commute uses 47% charge, when should I recharge?

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abuchris
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As the topic implies, I use about 47% on a daily commute.
So when I get home, there's 53% remaining.
What would you recommend doing?
  • Recharge daily to full?
    Recharge daily, just a little, to ensure that the battery charge doesn't get too low?
    Recharge every other day, when the battery is almost completely drained?
I am thinking that charging every two days would mean less cycles and longer life. But is it "safe" to discharge to less than 10% every other day?

Thanks for your help :)
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Stromeur
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abuchris schreef: 18 nov 2019, 21:03 Recharge daily to full?
Yes.
abuchris schreef: 18 nov 2019, 21:03 Recharge daily, just a little, to ensure that the battery charge doesn't get too low?
No.
abuchris schreef: 18 nov 2019, 21:03 Recharge every other day, when the battery is almost completely drained?
No.
abuchris schreef: 18 nov 2019, 21:03 I am thinking that charging every two days would mean less cycles and longer life.
Incorrect. Charging your battery back to 100% when it's down to 50% counts as half a charging cycle. Also, Li-Ion batteries have no memory effect, so there is no reason to drain the battery as far as possible.

Just follow the Stromer manual :)
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Zoran
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1) For the number of full charge cycles it doesn't really matter whether you charge 50% two times or 100% once.
2) For Lithium-Ion batteries it is not good to fully discharge, they perform best at 50% charge but anything between 20% and 90% is considered good. I believe a Stromer battery has some kind of protection against deep decharging (can anyone confirm this?), so you don't have to worry about this too much if you occasionally get under the 10%.
3) (Most importantly) If your trip takes 47% under normal circumstances it is quite likely that it will take more than 50% in cold and windy conditions. Leaving home with 53% charge might get you into the situation where you have to cycle the last kilometers without any juice left. I would never take that risk.

All in all I would recommend you to charge daily.
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FreddyH
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Zoran schreef: 18 nov 2019, 22:27 I believe a Stromer battery has some kind of protection against deep decharging (can anyone confirm this?), so you don't have to worry about this too much if you occasionally get under the 10%.
All Li-Ion systems with a BMS do this. Even if you discharge to 0% (and even continue to cycle until the motor no longer provides power) you don't risk a deep decharge.

The battery is drained until the cell with the lowest voltage is around 3,2V (exact value is not known, but it's safe to assume it's somewhere in the 3.1 - 3.3V range). Then the motor stops helping you, but you are still far from a deep discharge. Just charge your battery within a day.

On the rest: what Stromeur says: it's best to charge it after each trip. Lots of small cycles are better than a smaller number of big cycles. Another advantage: if you suddenly decide to go somewhere you always have as much capacity as possible.
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Jorismak
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Lid geworden op: 09 okt 2019, 18:39

The bike gives more power when the battery is full in my experience.

Or in other words, the bike performs worse when the battery is getting low. I have more problems getting the speed over 40 km/u when the battery is at 20% to 10%. The last few percent I only barely get over 30 km/u and then it dropped out at 0% :).

So big reason : the ride is more fun with a fuller battery :).

And I had one trip where I used 40% (so I parked it at 60% and turned it off), but I didn't manage to do the same trip in reverse. I had an empty battery with 3 km left to go.

So, 30km takes 40% one day, but takes more than 60% the other day. I don't dare to _not_ charge at 50% anymore :). Or if I really have to, I go into powersaving more way earlier :).

So big reason #2, I wouldn't count on it to make the 2nd trip if you have 53% left.

And, like the others replied, it's believed to be better for your battery. Yes, it will count as a charge cycle, but you will manage way more cycles before your battery degrades to like (for example) 80%.
To be clear, 'it is believed'.. I think we don't know for sure (yet). I believe there are a couple of people emptying their battery almost every day and having fine batteries after 3 to 4 years.

I do advice to not worry to much about it.
I DO recommend to charge between trips, just for your riding pleasure and not taking the risk to have an empty battery on trip #2.
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Stromeur
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Jorismak schreef: 18 nov 2019, 23:28 The bike gives more power when the battery is full in my experience.
True. Good point :ay
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abuchris
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Thanks for all your advice guys :)

One last one though:
Stromeur schreef: 18 nov 2019, 21:48 Just follow the Stromer manual :)
I did read the manual, and I honestly can't find anything about when to charge?Am I reading the wrong manual? Or just reading it poorly? :)
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Stromeur
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I just went through all te current Stromer model manuals and you are correct: there is nothing mentioned about this anymore in the manual. There is in my two 2017 manuals (ST1 X and ST2 S).

Strange, I have no idea why Stromer has removed this information.
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Georgio
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You could use the translate function for this:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2914&start=60#p69298

Partly charging is better in case you have used more than 15% of the total battery capacity during your ride.
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