Brammo Enertia Discussion > Brammo Enertia FAQ

FAQ - How do I charge my Enertia?

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Brammofan:
From: Charging, Clarified:
It's a bit of a shock, pardon the pun, to title a post "For Enertia Owners" and realize that the intended audience includes someone other than a visionary in Iowa, Jay Leno, and this guy.

Anyway, one of the new owners of an Enertia was having some problems with the charging procedure and was able to get Brammo's Lead Designer, Brian Wismann on the phone.  Brian talked him through the procedure and it probably had to do with the handlebar not being in the lock position.  Brian shared a page from the new version of the owner's manual that had a much clearer step by step procedure for the charging mode.  Here it is, for your edification:

valeek:
I was watching some YouTube videos and came across a certain competitor's video that stated that their bike could be plugged up for months with zero adverse effects.

I was wondering if the Enertia has a similar BMS that prevents overcharging/heating/etc.

BrammoBrian:

--- Quote from: valeek on May 18, 2010, 06:36:56 PM ---I was watching some YouTube videos and came across a certain competitor's video that stated that their bike could be plugged up for months with zero adverse effects.

I was wondering if the Enertia has a similar BMS that prevents overcharging/heating/etc.

--- End quote ---

Valeek,

Thanks for the question. YES! The Enertia has a very sophisticated BMS (Battery Management System) comprised of 6 seperate "slave" microprocessor PC boards that monitor the individual modules as well as "master" PC board that monitors that receives communication from each module and makes system level decisions based on that information.  This master BMS is integrated into our VCU  (Vehicle Control Unit), which takes information from other systems on the bike (motor, motor controller, lighting, dash, etc...) and makes bike level decisions.  For instance, the VCU is what would tell the bike NOT to accelerate when you turn it on if it detects that the throttle is stuck in anything but the 0 (off) condition.  It would also throw the main contactor relay to shut the bike down if it detected a problem with the charger or if you took the batteries down to a critical threshold where damage could be done if you continued to drain them.  Determining the various states of the bike and potential logic scenarios that must be adressed to make the bike both safe and reliable are a strong point of the Brammo design philosophy and one of the many features that seperates our products from our "competitors". 

BrammoBrian:
Oops... forgot to directly answer your question.  Yes - you can leave the Enertia plugged in for months at a time without adverse effect to the batteries.  The batteries will essentially enter into a "balancing state" after they've reached full charge, in which the actual current draw on the outlet the bike is plugged into is very low (about 40 watts).

valeek:
Thanks so much for the reply.  And man, that was quite a mouthful, wasn't it? It's great to know that the Enertia is so well built and monitored.  Everyone can rest a little easier because of that.

Now, I have a second question on charging. 

I was stated somewhere (enter correct reference here) that the Enertia needs to be drained a couple of times to correctly establish a stable SOC.  I was wondering if you could expand on that.  Exactly how low should the Enertia get the first couple of times before it's charged?  And how exactly is that best accomplished without getting stranded in the process?

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