Do you feel your ebike lacks its normal power sometimes?

Do any of you feel that sometimes your ebike feels like its lacking in power, even though everything looks fine? You can hit same top speed and cycle analyst shows normal watts, and your motor temperature is not too high. It's like something doesn't feel right with the power, yet it must be right as there is nothing wrong.

I've noticed this phenomenon with both of my ebikes. It seems that my body adapts to the power and then the bike feels weaker. I also noticed that if I increase my max wattage, the bike feels way powerful for a few rides than all of a sudden doesn't feel as powerful.

I know there is nothing wrong with my bike so I am wondering if this happens to anyone else?

I wish there was a way I can benchmark my power so that I know if my bike is performing normally. Does anyone know a way I can do this? The only thing I can do is to climb this really steep small hill and I know that my bike just has enough power to get up it.

My bikes all run 3000w-8000w. Definately don't feel a lack of power.

All the time

That's why we keep building

Yeah.
Sometimes it feels like it"s flying. On another day it"s so weak.
I guess these feelings are down to ones physical condition, which varies every day. Some days you just pedal harder without realizing it. Some days you are pathetic even when you feel like you are pedaling hard. Wattmeter on cranks would be scientifical, you would see your output. Expecially when during the wintermonths you do not ride at all. Then when you start at springtime, perfomance is weak. Now during the autumn bike feels quite strong.
This year summer lasted five and half weeks here. During this period day temperature reached +20C or over. Now it"s autumn.

A cycleanalyst will definitely show you if you have the normal peak power or not, it will record your max amps, usually happening on a start from a dead stop.


It will also show any variations in voltage, such as a cold day causing sag in the battery. I used to think my pingbatteries were on their last months every February, but then after easter, bam, suddenly range and top speed were back.

One weak plug could be causing your bike to vary in power, but if that is the case, it will usually melt soon enough to show you what the problem was.

I get this too.

Sometimes I wonder if my controller somehow re-detects the hall sensor positions or something as my bike will feel progressively rougher (barely noticeable) and coast far less easily, then all of a sudden will smooth right out, then coast really well with virtually no cogging effect.

Cheers

I had this feeling with my first builds, especially on windy days or up some steep trails. Now with dirt bikes that are capable of 60+ Mph, it is not often that I would want more power. Yet, I am always looking to build the next with more horse power.

dogman said:

A cycleanalyst will definitely show you if you have the normal peak power or not, it will record your max amps, usually happening on a start from a dead stop.


It will also show any variations in voltage, such as a cold day causing sag in the battery. I used to think my pingbatteries were on their last months every February, but then after easter, bam, suddenly range and top speed were back.

One weak plug could be causing your bike to vary in power, but if that is the case, it will usually melt soon enough to show you what the problem was.

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If you had a weak plug and it was causing a small loss of power, would you notice that by just seeing your max watts less than the max I have my controller set to?

I have some pretty bad plugs that I should replace. One time I heard a very faint continuous popping sound after I plugged in the connectors, it was actually sparking inside one of my connectors .

I use big 6mm connectors, 3 of them to plug my battery to controller. I doubt this would cause loss of power as I found you really don't need very much connection at all. Once the solder broke in the back of one of my connectors, I was able to just push the solder ball with the wire in it back into the connector and just tension from some tape was enough to get me full wattage until I got home.

If weak enough to affect power, you'd see it as a lower max amps, but not likely see it on the fly. Unless it gets really bad.

Max amps shown on a CA is usually much more than controller max amps. If it was less, then you'd for sure smell a rat.

I had some melty andersons on a stand alone CA shunt, and it was roasting the shunt as well, as it slowly died and melted the Anderson housings, I was getting lower and lower amps, felt as sluggish take off, and low top speed. The cooking shunt was turning into an amp limiter that was lower than the controllers.

Thanks dogman,

I'm confused. Are you saying that bad connectors can cause the shunt in the controller to melt?

I doubt it would actually melt the actual shunt. But as things heat up, they make higher resistance, which affects readings. A good shunt won't change much, but it does change some. Then you also have the APP connectors--as the shells heat up and deform, the contacts no longer make full connection, and the resistance goes up more, and heating increases, causing further reistance increase and further deformation of shell until it actually melts, etc.

It could be possible in a completely-enclosed harness with no airflow over it to heat up till solder melts and connections come loose, if there's enough tension on the wires to pull them apart or out of the housings. Usually there isn't, and it's just going to heat up enough tdeform the shelsl and mkae contacts no longer touch flat--that's why some people have problems with the APP type.

