Is Cycle Analyst worth buying?

I just need opinions here. Is it worth buying?
Does it make sense to get a controller that will work with direct plug in, vs getting one with a shunt and speedometer?

EdwardNY said:

I just need opinions here. Is it worth buying?

Click to expand...

Yes, invaluable...if you can get a controller that has direct plug in all the better but
by no means essential...you wont regret buying a CA

KiM

The CA is well worth it. Speed, distance, battery monitoring, bike efficiency, watts, amps, current limiting, low voltage cut, battery capacity consumed. Without it feels like flying without instruments. I won't build a bike without one.

Worth every penny !

I think anyones that's bought one is going to say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but in reality, like any other watt meter, it's just another accessory with a few more or less options. I hooked up an HK-010 power analyzer from Hk for a while. Neat at first to see how many amps, watts, etc. you were pulling, but after a while it was just so much more crap on the handlebars with extra wiring. I still use mine, but not on the bike. Just to check and balance lipo packs. Yeah, it will do that also. Don't think the CA will. On the bike, all I need and use is s simple small voltmeter as a fuel gage. I look at all these like I would a tach on a car. Other than when I first bought it, I rarely ever look at it. At $120-$150 it's not worth it to me. But I don't need all that crap to figure out how more battery charge I've got left and how much I've used already since I can do that with my $6 voltmeter.

IT" worth it's weight in gold. it's the next best thing besides haveing a good (VOLT METER).

Yes a CA is definitely worth it.

Depends on the level of monitoring and data collection you want to do.

It makes a nice fuel gauge when you're setting up the bike and learning it, and keeping track of how well your pack behaves, charges, etc., but it is not a necessary item if you don't care about any of that. If you just want to know your speed, there's lots of bike computers to do that. You can also use a standalone CA that can still monitor the bike but nto directly control it, without having to have a controller with a CA-DP plug (or adding one to your existing controller).


If you trust your pack's BMS to tell you when it's time to stop riding, and your charger to always fully charge your pack, and your controller to not draw more power than your pack can handle, then you can ride without any monitoring.


If you think you need any of those things to be monitored, any wattmeter can do this for you; some are easier to use than others, and the CA has more built-in options for usability and setup than any of the others I'm aware of.

If you would like the option to be able to alter the way your throttle works, or reduce the current limit on the controller, or limit the speed of the bike, or a number of other possible options, the CA can do those with a little wiring and some settings changes in it's menus. You can do the same kindso fthings with other devices, but you mihgt have to build them yourself, or try to locate someone that has one or sells them, and may still have to make hardware modifications to the bike.

The CA is presently and generally the single all-in-one type of tool for monitoring and controlling certain things about your ebike, with the possible exception of Speedict or maybe Eagle Tree, if either of those has hardware to control things as well as monitor them.

It comes down to what you want to do with the bike, and what you want ot know about it's performance, etc.



I used to use VeloAce on an old PDA for my speedo/odo, and separate voltmeter and ammeter, then I used a Turnigy Watt Meter, and then when I won a CA I have used it since and it is much more useful to me than the TWM or separate meters were, even though I still only use it for monitoring during riding and for charging back up.

It isn't taht useful for everyone, though.

Is Cycle Analyst worth buying?

Not sure. Is the Pope a Catholic?

I was really hard to convince, I went years without one.

Boy was that stupid. I now have two of the stand alone ones though some of my controllers could do the dp. Yes, about 90% of the time you won't really need one, but the other 10%, when you wonder if you screwed up and rode too far is when they are priceless.

A wattmeter is cruicial to extending your range if you want to do that. Riding a lot while monitoring your watts you can train yourself to ride more efficiently. Otherwise, you are only guessing when you are using less watts. It might suprise you to find that a short hill might use less watts if climbed fast. Or a long hill climbed too slow might waste watts. The wattmeter tells what really happened.

Though I really love the product, own two, and want another that is DP, it's not the only way to get what you need. Other watt meters exist, and led voltmeters can be very inexpensive. But the CA is just a really elegant way to combine it all in one box on the handlebars. Totally worth the money, if you have any.

I went with a Watts Up meter after considering a CycleAnalyst. Its a cost/benefit equation. Admitedly the CA is the gold standard, but sometimes silver is good enough.

Yes.

arkmundi said:

I went with a Watts Up meter after considering a CycleAnalyst. Its a cost/benefit equation. Admitedly the CA is the gold standard, but sometimes silver is good enough.

Click to expand...

Well, this is bringing it down to personal needs and budget again. I needed much more detailed information, preferably within one package, ability to log and analyze, which make me feel comfortable knowing about the limits of my system, so that I can safely remain below them. Not everybody needs that, because not everybody is running his system relatively close to the limits.

• For the average commuter, I guess a CA may be overkill where just a volt meter would suffice.
• If you are running Lipo, more accurate estimates of Wh becomes more important, so a Watts Up meter would probably suffice (but I have no experience with that).
• Anything more, and you will most likely need a CA + logger.

I started as an average commuter with enough money to buy the CA, and the availability also dictates the demands. I bought it, and it is partially the reason why I am now trying to find the limits. Because I can.

