I was going to try this but without shortening the rubber grip there is no space on the left side for the brake, throttle, and display before the bar gets too fat. Suggestions?
Thoughts on CrossCurrent Air?
- Thread starter jharlow77
- Start date
sucka free
Member
Funny! I was JUST about to shorten them this evening cause it really is too wide for my taste. I'm gonna use a pipe cutter to take off 2 inches on both sides. Then I'm going to trim the left grip since it'll be too long. Going to try that and if I have to, I'll just go buy some short grips from my LBS.
Btw, I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not big on having a throttle. It is nice but I just don't see using it so that may solve the asymmetry problem as that throttle is pretty wide. I also put the platform pedals back on but it is very weird to ride any bike without spds.
I have a 25.4 stem and shorter handlebar from a different bike. Is there any danger in using this on the Air?
sucka free
Member
First test ride to work today, this bike is amazing! 4 miles on Sport mode and used only one bar of power on the display. Early in the ride I lost power and stopped and wiggled around some cables and reconnected the battery and all was fine so not sure what that was and hopefully it won't be an issue in the future. I test rode a VERY expensive Stromer E-bike in Switzerland a couple years ago and I have to say the AIR performs just as good or better than that one! No doubt the Stromer has superior parts and engineering but for the cost/performance ratio you can't beat the AIR!
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Pete B
Member
I have a similar issue with the power sometimes. When the power goes down to three bars I seem to completely lose power as I'am riding. The lights on the display are on but I can't feel any assist. I continue my ride for, maybe, 2 minutes, and then the power kicks back in and it doesn't happen again. I have an idea it's something to do with the BMS. I notice it always happens after I have been in sport mode for a few miles, and toward the end of my journey ( I ride in assist level 3 most of the time). So now I recharge the battery after every use, so that the battery does not drop below four bars. Since I have started doing that it hasn't happened.
This could be the culprit since I've been riding almost exclusively in Sport mode but the battery had always been at near full charge. It seems like the display adjusts to the predicted amount of battery left based on your current riding conditions because my bars often jump from 5 to 3 to 4. Is it ok to top off the battery after every ride even if it is still displaying full? Will this affect the battery lifespan at all?
Pete B
Member
Yes, I think it's ok. This is from the CC owners manual on Juiced website:
Your Lithium battery does not have a “memory effect” associated with older battery technologies. It is highly recommended you charge the battery after every ride even if the battery is only lightly used.
I completely disagree with that statement. It's well known that with LiPo batteries a sustained full charge or deep discharge will reduce the lifespan of the battery. It is true that they don't have a memory effect. I think general consensus is to avoid discharging a pack below 20% and above ~80%ish to prolong pack life and get the most cycles from it.
Really good info here: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Cliffs Notes:
Most Li-ions charge to 4.20V/cell, and every reduction in peak charge voltage of 0.10V/cell is said to double the cycle life. For example, a lithium-ion cell charged to 4.20V/cell typically delivers 300–500 cycles. If charged to only 4.10V/cell, the life can be prolonged to 600–1,000 cycles; 4.0V/cell should deliver 1,200–2,000 and 3.90V/cell should provide 2,400–4,000 cycles.
In terms of longevity, the optimal charge voltage is 3.92V/cell. Battery experts believe that this threshold eliminates all voltage-related stresses; going lower may not gain further benefits.
Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, the depth of discharge (DoD) determines the cycle count of the battery. The smaller the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid full discharges.
Also, it almost sounds like your problem is voltage sag under high load causing the LVC(low voltage cutoff) to prematurely activate. LVC is built in to the BMS(battery management system) to protect the battery when it's approaching an empty state. I believe on the advanced LCD controller you can adjust what the cutoff voltage is.
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I don't know how it is with the advanced display but on the stock display and on the battery display itself it's really hard to hit that 80% mark accurately. The display on the bike is constantly jumping around depending on my current activity and the display on the battery only has four levels of power. For example on my ride home from work today I was at three lights on the bike display as I pulled up to the house but as soon as I stop peddling it jumped back up to five. I guess if I just make sure the battery was at three lights that would mean 75%? Would that be a good level to try to keep the battery at?
