Wide Wheel aging battery diagnosis and first intervention

We (mostly) all know that as things age they stop performing at peak levels, sometimes replacement is the best solution, but perhaps other times intervention can fix the issue. I'm not one to shy away from a surgical intervention if needed, but if another therapy can work then all the better.

Background

So, while the WW was going well these last few years I've been using it less (favouring my bicycle for shorter trips in and out of town) and its had a few small issues that I've needed to fix (like the seized rear motor, exacerbating the not using it as much).

I noticed however that the battery was "sagging down" more in voltage sooner than I thought it should do as I was riding (you know, that volt meter on the handlebars does have a useful purpose right?) and began thinking that it may be something more than just expectable aging.

I always check the "Watt Hours" (Wh)  shown on my charge monitoring tool (that always remains plugged in between the charger and the scooter), and the Watts needed to recharge are less than what I'd have expected were the battery depleted down to that level of "remaining charge" (as represented by the voltage when riding). For reference, this is the Watt meter I use:

It conveniently shows how many Amps are flowing, the battery Voltage and on the bottom row cycles the left number through 

• Amp hours (Ah)
• Watt hours (Wh)
• Peak Amps (Ap)
• Voltage maximum  (Vmax)
• Peak Watts (Wp)

the right number shows just the current situation of Watts flowing. Its a great tool and I would strongly recommend everyone with an eScooter or an eBike have one of these; you learn a lot from them.

I mean unless you're stupid, then you don't learn anything ....

First step

So I decided to pay attention to the last part of the charging cycles and come on in at the end; glancing at it as I went about my doings around the house.

I noticed that it was 0.18A (that's also 180mA) at one point, then suddenly became 0.00A ... that's wrong as before I've seen it taper nicely down to 0.01 Amps (because I like to watch these things, just like I like to watch the food I'm cooking so I don't burn it).

"Riigghhhttt" I thought, "the BMS is cutting off before balance has completed" ... first step was to turn off the charger (at the wall, in Australia power points have switches on them) and leave it plugged into the charger (so I can monitor the actual charging point voltage as well as the "take off end" that  shows on the handlebar, yes they are different voltages) and wait a while (about half an hour) and then turned it back on ...

bam ... started charging at 0.56A and I thought yep, diagnosis looks right: BMS is shutting down, the full cells settle (after charging) lowering the difference between pack cell groups. The role of the BMS (among other things like discharge protection) is to ensure that charging is stopped before any cell (bundle) is over charged (think fire risk) and to help fully charged cells bleed over to the less charged cells (although different BMS's do this with different levels of quality).

So clearly it was shutting off before the other cells were fully bled.

Not wanting to stand there all day I decided to automate this with a simple "clock work" power timer I had lying around ... 

I set it to provide power for 15 minutes and not provide power for 15 min. I can "turn it on" for the first bulk charge (to save time) using the switch on the side:

in the up position its providing full time power (ignoring the settings) and in the down (blue/green arrow) position its on the timer.

Lastly

I've put together this quick video showing all this and discussing the same points above but in a slightly different angle. 

I hope that together this makes things clearer

I'll follow this up in the coming weeks with what happened and if this simple solution means I don't need to do pack surgery and replace the BMS (with a spare which I'll probably already have on hand from last time).

See Ya

The UberSchmarotzer

I quite like Nietzsche's phrase "UberMensch" (a man above the usual human limitations and social constraints), so as a hat tip to Nietzsche I have decided to make the word: UberSchmarotzer to celebrate that (apparently) uniquely Russian (and from now on I'll only call that cunt-tree RuZZia) ability to overthrow their harsh oppressive Monarchy (the Czars) and to be fooled into replacing it with parsites like Lennin and his following (further composting society) "leaders" such as Stalin and (so far) culminating in Putin. 

Perhaps SchmarotzerMensch is better ... I'm not sure.

As you know the Russian Revolution led directly to where RuZZia became the sort of autocracy where invades its neighbour (Ukraine) and attempts a genocidal engulfment of them in the manner of one huge uncaring amoeba with apparent impunity.

The "apparent" is because they have inadvertently set in motion their own (slow motion) demise.

