Ner user and some doubts about the VX-1 after 14.000 km

Hi everybody,

My name is Pablo and I have a Vectrix VX-1 NiMH from May 2011 and more than 14000 km today. I have just found this forum and I am very glad I did because I have found a lot of useful information.

Anyway I want to ask you some doubts about how to better use the bike to get a better performance of the battery:

1. How often do you do a equalization of the battery? To do it, it is just a matter of leaving the motorbike charging for more than 24 hours?
2. How often is good to fully drain the battery? How much do you do it? is it until the bike cannot run anymore?
3. I have got a programmer in the socket where I charge my bike so I can do it during the night (cheaper). I have set it to charge the bike for 4 hours. Some weekends I remove the programmer and leave it charging for the whole weekend (I normally use the bike from Monday to Friday). Do you think is a good scheduling for the battery charging?
4. I normally see the red battery light before the battery levels indicator is empty, is that normal?
5. Do you think it worth it a firmware upgrade?

I live close to the mountains at an attitude of 800m above the sea and come down to my work that is 9 Km away and 600 m attitude. When my bike was new I was able to barely do three trips to the city (18 Km each with a slope of 200m), almost 54Km not bad. But lately and after 4 years and 8 months I cand barely complete two trips, 36 Km. Therefore I have lost a 33% of performance in the battery, is it so the experience you have with your batteries?

BTW, I live close to Granada city, Spain.

Best regards,

Pablo

Hi Pablo - bienvenido.

I'm sure that all of the answers to your questions are here on this forum.

To answer your question about the loss of range - I had a similar loss of range after three years. I rode with the NiMH batteries from 2008 until 2011. By then I had more than 30% loss of range (from 30 miles to 20 miles per charge). That is when I decided to upgrade to Li-ion batteries (specifically LiFePo). Then I had about 50% more range compared to when I bought it (50 miles/charge).
Now the LiFePo batteries are at about 80% capacity ... but I still have pretty good range (about 40 miles [65 Km]/charge).
Now there are more (and better) options to upgrade to Li-ion batteries if you want to improve range.

Did you buy your bike new in 2011?

Did you buy your bike new in 2011?

Yes, I bought it brand new.

BTW, I had to create a new user because the previous one was blocked.

I wish I coud buy those battery modules, but no money. I am still paying the loan of the bike :-(

I decided to go electrice because my petrol bike was giving too much problems with oil leaked, etc. But now I see the batteries can be an important issue with the electrics.

I'd say, update the charger software to the Laird's if you have the ESD charger (you probably don't, yours being a 2011 model). That software will be gentler on charging your batteries. If that is not possible, I suggest you charge more often and do not overcharge it (avoid the equalization cycles from occurring too often). Don't ever drive to the red light - charge earlier. The NiMh batteries in your bike don't mind being charged often, they do mind being overdischarged, which you are likely doing when riding uphill with a red light. Overcharging them also shortens their life (which you are doing when charging too long - the original charging software tends to overcharge every time).

Best to charge at night, before you go ride in the morning and not let the battery discharge below 1/3 empty. Ignore the fuel gauge, look at your voltage on the display - never ride below 120V, best to keep it above 130 and charge if below. That's while riding the bike, not at rest/stopped.

Is it possible to see the voltage while running??

Following your advice I will change the schedule in the programmer I use for charging the bike. I will set it to do short charges from monday to friday (when I use it to go to work). Well, really it will be from Sunday to Thursday, at night.

I think that two hours charge may be enough if I charge it everyday.

You still need to do periodic equalization charged, to make sure all cells of the battery are top balanced.

With the new software you can see the voltage while running.

Hi every one,

I´m going to be a new vectrix user, this week I will ride it. I am dizzy reading all post :D...I am from Malaga (Spain) I don´t know my charger model (esd or runker) and wich one is better but if my charger is esd I will change software to The Laird software because I don´t have vectrix yet...I have read this different:

"It has a few advantages:
+ draws only 5W Standby Power (esd 50w)
+ EQ Charge with only 1A instead of 3A... This is healthy for the batteries since the batteries don't get so hot anymore.
+ The parts inside of the charger are more accessible

But there is also one drawback:
- The fan on the charger is quite loud and runs always on maximum speed when charging." (by tt-tronix)

I read than ccan-usb only work gridconnect model, are both same?

http://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-USB.199.0.html?&L=1
http://gridconnect.com/pcan/can-adapters/can-usb.html

Are there other cheaper or samebody near Malaga who can help lending me pcan-usb?

I think The Laird software are all advantage,I do not mind more time charging but I don´t understand this:

"The bike with license plate MX DD 35 has a post riding/charging cooling period of 90
minutes." So if I riding bike only 2 minunts it has a cooling period of 90 minunts? How I know license plate MX DD 35? What is it? If I have other license plate what will happen?

How other disadvantage are there? 8 hours to complete charge from 120 volt to (I don´t know aming Laird volt) full Battery level indicator work better and volt information is better than estimate km (for me)...

Thanks a lot!!!

The fan on Runke chargers is controlled by a temperature sensor on the outside of the charger. Mine starts to charge with the fan off, then it warms-up after a few minutes, the fan comes on full speed (loud) and cools it off, the fan turns off completely, then the cycles repeats. How often the fan runs (and if it runs at all) depends on ambient temperature and the charging current you have selected. But yes, when it runs, it runs full speed and creates quite a bit of noise.

But there is also one drawback:
- The fan on the charger is quite loud and runs always on maximum speed when charging." (by tt-tronix)

I use plugwise adapters for charging my VX-1's with ECD charger to avoid the standby energy loss when batterie is full.

https://www.plugwise.com/products/home-start

Each adapter can be programmed. I set it at 23:00 to start, and <55 Watt to switch off.

The plug is also a energy monitor and can be read out by the software.

The only thing i miss is to manually turn on the adapter. That can only be done by the software. The maximum distance between USB plug and adapter is about 5 to 10 meter.

I use plugwise adapters for charging my VX-1's with ECD charger to avoid the standby energy loss when batterie is full.
The only thing i miss is to manually turn on the adapter. That can only be done by the software. The maximum distance between USB plug and adapter is about 5 to 10 meter.

They're a bit pricey but they do sell wireless wall switches that could be used to manually turn on the adapter:

Presumably you could have one switch to activate a timer controlled charge supply and the other to manually turn it on at any time (to give a quick top-up charge before you set off on your ride).

Alan

Good tip, thanks. Try to buy one second hand.