Yes, my battery has been replaced. My last battery replacement under warranty...
I checked the upper layer of the old battery. All cells are in good shape, all celsidots are quite white. All cells from the upper layer had 1.25v except two cells, 1.26v.
How old is this this cell?
A closer look at the sides of the battery, shows that the mid layer is vented in some parts. It is a pitty that Suzuka is not allowed to check what's going on. In this picture you can apreciate the external plastic case venting.
Hi there!
So, if the cells were fine, what was the problem with your battery?
Regards
how many kms did they last?
and what was your range again (in the end)?
"doing nothin = doing nothing wrong" is invalid when the subject is environment
Dear watson, there's two more layers of cells below the upper layer. They're inaccessible. I checked only 1/3 of the 102 cells. There were signs of cell deformation in the 2 floor.
The pack was instaled just before the rally solaire Phebus 2008, 14500 km on the odoemter. The very fisrt rides gave me range between 70-80 km (conservative driving).
During the 2008 rally phebus I drove 94 km at 40-50 km/h until red battery light turned on. We think there was 10 km left at slow speed, but to prevent damage we decide to perform an emergency recharge. Voltage limit was 115v, the pack was perfect.
The pack showed first signs of deterioration at 23.000 km mark. I took the vectrix to the local dealer, but they could do nothing but to replace the battery. If a sinlge cell is failing, Vectrix does not have an official method to save the pack.
At 28.000 km on the odometer the battery:
17/17 ok
17/13 Battery tell-tale starts flashing, temp 35-45C. Full power during acceleration is lost
17/11 tell-tale stops flashing, "Bathot" message is displayed. 45-55C
17/09 Temperature reaches 60C. Pretty slow accelerations. Estimated range 40-60 km, real range 5 km
17/06-09 bars fall very quickly. Red battery light turns on. Voltage limit 123-124v
from 17/17 to 17/09 I could drive 20-25 km
I conducted some tests before changing the battery. After some deep discharge/charges, I rode the vectrix to full discharge, to discover its extreme range. I managed 50 km.
50km with a set of old cells? I'd kill for that sort of range!
When I bought my V in early '08, the range was not quite 50km. Range is now about 25km if I go no faster than 80kmh.
Trouble is there is no longer a dealer in Australia so the chances of a new battery pack are about nill.
Carefull management of the old cells and the promise of a lithium pack are all that keeps my V on the road.
19500km so far.
Cheers
Paul
25km?? that is terrible!
I ALWAYS get 45km at least!
this is what I get with normal temperatures (+-20°C) :
45km: hard accellerations and short distances and bursts, mostly @full throttle.
55km: long and short trips, mostly 70km/h, still accelerating good.
70km+: long trips, following traffic @ 50km/h, easy acceleration.
I really must have a good pack!
The range wasn't as good when I bought it, but with the information I got here, It got better, and I think I can preserve it quite well.
8000km on the odometer now, 1 year and 7 or 8 months of ownership.
I weigh only 70kgs though..
I don't "really" care about the range though, I use my V for commuting, and almost nothing else.
I do no more than 10km/day at the moment.
But I just bought an other house to which I will move in December probably, which is 10 kms from my work, so my V is finally going to start to pay for itself :-)
As long as my range stays above 20kms, I'll be waiting for better solutions to swap my pack.
Turok
"doing nothin = doing nothing wrong" is invalid when the subject is environment
Paul, it is pretty obvius that your range is not normal. Have you tried to located your "damaged" cells?
Hi R
Yes, I've replaced three swollen cells so far when range dropped to 2km!
My commute is 20.7km each way, charge at home and at work and all is fine. While the V can perform that duty, then it is still the most usefull commuter known to man!
Haven't had a look at the pack for about 12 months, but the range is in a steady (slow) decline. There are another 12 spare cells on my work bench awaiting the next dramatic cell failure.
As for the poor range, all the Australian delivered bikes seem to have been poorly managed prior to sale and therefore have reduced range problems.
I find that if I avoid self discharge and overheating then all is well, also the more I ride, the better the bike performs.
Speak kindly to the V
Feed it often
Keep it cool, don't overstress
Take it out often
Doesn't like the rain
I have a pet dog also
Cheers
Paul
Well done, you're a "pro" user! Have you considered adding some electronics to deeply know what's going on inside the battery?
How sweet! You really know how to treat her!;-)