New i5 user experience

[brianle]

27 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

A wheel like the i5 should come with its own, specifically designed backpack with an extra compartment for the wheel (dirt, as you said) as the "back plate". Kind of a neat package if it's done fashionable!

Agreed.  I think that IPS could add this as an option, at the same time that they (1) fix the power button issue (perhaps "push and hold"), (2) add subtle black velcro on the sides to allow for easy addition/removal of side padding, (3) make the power connector more easily accessible yet still water-tight, (4) reduce the volume and annoyance level of beeping, and (5) come up with some other way to turn on-and-off the headlight (I'm always inadvertantly toggling it on and off).   But if the overall form factor is right and enough people vote with their dollars (euros, RMB, whatever) that this is a good last-mile solution, then hopefully they'll have incentive to make each version a little better.

Or, some other company will do a better job at filling the "lightest and smallest yet credible EUC" niche.

[brianle]

I rode it a bit farther this morning, several blocks with fairly steep hills involved --- baby steps though as I get more and more used to it, for now just a short ride at a time.

Last outdoor ride my feet ended up feeling pretty sore after a relatively small amount of riding, the main muscle along the soles of the feet.  Reading elsewhere on this site for possible solutions, I put hard orthodics in my (admittedly soft-soled trail running) shoes and shifted my stance farther forward on the pedals and one or both of those things helped, but I'm not sure that it's enough.  Will see over time; I'd hate to have to end up with special shoes just to use this thing.

Last time, with my feet more centered on the pedals, I had the experience when riding pretty steeply uphill of almost stalling out, the EUC going pretty slow so that I felt like I had to really dig in and lean forward to get it to go.  With this forward stance, no problem there, and in fact I was periodically annoyed on the steep uphill stretches by it beeping at me a lot, presumably I was hitting the 12 mph speed limit as the beeping stopped when I throttled back a little.   I do see where a higher speed limit would be nice!!  Maybe in model 2.0 (or X.0 anyway).

[Marty Backe]

57 minutes ago, brianle said:

I rode it a bit farther this morning, several blocks with fairly steep hills involved --- baby steps though as I get more and more used to it, for now just a short ride at a time.

Last outdoor ride my feet ended up feeling pretty sore after a relatively small amount of riding, the main muscle along the soles of the feet.  Reading elsewhere on this site for possible solutions, I put hard orthodics in my (admittedly soft-soled trail running) shoes and shifted my stance farther forward on the pedals and one or both of those things helped, but I'm not sure that it's enough.  Will see over time; I'd hate to have to end up with special shoes just to use this thing.

Last time, with my feet more centered on the pedals, I had the experience when riding pretty steeply uphill of almost stalling out, the EUC going pretty slow so that I felt like I had to really dig in and lean forward to get it to go.  With this forward stance, no problem there, and in fact I was periodically annoyed on the steep uphill stretches by it beeping at me a lot, presumably I was hitting the 12 mph speed limit as the beeping stopped when I throttled back a little.   I do see where a higher speed limit would be nice!!  Maybe in model 2.0 (or X.0 anyway).

Generally, your feet get better over time. Certainly did with me. I know that some people always have some level of discomfort, but I can now ride for 40 miles with very little discomfort. Over time you develop techniques such as shifting weight between your feet to alleviate discomfort.

I think if your rides are always ~10-miles or less, than your feet will always get painful towards the end. But if you develop endurance for 40-mile rides, a 10-mile jaunt becomes nothing.

[brianle]

Still having fun with my i5 --- a sunny day outside today helped.

[kasenutty]

Nice, I was out riding around in my neighborhood in Lynnwood today and it was quite pleasant compared to how cold it has been the last few days.  That thing looks like fun. 

[brianle]

I won't be rocking the santa hat too often --- what I did just get today is a folding helmet.  Cost all of about $30 via aliexpress; not sure if it's as solid protection as a standard helmet, but it looks/feels pretty good, and I'm more likely to carry this with me (since it sort of folds to a smaller, more portable size).  I think I'll be able to fit this in the backpack I bought to fit the i5 (along with the EUC itself).   Definitely not possible with a standard helmet.