That dosn't happen the same way with bullets, since they surround or are surrounded by the entire contact of the oppposite gender and should still make decent contact *somewhere*.

I had this before. The bike felt 20 percent more grunty on very very cold days.

Found out one of my hall wires (the negative supply) had a kink in the main loom that had somehow got twisted round a phase wire. As it was on a suspension joint it snapped all but 2 strands of wire at that point very soon after I got it. Leading me to think it was my brain getting bored of 2300 battery watts. The cool weather must have helped the 2 strands carry a stronger signal.

Once I soldered in a new hall wire it was a beast again

Oh yeah I also had an anderson melt inside with zero external signs it had happened. Took me ages to realise why my controller was 80 degrees all of a sudden after each ride. Put dual xt60s on and its perfect now. Funny how a weak connection made my controller hot?

Moral of the story is check stuff monthly, even if it looks fine.

bionicdan said:

Oh yeah I also had an anderson melt inside with zero external signs it had happened. Took me ages to realise why my controller was 80 degrees all of a sudden after each ride. Put dual xt60s on and its perfect now. Funny how a weak connection made my controller hot?

Moral of the story is check stuff monthly, even if it looks fine.

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This type of thing is where a thermal camera would excel.
Subject: another thermal camera smartphone addon, android too

gogo said:

This type of thing is where a thermal camera would excel.
Subject: another thermal camera smartphone addon, android too

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Absolutely, I was looking at those last week.

Nanoha said:

All the time That's why we keep building

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+1
My kit was rated 1000W from the supplier but actually provide 2200Wp, 1500W continuous, and only when the battery gets low it comes closer to 1000W,
so I feel Lucky that the supplier gave conservative specs for this kit (it's actually what makes me buy it : I knew it would give more than specified)

Always looking for; bigger, better, faster....

The power todays e bikes have on tap leave many to do a quick inspect to make sure nothing is falling off the bike then hop on and ride away.
I have found out that if I want the same experience each time I use the same riding shoes and I always air up the tires before every ride.
if your one to check the air pressure with your thumb and say that feels ok then ride away your tires could easily be off by 4-5 Psi which will require more effort on your part. I have found my tires on all 4 of our bikes will lose anywhere from 1-3 psi per day.
My A2B tires call for 4o Psi so I fill them to 45 then do a quick release of the air chuck if I don't get it off the stem fast enough I do it again.
as releasing the air chuck slowly can leave you lower on air then you started with.
having perfectly true rims and properly lubricated bearings help a lot. incorrect shoes can waste a lot of energy if your riding with thick rubber sandals one day then the next day your riding with shoes with a harder sole you will feel the difference
the same can be said with pedals most pedals in my opinion have been tightened down too much at the factory causing them to have too much drag.
pedals should be loose enough to free spin like a wheel but not have any play. this may take experimenting with different types of grease.
my point is you can dive in deep trying to diagnose your electrical system but before you do check and double check all the basics.
an e bike can be like a finely tuned electric hot rod or an inefficient energy zapping monster its your choice.
while riding our e bikes on our 1/2 mile course around our neighborhood I can feel this difference when you get a slight head wind
even when everything is right. a tail wind will push you making the e bike seem like it is frisky that day.
on our 1/2 mile lap these winds are in different predictable places depending on where the wind is coming from.

I lubricate pedal bearings once in a month. Still i have destroyed two sets of pedals in two years.
Riding position. In a cruiser with a Brooks you can move your saddle back and forward quite a bit.
More forward your saddle, more upright you pedal and more power you will produce. Then the saddle height of course.
Tire pressures do make a difference too of course. Front pogostick-suspension eats your power a bit, your bike moves up and down a little when you pedal.

Offroader said:

Do any of you feel that sometimes your ebike feels like its lacking in power

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No, not ever. I did notice it a bit mushy on turns and it would slow down a bit quicker when off the throttle, but that turned out to be because I was riding on a flat tire. You owe yourself a bike where top speed is never a speed you ride at, and wind and riding position make such a difference that it doesn't even have a specific top speed. I can't imagine a bike I rode around on at WOT just like I'd never own a car where pedal to the floor cruising was the norm.

John in CR said:

Offroader said:

Do any of you feel that sometimes your ebike feels like its lacking in power

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No, not ever.

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+1