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This is happening everywhere, pavements that aren't being used as car parks now seem to have turned into cycle paths, while I will push an incapacitated bike on a path, I ride them on the road. As for speed limits, back in my youth I used to cycle everywhere, my mum caught up with me coming home...

yegods that is an insane idea, shame it costs so much ;) I'm bit dubious about how the brakes/tyres would react to a 60mph stop, anyone know what Cedric Lynch tried?

I have had 2 slow punctures in 25 years driving motorised vehicles, bicycles gave me a lot more trouble, I don't know how much technology has changed this yet. Airless tyres have much higher rolling resistance, they are probably aimed more at people who don't bother checking their pressures, I...

Solar panels up to maybe 5-10 watts don't need regulating, just a series diode.flat in 2 months makes me think about 1Ah drain a day, if you are suncharging 4 hours a day: 250mA/3W panel, but we don't get great sunlight so go for a 5-10W. Fleabay may produce a bargain.

I always disconnect the battery if I'm leaving a vehicle unused more than a month, easy enough to do, pull the earth lead and you don't risk shorting the spanner. I have used small solar panels in camper vans to prop up radio/lights use when parked, a few watts will probably make the difference...

My knees are crappy, I haven't riddena pedal cycle for nearly 20 years due to this, an ebike that moves itself is fthough, actually easier than driving as I don't have to constantly push pedals, having to pedal would make that not so, I suspect there are LOT of people of borderline health who...

LiPos tendency to swell under abuse cuts out a lot of the hazard, this effectively disconnects them internally when they gas, I once inflated a mobile phone LiPo with a cheap and nasty car charger AND bad BMS, oopsie. Hard case cells don't do this so well and can go pop. A large proportion of...

Yes, the prices are pretty painful, and the reason there seem to be a lot of substandard budget batteries, I found what looked like some good cells listed on fleabay, a few google searches later I found someone who'd bought a few and tested them to death, in 30 cycles, starting at under 1/2 the...

Recalibrating every 30 charges sounds good to me! From that, I'd assume only pack degradation needs accounting for, I'd guess the meter would only 5% out at the most by 30 nearly cycles, testing one would give a better idea, which people tend to do anyway.

The better manufacturers are indeed close to optimum, although there is always the possibilty someone will come up with something radically different, but the current knowledge applied properly milks the most from current cells. The $areyoujoking military cells will blow most if not all e-bike...

I was having trouble finding fuel gauge algorithms on the web, so had a look at the Battery University, interesting website, it agrees with me: While SoC information displayed on a battery or computer screen is helpful, the fuel gauge resets to 100% each time the battery is recharged...

Battery design determines the acceptable charge/discharge, most happen to be designed for similar rates though, A123 really stand out from other lithiums, they are designed for high current, it's the cost/life/performance tradeoff at work. Ohmic losses and the current density determine what...

Point, but if it needs cycling every charge, the pack is dying or the meter is naff, I'd rather stretch the life of batteries with a full discharge/charge cycle every 10 or 20 charges if I had a meter. Meters should reset to full on a full charge from whatever state they started, everyone I've...

Quite a few batteries will gain abit of capacitry over the first few cycles, if you don't cycle fully, it will probably just take more. Lead acids really don't like being run down, others are better, but have their limits, lithium about 3V, NiCad and NiMH about 1V. Battery conditioning is an...

I need more bits to play with, dead motors and controllers wanted, I'll pay postage and maybe a bit on top if it is interesting.

A shorted cell is deader than a very dead thing, shorted is not fixable without disassembly. Sulphated cells have failed differently, they have an insoluble layer of sulphate that it may be possible to remove chemically. I have never heard of anyone trying epsom salts but did look into potential...

Double post

I measured the thrust earlier, my hi-tech test equipment constited of a stick tied onto the back wheel pushing down on my kitchen scales, 10A multimeter and an old school lab power supply, this is probably accurate to 10%. It was very close to 5N per amp up to the psu limit of 8A, max torque is...

A tyre iron up your sleeve in a little pocket near the cuff has multiple uses, stealth arm reinforcement or wielded/thrown, wing mirrors are particularly vulnerable, this can make you WOBBLE though ;)

All that is possible at the moment, Mr Bond :D Power at the road = speed (m/s) x thrust (N) 0.45m/s = 1mph, 1N is about 0.1kg Motors produce torque in proportion to current, this holds up pretty well in reality, 5A will give much the same torque at 5mph as at 15mph. Speed is...