Is my OG Pint battery dying?

Franko

Hi all --

I was finally able to take my OG Pint out for a spin yesterday. It's been sitting forlornly by my desk all winter, waiting for spring. I checked the battery levels a couple times and it was hanging around 50%, so i just let it be, only charging it to full before my ride yesterday.

Anyway, i was stunned when i was only able to ride about 25 minutes before the battery had drained to 12% (!!), a little over 5 miles total. it wasn't anything unusual as far as rides go -- just zipping around my neighborhood like usual. Mostly flat streets, some hills here and there. I used to get 10+ miles on it the last time i rode it. : (

Replacing/upgrading the battery has always been my long-term plan for it ever since i bought it back in 2019, but is it possible my original battery is that far gone? I look at the cells with the OWCE app and everything seems healthy and fine, but maybe i'm wrong (and OWCE is wrong?).

Also, when charging it after getting home, i suddenly got a notice from the OW app when it had reached 90% saying, "Unplug your OneWheel now -- Battery at 90%!" or something like that. Is that new? i don't ever recall the app telling me to do that in the past. I was thinking I should leave it plugged in overnight or something, but the message from the app kind of spooked me so i did as it said and unplugged it.

Any thoughts from the smart people here would be appreciated. Thanks all!

EDIT (05-19-2023): Thought i'd edit my post to add that after everyone offered their battery advice here, which i think absolutely helped, i checked my tire pressure and found that i went on that ride with something ridiculous like 8 psi, so that definitely had an effect on my range!

lesson learned: in addition to maintaining good battery practices, check your tire pressure before each run, kids!

NotSure

@franko try a bottom balance and balance charge. 90% alarm is an app setting.

https://owforum.co.uk/topic/276/my-first-walk-of-shame?_=1683564350125

Franko

@notsure oh right -- i remember your post now. yes, it sounds quite similar. i guess i'll leave it on the charger for a day or two, and then if i understand it all correctly, i am supposed to try to ride it down to nothing, then fully charge again, and this will hopefully fix it? it's certainly worth a shot. Thanks for the reminder!

NotSure

@franko yeah i charged it regularly after the walk of shame ride, took it back out after a couple hours, rode it down to nothing then did a balance charge. seemed to work. healthy voltage should be around 62V.

note: on the bottom balance ride, i exhausted the battery by riding on the lawn after riding it down to 30% or so to avoid a second walk of shame. power cycle it a couple times. the battery gauge will show more juice but exhaust very quickly. you will notice it 'working' because you will be riding around at like 1% way longer than expected. once it dies charge it immediately for a couple days. can also bottom balance on a milk crate but i found the lawn to work really well for expediting it close to home.

Franko

@notsure said in Is my OG Pint battery dying?:

healthy voltage should be around 62V.

well, it's sitting on the charger right now, showing fully charged in the OW app, and the OWCE app is indicating the voltage on the batteries to be ~~63.4V~~ whoops, now that it's disconnected from power it's showing 62.6V -- i am assuming that's good.

i'll have to see if i can take it out and ride it down to zero. i agree that riding around the lawn is the best way. i did that once right after i first got it, when learning to ride. and yeah, that last 1% took a lot longer than i expected to empty out.

NotSure

@notsure yeah 63V is great if the charger is disconnected. Just as @Lia said, it's probably just a couple cells that got low while sitting idle. It's probably fine to ride now. balance charge wouldn't hurt just to be sure.

NotSure

@franko said in Is my OG Pint battery dying?:

something ridiculous like 8 psi

alt text

Franko

@notsure right?? i had no idea, lol.