Thumb throttle lights

[knackeredknees]

I was wondering if anyone can clarify how these lights are supposed to work.
I realise the 'full' 'half' 'empty' readout is pretty basic, but today I exhausted my battery on a longish trip in a hilly area, yet all three lights on the thumb throttle remained illuminated {green/yellow/red}.

Are the individual lights supposed to completely 'go out', as the battery power gets used up, or do they just get dimmer.
Unfortunately I had quite a long way to push my bike home today, as I was wrongly under the assumption that I had plenty of power left.
Pretty sure the battery is fine, as it is still re-charging, after 4 hours
I'm a bit of a newbie to this electric bike stuff, and am a bit clueless with electric stuff, so any help appreciated.

Alan
 



 

[Sundsvall]

Hi Alan!

These lights have never worked on my thumb throttle and for which I was sorry at first. But how true does this type of indicator be? I'm very sceptical on the usefulness of this. Now I have bought me a Cycle Analyst which going to tell me exactly how much amp hour I have used, so now I think this indicator is just in the way.

Peter

[karen]

Mine works like this when I use a 48V battery. Always full til the bike stops... On the 24V battery, always on empty. On the 36V battery it works like its supposed to be. Might be you have the wrong throttle for your battery?

[knackeredknees]

Thanks for the replies Peter/Karen,

I have been a suspicious of the lights, as {until today} it has never even dropped to the 'half' readout, even though ive travelled more than 20miles {on two occasions}.
Having read your replies {and after todays experience}, it seems that I shall have to rely more on my judgement, and restrict my range, to be on the safe side.

Many thanks
Alan
 
 

[Cornelius]

One need the 'right' indicator for your voltage - like Karen described.

Mine works ok, but it's more 'precise' under load. When the bms/controller cut the power due to low voltage, the red and yellow lights will still be lit up when no load are present; with load, only the red are lit when the voltage are close to cutoff.
As you said; it's pretty basic.

[knackeredknees]

Thanks for your reply, Cornelius.

I'm using a GM 36v 250w 12ah minimotor. Maybe I do have the wrong model throttle, but I think I shall just be more careful regarding the range I travel, as it may be a bit of a hassle tracking down the correct version.

Now that I have unfortunately been stranded once with a flat battery, I have gained a good idea of what will be a safe range for me to keep within, for the future.

Thanks again.

   

[Cornelius]

To know the approximate range are just as good as those lights.

What's your range?
With my 36V, 750W motor, I get approx. 35km with the 16Ah battery with little pedaling...

[TOM]

The gauge on the throttle doens't display exactly,just for reference only.
Only voltage meter can display exactly.

[knackeredknees]

Cornelious,

I live on the edge of the English Lake District, which is very undulating terrain in places {and often windy}, so its difficult to judge the range with any certainty.

Therefore I will have to under-estimate the range by quite a margin, on my future trips on the bike.

On the local cycle paths {fairly flat}, I have travelled just over 20 miles on two occasions {i have 26'' wheels}, although my usual destination {and the main reason I converted my bike} is extremely hilly. In this area, the round trip is 18 miles, although I do walk the bike {under a small amount of power} up the steepest sections. On these occasions, the battery has taken three hours max, to recharge fully, so I must be fairly near the end of its range in those areas {as it took 4 hours to recharge fully, from exhausted, the other day}.

Anyway, i'm thrilled with my bike, and shall take extra care to use it within its limits.
Thanks all
Alan
 

[Spacey]

Get a Turnigy amp/watt meter, shows you how many ah you have used, really cheap around £25.

[Bikemad]

Get a Turnigy amp/watt meter, shows you how many ah you have used, really cheap around £25.

I also use the cheap and cheerful ($23.95) Turnigy Watt meter and power analyzer, which can be connected load->motor for power consumption readings or load->battery for regen measurements:


Click for more details.

Unfortunately, the Turnigy unit does not retain the data when power is turned off (or if the LVC is triggered), unless you use an additional battery (9V PP3 etc.) to provide power for the unit.

A better, but much more expensive option ($140 for the standalone version) is the Cycle Analyst, but it does have a lot more functions.

Alan
 

[knackeredknees]

Thanks for that Alan & Spacey,

The Turnigy seems an ideal gadget, to help put my mind at ease.

I have seen the Cycle Anylist mentioned quite often, but the price is a bit steep for me.

I shall do some research on it today, and most probably {definately} order one.

Thanks very much

Alan

[Sundsvall]

Hi Alan!

These lights have never worked on my thumb throttle and for which I was sorry at first. But how true does this type of indicator be? I'm very sceptical on the usefulness of this. Now I have bought me a Cycle Analyst which going to tell me exactly how much amp hour I have used, so now I think this indicator is just in the way.

Peter

I have to apologize as I was wrong in a previous post. I wrote that the lights never worked on my throttle and that was in itself true, but I was the one to blame for the non-functioning state as I’d wired it wrong.
Now when the lights are working I can watch them glow in the dark.

Peter

[MonkeyMagic]

Hey guys

Alan - first of all cheers for pointing out the hobbyking link I just clicked it the other day and ordered one to mount in the battery pack end.

And funny this - I didn't want a green light on my throttle for some reason, so while installing another switch I changed it to a blue one.

As the blue LED would be a higher turn on current than the original being a higher lumen it is acting much better as a voltage reference!

When I go up hills and there is much current drawn, the blue (previously green) throttle LED will flash or turn off with great current draw and it will flicker as I am cruising when its coming up to half way.

When the battery is pretty much half charge, the Blue light is off completely and either turns on like a switch with regen or flickers as the battery demishes more.

Anyways the orange mid level LED acts well naturally I believe and closer to empty battery that will flicker.
I've had it like this for both rear drive and dual drive and I actually use it now when before I would maybe check if it was on red.

So an easy change for me was just the full level LED color to blue. I was not intending on making the reference better but it did the job!

Bonus

[mike662]

I had the same problem. Seems the throttle is made for SLA batteries, not so much for the Lion ones.
http://goldenmotor.com/SMF/index.php?topic=2382.msg13255#msg13255