Hi Electric Scooter Community,
I look forward to participating in this forum. After reading many of the threads on X-Treme scooters, I finally bought a 5000. Now it appears I am experincing 2 common issues:
1) Registration in the state of Califoria as a street legal vehical.
I'm seeking guidance from anyone who has successfully navigated through the certifications.
2) My battery gauge does not seem to work. It registers fully charged all of the time, even when there is amost no charge left and the scooter will only do 10 MPH.
Can anyone confirm that their XM-5000 battery gauge actually reads anything other than full charge? I
understand that it is not an accurate meter, but I assumed it would at least move.
Thank in advance for your responses to this.
Darryl
I have a XM-3500 and the gauge works. It takes @ 20 miles before it will move. After 20 miles on a WOT hill, the gauge will come down to 1/2 but immediately return to full when you let off on the throttle. My batteries read 3.35V when fully charged at rest. At 3.0V the gauge still shows full when at rest, but will go to the bottom under heavy load.
If your scoot will only go 10 mph under any conditions, I would sort that out before doing any more riding. I am guessing you have a BMS on it?
Darryl,
The fuel gauge on these bikes is simply a voltmeter. The voltmeter reads the pack voltage. When the state of charge of the batteries is low enough and the load is high enough the voltage sags and you see the voltmeter dip (this is why Reid sees it dip going up the hill at wide open throttle but it returns to "full" when you let off).
It sounds like your gauge is incorrectly calibrated and always reading a voltage that is high enough to peg it at the top of it's travel - not sure why or how that would happen. Have you added extra cells? If so, then that's your problem. If not then you could check the wires to the gauge (you'll need to take the instrument cluster off to do that) - and be careful they have pack voltage going to them! If all the connections seem good then get a multi-meter and test the voltage going into the gauge. Alternatively ask Xtreme for a replacement gauge.
When you say your scooter only goes 10mph. Do you mean it only goes 10mph after the batteries are drained? Or does it only go 10mph on a full charge? I've seen XM-3000's and XM-2000's delivered with faulty chargers whereby the customer thinks the bike is charging but it isn't. They do a short ride - all is good. They put it on "charge" (but the charger is broken). They do another longer ride and it starts off fine but is long enough so that performance drops - batteries now need a real charge. They put it on "charge" (charger is broken) and when they come to use it again they believe the batteries are "full" but the bike only crawls along. Not a bike problem - but a charger problem. In these cases though the voltmeter/fuel gauge dips and shows empty.
So, you may have two unrelated problems going on.
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As far as registering in CA there are a few people on here who have managed it. It seems to me that the states are beginning to tighten up registration procedures. For example the EPA now issues certificates to EV's and it sounds like CA is a state that wants to see that. I think GA does too.
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
Hi John,
Thanks for the insights - I believe you hit the problem on the head with your first comment. I've tested each of the 21 batteries and am satisfied that they are functioning properly. I'm getting about 45 miles at full throttle (45 - 55MPH) out of each charge. My comment on "10MPH" was after nearly complete discharge. My problem is that the only indication I have that I'm running low is the flashing light - the volt meter never reads any drain.
Can I assume your volt meter works with your Litium Ion battery X-treme Scooters?
X-Treme wants me to send back the old meter for replacement, but I'm not confortable taking the cluster apart. Of course there are no diagrams available either.
Yes, I have my own XM-3500Li and the voltmeter works.
The better solution (implemented on the Vectrix, the EMS and the upcoming Current Motor bikes) as to use an Amp Hour meter or some other form of state-of-charge gauge. Rather than monitoring the pack voltage these solutions measure the amount of charge that has been used and calculate how much is remaining. This gives you a more traditional "fuel gauge" like on your car or "battery gauge" on your laptop computer.
I think the Cycle Analyst can be used to add this type of state-of-charge meter to an XM bike.
Good luck getting it sorted out.
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.