Kalkhoff Pro Connect.

[iangrimmett]

We have had a Kalkhoff Pro Connect in regular Week Day use on an 18 mile return journmey to work.
Initially the battery was lasting about 3 days before it needed charging but now, since the lights have had to be used for at least 9 of those miles, the battery is only lasting for the 1 return trip which seems unacceptable.
Has anybody had or having a similar exoerience and is the general feeling that the battery should be lasting longer than this?
Is there any way of testing the retention/efficiency of the battery charge?
It seems a poor performance for what is an expensive item.
Thanks in anticipation.

 

[tillson]

The 54 miles per charge that you were initially getting sounds astonishing. Are you using the bike on level ground with a standard 23 tooth rear sprocket and in low power mode?

It's not a good idea to continually run the battery down, it would have been better to have charged the battery on a daily basis. But that is done now.

You say that the battery will only perform one trip. Is this because it is cutting out or is it the charge level lights which are indicating a low charge level? I have found that the charge level lights can start to "drift", especially when the weather turns colder. Last winter, I found that the battery charge very quickly dropped to one LED on the handlebars, but it seemed to stay there for mile after mile and that actual total range before the battery cut out wasn't much lower than normal. Running the battery completely empty seems to re-set the charge level meter and it then behaves in a more linear fashion for a while. Once the weather turns warmer in late spring, the charge meter seems to remain stable until the colder weather arrives again.

Last winter, my battery did exactly as described above, dropping to one LED after just a few miles. In Late March, I ran the battery completely empty and it behaved perfectly throughout the summer and indicated charge in a very linear fashion. My battery is now starting to show the non linear signs again and will drop to one LED after about 10 miles. I'm not too worried because the range of the bike is more or less what it was when new and a power meter which I use indicates that the battery is still accepting its usual charge for my return journey. I will run it empty in a few weeks and check to see how much of a charge it will accept from completely empty to fully charged.

 

[JamesC]

My experience with the ProConnect is very much the same as Tillson.

My 2 batteries are now 18 months old, and I will be expecting less mileage than last Winter. Probably 20 miles on flat ground, dropping to one light on the handlebar meter after approx 9 or 10 miles in Winter, compared with 15 miles in Summer.

I don't often switch on the lights, but when I do it has always been noticeable that the little lights on the handlebar meter go dim, as though the main battery voltage has sagged. This might well suggest that the "battery condition" indicators would extinguish earlier when riding with front and rear lights on.

James

 

[simonbarnett]

You wouldn't have thought the lights would put a big extra load on the battery. I'm using lights one way (home) now and have noticed the hadlebar effect and suspect faster discharge. But hard to tell as I charge after 12 0r 24 miles so hardly ever very low. a practical answer might be to add battery lights and use the integral ones as auxilliaries?

 

[tillson]

I think the front bulb is 0.6W and the rear bulb 0.06W, so the battery should power them for 363 hours or 15 days from a full charge (if I've done my sums right). The lighting load on the battery is therefore minuscule and can probably be neglacted.

The lights on the handlebars do dim when the lights are switched on. I always thought that this was deliberate so to lessen the dazzling effect of the LEDs in dark conditions. They do appear very bright in total darkness when at full strength.

 

[JamesC]

I think the front bulb is 0.6W and the rear bulb 0.06W, so the battery should power them for 363 hours or 15 days from a full charge (if I've done my sums right). The lighting load on the battery is therefore minuscule and can probably be neglacted.

The lights on the handlebars do dim when the lights are switched on. I always thought that this was deliberate so to lessen the dazzling effect of the LEDs in dark conditions. They do appear very bright in total darkness when at full strength.

I am sure that you are right.

James

 

[iangrimmett]

Thanks very much for all your advice.

I seem to remember when I first looked into this bike, that there was a suggestion from somebody on Pedelec Forum who stated a method to check that the battery was holding its full charge.

Has anybody any knowledge of that?

Yes,. indeed, the handlebar control light does go down to one light very quickly so it may be interesting to let it run on and see how long that lasts.

 

[flecc]

I seem to remember when I first looked into this bike, that there was a suggestion from somebody on Pedelec Forum who stated a method to check that the battery was holding its full charge.

I think you mean the battery capacity check. To do that, press and hold the content test button for at least five seconds and the LEDs will indicate the capacity proportionally, each LED representing 20%.
.

 

[iangrimmett]

Thanks Flecc.