Rumour has it that a blank/uncut Honda motorcycle key will work. I don't know if this is still true.

Quote from: Panamakid on November 18, 2024, 07:13:51 AMI opened the hub and a small amount of water came out. ...

Thanks for coming back with the explanation.

I bought a Mirrcycle at a local brick & mortar bike shop to mount on the left end of my handlebar a few months ago and was a bit concerned about how durable it was if you hit it with, say, a door frame or if the bike fell over onto it. Not so much the adjustable arm, but the joint where the arm fastens to the immoveable end plug.

Today I misjudged the height of the edge of the pavement from the gravel shoulder and when I tried to steer back onto the pavement the front wheel did not climb up and I ended up laying on my left side. (I should've tried a low-speed bunny-hop.) Thankfully it was a rural back road and there were no trucks or cars following me. My wife was following me on her bike though, and I was a bit surprised at how well she took it.

Anyhow, the Mirrcycle handlebar plug took the brunt of the fall and got dragged along the asphalt a few inches at least. Once I picked it up and got seated again I just realigned the mirror and all was well. I couldn't even find a scratch anywhere on the Mirrcycle.

So, 10/10 for Mirrcycle durability.

In fact, it made out better them me, because when I got home I found that I lost a two-inch patch of skin below my left kneecap, even under my denim jeans. I will spare y'all the gory road rash photo. After cleaning that up (mostly with hydrogen peroxide) I had the presence of mind to go lightly over the general area with some electric hair clippers before applying the gauze pad and tape.

I use this timer on all of my chargers (bike, power tools, lawnmower battery) to limit the amount of time the charger is on.



It's main feature is that it's a countdown timer. Once it times out, it does not repeat the next day, which makes it very different from a regular lighting timer.

If I forget about it for a few days (or weeks), no harm done.

Quote from: nickster99 on October 19, 2024, 10:25:09 AMI had my battery inside my house always kept inside with probably 3/4 charge or more .[...snip...] I have only about 250 miles on bike and 2 to 3 years old ?
How could this die inside not being used at all ?

Hmm... I just noticed this detail. If it was kept topped to 100% charge while in storage for most of the time over 2 or 3 years, it could kill the battery.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#Lifespan

QuoteSimply storing lithium-ion batteries in the charged state also reduces their capacity (the amount of cyclable Li+) and increases the cell resistance (primarily due to the continuous growth of the solid electrolyte interface on the anode).

I know that with my old iPod touch, the Li-ion battery runs down to a thin red line overnight even when it is completely powered off. It takes less than five minutes to charge to 100% of "full capacity", but that's only because the capacity has gotten so low. Then it runs only for a few minutes.

To translate this to the ebike battery, maybe the "100% charge" (according to the charger LED) yields a battery voltage that is slightly less than enough to satisfy the bike's controller or even the battery's own on-board metering. Yes it's at 100% of the battery's capacity, but the capacity is too low to be useful. Again, it comes down to figuring out what the green LED on the charger actually means.

I'd be curious to know what exact set of conditions cause the green LED to light up on the charger.

On my car battery charger, the analog meter stays hard to the left until you hook it up to the dead battery. Then it immediately goes way up to indicate that there is a lot of current charging the battery. Gradually, the meter drops, to indicate less (or no) charging current as the battery is charged up.
So, in that case, if you look only at the meter, the needle to the left means either:

• No battery is hooked up, or
• The battery is all charged up.

Clearly these are two different sets of conditions, one of which tells you nothing about the state of the battery.

Now I wonder if the green LED on the Rad charger really means that the battery is at full charge (by measuring the open-circuit voltage of the battery), or merely that the charger has simply stopped trying to charge it any further, for whatever reason dictated by it's firmware. Maybe there's feedback from the BMS.

Well. Here's something:
https://support.radpowerbikes.com/Learn_before_you_buy/What's_the_best_ebike_for_me%3F/Motor_class_switching

QuoteSelect Rad Power Bikes models offer motor class switching to allow you to select a motor class for your ebike that best suits your needs. Motor class switching is available on the following models with color displays:

Radster Road
Radster Trail
RadWagon 5
RadExpand 5 Plus

To change the motor class setting while the ebike is stopped, navigate to the Menus screen and select the 'Class' menu, and then use the remote buttons to select the class setting most appropriate for you. Once a new class is selected, it will default when the ebike is powered on.

Followed by a chart of characteristics of the classes, including this:
* Class 3 functionality on U.S. ebikes only. Not available on RadExpand 5 Plus

Does that help?

