2009 powabyke x6 ls (brushed motor) cutout voltage questions

[jackhandy]

Morning all, more questions I'm afraid.....

I've bought a 2009 powabyke x6 ls for my wife to try ebiking with the grandchildren

As bought, believed uncharged since June (& may have been stored part-discharged) 35.1 volts & 2 leds lit on throttle indicator - Tried the bike & the motor would kick in & out again almost immediately.

Bought at a good price, as the battery would not charge; turns out the charger is defunct & I've charged the battery with my 8fun charger. First test run, over my "Stinker" hill route, power cut out at 8 miles; which is what the seller claimed before the charging problem.

The odd thing is that, having made sure the battery was going to give no more over the final 2 miles,2 led were still lit & voltage read 35.5 volts: After 4 or 5 hours' I have 42 volts hot off the charger, which has dropped to 41.9 volts, 18 hours later.

Does the above indicare a too-high lv cutoff? If so, can that be sorted?

I should mention that my m.meter may be suspect as it reads 1.63 volts on an alkaline AA cell.

The controller has, on the label (among the chinese characters AK-18AP : 36v : 18A : 31v
And, pin-punched on its bottom AK0806180018 : 36y - 18AP

It seems a decent bike & if I can't get any more range from the present battery, should I be OK to get another 8fun bottle battery (same as on my bike - 8.8AH) & fit that?

As always, I'll be very grateful for any meaningful insight.

 

[flecc]

Although you are measuring 35.5 volts after stopping, it's probably dropping much lower when under load, that low point instantly disappearing when the load is removed.

There may also be an issue with that battery. Nominally the X series battery was 6.5 Ah, but some members found that bikes around that time actually had cells of only 4.5 Ah inside the casing. A battery larger than either of those could well help, but bear in mind that motor fitted then was the old brushed one with a high peak current demand, so a good discharge characteristic is advisable.

 

[jackhandy]

Thanks, flecc:

I think you've hit it ; the battery's certainly not going to get any better, is it? The bike was bought with that contingency in mind, so it's time to raid the piggy bank

From your comment re: battery discharge characteristic, would you think the 8fun bottle battery is not up to the job? It's advertised as having panasonic cells, but I can't find any "C" rates anywhere for it.

I was hoping to use similar batteries on both bikes, so I can swap them occasionally as the missus won't ride hers as much as I do - I don't suppose there's a tougher bottle battery with the same cradle size, is there?

Added information (which anyone thunking clearly would have supplied earler!)

8fun bottle battery : Continuous discharge 15A : Pulse discharge (10 minutes) 18A

So - should this battery be ok with the 18 amp brushless controller, or would it need to sustain an 18 amp continuous discharge?

I'm learning, but I must try the patience of those more learned than I!

This is from the Big Yellow Label displayed prominently on the battery.... Dohh!

 

[flecc]

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the after market batteries so don't know any of their C ratings. Hopefully another member using some will know that, and the fitments.