I would think just the opposite. Rc lipo voltage scales from full to empty a lot more, and it's real easy to tell when you are near empty with it. Not so with lifepo4 as it stays close to the low end until it drops off extremely fast at empty and most packs with bms will just cut you off real quick when you reach that point. Knowing the pack voltage won't help much as you get near empty. That's where the watt hours used of watt meters come in handy.

I got a ca-dps, Wattsup meter and a regular watt meter, are they worth their weight in gold? maybe fool's gold. mainly due to the fact that I don't know what I need to know. So for now, I only watch the voltage for now, until I learned some new uses. At least I now have an speedometer, so I know my high speed is patheticly approaching 20mph. as my main bike, I need a standalone ca, so that's going to bite $150, as my less used ebike has the controller with dp plug. Maybe when and if I get a standalone ca, I'll better understand the functions. I kinda know when my batteries are near charging time.

one word... yes it is. :wink:

GMUseless said:

The CA is well worth it. Speed, distance, battery monitoring, bike efficiency, watts, amps, current limiting, low voltage cut, battery capacity consumed. Without it feels like flying without instruments. I won't build a bike without one.

Click to expand...

+1,000,000... Best 120 bucks I have spent on this hobby.

amberwolf said:

The CA is presently and generally the single all-in-one type of tool for monitoring and controlling certain things about your ebike, with the possible exception of Speedict or maybe Eagle Tree, if either of those has hardware to control things as well as monitor them.

Click to expand...

Speedict can provide control as well, not only monitoring, the downsize is you need Android smart phone and CA can permanent mount on hand-bar !

I think it depends on you. I use my bike as a car replacement and I like viewing my ride stats and being able to easily adjust the amp draw. For me it's been most useful as a fuel gauge and range extender but I also like being able to see how much power I'm drawing any given moment so I can adjust the way I ride to further extend range or prevent things from melting down since I like to push my motor near the limits at 6kw+.

It is a little expensive for what it is in my opinion. It also adds more wires on your bike and makes it stand out more from other bikes if you have to lock it up somewhere while you go shopping or to work etc. If you want to be frugal you could get a volt meter and a 3 speed switch. That'll give a pretty good idea of how much battery capacity you have left and give you some range extension for much less cost.

I like my cycle analyst and I don't regret buying it. It's been fun to play with since I got it and it provides useful functions.

The CA is the Rolls of watt meters, and priced like it. There are many that will provide most of the same functions starting at ~$15. Just search for watt meter on ebay.

wesnewell said:

The CA is the Rolls of watt meters, and priced like it. There are many that will provide most of the same functions starting at ~$15. Just search for watt meter on ebay.

Click to expand...

Are the cheaper units watertight and do they save the info on power down? Also do they interface with the controllers the way the CA DP does. $ 120 is a small price to pay for all it does.

Blackssr said:

wesnewell said:

The CA is the Rolls of watt meters, and priced like it. There are many that will provide most of the same functions starting at ~$15. Just search for watt meter on ebay.

Click to expand...

Are the cheaper units watertight and do they save the info on power down? Also do they interface with the controllers the way the CA DP does. $ 120 is a small price to pay for all it does.

Click to expand...

I have no idea. If not, a little clear paint/sealer would certainly make them watertight. I only own one and don't use it on the bike because I don't need more crap on my bike. The small simple $6 waterproof voltmeter I use gives all the info I need. I use rc lipo, so I'm not worried about over discharging because a 10ah 20C pack will provide up to 200A output. No one really *needs* a watt meter if they have half a brain. I know at wot I pull 40A for 4000W. I know my 10ah 20C 24s battery pack is capable of delivering 20,000W, so what's to worry about. Now if you've got a life4po4 1/2C pack, you might want to worry. I can look at my voltmeter and know how much juice I have left. And if it fails, The voltage I set my controllers LVC at (88V) will shut off before over discharging the battery.

Yes, it is worth getting.

wesnewell said:

No one really *needs* a watt meter if they have half a brain.

Click to expand...

I'm a noobish ebiker playing with my first build, and a very happy owner of a CA. That said, wesnewell is exactly right. With a bit of arithmetic, and some careful observation, one could easily get by with a cheapo voltmeter, even for packs with highly nonlinear discharge characteristics. I'd even go further: with experience, you pretty much could just use a speedometer, or just the pitch of the wind noise, to be sure you can get back and forth on specific routes, assuming you know the route well. There's a certain beauty in doing that.

For me, part of playing (as in having fun) with the system is the data collection. So I have a CA, and a Watts-Up (didn't plan on buying it--having some metering issues), a good DVM, a scope. I'll probably eventually get some sort of data logger, start messing with controller programming. But none of that is needed to run an e-bike. But such things are very useful if you are using your bike for, say, self education about electric power systems!

One other thing with the cycle analyst is that it can accept higher input voltages than the other cheaper meters I've seen. Wattsup meter for example only accepts up to 60v. If you're running higher than that there are no other choices I'm aware of. Maybe the Crystalyte one?