Maybe it actually is charged up but the output fuse is blown.
I don't know what's in the semi-integrated batteries, and the manual for the RR6+ makes no mention of them. Maybe they're soldered on the PC board, maybe they're more like a circuit breaker that eventually resets itself.
In the non-semi integrated batteries there's one fuse for charging (something like 5 or 10 amps) and another for output/discharging (40 amps?).
Conceivably, if the charging fuse is good, the charger can still charge it, but if the main (output) fuse is gone it looks totally dead according to the on-battery LEDs or the handlebar display. Green LED on the charger would mean that it's finished charging.

Again, this is all sheer speculation on my part,🤷🏼 but it would seem to be consistent with the symptoms you reported.

Quote from: John Rose on January 12, 2024, 07:51:11 PMAdditional info ... if you disconnect the USB device and plug it back in, it (the charging port) stops working. You have to power the bike off and on to get the USB charging port to work again.

And yet more info:

• If you have the device plugged in and charging, then turn the bike off with the MODE button, the power continues to be delivered to the device.
• If you turn it off with the key, the power to the device goes off too.

I discovered this while trouble-shooting what turned out to be a faulty Lightning cable.

Now I'm all prepared for this coming winter, with its potential power blackouts. I can recharge my phone and Kobo e-reader if it goes off for a long time.

Quote from: nextcity on December 14, 2022, 12:33:52 PMI'm a new Radmission owner (yes, the $499 sale).

Waiddaminnit ... does that mean you are a new owner of a pre-owned RadMission bike, or did you find a "new old stock" RadMission bike?
They were discontinued a while ago, weren't they?

Quote from: nextcity on December 14, 2022, 12:33:52 PM...  I also recently purchased a spare battery, as they went on sale.

However, it's too cold (and I am too old and sickly) to get out to ride the required first three times (followed by the 12 charge) to condition the new battery.

If it's one of the new Safe Shield™ (or even regular) batteries, it probably does not need to be "balanced" (the procedure of partially draining it, then charging it for exactly 12 hours, 3 times). The instructions for new bikes (which come with new batteries) don't say anything about balancing the batteries any more. The BMS (Battery Management System) circuit is part of the battery, not the bike's controller, and the BMS would be the part that renders it unnecessary in newer batteries.

Even if it is one of the older style batteries, I'm pretty sure that you can put off balancing it until the weather is more cooperative. Any reduction in capacity as a result of not balancing it is not permanent, unlike the premature loss of capacity as a result of always keeping it topped up to 100% during long-term storage.

What OS are you using? iOS, Android, or something else?

To answer the main question: No. I'm not really interested in anything more than the basic tracking info - route, speed, and distance.

As far as finding alternate routes goes, there's always the Google Maps app, which often offers several different routes when you ask it to give directions. Plus you can have it select bike-friendly routes versus car, transit, or walking.

[later]
It looks like the Maps app for iPhone (iOS 17) has auto/cycling/transit/walking route selection preferences too, with options to avoid hills and/or busy roads.

Neither of them can track your progress though, as far as I can tell.

Without knowing exactly what part is broken, and if you are not overly fussy about appearances, I find that plumbers metal strapping is super useful for all sorts of improvised repair parts.



It's easily cut with tin snips or hacksaw, has a lot of ready-made holes for screws or bolts, and can be shaped with pliers. Get the thicker type for less vibration. It's usually galvanized mild steel, but you can get it in copper.

The last time I used it was to hang up some outdoor lighting strings around my deck.

Quote from: NorthParkRad on April 11, 2024, 05:20:41 PM... a good gauge cookie sheet works well for the metal. ...

Ah, yes.
If you buy a new-ish second-hand one from a thrift store it'll (A) be cheap, and (B) have a nice Teflon coating that will shed water and mud.

If I used my bike daily, I would charge to 100% after a ride.
I don't, and usually go on relatively short (8-15 km) trips, so if I'm down one bar out of five I just let it stay that way. When I plan a ride I will charge it to 100% the night before.

I think the main concern is to not keep it charged to 100% when you are not going to use it for days/weeks/months at a time. It results in a gradual chemical change that is not reversible. It's very different from the "battery memory" effect in Ni-Cad batteries. Ideally, I suppose the best strategy (to maximize long-term battery life) is to wait to top it up until immediately before you plan to ride it. I charge it the night before (on a count-down timer) as a compromise.