All good – then 27 volts !

This week was much better. Good weather (for winter) and a chance to catch up on the kilometers.

A ride to Bishopsbourne allowed me to get pictures of some wire-sitting birds. I had tried previously but when I stood up to find the camera they all took off! Today I had hooked the camera bag on the back of the chair – so no standing. Colin and I were unsure what model bird they were – just knew they were grey and some sort of water bird.

There is a bunch of them sitting on the power wire running over a small dam.

It was a good bird watching day. As I returned the camera to it’s bag I watched a pair of swallows darting about in the sunny, after rain, air. Shouldn’t they have migrated?

The answer appeared a little further along. Heaps of Galahs on the ground in the corner of a paddock eating away at something. Don’t know what but it was obviously a delicious feed! That corner will be bare when the crop comes up.

Further on a number of white cockies were chewing away at a group of pine trees. Who would be a pine tree? White Cockies eating your nuts in winter and Yellow-Tailed black Cockies eating your new growth in Spring ! The pictures I took of the white ones didn’t come out well, sorry.

The day was going well. After turning to head home I remembered I was getting close to riding 6,000 kilometers on the 250 watt Bafang motor.

Yes, 6,000 kilometers covered in 18 months. Note the 38.4 volt reading at the top.

Continuing on I turned into Wilmore’s Lane and proceeded to blast down the hills and climb the rises until we had covered them all and were heading to the flat part leading to Cressy Road. Things were feeling a bit flat and – look – no watts being drawn from the battery! Bugger.

I checked a few things. This has never happened before – no power normally = no power to the display ‘cos a wire has become detached. For example, after a rapid and bumpy descent somewhere or folding the trike. Today the display was working but no power to the motor. After checking (poking and tugging at cables) I realised the voltage reading was 27.2V. This is well under the level at which the Controller stops power being drawn from the battery to save the battery from damage. Well, something has damaged it alright.

Luckily I had the hills over and done and the ride from here was sort of flat. It was a powerless pedal back home. Pedalling Bluey without power always feels like you are riding a bike with flat tyres. I put this down to the combined drag from the Bafang motor and the inefficient Nuvinci gearbox. Any slight gradient upwards and my speed dropped right off! Along one straight I tried using a higher gear ratio but could feel the strain on the knees right away – not the way to ride a recumbent. Spin Tony. Spin don’t slog.

On getting home I took out that battery and slotted in the other. Yes, reading 37.4 volts from a half-empty one. Todays battery reinstalled. 27.4V. It’s broken inside.

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The next day I visited the Launceston E-Bike man and hopefully he can organise a new battery before next weekend – when I lead the two rides for then NW group. If he can’t get hold of them then he may have a battery for me to borrow. While there he showed me a very special 2 wheel e-bike someone has ordered. It has an electric change Rohloff and belt drive fitted. Gosh, I left green with envy!!

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Needing a few more ks and Saturday dawning fine, sunny, no wind but chilly, I took a ride down to Powranna Road and back.

The Macquarie River is quite full after all the recent rains.

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A good Saturday morning ride with little traffic and good temps for winter. I used the second and newer battery, freshly charged. It went OK and used up as much power as it normally would so I reckon the problem with the other battery was just that – the battery has a fault in one of it’s sections. Pity I don’t understand it enough to pull it apart and replace the section. The Launceston E-bike man doesn’t sound like he has the skills either.

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‘Til next time …………..