Without the Grin charger and advanced LCD display it'll be pretty hard to get accurate numbers. You'd need to measure voltages with a voltmeter to figure out how much you use on a typical route and how long to charge to get the right charge. With the Grin you can tell it to stop charging at whatever percentage you want. Mine is set to 85%. Then the advanced LCD will tell you how many amps you've taken out of the battery as you ride. So if I have a 20 Ah battery an 85% charge would be 17 Ah. Not going below 20% when I discharge means I have 13.6 Ah to ride with. So when my LCD says I've used 13 Ah I know it's time to charge it back up.
It sucks a little to only get 13 Ah out of a 20 Ah battery but then again its $1400 to replace and if I baby it like that it "should" last for years and years.
It sucks a little to only get 13 Ah out of a 20 Ah battery but then again its $1400 to replace and if I baby it like that it "should" last for years and years.
Obviously people are free to do whatever they want but I still think that's bad advice. Juiced website says it's battery packs are good for 600 charges to 60%. How many less charges do you think you'll get from 100% charges. Just look at my photos in above posts. This data isn't for storing a battery at 100%, it's simply charging it to that level.
Pete B
Member
I rarely charge my battery until the green light appears on the charger. I usually just top off the battery for about an hour or so. I look to see if i have the four green lights on the battery and then unplug. So hopefully i'm charging my battery no more than about 85%, but of course without a cycle satiator I can't know. When I don't plan to ride the bike for a few days, like over the weekend, I just don't charge it. Now, I had thought maybe the reason why Juiced recommend charging your battery after ever ride was too avoid running the battery power below 20% which would damage the battery over time. However Justin Lemire-Elmore of Grin Technologies said that it better for the battery to charge at the lower end, i,e 0-60% rather than 20-80%. Of course that's not practical if you have longer commute and not a very large battery. But if that is the case it would be better to charge the battery less time, more often, rather than full charging to 80 or 100% less often. However he also said that some batteries should be charged to 100% from time to time. That's because the battery cells can charge unevenly. If that is not corrected by fully charging the battery then the BMS would shut down the battery. Also, as I understand, a full cycle is when the battery is completely discharged and then charged to 100%. Charging a battery from say 40 or 50% to 80 or 100% would be a partial cycle and count toward a full cycle.
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That's correct about an occasional full charge, that's a whole other topic I didn't get into. I confirmed with Juiced that the BMS in their batteries does not balance charge the battery during partial charging. That's why doing a charge to 100% every once in a while is desirable. The BMS will balance the cells when you full charge. Grin also does a good job explaining that:
In addition, this website will tell you almost anything you'll ever want to know about LiPo use and care: http://www.tjinguytech.com/charging-how-tos
P.S. I disagree with 60-0 being better than 80-20 imo based on everything I've read/learned/tested with RC LiPo packs.
In addition, this website will tell you almost anything you'll ever want to know about LiPo use and care: http://www.tjinguytech.com/charging-how-tos
P.S. I disagree with 60-0 being better than 80-20 imo based on everything I've read/learned/tested with RC LiPo packs.
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Does anyone know if the Yepp Maxi baby seat with seat tube mount fits on the Air along with a rear rack? I have a Thule bike seat that does not allow for enough room to also mount a rear rack and was thinking of switching to the Yepp if it would allow both to be mounted at the same time.
After a week at the shop and new battery mounts installed from Juiced, my power drop issues have vanished and loving the bike. My wife just got a Faraday, however, and even though my Air is more powerful and better range the Faraday is SO much more elegant and light and just feels tight and high quality but of course you pay for that!
Andy_in_CA
Active Member
awesome...glad your enjoying your bike now!
Any suggestions for good fenders on the AIR? I just got the SKS ones yesterday but the front fender will not fit on the mounting hole on the side with the brake even with the provided spacers so I will have to zip tie it to the fork if I want to use it and this is obviously not ideal. Does anyone know of any other fenders that are similarly priced and as simple as these? Any tips for making the front fender work other than zip tie to the fork?
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