v10f Range issue with new V10F:

[FoamieNinja]

I did a bit of prodding in the official Discord channel before deciding to post my issue here and such...
Yesterday, I decided to see how far I could push my new V10F on a single charge. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed when my answer ended up being ~24 miles.

I'm at a bit of a loss for the solution, as the only thing I could come up with was that the li-ion pack may have gotten swapped out accidentally, when they were fiddling with the waterproofing issue.

The ride was smooth, level, and paved for at least 90% of the trip... with the only exceptions being road crossings and a couple of bridges.
I only weigh 160lb, so weight shouldn't be an issue. I keep tire pressure at roughly 36PSi, as well.
Most, if not all acceleration and deceleration cycles were smooth and gradual, too.

To me, 24 miles seems abnormally short, considering InMotion claims at least 50 under ideal conditions. Even derating that value by 10-20% is acceptable.
Something seems quite off, when one is only able to achieve 40-50% of the stated range.

Thoughts?

[meepmeepmayer]

Something's wrong unless you were maxing out the speed all the time. Speed (wind drag) will decide your range, surface and riding style change very little in comparison.

Your theory of the swapped battery pack makes very much sense, since you ruled out so much else. 24 miles is pretty much what one would expect for the V10 for a rider with your weight. You could open the wheel and check the battery pack, surely there's a sticker on it stating the capacity. Does the app say anything about the battery capacity?

Other ideas:

• Something wrong with the charger and it doesn't charge to full. You could check that.
• Some early V10 or V10Fs had some problem with the motor bearings. Maybe this is the case for you, and some kind of friction reduces your range? But I believe back then people heard a scratching sound, so if you hear nothing...
  This is something you could ask Inmotion support with your wheel or motor serial number.

Check the charger, if it's ok check the battery. Or just ask Inmotion support. @Liamfind

For reference:

• A 650Wh V10 should get 33km/21 miles for a 80kg/175lbs 30kph/20mph rider. So the 24 mile range would make sense for you.
• A 960Wh V10F should get 50km/30 miles for a 80kg/175lbs rider at 30kph/20mph, so easily more for you.

Here's a disassembly video. There are more on Youtube.

 

[Marty Backe]

3 hours ago, FoamieNinja said:

I did a bit of prodding in the official Discord channel before deciding to post my issue here and such...
Yesterday, I decided to see how far I could push my new V10F on a single charge. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed when my answer ended up being ~24 miles.

I'm at a bit of a loss for the solution, as the only thing I could come up with was that the li-ion pack may have gotten swapped out accidentally, when they were fiddling with the waterproofing issue.

The ride was smooth, level, and paved for at least 90% of the trip... with the only exceptions being road crossings and a couple of bridges.
I only weigh 160lb, so weight shouldn't be an issue. I keep tire pressure at roughly 36PSi, as well.
Most, if not all acceleration and deceleration cycles were smooth and gradual, too.

To me, 24 miles seems abnormally short, considering InMotion claims at least 50 under ideal conditions. Even derating that value by 10-20% is acceptable.
Something seems quite off, when one is only able to achieve 40-50% of the stated range.

Thoughts?

50-miles on the V10F should be an impossibility. I have a lot of experience with many wheels and they all get close to the same "gas mileage". So I know what a ~1000wh wheel can achieve. Plenty of others on this Forum do too.

First, if you step on the scale right before you get on the wheel, will it actually show ~160-pounds. Or is that what you weight naked in the morning. You might be surprised what your riding weight is. But you're in the ballpark of my weight (riding weight of ~175-pounds).

A 1000-wh wheel, when ridden mixed speeds and conditions (no extreme hills) should be expected to get ~30 to 35-miles. If you baby it (max speed ~18-mph) you can get maybe 40-miles. If you ride the hell out of it (lots of 20+ mph speeds), it'll be a ~25-mile wheel. If you don't ride fast (20+ mph) a lot, but instead ride into a headwind or climb a lot of 20-foot hills, same thing; 25-mile wheel.

I'm speaking from experience, not theory.

P.s. Your tire pressure is certainly on the low side which will have a negative impact on range.

[Inmotion Global]

3 hours ago, FoamieNinja said:

I did a bit of prodding in the official Discord channel before deciding to post my issue here and such...
 Yesterday, I decided to see how far I could push my new V10F on a single charge. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed when my answer ended up being ~24 miles.

I'm at a bit of a loss for the solution, as the only thing I could come up with was that the li-ion pack may have gotten swapped out accidentally, when they were fiddling with the waterproofing issue.

The ride was smooth, level, and paved for at least 90% of the trip... with the only exceptions being road crossings and a couple of bridges.
I only weigh 160lb, so weight shouldn't be an issue. I keep tire pressure at roughly 36PSi, as well.
Most, if not all acceleration and deceleration cycles were smooth and gradual, too.

 To me, 24 miles seems abnormally short, considering InMotion claims at least 50 under ideal conditions. Even derating that value by 10-20% is acceptable.
Something seems quite off, when one is only able to achieve 40-50% of the stated range.

Thoughts?

4

@FoamieNinja   Hello. Can you send me more details data of your range test?  24 miles is really abnormal data. 

[FreeRide]

Don't forget temperature effects.

[Inmotion Global]

14 hours ago, FreeRide said:

Don't forget temperature effects.

Correct. Not very good performance under low temperature. Sad!!

[FoamieNinja]

I haven't had the time to attempt another long range run with it as of late, due to poor weather conditions... But I did squeeze in a couple of short runs with the tire inflated to 50psi. It's a bit more unforgiving with bumps, but seems to be a bit more nimble when maneuvering. I may bump it up a bit more in the future, just to see how much of a change in performance I'd see.

I regularly deal with, and am intimately aware of the characteristics of lithium based cells, and their "quirks."
The temperature at the time was within acceptable limits, and shouldn't have been that much of a contributing factor in this.

I don't believe wind should have been much of an issue, either... As the gusts were perpendicular to my direction of travel... I did get blown across the bike lane a couple of times, though.

Probably the simplest way I can think to quickly get an accurate measurement of what's going on under the hood, would be to rig an ammeter, and shunt inline with the input.
It's a clean, and simple method for getting a decently accurate reading, as long as it's properly calibrated.
Also, for confirmation... 160lb loaded. ±5lb just to account for drift in the scale.
I'll definitely need to revisit this once the weather warms up again. Unfortunately, it's just too cold outside to get an accurate result right now.

-------

Edit:
I did manage a 27 mile run today (12-19-2018), @ 60PSi. Not a significant increase in distance by any stretch, but it was only approx. 45-50° outside. Li-ion cells don't perform quite as well under those temps. At a guess, I probably lost close to 10-15% of my runtime to low temps. That would equate to roughly 3-4 miles.

[Inmotion Global]

Please share us some more riding experience. Then, we can discuss more of it.

Will always be here.

Thanks