And ... I also bought a bigger (higher lumen) headlamp than I previously owned, reckoning that if I do end up riding after dark it will be good to have a head mounted light source to augment the "headlight" on the EUC. In particular of use at this time of the year (a lot less daylight). 
While this headlamp won't fit over my "normal" bike helmet, I can get it to fit over the new folding helmet.   So life appears to be good.

All in service of making this EUC be ... of service.  As a local commute-type transportation device.  Now if the roads don't ice up anytime soon ...

[Smoother]

27 minutes ago, brianle said:

a folding helmet

this i'd like to see.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

9 hours ago, Smoother said:

this i'd like to see.

http://bfy.tw/FWIn

[Marty Backe]

15 hours ago, Smoother said:

this i'd like to see.

One of our local riders uses a folding helmet. It's very cool. It quickly collapses to a small football shape about a third the size of the full helmet. He can then throw it in the backpack when he's at his destination. His was more than a $100 though.

[Smoother]

2 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

One of our local riders uses a folding helmet. It's very cool. It quickly collapses to a small football shape about a third the size of the full helmet. He can then throw it in the backpack when he's at his destination. His was more than a $100 though.

I'd still like to see that.  Does anybody have a link to the helmet in question?

[brianle]

6 hours ago, Smoother said:

I'd still like to see that.  Does anybody have a link to the helmet in question?

This is the particular version that I got:

https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/0.html?spm=a2g0s.9042647.6.2.MCsskI&orderId=88144200589417&productId=32825251930

When I looked at various types of folding helmets for sale domestically (in the U.S.), the cost was generally $100 or more.  This one cost me about $30.

Yes, I know that my head has some value (despite what some of my friends and relations might claim).  A folding helmet is a trade-off; my hope is that I'll be if anything safer for being more willing to schlep this thing around.  In terms of the $30 version vs. the $100+ versions --- dunno.  The claim on this one is that it meets some sort of EN xxxx (where xxxx are some numbers that I don't recall ...) safety spec.

When looking around, the helmet that I liked best I think was the Morpher type, because it folds flat.  But it's also $150.  You can do a search for "folding bike helmet morpher" and you'll quickly find links to this.

I don't suggest that folding helmets are optimal for EUCs in general, but for a "last mile use", whatever it is that you're riding, I think they might make some sense.  Where I think they really shine too is in cities with bike share schemes, or at least in countries like mine where helmet use is required by law.

[Smoother]

20 minutes ago, brianle said:

This is the particular version that I got:

thanks for that

[Smoother]

On 12/10/2017 at 10:09 PM, brianle said:

Still having fun with my i5 --- a sunny day outside today helped.

Of course, THIS could be considered a folding "helmet"  but not rated for anything more than a minor owwie.

[brianle]

On 12/12/2017 at 5:18 PM, brianle said:

The claim on this one is that it meets some sort of EN xxxx (where xxxx are some numbers that I don't recall ...) safety spec.

I found the little tag that came with my folding helmet --- the tag is very terse, it has a diagram for the labeling, one of the fields says "Applicable regulations", and what's listed is EN 1078.  Might just be an artifact of translating from Chinese to English, but it doesn't actually claim that it MEETS such regulations, just that these are the applicable ones ...

Here's relevant info on the EN 1078 standard, FWIW:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_1078

[LanghamP]

I wonder how long this wheel would take to be charged via USB, or if that's even possible. A tiny wheel like this, with no power brick, would be the ultimate last-mile device.

[meepmeepmayer]

A typical USB phone charger has 2A, so 245Wh/(2A*67.2V) = 1.8h (110 minutes). Which should be about the normal charging time, ewheels says 90 min for 80% charge (I think it's 1.2A on the stock i5 charger). USB cables can take quite the current so that's not the problem.

If you go by wattage, 10-12W for a phone charger (to be put in an outlet) gives you 245Wh/12W = 20h = too long.

Laptop USB ports have 2.5W, so 80 hours if you charge your i5 from people's laptops You'll have to be sneaky for this.

