Volt Bike Mariner 2016: So far so happy! Observations as they happen.

@zap016VOLTAGE I was just wondering when you started to notice your battery start to degrade on the Mariner if you happened to recall?
You happen to know how many miles you've put it so far with no battery degrade? I figure I have lost between 10-15 km's on a charge. Still looking for a possible source of the issue. Could be the lights, could be the rain, could be a tad heavier winter rain gear load. Overall, there still seems to be some battery overall loss though. Will be doing a battery swap soon to see if is my bike or the battery.
 
hope you figure out what is causing this issue

sure you already did this, but check the brakes

one of mine was getting really bad mileage and it was the brakes
 
Got out for a bike ride to compare how the bike battery was doing compared to my bow's. We saw the battery loss at the same time over 45km's and still had a bit left over (though not much). No light's were used so it would be good to try the same run with the light's on to see if there is a difference. I really need to get the connector to the light's checked out!! For now that the battery seems to be checking out, though I do think there has been a tad bit of loss. Maybe ~5km from new should be expected though?

Had some fun with walk assist and realized that it works in level ZERO AND will override throttle OR any level of PAS!!!:eek: This was a huge discovery IMHO. :D I ended up travelling uphill at a blazing 3km/hr.. for all those people looking for slower speeds hehe.. here it is.:p It gave me the giggles. It's great to know that walk assist can be engaged when your worried about lunging forward. I anticipate using this function lots in hairy times.

If you ever get a chance to travel on a hard packed sand/gravel play field, do it! It's probably the most fun I've had so far. Got to use just throttle and have my feet on the down tube and zipped around. Don't worry, no play field was injured or even left scared. :)
 
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Just got word my Mariner will be shipped out on Monday. This weekend looks like my maiden voyage.......yeah Im psyched.....I waited a long time, my wifes had her bike for over 2 months now......glad I didnt cave and waited for the Mariner!
 
RANGE & BATTERY USAGE:

As a guesstimate (if your wondering:D) based on my experiences to date, you may be able to achieve up to 28 miles in temps between 55-65F (no rain) with a weight limit up to 185lbs (including gear) without lights & without major hill elevation being the objective AND without excessive PAS levels and speed use on a freshly charged new-ish battery.

I like to be on my way home or within or around ~5 miles (8km) out when I see the battery indicator go from 3 to 2 bars. The further from home I am, the more frugal I become with the PAS often turning it off (PAS-0) and just using the throttle only when needed with PAS 1 (you can go a long ways this way but it is a work out). Keeping on eye on the power level output can really help gauge how much of the battery vs. human power is being used too. Another indicator the battery is on the low level: Generally it won't bring you up to 32km / 20mi per hour or show full power read out 500-500+ when on PAS 9.

The bottom half often goes quicker than the top (like a car gas tank). :p The gentler the slope and closure to optimal battery operating temps the longer. I've gone 37 miles on a single charge and probably could have squeezed a few more out in prime conditions (ie. not using max speed/PAS 7-9). :rolleyes:

I also think the range can be affected by partial use of the battery then stopping for (an) extended period(s) of time (ie. 8 hours for a work day) then using the remaining amount of battery. Normally my 32km (19mi) round trip bike ride (even in hilly terrain) would not be the bottom of the range but due to the delay midday it is. Though I may have to test this theory out to be sure this is the case. It is just a strong hunch at the moment though.

Best practices wise: I am unsure if it would be better for the battery to recharge/top off while at work or completely use the battery to the end and then recharge (there seems to be some indication that this might be better for battery longevity but does use up more of the battery cycles). That being said, it is really nice to not have to travel with the charger.
 
