My first day with my new Zapino is coming to an end. I took a couple short rides today (9km total) What a blast! I hooked up the supplied string charger and got up to full charge pretty quick. I start my daily commute tomorrow (4.5 miles each way) I hope to start converting to bank charging within the next couple weeks. I am also considering a PakTrakr. Does anyone use one on their Zapino? Would you say it is a "required" add-on?
Looking forward to sharing stories here.
GO GO ZAPINO!
The paktrakr is useful for easily looking at the voltages of individual batteries. Do you think you need to do that? It is useful to know this if you think your pack is being imbalanced. It can also function as a datalogger so you can graph voltages & current throughout a ride. If you want to see that.
I find I look at my cycle analyst more than my paktrakr.
If though you're concerned about pack imbalance the paktrakr makes it real easy to watch the voltages during a ride and you can easily see which batteries are weak under load. It's not so easy to detect weak batteries when the bike is at rest because a simple volt meter does not test the battery under load conditions.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
I have a Zapino with the Simplified Bank Charging and a Paktrakr.
Just found out recently that I need to put a switch on the negative
side of the remote unit to turn off the PakT when not actually driving.
It will cause the battery that provides power to become a little unbalanced.
Benefits of the PakT are mainly to monitor my batteries. Lead acid work best
if not discharged below 50%. One of the functions is State Of Charge (SOC)
in percent. It also provides the temperatrue based on a sensor in the remote
unit. My remote is located up near the top battery. Sometimes I think it is
not as accurate as I would like, but good enough to know if it is too hot or
too cold.
Be sure to charge the batteries every time you stop for awhile. Lead/Acid
batteries do not work well if left in a partially discharged state for any
length of time. I rode my scoot 10 miles to work 8 or 9 times and it had
to sit in the parking lot 9-10 hours without charging. I will now be replacing
the batteries this coming spring before I can commute to work again. They
are only one year old with only 1290km on the odometer. I will be installing
Green Saver Silicone. The SLAs are good, but I cannot charge at work. If you
can charge when done scooting, they will last a long time.
Robert
Robert Dudley
E-Scoot Tech
Hi Robert, thanks for the info. I had my first full Zapino commute today. A little chilly, but very fun. I drive about 5 miles each way. I plugged in at work then drove the 5 miles back home. I can not charge in the garage for my complex, so I will only be charging at work. My normal schedule will be drive 5 miles to work, charge, drive 5 miles home, let the scooter sit overnight, drive 5 miles to work, and charge.
Do you think letting the scooter sit overnight after 5 miles will damage the pak?
If you have Lead Acid batteries leaving them in a discharged state overnight will cause damage. DO NOT do this if at all possible. Get a long extension chord, it's much cheaper than a new set of batteries.
Grandpa Chas S.
It would be nice if someone would develop a charging solution that uses solar power for situations like this.
Steve Tanner
Funny you mention Solar. I was at Fry's tonight picking up bank charger stuff, and they have a great selection of large solar panels and charge controllers. I didn't take lot of time checking them out, but a rough estimate tells me it is not very practical right now. It would either take a really long time to charge a five batteries, or would cost more than the scooter itself. However, it is possible. Amazon.com has a bunch of solar chargers too.
Solar is not an option for me at my condo, but I plan to look into it further when I buy a house.