Not sure what other charging methods to compare to

--

I know nothing, but I guess the power brick is necessary to get the voltage from outlet or laptop voltage to 67.2V. But I guess they could build it into the wheels, all of them have some wasted space due to rectangular batteries vs. curved shells.

[Chriull]

3 hours ago, LanghamP said:

I wonder how long this wheel would take to be charged via USB, or if that's even possible. A tiny wheel like this, with no power brick, would be the ultimate last-mile device.

If there is an USB port at the wheel they are supplied by a step down converter from the battery. This only works unidirectional - so no charging via USB port possible...

Also the available Power from USB chargers (~10W) or Power Bricks (10000mAh *5V = 50Ah, "delivery rate" also around 10W) is way too low.

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

A typical USB phone charger has 2A, so 245Wh/(2A*67.2V) = 1.8h (110 minutes). 

But the typical usb phone charger has only 5V (some ultra/whatever chargers ?12V?)...

So there is no chance for 1.8 hours. The correct calculation would be 245Wh/(2A*5V)

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

 

 

[meepmeepmayer]

The point was just, you could build a wheel where the charge port is USB, or where the charger is built in, and it would work more or less the same (regarding charging time) like the standard chargers.

The rest are just calculations for fun Nobody wants a 20 hour charge for 250Wh with a phone charger

[IPS Malta]

One could consider QC 3.0 (12v 1.3a over USB) that will be way faster than traditional chargers and its always an option. I know my phone is with QC2.0 and charges pretty fast, I also got a power bank that has QC3 though its capacity is limited, maybe 4 in parallel would speed up the process. The problem on the i5 is the lack of available space inside for a step up and the objective to keep the weight and size to its minimum.

[IPS Malta]

re-reading my comment, I don't think that would be suitable. Why would you carry 4 power banks to charge your wheel when such power banks for EUCs existed in the past. I remember I saw once when I bought my first generic back in 2014/5, but the concept didn't seem to catch up esp when IPS does not allow charging and riding at the same time, as the charging circuit does not allow enough power to run and charge the wheel at the same time IMO. As for the charger that comes with the i5 is pretty small and neat (smaller and lighter than my laptop brick)

Never the less, although USB C is becoming more standard, the voltages on the EUCs are in no way standard to adapt to a USB on your wheel to charge. I would rather carry my 8000mah power bank though than eating up the power and life cycle on my EUC batteries (not that it is much, but all counts) to charge my phone. Alternateratively a power bank that has voltage and current configuration (not to overload the charging circuit within the EUC) may be a suitable answer (though I believe it will be pretty big and heavy, maybe a 260WH power bank to overcome the inefficiency of charging and it will come with huge restriction policies such as airlines and where LI-ION batteries are not allowed/restricted)

[BruceHoldroyd]

Right side temperature

Hi folks - I recently got my IPS i5 and have read all your useful tips and suggestions - thank you.

After c30mins of use, however, the outer panel on the right hand side had become VERY warm - almost too hot to touch - and I wondered whether anyone has encountered this or whether I have a faulty unit.

Typically, I rarely use my current AirWheel Mars Rover more than c60mins at a time (the battery doesn't last much longer than that) but I am concerned that, after 60mins of use, my i5 might actually get so hot it will burn my inside leg!!

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks,

Bruce.

[BruceHoldroyd]

On 7/12/2019 at 10:38 AM, BruceHoldroyd said:

Right side temperature

Hi folks - I recently got my IPS i5 and have read all your useful tips and suggestions - thank you.

After c30mins of use, however, the outer panel on the right hand side had become VERY warm - almost too hot to touch - and I wondered whether anyone has encountered this or whether I have a faulty unit.

Typically, I rarely use my current AirWheel Mars Rover more than c60mins at a time (the battery doesn't last much longer than that) but I am concerned that, after 60mins of use, my i5 might actually get so hot it will burn my inside leg!!

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks,

Bruce.

Update:

The problem has never reoccurred! 

#problemsolved!