Inside the monitor settings(double click Power Button to reach) of the Mariner(and Yukon for that matter) are some symbols I have not been able to un-code. Anyone able to help?
It's an APT 800S of some kind. It appears to have more functions than the 2013 manual suggests.. I can't find a few of the codes and what they mean. Here is what I've got so far:

S7 - (km/mi)
bL1 - backlight brightness display
OFf - auto time(min) display off
W d - wheel diameter (set to 22)
bU0 - voltage set (42V)
PSd - password (enter 1919)
SPL - speed limit (45km) - gov cuts off before 32km
CUL - MAX Current Limit set (default 15A)
HAL - Magnetic Pole numbers of speed sensor (set to 1. Not sure what impact this would have if adjusted)
ASs - ?
Hd6 - ?
HdP - ?
PAs - levels of assist(set to 0-9 not the default setting)

Before I go off and clicking, does someone happen to understand this computer/programming speak? :rolleyes:



Have you adjusted those few unknowns at all yet?

I wonder if @Voltbike knows.
 
RANGE & BATTERY USAGE:

As a guesstimate (if your wondering:D) based on my experiences to date, you may be able to achieve up to 28 miles in temps between 55-65F (no rain) with a weight limit up to 185lbs (including gear) without lights & without major hill elevation being the objective AND without excessive PAS levels and speed use on a freshly charged new-ish battery.

I like to be on my way home or within or around ~5 miles (8km) out when I see the battery indicator go from 3 to 2 bars. The further from home I am, the more frugal I become with the PAS often turning it off (PAS-0) and just using the throttle only when needed with PAS 1 (you can go a long ways this way but it is a work out). Keeping on eye on the power level output can really help gauge how much of the battery vs. human power is being used too. Another indicator the battery is on the low level: Generally it won't bring you up to 32km / 20mi per hour or show full power read out 500-500+ when on PAS 9.

The bottom half often goes quicker than the top (like a car gas tank). :p The gentler the slope and closure to optimal battery operating temps the longer. I've gone 37 miles on a single charge and probably could have squeezed a few more out in prime conditions (ie. not using max speed/PAS 7-9). :rolleyes:

I also think the range can be affected by partial use of the battery then stopping for (an) extended period(s) of time (ie. 8 hours for a work day) then using the remaining amount of battery. Normally my 32km (19mi) round trip bike ride (even in hilly terrain) would not be the bottom of the range but due to the delay midday it is. Though I may have to test this theory out to be sure this is the case. It is just a strong hunch at the moment though.

Best practices wise: I am unsure if it would be better for the battery to recharge/top off while at work or completely use the battery to the end and then recharge (there seems to be some indication that this might be better for battery longevity but does use up more of the battery cycles). That being said, it is really nice to not have to travel with the charger.
Another observation is that my "Power/Wattage" shows that on throttle only (no pedaling):

32 km/h uses around 500W
25 km/h uses around 250W

Conclusion: 32 km/h is only 28% faster, but uses 100% (double) the wattage! I can greatly extend my range simply going a bit slower.

In practice, I always pedal at average speeds ~22 km/h. My typical range (with pedaling) is around 70+ km with around 2 bars left. That's over 3 hours of pedaling with rest in between. I have done 4 of these 70+ km rides so far. Most other rides are around 30-40 km roundtrip.

P.S. I have the Yukon 750.
 
I have a Yukon 750 Limited and it seems like it has the same APT Intelligent LCD (800S) as the Mariner.

I believe the HD6 parameter sets the throttle to 6km/h; 0 for off and 1 for on. HDP toggles the throttle power/current level to match the PAS level (1 for on) or off (0) for full power independent of PAS level.

I would like to know what ASs (or may be it is AS5) does. Input choices are 1-15 so I'm wondering if this parameter is supposed to match the number of magnets on the bike? Yukon 750 has 12 magnets near the pedals.
 
HDP toggles the throttle power/current level to match the PAS level (1 for on) or off (0) for full power independent of PAS level.
Were you able to confirm this? If true, this may be useful. I don't like cruising for extending periods at full 32km/h (inefficient), so it may be useful to specify max throttle to match PAS level. Currently, I just adjust my throttle manually to keep cruising below 25 km/h but is difficult to on bumpy surfaces. I'd still like/need full throttle from time-to-time though.
 
