I've scanned the forums and my problem seems similar to others, I live close to Sydney CBD. I travel small distances on the Vectrix and charge up each night as a matter of course, leaving it plugged in if I'm not using it. The bike has about 3600km on it. Over a period of a couple of months a couple of odd things happened. On one occasion the bike seemed to have a light stickiness like the regen braking was staying on - not major just a little sluggish compared to usual. However, I had an event where I was using the regen braking down a hill and it gave out, the bike also lost motive power although the lights were on. I stopped, on and off and all seemed well again. I noticed subsequently that one of the warning lights (the spanner or battery) would sometimes come on, but switching on and off would make it go away and alls well.
However, riding to work last week I noticed that the temp seemed high when I plugged in the recharge (usually it's close to ambient when it starts), this showed 30 degrees C ambient was about 15 so?? Anyway, the next morning I felt the bike feeling a bit sluggish down a hill and as I went up a hill at low speed all the power bars went blank and I was down to a maximum speed of fast jog. Luckily I was close to work and a motorcycle carpark, but don't know where to go for help. I am not at all technical but I really want to keep using the bike if it can be made safe and operational. If any one has any ideas for where I can go to for help (happy to transport it to Melbourne if there is anyone there).
Welcome to the forum!
You need to keep your hand off the throttle during boot-up. If you don't, then a slight inadvertent turn in any directon at the wrong moment can put the "zero" position out of whack. Then, it behaves as if you were applying slight regen when you don't.
This happens when the rear wheel looses contact with the ground and blocks momentarily. All regen gets turned off from that moment on. Usually no re-boot is required. Just a repeat of the start-up brake lever sequence.
Try to pay attention to the left instrument side. Is there an error code where the trip meter usually is?
Where did you buy it? Did they say where you could get support?
Do not leave it plugged in when it has finished charging. It wastes power and heats your charger with about 120W power drain! Get a timer.
Do not recharge every time after a brief ride. The battery gauge gets increasingly out of touch with the real state-of-charge (SOC) of the battery. The bike then thinks it's full, and suddenly it hits the wall when the battery is unexpectedly empty. The bars disappear in one single hit. It's known as a BALPOR (Battery Low Point Reset).
Your bike might just be fine if you charge it up again now. It will receive a full charge, because the BALPOR has reset the gauge and it will try to put a full charge into the battery. But there might be problems with that, too. If the battery is imbalanced or has a much reduced capacity compared to the 30Ah which the system is expecting, then it may have to stop charging when the high voltage cutoff is being reached.
Try to get the Vectrix charged up enough to ride it easily to a charging point where you can observe the full charge following this BALPOR. If you see it stop charging many bars below 16/17th, then your battery might have reduced capacity.
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
high battery temperature could have been the result of being parked in the sun?
if it does it often, than its a bad battery, if it doesn't do it again, don't worry about it.
the batteries self discharge is proportional to how warm it is, and how charged it is.
try to avoid keeping the bike at a high state of charge for extended periods, or the battery will go out of balance (and the fuel guage will go out of sync faster)
ideally, don't recharge until just before you need the bike.
then do an overnight charge every few days.
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
Thanks Guys,
By way of update. The advice I got re the regen braking issue is not to overdo it, apparently it can be overloaded (I was going downhill and using it pretty hard at the time it went out). On the temperature and battery issue. I did get some local help and an offer from the Melbourne based dealer as well which is looking like resolving my problem. The battery basically blew a cell and damaged a couple on either side. The good news is that the dealer has spares and is shipping them to me (not that expensive really, about AUD50 or so each), and now I know someone in Sydney who can support the bike and has rapport with the dealer in Melbourne. Apparently Vectrix is back in business owned by Gold Peak in Hong Kong (I contacted them, but they won't sell direct for fear of someone like me electrocuting themselves).
Also just some other info, in the meantime of getting the bike looked at etc I did try charging and using, it took a few charges - so it went to 4 bars then 8 then full and seemed pretty functional. The guy who is helping me checked the charge on all the cells and they do vary a bit but were basically charged. Interestingly, I suspect the trouble may have begun in Summer when I did park the bike in full midday sun a few times and I did notice a funny metallicy smell - so it may have been the beginning of the problem with the battery cell.
Mik I will modify my charge routine as recommended - I basically just followed the initial advice of charge often (apart from the first 4 or 5 deep discharges to set the bike). Interested to know if with 3 new cells I should deep discharge the bike to condition them, or is that more harmful to the existing cells?
So thanks for the advice guys and fingers crossed I'll be back on the road in a week or two - if anyone in Sydney needs local support for their Vectrix, I am happy to put you in touch with the guy helping me.
Best regards,
Patrick
who on earth and where is the Melbourne dealer?
The dealer is the same person you bought your bike from.... be it from the shop in Port Melbourne or EBay.
you can get all your spare parts from Charles.
Oh..right. good to know he's still keeping it up. i haven't needed anything yet, but i'm sure i will eventually.