Hello guys,
Great forum you have here!
I just bought an EVT 4000 and I'm wondering how best to deal with it.
I want to do a 2 x 18 km commute to work, and a 2 x 15 km commute to my girlfriends' place. Often, I'll also go straight from one place to the other, which makes it 2 x 33 km.
After reading a lot on this forum and elsewhere, I have 2 main concerns: will I always make the 33 km at a decent speed, even in winter? And how can I make sure the battery life will be reasobable?
Do I need battery equalizers? If so, how come an equalization between batteries helps, even if the eq between individual cells is left entirely to the charging process?
I'm considering the option of installing the 60V mod, and then sticking to economy mode, to prolong battery life. Would that be a good option in your opinion?
Crusher300 contributed some very useful real-world numbers. He mentioned his mileage in real traffic, going always full throttle etc. Could anyone come up with some figures like that for a stock 48V model with the batteries already in use for a year?
Are there any other major points for me to think of?
Thank you very much!
Wim
HI there, I happen to own almost the same bike. (EVT 168) apart from the look of it the bike is the same one. I have 4 12v 50ah universal batteries that have been used for about 80 miles of riding so far. Now I know that I weigh 230lb (man) and as such get a bit less range then say a 120 lb woman would. .. I go to work everyday on my 168 as it is getting warmer out. Thats 5 miles there 5 miles back. When I get back home and place it on the charger my batteries are at 12.4v (thats the second green light and sometimes the yellow light on the bikes energy meter), when i start out there fully charged at 13.2ish volts.
I have taken the bike and simply driven around the roads near my house untill it died once(Power mode full throttle). Doing that gave me 22 miles (I bet if I was in econo mode I would have gotten 3 to 4 miles more).
So I's say you would safely get 20 miles per charge without killing the batteries.
BEST thing I found with my EVT is to accelerate slowly. this really helps you to conserve battery power.
As far as equalizers go dont bother.Just get 4 chargers of the same kind (i use smart chargers) and wire them up to charge the batteries seperatly. I did try the BatEQ system and Powercheqs, but they didnt do well. BTW iam selling the powercheqs cheap if anyone needs 4 of them for a 5 bat string.
I hope some of this makes sense to you, and helps you out.
XM-3000 BB Batteries using 5 vector smart chargers in bike
EVT 168 4 UB12500 batteries using 4 vector smart chargers
Hi lone rider,
That's some great information, thanks! The tip of accelerating a little slower is great. I guess that will save a lot, since I'll be minimising the Peukert effect by keeping the amps down.
You also gave me confidence that I can go the 20 miles.
But you're saying I need to move away from the standard charger to 4 separate chargers? It seems to me that the stock charger _is_ 4 separate chargers... in one box. It has wires going to each of the batteries separately and has 4 pins + common = 5 pins in the connector. Am I missing something here?
Another question for the list: I have a squeaking noise on the rear wheel, but I can't quite pinpoint it. It seems to be getting less already. It pops up mainly when accelerating or cornering. Anyone got an idea?
Thanks!
Wim