How much of a draw on your battery is having your display left on but not riding?

[Tito'sHandle]

I have been riding my bike on a trail I cleared in the woods in an obscure park behind my neighborhood. It's beautiful back there but I noticed today I left the key in it and the display was still on!?!? That was from Saturday night and I noticed today at around noon. I've done this twice and am annoyed with my self as the battery was very well charged last time and had a lot of kick in it.

It got me wondering how much power do electric bikes draw when on with the display on but no motor or throttle action.

This display happens to backlit so I'm thinking maybe that was the main culprit. I did go from 5 bars to 4.

Seems to be it shouldn't draw much power at all.

Anyone have any insights?

 

[soyabean]

"bars" are very approximate, and are constantly being sampled. Only the manufacturers know how this part works. How often do you stop, turn off your ebike, and then turn it back on later to see it gained one bar?

An LCD display is drawing maybe milliamps... that's why calculators can be solar powered. The battery will be depleted by idle shelf life first before a display can suck life out of it.

 

[alphacarina]

Lithium batteries have a very long shelf life - Even a 5 or 10 ma load would run the battery down mush faster than just leaving it sit on a shelf unused

Don

 

[Gordon71]

Mine automatically shuts down after a few minutes if the bike just sits.

 

[MikeDD]

Mine doesn't have a display or a key. The motor will shut off on it's own if left on too long.

 

[harryS]

It's not just the power used by the display, but you have to account for the standby power in the controller. Still, there's not much going on when the motor is at rest.

I measured the draw on my 22A ebikeling 36V controller. It pulls about .025 amp at rest, which includes the drain from the 810LED display. That means it would use .6 AH in one day. I believe this system doesn't have a timer to power down, so if I went and left the bike turned on, it would run a 12 AH battery down in about three week.

My other controllers have an LCD display whi8ch will time out in abut 5 minutes if idle.

 

[Dallant]

On my Allant+7 the display cannot be turned off unless you shut the whole system down. The lights are more of a concern for me so I’m glad I can turn them on/off at will.

 

[Cramer Long]

On my Allant+7 the display cannot be turned off unless you shut the whole system down. The lights are more of a concern for me so I’m glad I can turn them on/off at will.

Yeah I agree . Turning off lights does extend battery life from what I have observed . I normally leave mine off . Just because where I ride you don't see cars at all . And when you do it usually a hay hauler going slower then I am

 

[Tito'sHandle]

Thanks folks. It definitely lost a little juice but I wanted to see what people thought about this in general so I could quantify and get an idea of how much of a drain it was.
Obviously not ideal to leave the key turned on and the display on. I had just literally mowed about 3/4 mile of trails in the woods. Trails I created out of nothing with my electric chain saw clearing deadfall and just kind of "figuring out" what would be the best path to avoid trees and do minimum alteration of the naturally beautiful terrain. In other words I was zonked a bit. The Truly's I had drank didn't help, lol.

Anyway, thanks again for the input. I need to post some pictures of this beautiful undiscovered parkland I have been playing in. It's beautiful.

 

[soyabean]

I left the key in it and the display was still on!?!? That was from Saturday night and I noticed today at around noon. I've done this twice and am annoyed with my self

Your ebike in particular, all electronics (controller) might be running full juice, holding back a relay to throw current to the motor.

Similar to cars, if you leave the ignition turned just before the starter solenoid engages, for example to listen to the radio, that can drain the car battery dead overnight.

I would stop leaving the key in hot and not do it a third time.

 

[john peck]

I have been riding my bike on a trail I cleared in the woods in an obscure park behind my neighborhood. It's beautiful back there but I noticed today I left the key in it and the display was still on!?!? That was from Saturday night and I noticed today at around noon. I've done this twice and am annoyed with my self as the battery was very well charged last time and had a lot of kick in it.

It got me wondering how much power do electric bikes draw when on with the display on but no motor or throttle action.

This display happens to backlit so I'm thinking maybe that was the main culprit. I did go from 5 bars to 4.

Seems to be it shouldn't draw much power at all.

Anyone have any insights?

It should be fairly insignifigant; most displays shut off automatically from inactivity. Even should they
not, displays need very little current.

 

[6zfshdb]

I have been riding my bike on a trail I cleared in the woods in an obscure park behind my neighborhood. It's beautiful back there but I noticed today I left the key in it and the display was still on!?!? That was from Saturday night and I noticed today at around noon. I've done this twice and am annoyed with my self as the battery was very well charged last time and had a lot of kick in it.

It got me wondering how much power do electric bikes draw when on with the display on but no motor or throttle action.

This display happens to backlit so I'm thinking maybe that was the main culprit. I did go from 5 bars to 4.

Seems to be it shouldn't draw much power at all.

Anyone have any insights?

FWIW, I measured the "at rest" (no backlight) current drain on the LCD display of my Pedego Interceptor at 40 milliamperes. The display has a power off switch that the instructions say to turn off when not riding. I rarely do it though and have never noticed any significant power loss even when leaving it on for an hour or more. I never leave the battery in the bike when I'm not riding for an extended period so forgetting to turn off the display isn't a problem.

 

[retiredNH]

How many hours of video can you watch with one charge of your smartphone? Several? Now, mentally compare the size of your smartphone battery (hint, only part of the case is battery) to your bike battery. Notice a difference?

 

[gioflowers]

Old thread, sorry for the necro post but here it is;

Does anyone know how to change the length of time that the display stays lit once the display is powered on?
My display lights up for barely a second before it goes off. I need more time, considering that I am often starting out
in dimly lit places.

Bike: Rize Liberty

Thanks for suggestions.

 

[harryS]

If your display has an up button, does holding it down for 10 seconds activate the LCD backlight?

 

[gioflowers]

If your display has an up button, does holding it down for 10 seconds activate the LCD backlight?

THANK YOU!
I didn't see that option in my manual.