 36V battery......so 36V X 15amps = 540 Watts

Does this mean we are feeding the 250W motor 540 watts?

Or have I got this all completely wrong?

 

[Volusia25]

Not sure. But I found setting the current to 17a killed my battery really quick, not done much testing with 13a though, basically left it at stock settings.

 

[Woosh]

Quick question:

I have a fairly limited understanding of electricity but volts X amps equals watts right?

When I was going through some of the menus a noticed that the Current Set is set to 15 amps.

And the battery is a 36V battery......so 36V X 15amps = 540 Watts

the battery is 36V 15AH, that amp hours, not Amps.
There is another commonly used battery capacity unit, the WH, used by Bosch and many others.
36V 15AH = 540WH

Does this mean we are feeding the 250W motor 540 watts?

Or have I got this all completely wrong?

At most, the motor draws 17A from the battery, that is: 36V 17A max, 612W
You usually use less than that, because if you run the bike at the max, you will run out of battery in less than 50 minutes.

 

[Damian.Doherty]

I remember an earlier post where Tony advised you to test 17a but not go beyond that. I'm guessing that's because the Lishui controller has a max rating of 17a and anything above that will melt it!