The bars on the LCD display are much better at showing the approximate capacity of the battery.
Under load the voltage does fluctuate naturally and we show you the voltage on the main screen. The bars them selves have some code running in the background to compensate for the current draw and shape of the pack’s discharge curve.
The older LED type display had some software compensation, but the LCD on the CCS is quite good now. The real way measure the capacity is far more complicated involving transferring data from the BMS to the controller. That kind of system is beyond the scope of what we are trying to achieve for now.
Another thing we added is the “Advanced Mode” so you can see how many Ah you pull from the pack. Almost no manufacturer wants you to know how many Ah is getting pulled from the pack, but we put it there for advanced users who are more nosy.
If you reset the trip you will also reset the Ah (and Wh counters) Keep in mind that this is not a laboratory grade measuring device, but we tested it against a Cycle Analyst and it is decently accurate.
Our assist system in lower setting sips the battery energy and you can go shockingly far if you can stand to keep the speeds lower. This is possible because we use the precision torque sensor and high resolution cadence sensor to measure your leg power output.
We can ramp the motor’s power up and down to match your pedal force and intentions in real time. If you pedal lighter we can back the motor off, if you need to change speeds and pedal harder, we can ramp up the motor for just that brief moment.
The more basic cadence-only setups just flick the motor on at one speed when you turn the crank. That brief period of acceleration in the starts can be inefficient when not coordinated with your leg effort. If you pedal faster than the motor is spinning, your pedal force is absorbed by the motor and your speed will not change much. If you pedal slower than the motor is spinning, you might as well just take the chain off and use the throttle. In all those cases, it is not very efficient with just cadence sensor setup if you plan to do some pedaling, however we do have the option to turn the torque sensor off and just use the bike in cadence-only mode.
Things change dramatically when you want to go faster. The wind becomes a big effect and you need a lot more power to go every mph faster once you past like 25 mph. Just moving your head down a few inches to reduce some frontal could save a few hundred watts.