This litany of vile sub-humans (who must surely be sub-human because of their psychological lack of empathy and care) set about iteratively constructing a system which was designed to be a "jack-boot stamping on the face of their people" (borrowing from Orwell) for eternity.

They have gone past the need to have an expensive police force to ensure compliance and have selectively bred a class who are so subjugated that they have simply ceased to be anything more than the lower intelligence mice that Calhoun discovered emerged from his Universe 25.

So I expect that RuZZia will soon breed itself out of existence.

Take Care ... choices make the difference between a bright future and oblivion.

Winter Floor Heating effectiveness report

I just thought I'd make a post about how my "system" of the combination of

• Solar Floor heating
• Insulation in floor and Ceiling
• Use of Reverse Cycle AirCon
• Wood burning stove

is working out for me.

With overnight lows of about -1C (so frosts) but typically sunny days of about 18C, I get sufficient energy from that to heat the floor and this therefore takes a significant load off the AC because as the floor (basically) never gets heated by the warm air blowing out of that (so, upper walls and ceiling are heated) the floor heating system then brings the whole house up warmer. This is a typical winter day here:

The time zone indicated by A is where I turn on the R-C A-C and the zone indicated by B is where I lit the fire. Because the house is already warm (and insulated top and bottom) the fire requires just a fraction of what would be needed otherwise. As the sun starts to warm outside I choose that time to then turn on the AC because the exterior heat exchanger will have more advantage in raising the temperature inside if the outside is actually warmer.

Its just like the height difference between two points on a hill. The higher the difference the more energy you need. So even though I'm using technology and electricity to move and amplify that heat I'm still taking advantage of the Sun to do that. So only one component would simply not work, but all four parts work together, consequentially my house is warmed (but not 100% of the time, my power bill is much lower) and I burn less than a quarter of the wood. For example the load of wood I bought in 2023 is still serving and I anticipate that it will provide for this winter entirely too. I'm a big fan of

• understanding diminishing returns
• seeking maximum value for money

I know what it would cost to improve this situation, and so I'm quite satisfied with the additional amenity provided by my existing solar floor heating in conjunction with Reverse Cycle Air-Con and insulation to augment the little wood burning furnace that the house already had delay the need to and reduce how much I burn when I do.

The whole project is well described here: (link)

Addiesdive (budget) Submariner

Some time back I bought a $15 Sanda Rolex inspired watch to "get free postage" (but actually get something tangible on a purchase of the same cost to me) on an Ali Express order. I intended to use it in the gym to time my training and get a second hand to time HR during training. I was surprised how comfortable it was; which was (I expected)  not least because of its weight.

This led me to consider the Addiesdive H3-2QZ which I found quickly enough on Ali for a discounted rate that (including taxes) worked out to AU$50. It arrived on a bracelet (which I took off) and put it on one of my well worn nylon straps (whic was a NATO, but has now been rendered comfortable); as shown below.

The watch feels nice, the bezel rotation (sadly following the sheep trend of being unidirectional so that kiddes at their desk who never dive feel better about its operation and can fantisize about impressing some chick with their knowledge) has a good feel (not too hard, not too soft) and the crown came with a surprising extra O-Ring seal I've not seen on many other watches with screw down crowns

The finish of the watch is good, with barely any "sharp" edges (compared to my Pagani); particularly the Crown is well finished not sharp or harsh and helps the watch to feel like something well over this price. The markers are all nicely placed and the shape is perfect modern dive design language. I've put below two macro shots of the finish of the crown and the edge of the dial

Frankly I don't know how they get it this good for the price, I can only guess that its electro-plated chrome finish on these points

As there are plenty of videos on YouTube about this watch I'll just add one final point about straps. The part of the watch back between the lugs is not well suited to straps (and you can see they've struggled to get the end links on too) because it has no bevel at the back. If you are going to have the drill holes close to the case then you need to account for this (as for instance Seiko does); note the finish of the edges in red arrows and the bevel identified with blue.

Finally I'm using the watch on a $14 leather two piece arrangement and it looks like this:

So now I have a watch that has a handy timer (a defining feature of a diver) as my daily driver; for days where I don't want to wear the little SandaTank.

If that sounds like you too, then just get one.