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Pushing the speed of the MCM5 & charging...


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Hi all!

I've been cruisin on my MCM5 for about ~25 miles total so far and I'm already at the speed cap. Fastest I've pushed it is 26mph according to the Darknessbot app. Been absolutely loving it but I'm not quite sure exactly how far I can push it?

I have the alarms on the wheel still on but I'm not sure what they're warning me of. How much farther can I push the wheel once I hear the second alarm? Is that venturing into the land of a a motor cut out or is it just warning me that I'm getting closer to a point where tilt back will be activated? I'd like to push this wheel to a relatively safe max speed but I don't want to risk a cut out or something stupid just by not being informed.

As far as charging goes, I've been keeping it at around ~80% whenever I charge it up. I have a rapid charger so I can set the amount which is nice. But something seems to be reading incorrectly. My app will tell my my battery is at 70% but when I try to charge the wheel up to even 90% the charger runs for 10 seconds and then chills out, as if it was already at 90% power.

Thoughts?

 

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1st and second alarm (2 and 3 beeps) are just alarms at some fixed speeds and can be disabled. The third alarm (which you can't disable) starts at 43kph (26.7mph) at 100% and goes down to 33kph (20.5mph) at 10% battery for the 84V MCM5 (see here). So it's just another speed alarm in the end, but I haven't heard of any crashes on Gotway wheels despite it, so it seems low enough. But when you hear the third alarm, that's definitely not something to ignore!

No idea if there is an extra final tiltback and how that behaves, or if there's just the optional tiltback at some fixed speed which can be disabled. @Marty Backe do you know?

No idea about the battery. What app shows 70%? Also, the charger may be using a voltage for 90% that the wheel considers 70%. At which voltage does a so-called 90% charge stop (ithe charger has a display and shows the voltage, right?).

Edited by meepmeepmayer
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9 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

1st and second alarm (2 and 3 beeps) are just alarms at some fixed speeds and can be disabled. The third alarm (which you can't disable) starts at 43kph (26.7mph) at 100% and goes down to 33kph (20.5mph) at 10% battery for the 84V MCM5 (see here). So it's just another speed alarm in the end, but I haven't heard of any crashes on Gotway wheels despite it, so it seems low enough. But when you hear the third alarm, that's definitely not something to ignore!

No idea if there is an extra final tiltback and how that behaves, or if there's just the optional tiltback at some fixed speed which can be disabled. @Marty Backe do you know?

No idea about the battery. What app shows 70%? Also, the charger may be using a voltage for 90% that the wheel considers 70%. At which voltage does a so-called 90% charge stop (ithe charger has a display and shows the voltage, right?).

Oh thank's so much for linking that thread, that helped me understand how the top speeds work at different batteries really well. I'm still a bit confused as to what the risk is at the time of the third alarm? What is it warning me of? Just that I'm approaching max speed and at that point it will tilt me back? I suppose that's along the same lines as the question you quoted Marty for but I'm really curious as to why I need the to heed the third warning heheh.

The darknessbot app is what shows the 70%! I tried to get it to 90% at the app's perceives 70% with the amps set to 3, not sure what the voltage was though. I'll test it more tonight when I get home and let you know.

Thanks for the help!

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28 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

1st and second alarm (2 and 3 beeps) are just alarms at some fixed speeds and can be disabled. The third alarm (which you can't disable) starts at 43kph (26.7mph) at 100% and goes down to 33kph (20.5mph) at 10% battery for the 84V MCM5 (see here). So it's just another speed alarm in the end, but I haven't heard of any crashes on Gotway wheels despite it, so it seems low enough. But when you hear the third alarm, that's definitely not something to ignore!

No idea if there is an extra final tiltback and how that behaves, or if there's just the optional tiltback at some fixed speed which can be disabled. @Marty Backe do you know?

No idea about the battery. What app shows 70%? Also, the charger may be using a voltage for 90% that the wheel considers 70%. At which voltage does a so-called 90% charge stop (ithe charger has a display and shows the voltage, right?).

I'm not aware of any unique tilt-back. The MCM5 rides like every other Gotway wheel.

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2 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

I'm not aware of any unique tilt-back. The MCM5 rides like every other Gotway wheel.

Hey Marty,

What is the risk at the time of the third alarm? What is it warning me of? Just that I'm approaching max speed and at that point it will tilt me back? I'm really curious as to why I need the to heed the third warning heheh.

