Must be time for an update!
I spent time, on and off, for several weeks trying to get the cells in my bricks balanced, until I realised that my Hyperion 1420i charger somehow mis-reads the voltage on cell 2 on both A and B connections. So I ended up charging them all up to 90% TCS and letting them balance over 2 days, in 2 parts (I'm using 18 bricks in 12s 6p format for 44v and 30Ah).
Even though the charger said the cells were up to 0.07v out, I checked them with 3 different voltage checker/alarms and after a couple of cycles through the cell voltages they were all within 0.01-0.02v.
I left the pack charged to about 48v overnight (which is probably a bit high), and then got up a little early to put the rack on the bike, pack the bag, and double check everything. While I was getting ready I charged it up to about 49.7v and set off.
The trip was 30.99km and I rode a bit over half of that with a friend who was powered only by his legs.
I kept it in mode 1 (50%) for about 90% of the trip and averaged 25.3kph for 1 hour and 13 minutes.
Believe it or not I used 233.04Wh, which is only 7.5Wh/km! I was amazed and for half the trip thought there must have been something wrong with the CA to say I only used 4.8Ah for 30km. Upon arrival the voltage was 47.8v, still pretty high.
The trip home was not held up by motor-less riders, only a few busy road crossings, traffic lights, and a couple of tighter bike path sections where I was happy to cruise behind someone else for a few minutes before passing them. I pedalled the whole way unless I was just coasting down a hill without throttle. Unfortunately part of the way home my second pole on the front wheel came loose (I think the one the came with the kit from EM3EV is meant for a larger spoke size), so some of the CA readings may be off. It says my max speed was
408kph, so I'm pretty sure at least that one is accurate!
Distance: 29.42km
Top speed: 65kph
Average speed: 32.8kph
Moving time: 53m 45s
End Voltage: 45.9v
Ah used: 7.955Ah
Wh used: 369.19
Wh/km: 12.5
I used a lot more battery on the way home because I kept it in mode 2 and 3 for the whole trip, most of the time using mode 3 and keeping it pinned. I still pedalled the whole way and was happy with how my legs felt afterwards as they were still quite fresh. I was surprised again and very happy with how little battery I used for the round trip, leaving enough Ah to easily do another 60km at a moderate pace.
Some GPS data from the ride:
About 2/3rds of the way home I sat behind another MTB rider for a while, who was cruising along at a reasonable speed, but when I went to overtake I realised he was on an e-bike too! So of course we chatted about our bikes while we cruised along and then swapped bikes for a bit. Turns out he's a [very quiet] ES member, too!
So all in all, an excellent day.
