Issues and Assistance with Wuxing HT-268 Electric Bike Please

[JW1980]

Hi All,

Just joined and new to the site and am hoping you can help me out.

I am not an actual owner but my bother has been for many years. He has been using several older model PowaBykes to get around due to mobility problems.

As an engineer, I have been looking after and maintaining them for him, having gained a wealth of information from the PowaByke website.

Recently an opportunity arose to purchase second hand something quite different for my brother. This is, I believe called a Wuxing H T-268. It is modelled more to look like petrol powered moped.

Of course I have quickly discovered there is a huge difference between the powabyke and this one and feel I need a little help. My brother has found it is slower and does not have the same range as his old bike even though this has new batteries in it.

I have looked on line but can't find an actual website for the bike. I did find a couple of links to suppliers and have emailed them but had no answers.

I am hoping someone here has some expert knowledge on this bike. If you do, please help !

Specifically I was initially wondering the following:-

+ What should the maximum speed be and can it be adjusted ? I know the weight it is carrying will have a bearing on this.

+ What should the range be like in miles ? Like above I know the weight makes a difference.

+ The batteries are lead acid. As an engineer I would say these need to be fully charged and discharged every time but I have read on some site they should be topped up as often as possible. Is that true?

+ Does anyone have or know where I could source a user manual and a service / technical manual like on the PowaByke website?

I am also having some specific issue with the batteries at the moment in that the charge does not last very long at all. In fact only around 3 to 4 miles.

I have done some tests and the charger seems fine putting out 42 volts when measured off load and 39 to 40 across the batteries when plugged in. There are three in total.

Having measured the batteries it looks like we have a bad one as two sit at 12.8 volts while one is at 10.4

So it looks like I need to replace just the one battery. I was thinking this because the batteries were all changed just over 6 month ago by the previous owner for new ones but it was then put into storage. It was not charged during this time and the batteries were left connected. I think therefore the charge has dropped so low it has damaged this one battery.
Do you think this will be ok and also do you think the batteries fitted are the best ones for the job.They are 12V 12Ah as shown in the attached images.

Thank you so much in advance and apologies for all the questions.

Your grateful new member

Jonathan.

 

[raleighnut]

In order to be road legal without registering/taxing and insuring the electric bike it has to be limited to 15mph on power (mine can 'freewheel' beyond this speed but the assistance will not power it above that). As for the battery it sounds like leaving it flat has caused 1 (or more) cells to break up and replacement is the only cure.
Range wise I can get about 25 miles out of mine but this does reduce significantly in cold weather and that's with a L-ion battery (36V 12Ah) however mine is set up with just a thumb 'throttle' so I can choose when to use the power and when to conserve it in order to extend the range.

 

[JW1980]

Hi raleighnut,

Tbank you so much for replyling.

Looks like I might be right about the battery then.

Would you just change the one battery and see how it goes?

Is your bike of a similar design to this one. Looks more like a petrol moped?

My brothers old powerByke was much more like a conventional push bike with a moreised wheel. I am wondwring if the reduced distance could also be due to design and weight etc as well as the battery failed?

Jonathan

 

[raleighnut]

Mine is a front wheel kit

 

[sidevalve]

FWIW I suspect you are correct that 1 battery is shot. Also I would keep the batteries charged they do not appear to be designed for total discharge / recharge use. Also test the batteries under some sort of load [nothing fancy just a car bulb will do] six months is a long time to leave a lead acid battery and the others might have suffered a bit too.
Try checking out the classic m/cycle suppliers as there are batteries designed to survive this treatment and carry more power [could be useful if you want to store the bike in winter.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Hi All,

Just joined and new to the site and am hoping you can help me out.

I am not an actual owner but my bother has been for many years. He has been using several older model PowaBykes to get around due to mobility problems.

As an engineer, I have been looking after and maintaining them for him, having gained a wealth of information from the PowaByke website.

Recently an opportunity arose to purchase second hand something quite different for my brother. This is, I believe called a Wuxing H T-268. It is modelled more to look like petrol powered moped.

Of course I have quickly discovered there is a huge difference between the powabyke and this one and feel I need a little help. My brother has found it is slower and does not have the same range as his old bike even though this has new batteries in it.

I have looked on line but can't find an actual website for the bike. I did find a couple of links to suppliers and have emailed them but had no answers.

I am hoping someone here has some expert knowledge on this bike. If you do, please help !

Specifically I was initially wondering the following:-

+ What should the maximum speed be and can it be adjusted ? I know the weight it is carrying will have a bearing on this.

+ What should the range be like in miles ? Like above I know the weight makes a difference.

+ The batteries are lead acid. As an engineer I would say these need to be fully charged and discharged every time but I have read on some site they should be topped up as often as possible. Is that true?

