Radrover Power Meter

[radroverAZ]

Hello everyone! I just got my Radrover last week and finally got out for a ride yesterday. LOVE IT! Most fun I have had on a bicycle since I was a kid.

I searched for comments about it, but I was wondering if my experience is normal. When riding, the power meter on the LCD fluctuates greatly. Like from 4 bars down to 1 or 2 when I up the power to PAS 4 or 5. When I stop and the bike sits, it goes back up to 4 or 5 bars.

I know there are a lot of factors and I am heavier at about 240lbs. It was a little windy but probably only about 5 MPH. I was wondering if this was normal for such a huge variation or if there is something wrong with my LCD.

 

[mrgold35]

Congrats on the Radrover! The wife and I has ours since Sept/16 and have about 1100 miles between the both of them.

Normal from my experience at 270lbs+25lbs of gear (back pack and winter riding gear for work commute). I've seen the power meter go down to 1 bar when the motor is really working hard on a long incline and back up again to full bars at a stop light. I ended up getting another charger to leave at work to top off the power between rides. I've had headwinds at +25mph and at my weight that will eat some battery power on my work commutes.

I've noticed the Radrover will not delivery full 750w power on a steep incline if you battery pack is already less than 2 bars and it needs to dig deep into the battery reserves to maintain speed. I ended up getting the blinking 1 bar of power when accelerating and back to normal 1 bar when I slowed down.

 

[joyride]

I've had mine for a few weeks and that's exactly how mine works when I'm using PAS 4 or 5. It'll dip down when the motor is really working, then settle in at 3 or 4 bars of power when the top speed levels off. This happens even with a completely full battery. I've opted to not use the throttle much because the power bar sits at 1 bar pretty much all the time, and not knowing exactly how much the battery has left is scary, mainly because I don't want to pedal this beast of a bike home if the battery dies. Luckily, though, my commute is only 4 miles each way, so even though I don't know how much of my battery is left, I should be able to make it to and from work without a problem.

 

[mrgold35]

I wish the battery scale gave a 1% increment reading next to 5 bars like a smartphone.

It is another windy day and I'm usually at 1 bar trying to get home scared I have to pedal with a +20 mph headwind.

 

[walawn]

@mrgold35 You could wire a battery meter in-line which would solve this problem. That way you could see Ah left in battery/consumed. Below are a few examples:

1. (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) ($15)

2. (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) ($22)

3. https://lunacycle.com/batteries/gauge/luna-cycle-watt-meter/ ($29)

 

[vincent]

the people that use levels 4 and 5 a lot do you live where there are lots of hills or long slopes? or are you always trying to go 20mph?

with my radmini and rover i have to keep the gear on 6 or 7 in level 3 to have any pedal resistance
think i have used level4 three or four times on the rover and the mini has hardly used level 3

but i ride on mostly flat shared use bike baths and dirt roads a lot and my normal speed is around 12-14 and top speed maybe 17 here and there

just interesting but i cannot ever use the higher levels unless maybe climbing a steep hill here and there

 

[mrgold35]

I'm usually PAS 1-2 riding the single/double wide dirt trails and PAS 2-3 on paved walking/jogging/bike trails. I set my PAS to 4-5 on my 13 mile round trip work commute. I try to go as fast as I can on my work commutes since I'm riding on main and side roads with the speed limits is already 25-45 mph for vehicles.

 

[vincent]

interesting, when the bike is on level 4 and 5 do you have any resistance to the pedals at all?

thanks for the info, your riding except for the commuting part sounds like mine

 

[mrgold35]

I'm biking from 5400 ft to 4900 ft riding 6.5 miles one way to work with my speed between 20-23 mph in PAS 5. The watts are usually around 0-300 depending on the grade of the decline (a few level spots along the way). Going home is just one long incline and depending on the headwind determines if I use PAS 3 or 4. I lower the PAS level and try to pedal hard enough to keep the watts in the 300 range or below with a peak of 500 watts on the steeper parts. I'm usually breaking a pretty good sweat by the time I get home (my daily workout routine).

 

[walawn]

@mrgold35 You could wire a battery meter in-line which would solve this problem. That way you could see Ah left in battery/consumed. Below are a few examples:

1. (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) ($15)

2. (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) ($22)

3. https://lunacycle.com/batteries/gauge/luna-cycle-watt-meter/ ($29)

@mrgold35 battery meter would give you piece of mind. i love my full color LCD on my BBSHD Radrover and it shows battery percentage in 1% increments

 

[Thom473]

Not positive, but pretty sure the stock battery "level" indicator is just a voltmeter. SO, as demand (headwind, grade, throttle...) increases, the voltage will drop (so display shows 1-2 bars)...but, the controller will compensate to keep wattage up based on throttle or PAS level--it does this by allowing additional AMPs into the motor (Watts = Volts times Amps). Amps, though, cause heat in wiring--which is why Radbikes says to keep watts under 500 on hills (they also said to me in email that it'd probably be OK as long as speed is under 10). The "real" battery capacity isn't shown unless there's no load.

 

[walawn]

@Thom473 You are correct.

 

[Scottv]

Slower speeds and high wattage is actually harder on the controller and motor. If possible when going up hills, it is best to keep the speed above 8-10 mph while using 500 watts. This keeps the phase current (motor current) down and provides more air cooling.