Scooter arrived Friday morning on a truck. It was gone about three weeks, so that 20 day figure blowing around was right. It came back fully charged with about 100 more miles on the odometer, so I guess they must have put the new batteries through a few cycles (?). Absolutely no documentation as to what they did (other than the obvious battery swap). I had put a note on the throttle saying it was squeaky, and now it's silky smooth and silent. Guess they read the note...
Bike seems to run as well, if not better than before. I can't tell yet, but it almost feels like it has just a tiny bit more range. Will keep monitoring that. Overall, things feel tighter - not as many clunks and rattles as before, but that could be my imagination. The only paperwork from Vectrix was a business card left in the trunk that said "Serviced by Jeff Adams and the Vectrix crew" and a RI phone number. I called on Friday, but only got to leave a voicemail. Will try to talk with "Jeff" to get more details...
So glad to have it back now that gas is $5/gallon in the LA area!
Also, just noticed that the dealer I bought my scooter from up in SF is no longer the dealer. It's now Marin BMW. Hmmm. The North American MSRP is now $8795! That's 3 grand less than I paid... I guess Vectrix is having to react to the poor sales, but now I sorta wish I had waited.
But how often do you get to be an early adopter in life?
And if more people waited, like so many do, until it's too late, then you might never have gotten a Vectrix because they might be insolvent by now!
Good that you have your ride back, but they really need to get more VAP's trained, the turnaround time for repairs is way too long. And the shipping costs and risks are unacceptable and rising.
3 weeks of commuting (40km/day) with my car (10liters/100km) would cost me 60 liters worth of petrol costs alone.
And once the warranty runs out, the shipping, damage during shipping etc will be costs to the customer.
At least every major city needs a repair center.
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
What?
They didn't provide any documentation of what they serviced or repaired?
That's scary.
Glad to hear you got yours back.
Mine left thursday, June 5th. On an 'early departure' due to a full throttle failure. Haven't heard a word from Vectrix, not even after my numerous requests for replacement plastics estimate.
I still love their product, but my respect for this 'company' is floundering.
Sorry to hear your scooter failed.
Could you provide a more detailed description of what happened, please?
It might help to work out why these failures happen and how to prevent them.
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
Ya sure let me go find the right spot to post it lol.
My Vectrix was picked up about 4 weeks ago, and I got the call today from the delivery company, and I've arranged to have it dropped off two days from now (Wednesday).
Had a brief conversation with the Vectrix tech who serviced my scooter. It sounds like they did not necessarily replace the battery pack if all the connections looked and tested fine. He said the main issue was with the "temperature controlling boards" and the "temperature monitor". I'm using quotes because I'm hoping that's pretty accurate to what he said since I was rather distracted at work when he called. Anyway, he said they have a software program that can discharge the battery as they monitor it, and they run it/test it through a couple of cycles. He also said they gave the bikes a very thorough going over and fixed/tightened/adjusted anything that needed it - hence my silky throttle. Bike feels really peppy, but I'm sure it's in my head...
Likewise, I got a call from the head tech manager there, sounds like I should have my bike back next week.
Thats interesting to hear about the battery.
I assumed that my battery got replaced and he didn't say otherwise.
I have a theory about your peppy bike, as I noticed patterns of sluggish and peppy performance on my bike before it departed.
While I'm sure that all the adjustments and inspections Vectrix made helped and the software, part of it might be that the battery had some full cycles put on it at Vectrix.
Ofcourse if you regularly completely discharge your battery that will not be such an accurate statement.
In my own case the performance of my bike would seem to get ever slightly lower. For my normal use I usually end up recharging between 45-70% charge remaining.
Then once in a while I would go far and my charge would drop to near 15-15%. This provided a seemingly major performance increase on the next discharge cycle.
This brings me to a question, Mr. Mik, anyone, is there any other board that points to the best practices for discharge / recharge cycle for longevity or performance?
I do not know what is in there once you sign up, but here is a link to a Vectrix user group:
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/vectrixowners/?v=1&t=directory&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=dir&slk=6
Let us know if it is any good, please!
What do you guys mean with "sluggish" and "peppy"?
Reduced top speed?
Reduced acceleration?
Reduced range?
Because I almost always discharge my Vectux to the point where it gets close to reduced performance (i.e. top speed dropping to 80km/h instead of 100km/h) I have not noticed this effect. It might however still be an issue because my Vectux has been standing around unused for weeks on end when it was waiting for the replacement fuse. That could have led to a need for further deep cycling of the battery pack. Maybe that is why the battery display still shows 4-5/17 when pretty much empty.
I might do another deep discharge on the rock, but very slow and gentle.
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/2707-how-best-break-vectrix-anyone039s-guess#comment-15729
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
Yep, by slugish I mean the acceleration is not as ... forceful as before. Ofcourse the vectrix never became slow, or at any point when it would hinder pulling out in traffic, just alightly less robust for the rider.
If what I have experienced with my battery is right, your Vectux probably wouldn't experience this because most of your cycles are deep.
I mainly experienced this in the winter and spring when the trips were short and few between. The symptoms probably occur after say maybe, 4-5 consecutive shallow charges and grow ever slightly from there.
I will review the forum about breaking in a V carefully. I specifically requested that my battery come back with as few cycles as possible ;)
But keep in mind that deep discharging might possibly damage the motor controller fuse.
But I am more skeptical about that hypothesis since the Vectux replacement fuse failed despite religious avoidance of low-voltage, high torque situations.
But as mentioned earlier in the Vectux 3 thread, the damage to the fuse might have happened before it was placed into my scooter.
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
So my bike arrived yesterday after several vaious delays.
It came complete with...
A lovely 6 inch scratch on the right side behind the headlamp.
Countless paint bubbles from a careless 'Vectech' spilling brake fuild on the front ferring.
No documents on what as actually done to my property...
That being said, my transmission sounds a bit difference:
More frequent 'push-pull'vibration sounds.
More frequent 'loss gears, with light oil and a couple grains of sand sound'
I don't think I got a new battery.
Off the truck my bike had like 5-10 more miles
Initial test rides used about 3-4 bars from full.
I then recharged for a cautious ride to work and back with a deep discharge afterwork.
On that DDC I got over 42 miles, and I was riding with highway speed, with soft accels!
Theres no way thats a new battery that hasn't been broken in right?
Overall performance is better kinda, the power bands seem to have changed a bit...
The throttle is silky smooth now which is nice.