I have some really weird problems with my Erato cowboy bike.
Tiny photo here http://www.alibaba.com/product/pearland-11386776-10691943/Cowboy_2500w_Big_Power_Electric_Scooters.html
It is just eating batteries. I have just put a fresh set in and they are only giving me about 6 miles. (This is my second set after some explosive short circuiting problems trying to put the first replacements in. If doing this yourself be super careful to label every wire end as to where it goes, and to stick insulation tape everywhere with the paranoia of someone in a SAW movie).
The connections are completely sound. I guess the problem must be the controller. I believe this to be the case as I have tried to find a bad battery by running it really low (so the power cuts out after a few seconds) and then testing the voltage of every battery and they are all dead on 12.8 v. (should I have run them down further?)
Any help, I mean any help, even jokes welcome!!!!
Piers
we can send you the new controller, maybe the controller connectors are different, you should know how to connecting after you know all wiring function...Jacky
www.topmotorx.com
I am still not quite sure what is going on but I think these things combined:
- not running in batteries gently
- a really steep hill on the route and about 10 standing starts
mean that perhaps I do actually have a reasonable range.
The batteries are from Haze about 30 ah each * 5, gel ev batteries. Its a real pain as I just need a tiny bit more power to get home, there is a wickedly steep hill about 100m from my house and it crawls up there occasionally cutting out on the way.
Would it be worth getting a solar charger for an extra bit of power? I guess I could get a 12 volt one and get a 5 times transformer? (complete novice at electronics).
Thanks
Hi Piers,
i suggest putting an AH counter (cycleanalyst, wattsup, etc) on your bike to measure the amount of energy the pack is putting out during your commute.
given your *very* significant change in elevation, its not surprising you only get 6miles, meaning nothing in your scooter may have failed.
also what speed do you ride at?
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
if you are measuring voltage of each battery to find a weak one, you must do this while they are under load.
id load them to at least 40A.
easiest way to do this is to put a voltmeter on each battery (one at a time) and go for a ride. see what the voltage is at load.
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
I think it must be the batteries!
I discharged them to see if there was a dud measuring voltages whilst draining them and they all read the same. Unfortunately significantly damaged batteries by doing this.
The battery stats for Haze are the thing that has thrown me. Their stats are shown here http://www.hazebattery.com/ev/default.htm on page 6. I have five HEv 12-33. They seem to suggest that in quick drain conditions about 40 amps they only have about 10 - 20 minutes charge. Though I do not fully understand the table. Obviously that meant I kept deep draining them and they have lasted a tragically expensive 120 cycles!
Can anyone recommend some good batteries?
you are correct,
discharging a battery 33Ah battery (rated at the 20hr rate) at 40A means only a 20 min run time (or there abouts).
The table shows accessible capacity at that drain rate.
Its important to keep the voltage of a 6-cell block above 10.5v, as the worst case scenario is 5 cells at 2v, and one at 0.5v.
Its very important not to let a cell get reversed charged.
back to your batteries.
How have you determined your batteries have failed?
Do you have an Ah counter to measure Ah drained from the pack?
Are you determining failure by loss of range?
are you determining failure by excessive voltage sag at load?
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
ERATO never use HAZE battery,it must be imitation scooter.
A lot of scooter manufacturers from china use the same plastic shell.....It is not ERATO scooter even though ERATO was nothing to do with Mountain chen since 2 years before !
See, this is typical of Mountain Chen.
He doesn't even read the post in the first place where the original poster said he has just fitted a new set of batteries, then goes off on one denying the scooter is an Erato.
Strange, seeing as with my own Erato he promised me (and charged me for) Greensaver batteries yet sent the scooter with unbranded poor-quality batteries that failed in a few months.
www.mountainchen.info for the full story.