I confirmed by trial and error. Definitely helps when you want to just cruise at the lower speeds. I'm with you liking/needing full throttle from time-to-time.
 
Conclusion: 32 km/h is only 28% faster, but uses 100% (double) the wattage! I can greatly extend my range simply going a bit slower.

In practice, I always pedal at average speeds ~22 km/h. My typical range (with pedaling) is around 70+ km with around 2 bars left. That's over 3 hours of pedaling with rest in between. I have done 4 of these 70+ km rides so far. Most other rides are around 30-40 km roundtrip.

P.S. I have the Yukon 750.

I believe the Yukon battery has a bit more capacity and the motor is a bit beefier. Perhaps this can extend the range your bike can go. I have noticed you can go slower and get more battery as well but I hadn't quite narrowed it down to 22km/h. I will keep that in mind though it's hard to not push it to the max when you are headed to work. :p

What did you mean by this? @SuperGoop
"my "Power/Wattage" shows that on throttle only (no pedaling)"
Did you mean the display only shows you the Pass/Wattage level when you are on throttle only? Perhaps I have misread.
 
APT Intelligent LCD (800S) as the Mariner...
I believe the HD6 parameter sets the throttle to 6km/h; 0 for off and 1 for on. HDP toggles the throttle power/current level to match the PAS level (1 for on) or off (0) for full power independent of PAS level.

I would like to know what ASs (or may be it is AS5) does. Input choices are 1-15 so I'm wondering if this parameter is supposed to match the number of magnets on the bike? Yukon 750 has 12 magnets near the pedals.

@ace20ri Sounds like you have dived deeper into the system than I. I have been curious but tentative to change these over but if have not had any major issues while adjusting these, then I might give a try and see what happens.:) Adjusting the throttle output sounds like an added bonus that I would be keen to try. :D

Of course still curious what the outstanding ASs or AS5 does as well if you connect the dots..
 
Did you mean the display only shows you the Pass/Wattage level when you are on throttle only? Perhaps I have misread.
No, my display shows Power/Wattage in both throttle and PAS modes. I was just saying that if I was using purely throttle, those were the wattages I observed.
 
No, my display shows Power/Wattage in both throttle and PAS modes. I was just saying that if I was using purely throttle, those were the wattages I observed.
Ah.. that makes sense. Serious perks to riding slower overall me thinks. :D
 
@SuperGoop
The codes I have adjusted included: SPL, Wd, OFf, bL1, PAs (set to 0-9 instead of default 1-9).
I was not able to uncode the others still or play with for fear of hurting something (IE. Can't imagine adjusting the voltage would be a good idea.) I did send an email to @Voltbike but I did not get a response in regards to the codes. The manual that is online did not have all of the features included.
Is there any way to contact the LCDs manufactuer for the information, they should know what codes are for! I have a YUKON 750 with no manual for the Intelligent LCD. VOLTBIKE needs to provide the correct up to date manuals for his customers on his WEB site.
 
Here is what I've been able to gather from various sources for my Voltbike Yukon 750 (maybe same for the Voltbike Mariner?). Hopefully someone will be able to add to it:

S7 - (km/mile)

bL1 - backlight brightness display (3)

OFf - auto time(min) display off (5)

W d - wheel diameter (26)

bU0 - voltage set (48V)

PSd - password (1919)

SPL - speed limit (45km) - gov cuts off at 32km

CUL - MAX Current Limit set (default 15A)

HAL - Magnetic Pole numbers of speed sensor (default=1. Use Unknown ???)

ASs(AS5) - 1-15 ??? (default 12) # of Cadence magnets?

Hd6 - sets the throttle to 6km/h; 1=ON, 0=OFF (default 0)

HdP - toggles the throttle power/current level to match the PAS level. 1=ON; 0=OFF (default 0, full power independent of PAS level)

PAs - levels of assist (set to 0-9; default 1-5)
 
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my friend has one and i would say yes

but maybe some others that have actually hauled it in a trunk can chime in
 
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