ebikemom said:My Pedego battery appears to have an XLR female input (here is a photo of the Pedego 48v charger's male connector--is this an XLR?). The Luna advanced charger ( https://lunacycle.com/48v-3amp-luna-mini-charger/ ) appears an XT60 male output. So, it looks like I would need an xt60 male to XLR female adaptor cable to use the Luna charger with my Pedego battery. Do I have that right??? I'm getting dizzy looking at adapters and plugs, since I'm not an electrical person used to looking at such things, and I can't find an xt60 male to XLR male adaptor cable by googling ....
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Hi @Alaskan , As a owner of 3 Bosch battery packs, I am yet to find a suitable, satiator-type charger for Bosch powerpacks. I have been using rough gestimates (stopping the charge when the 5th LED blinking) and my packs have sustained good amount of capacity even after 1.5 years. Until you or I find a better solution, that's what I am going to use. @ebikemom , glad you found it useful. Pedego as a company is very responsive to any warranty claims but it is smart of you to be proactive and try to get max battery life out of your bikes. They have had their fair share of battery pack issues by using generic cells and battery design that resulted in a battery recall of 5000 packs.Since then they have moved towards better designs and higher quality cells. I hope your dealer is a friendly one. Some dealers think you are being too anal about small details and they may not know the implications of charging to 100%. But, in the long run, your batteries will outlast other batteries on the field even after heavy use. But, I don't expect them to be experts at battery design. They still have this going.. https://www.pedegoelectricbikes.com/battery-details/#charge You're right. That's a male XLR pin. @Mr. Coffee posted this image a while ago. You could get XT 60 to XLR-male pin connectors for a Luna charger.You have already found the solution. Using a timer can be an inexpensive option but it does demand little bit of cognitive effort in terms of guessing the existing charge and time needed etc. Since you say you your use your bike quite a bit and you have 4 pedego bikes, it would be good to have a satiator and by default it comes with a male XLR plug. If you have the 48V, 15Ah battery then it would be a worthy investment for a household of 4 E-bikes because $300 amortized over 3-4 years for 4 batteries is quite cheap.
In today’s installment of the 3 Minute Electric Bike Video Series where we are demystifying electric bikes we are talking about things you might want to ask a vendor before an electric bike purchase.
Ask the vendor who the manufacturer is. You want to hear names like Panasonic, Samsung all the big names. If you don’t hear a name you recognize, just ask a little bit more, they actually might be related to a larger company. You also want to ask about the capacity of the battery. A very common rating is 36 volts and 10Aph. On this type of battery rating, you can get 20 to 40 miles per charge, depending on your riding style and how much you pedal. That’s a very good base line to start with.
Ask the vendor about the wattage in the motor bolt, the continuous wattage rating and peak wattage rating. The number you typically see on your screen when you are doing internet research is the continuous wattage rating. For example; you might see 500W, that means that’s the wattage that the motor is able to put out on a continuous level for the duration of the charge. The peak wattage rating is what the motor is capable of on heavy load situations. Climbing a hill for example naturally draws more current from the battery. It is good to know both numbers, not just the continuous wattage number.
It came to my mind that electric bikes are bikes first and the electric part is secondary, so ask about the bike itself. You want to about what kind of componentry is involved especially the shifting system and the braking systems, You want to hear names like Shram or Shimano, but also inquire about the motor of the particular component that’s in place. Shimano has a broad spectrum of the rails that they put out, for example. Some are on bikes that cost $150, but sometimes, they have bikes derails by themselves that cost $150, so there is quite the spectrum there. Make sure you know specifically what you are getting into, don’t settle with just the manufacturer’s name.
There is an invincible part of the bike that’s really keen, it’s the customer service component. Ask about the warranty. Warranties that are 12, 18 or 24 months are pretty common. You also want to know what the response time is like with the customer service department. In a pre-sale situation, ask them a question by phone or email, and see how long that takes to get back to you. If you hear from them in 24hrs, that’s pretty good, if it takes a week for them to respond, you should see some red flags. If they are this way before the sale, what will it be like after the sale? If you need help, the customer service department is going to be your first point of contact.
There are a number of things you want to ask about, ask about the battery, ask about the motor, and ask about the components on the bike and do a little research on their customer service.
What other questions would you ask when shopping for an electric bike?