Brammo Owners Forum

This error popped up on my ride today. Module 6 does not appear to be discharging. I had two 10 mile trips today (out and back), and it looks like it stopped about half way during the first ride as I pulled onto the interstate (20kw power output for about 5 minutes or so), with about 90%. By the time I got home, it had dropped to about 85%, while the rest of the pack was down to about 60%.

It looks like the battery started acting up on my ride home from work on Friday, but not enough to trigger the error. I pulled a couple other logs, and it otherwise appears to be normal, so this is a new problem.

Here's the log from Friday:

Here's the log going out today:

Here's the log coming home today:


To add some more context, I didn't ride the bike at all from early May last year until the end of February (broken back, then broken arm...). It was stored the hole time with SOC over 90%, and I did do a couple of top-off charges throughout the storage period, but generally it was left unplugged. Since I started riding I have ran it down to 5% and then let it it balance for about 36 hours, and have brought it down below 20% a about three times.

Has this happened to anyone else? What was the cause and the solution?

This past weekend was the Illinois State Criterium Championship. It's actually the first real race I've done this year since I have been planning a wedding that went off without a hitch in the middle of last month. So I am untrained, and not as fit as I was last year. I had a slow start to the 40 minute race, but was feeling good so started moving up. By the half way point I was probably top 10 or so, which is just about perfect. According to a buddy, the leaders slowed down a lot leading into turn one, and they caught me off guard. I slammed on the front brake and did an end-o that I landed in a nice face plant. From there two or three riders behind me ran over me and ended up on the ground. Fortunately I don't remember any of this because I knocked myself out cold from the first hit, and stayed that way for a good 30 to 45 seconds. I woke up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital (or that's my first memory, bystanders report that I was asking if I had won). Turns out I have multiple fractures to my face. The helmet took two big hits, but still transferred enough energy to give me a concussion. The local hospital didn't have the expertise to do the plastic surgery needed, so i got transferred to a Level 1 hospital on the south side of Chicago. My face wasn't hurting much, but my back and chest were killing me. They took more CTs and X-rays and determined my T8 vertebrae is fractured and compressed. So despite the head injury, no sitting up for the last two days. Today I get a ninja-turtle shell which I'll be wearing for the next six to eight weeks. So no work, no motorcycle, and no driving for me until I can sit up without the brace on - probably 6 to 8 weeks. I'll be in the hospital for at least another two days until the plastic surgery on my face is done. I do have road rash all over, too, but I am not worried about that. They black flagged the race and ran a 20 minute sprint after I was cleared off the course.

I've crashed motorcycles pretty badly in my riding career, but nothing compares to this 25mph bicycle wreck. Just goes to show how much good gear matters. Be safe out there everyone.

[smg id=411]

I'm starting a new thread on this, even though it's related to my last post. I just had my rear wheel bearings replaced after one of them failed. I suspect the new ones are going to fail, too.



I asked my dealer, and they recommended loctite for bearings. I'm not convinced, but I'll give it a shot. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

http://insideevs.com/new-years-predictions-brammo-polaris-empulse-2015-op-ed/

Cliff's notes: Polaris is going to take over production of the Empulse.

http://www.anl.gov/articles/argonne-announces-new-licensing-agreement-akhan-semiconductor?utm_source=Argonne+Today&utm_campaign=e2e684005e-AT+11%2F21%2F14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_91cdd2aa04-e2e684005e-237425181

I've been tangently working on this for a couple of months in a non-technical capacity, and it is one of the more exciting technologies I have seen come across my desk in the last couple of years. Basically if you were to make a whole 3KW charger out of this stuff, it would be about the size of an IPhone with no need for cooling. Same thing with motor controllers or anything that moves a lot of current and is heat-limited. The immediate path forward is to start swapping out silicon parts from high power electronics, and not make the whole compenent out of the expensive diamond material. But who knows how the technology will improve (or get worse) as it is scaled up for manufacturing. As more of this stuff is incorporated, components will get smaller and smaller.

Unfortunately I get the impression they are more interested in super computers than EV components, but the technology will trickle down. And since research super computers are spending a signficant amount of their processing power doing battery material modeling, we won't be completely left out!

Diamond based semiconductors can make high power electronics an order of magnitude smaller than the Silicon Carbide that will be in the next generation of high power electronics we'll see in EVs. I think there was a video on the forum somewhere that showed a 3wk Silcon Carbide charger for the Leaf next to the Leaf's stock charger, if you remember that.

Exciting times!

Just became eligible 

I know I'm not the first, but with how brutal our winter was last year here in Chicago, I bet I won't be seeing any others for a while.



Absolutely no regrets so far.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/28/us/stealth-military-motorcycle/index.html?iref=allsearch

(CNN) -- A silent, nimble, two-wheeled killing machine.

That's what Pentagon researchers envision, now that they've greenlighted developing a hybrid motorcycle powered by two sources: an engine that burns several types of fuel and a stealthy, super-quiet electric motor.

Imagine an elite U.S. fighting force deployed in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, riding motorbikes that are nearly silent. The loudest sound is tires on dirt as they twist and turn down dried river beds and up narrow goat trails. When they launch their assault on a Taliban stronghold, the enemy is taken by surprise.

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has tapped defense contractor Logos Technologies and motorcycle maker BRD to design the motorbike.

As a platform for the project, Logos is talking about BRD's 250-pound RedShift MX. Although the RedShift MX is totally electric, Logos wants to combine that with an engine that burns regular gasoline, as well as jet fuel and diesel. It's expected to have a range of 100 miles and make very little noise, even when the conventional engine is running.