Difference between revisions of "FAQs"

Latest revision as of 09:26, 24 January 2011

Frequently asked questions:

(For Brammo.com's FAQ page, published on November 17, 2010, go here.)

1. Can I leave my bike plugged in for months at a time without adverse effects to the batteries?

A. 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). 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) position. 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 addressed to make the bike both safe and reliable are a strong point of the Brammo design philosophy and one of the many features that separates our products from our "competitors". (Via BrammoBrian from the forum.)

2. What happens when I reach 2,000 charge cycles on my Enertia?

A. Remember - when your Enertia batteries hit 2,000 full cycles they don’t just drop dead. They will have been sliding gracefully towards 80% of their original capacity over 2000 cycles. So here are your choices at that point:

• Do nothing the bike works just fine and you are totally happy.

• Replace with original specification Valence batteries.

• Install a different “go farther” battery set supplied by Brammo.

• Install a different “go farther” battery set supplied by a third party.

• Sell your iconic Enertia on e-Bay (did Brian name that too?) for $50k buy a brand new Brammo and put the rest in your 401K. (Via thespecialone a/k/a Adrian Stewart from the forum.)

3. Cold Weather Charging (see the page).