Parking Lights and Cell Heaters

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

Does anyone know if turning on the parking lights activates the cell heaters? The dash stays off, so I can't tell if it's drawing power or not. I'm going to try turning the parking lights on an hour before I head home tomorrow, either way.

My rides home the last few days have been painful after having full power all summer. I think I sat at WOT in 4th for 45 seconds today, only to have it slow from 75 to 70mph (according to the log, ambient temp was 53f, and local weather had it at around 40f...so not that cold).

I also had S53 errors flash on and off two days ago while cruising around 75 with around 30%SOC...just after the power cutback message went away. There didn't seem to be any change in power output from the rest of that ride, although the ride was noticeable slower than normal.

I hope I won't have to slow down all winter 

[Shinysideup]

I dunno about the cell heaters and park mode. Can you charge at work? That would solve the heaters issue and give you room to avoid a low SOC.

AFAIK, each cell's voltage is being monitored and if one dips below minimum, the system will momentarily relieve that cell of its power delivery duty, which you'll feel as a momentary hesitation, not unlike a  cylinder cutting out in a multi-cylinder ICE, only shorter and milder. My solution when that happens is to avoid WOT until I get a charge.

You may find that the motor is happier giving you 75 mph in 5th gear instead of 4th. I think you'll find it's operating more in its optimum power  band. Easing the throttle upwards to gain speed may be more successful than pinning it when the SOC has dropped.

75 mph? Maybe this is Brammo's feature to keep owners from getting too many tickets?

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

No charging at work, at least right now. That'll probably change in the not-so distant future, but not this winter. (in a bit of irony, my division sets that policy...) The trouble is after work I only have about 2 miles of very slow and steady riding before I merge onto the freeway via a clover leaf with a relatively short merge area, and there is often a lot of semi traffic. Merging often requires a quick acceleration, or a quick brake. Obviously accelerating is a lot safer with traffic behind.

Good explanation on the chugging. I wondered what caused that, but your guess makes perfect sense.

No tickets yet  Even at 75, I'm still getting passed.

[protomech]

Can you do a bunch of high-acceleration loops around the cloverleaf before you head out onto the freeway? : )

[Shinysideup]

Or enter the freeway further away from your starting point?

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

I am pretty sure the cell heaters go on with the parking lights. It was maybe 5f warmer today than yesterday, and I had the parking lights on for 70 to 80 minutes prior to leaving. I lost no SOC during that time (although as soon as I started moving it dropped a percent - surprising since 300w for an hour should use between 3 and 4%, assuming a linear drop in SOC). It displayed the cold bat cutback warning, but that went away before I was out of the security gate (about a 3/4 of a mile). No noticeable power loss the whole ride home! I'll try cutting the time with the parking lights to 30 minutes next week.

 

[protomech]

I doubt the cell heaters are ever active unless the bike is plugged in.

[Shinysideup]

Yeah, if you saw no SOC drop, I doubt the heaters were on. From a design point of view, it just wouldn't make common sense to drain 300W while running parking lights.

Perhaps the slight electrical activity of having the front parking lamp and the tail light on, plus the associated electronics, was just enough to keep the batteries happy enough?

Also, I was wondering if you have run your batteries below 10% in a while? I remember somebody from Brammo saying that was a good idea to keep the chemistry the most active. Not routinely, but every so often. I try to do that to mine once a month or so.

I'm assuming you leave your pack on a charger overnight so the cells have a chance to balance?

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

I've had it below 10% within the last two weeks. I leave it on the charger overnight maybe three times a week.

I guess cell heaters or no, I'm happy to get full performance from the get go leaving work.

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

It's been in the 30s when I've been leaving work this week. I am convinced that the cell heaters are on with the parking lights. I am loosing 3-5% charge depending on how long they are on before I leave, which is fine with me. I usually do have the "cold battery cutback" message on when I first leave, but it is off by the time I hit the highway. I do think there are issues with the heaters since the bike sometimes struggles to accelerate even with no message on the dash. But it is still much, much better than starting the bike cold.

[Shinysideup]

Although I've had NO experience with that kind of cold in San Francisco, I think it may be worth letting your dealer inspect your data drive for these issues.

If the dealer is too far away, I'll bet you could upload the data to Brammo in Oregon and get their opinion.