Battery recharge time

[Bruce Arnold]

On Friday, I did a 20 mile ride in to town and back. I don't recharge after every ride, so the battery was at around 49 volts when I set out. It was down to 44 volts when I got home.

44 volts is where I start to notice a serious loss of performance BTW.

The wife wanted to go for a ride later that afternoon, so I put the battery on the charger. In 2 hours it went from 44 to 48 volts. That's from 2 tick marks on the battery indicator to 6, if anyone wants a rough-and-ready comparison.

At 48 volts, we're back to good performance. Not as good as a full charge, but as my old man used to say, "good enough is good enough."

The main takeaway for me is how quickly you can add significant juice in just a couple of hours. This is useful information IMHO so I thought I'd share it.

 

[Reid]

Hi Bruce Arnold. I have gotten to where I just leave it on the OEM charger (it does its thing and charging stops) so I'll be fully charged for whatever local run I want to make. Yep. I am charging to 100%, same as I do with my Samsung Galaxy S8 when it's not in my pocket, it is on the wireless charger. Both batteries charge up to the same cell voltage. I figure the Samsung is good for a year or so, when I will probably trade it in. With my bike, however, the much stronger performance at the 52V neighborhood of charge and the maximized range, make full charging worth the shorter life span. I will upgrade, of course, to a larger and 52V battery when replacement time comes 'round.

The useful juice we can put back in the battery with the OEM charger is about 2 amp hours per hour, about 200-some Wh. That's certainly going to make a difference in pulling the battery up from a weak or unusable level, to a fair level; but that fair level does not much last. Yes, agreed, it makes a big difference.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Hi Bruce Arnold. I have gotten to where I just leave it on the OEM charger (it does its thing and charging stops) so I'll be fully charged for whatever local run I want to make. Yep. I am charging to 100%, same as I do with my Samsung Galaxy S8 when it's not in my pocket, it is on the wireless charger. Both batteries charge up to the same cell voltage. I figure the Samsung is good for a year or so, when I will probably trade it in. With my bike, however, the much stronger performance at the 52V neighborhood of charge and the maximized range, make full charging worth the shorter life span. I will upgrade, of course, to a larger and 52V battery when replacement time comes 'round.

The useful juice we can put back in the battery with the OEM charger is about 2 amp hours per hour, about 200-some Wh. That's certainly going to make a difference in pulling the battery up from a weak or unusable level, to a fair level; but that fair level does not much last. Yes, agreed, it makes a big difference.

Well put. I was glad to have even that much more power (48 V) for the jaunt with the wife. When we got home, I put it back on the charger for a full charge. We took a cruise to a restaurant 4 miles away this AM and I really enjoyed that zippy feeling.