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The 3rd alarm is an alarm that tells you you've reached 80% of max power the motor and battery can give you.
If you continue to accelerate you will reach 100% and the wheel can/will cut out (to protect itself) and your face gets an intimate meet with the ground :o

You could very quickly need the final 20% to ride out a bump you didn't notice.

Here you can see what could happen.

This was on a Tesla.

Edited by Olav
Typo
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What @meepmeepmayer says regards the alarms.

I always charge my wheels to 100-percent. I have a fast charger but rarely use it unless I'm in a hurry. So if you want to maximize your range, charge to 100-percent.

I'm pretty sure the MCM5 is rated as a ~25-mph wheel, and that's at 100-percent battery. Given the diameter of the wheel, I think you'll be safer if you stay in the lower 20's.

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19 minutes ago, nickysneids said:

Hey Marty,

What is the risk at the time of the third alarm? What is it warning me of? Just that I'm approaching max speed and at that point it will tilt me back? I'm really curious as to why I need the to heed the third warning heheh.

If you have turned off the tilt-back then you must pay attention to the 3rd alarm religiously. If you hear a single beep, let off on the gas a little. Honoring the 3rd alarm will keep you and your face safe :)

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16 minutes ago, Olav said:

The 3rd alarm is an alarm that tells you you've reached 80% of max power the motor and battery can give you.
If you continue to accelerate you will reach 100% and the wheel can/will cut out (to protect itself) and your face gets an intimate meet with the ground :o

You could very quickly need the final 20% to ride out a bump you didn't notice.

Here you can see what could happen.

This was on a Tesla.

Damn good thing that dude was wearing gear! That's pretty sketchy, can't imagine how bad that would have been with less protection. Thanks for the info, this is exactly the info I needed to respect the third beep haha.

14 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

What @meepmeepmayer says regards the alarms.

I always charge my wheels to 100-percent. I have a fast charger but rarely use it unless I'm in a hurry. So if you want to maximize your range, charge to 100-percent.

I'm pretty sure the MCM5 is rated as a ~25-mph wheel, and that's at 100-percent battery. Given the diameter of the wheel, I think you'll be safer if you stay in the lower 20's.

Yeah I currently like to cruise right around 22/23 but I've heard some beeps and was wondering why. On a side note, why is it that you always charge to 100%? I read in a bunch of places only charging to 80% can greatly improve the total life of the battery.

11 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

If you have turned off the tilt-back then you must pay attention to the 3rd alarm religiously. If you hear a single beep, let off on the gas a little. Honoring the 3rd alarm will keep you and your face safe :)

Cheers man I definitely will, thanks!

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3 minutes ago, nickysneids said:

Damn good thing that dude was wearing gear! That's pretty sketchy, can't imagine how bad that would have been with less protection. Thanks for the info, this is exactly the info I needed to respect the third beep haha.

Yeah I currently like to cruise right around 22/23 but I've heard some beeps and was wondering why. On a side note, why is it that you always charge to 100%? I read in a bunch of places only charging to 80% can greatly improve the total life of the battery.

Cheers man I definitely will, thanks!

There's a lot of debate about babying the batteries. I may be biased because I have a lot of wheels to choose from, but my belief is that you'll be buying another wheel long before the capacity of your batteries start diminishing. A couple of my wheels are over 2-years old and sometimes sit for months at 100-percent charge. They still ride great and appear to have the full capacity that they did when new.

So my view is to charge to 100-percent and enjoy the wheel. Let yourself worry about more important things in life instead of expending metal energy on the batteries.

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16 minutes ago, Olav said:

My view on the matter is that I think its unnecessary.
Lets do some math, if you get 20 miles (round, easy number) out of your MCM5 (100%-20%), and you charge it to 100% only when you reach 20%, and you charge it 500 times (500 cycles), you've then ridden 500 x 20 miles = 10 000 miles
Most, if not all, riders will have gotten a new wheel way before they get to 10 000 miles.

If you know you're going to let it sit for a longer period, then possible don't leave it at 100%, but otherwise, have fun and don't worry about charging (except when you need more range B)).

My 0.02$ :)

Dang that's a really good way of looking at it. I have a feeling I'll be happy to get 2,000 miles on this thing with the way I'm riding it haha. This definitely puts it into perspective though.

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2 hours ago, nickysneids said:

Dang that's a really good way of looking at it. I have a feeling I'll be happy to get 2,000 miles on this thing with the way I'm riding it haha. This definitely puts it into perspective though.

I bet you'll love (most of) those 2 000 miles ;)
Enjoy!

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