+ Does anyone have or know where I could source a user manual and a service / technical manual like on the PowaByke website?

I am also having some specific issue with the batteries at the moment in that the charge does not last very long at all. In fact only around 3 to 4 miles.

I have done some tests and the charger seems fine putting out 42 volts when measured off load and 39 to 40 across the batteries when plugged in. There are three in total.

Having measured the batteries it looks like we have a bad one as two sit at 12.8 volts while one is at 10.4

So it looks like I need to replace just the one battery. I was thinking this because the batteries were all changed just over 6 month ago by the previous owner for new ones but it was then put into storage. It was not charged during this time and the batteries were left connected. I think therefore the charge has dropped so low it has damaged this one battery.
Do you think this will be ok and also do you think the batteries fitted are the best ones for the job.They are 12V 12Ah as shown in the attached images.

Thank you so much in advance and apologies for all the questions.

Your grateful new member

Jonathan.

You have told us twice that you are an engineer.

Surely " as an engineer" you know that maximum speed has nothing to do with weight. Further, if you suspected that there is a governor in there somewhere, you would have been able to find it?
Surely as an engineer you have heard of lead batteries becoming sulfanated and would understand that dead cells will create a discrepancy in voltage measured over one good and one bad battery?
Surely, even if you were say, a structural engineer rather than an electrical engineer, you would understand that a battery with a higher capacity will give you longer range?

There is no need here to state your authority when posing or answering a question. Just ask the question.

 

[JW1980]

Hi raleighnut,

Thanks for the info,

Most appreciated.

 

[JW1980]

Hi sidevalve,

Thanks. Thats great.

I will take a look at those.

 

[JW1980]

Hi yellow-saddle,

Sorry to offend. I was not trying to be an authority on anything. I thought customary and polite to explain a little and introduce myself when entering a new forum and to wxplain where I am.

I only offered up the questions separatally.

I shall be careful what I post in future.

Here are my questions again without any leading information.

Once again sorry for upsetting.

Could anyone help with the following :-

1/ for this model what would you expect the maximum speed to be ?

2/ with these batteries on this model what should the approximate range be when just running on battery and not pedalling?

3/ does anyone know where I can source user and technical manuals for this model?

Thanks in advace for your help.

Regards

Jonathan

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Hi yellow-saddle,

Sorry to offend. I was not trying to be an authority on anything. I thought customary and polite to explain a little and introduce myself when entering a new forum and to wxplain where I am.

I only offered up the questions separatally.

I shall be careful what I post in future.

Here are my questions again without any leading information.

Once again sorry for upsetting.

Could anyone help with the following :-

1/ for this model what would you expect the maximum speed to be ?

2/ with these batteries on this model what should the approximate range be when just running on battery and not pedalling?

3/ does anyone know where I can source user and technical manuals for this model?

Thanks in advace for your help.

Regards

Jonathan

No offense, just confusion. Like I said, there is no need to give superfluous background, especially if it is skewed to get a specific result or set a level for the discussion.

But, to answer your questions:
1) I can't answer that question without knowing how much power the motor develops and what position you adopt on the bike. However, lots of power meter bunnies here who can tell you what wattage is required for specific speeds on their racing bikes. We can then extrapolate that and get an approximation of the top speed of your bike, presuming that the speed is not cut off by a governor of sorts. This is a cue for everyone to chip in and tell us what watts they push at say 20kph on the hoods or drops or whatever.
2) The range is a function of the battery's amp hour rating. Take the wattage produced by the motor, add 10% for inefficiency, and get a figure W.
We know that the motor's power output rated in Watts is a function of the current pulled by the device and its voltage. You can thus calculate the motor's current requirement and from that. You could use half the rated output to simulate cruising speed but remember that the power required to double the speed of the bike is not double, but squared. Any manufacturer's estimate of battery life will have to be given for a particular speed or motor load. They would typically a best-case scenario way below maximum speed.

3). Sorry, I don't know.

Edited for errors and clarity.

 

[Tim Hall]

2) The range is a function of the battery's amp/hour rating. Take the wattage produced by the motor, add 10% for inefficiency, and get a figure W.
We know that one Watt is one Amp per hour. You can thus calculate the motor's current requirement and from that, it is a matter of diving the battery's rating by the motor's current and you will have a best-case scenario for battery life.

3). Sorry, I don't know.

Battery rating (do you mean capacity?) is usually measured in amp hours, not amp/hour. That's the number of amps it can deliver for a length of time. (It's actually a measure of the amount of charge (Coulombs) the battery contains, as passing one Coulomb per second is a current of one Amp. Looking at the dimensions involved that's (Q/T) * T. The T cancels out, leaving you with Q, charge. Anyhoo...

How is one watt one amp per hour?

 

[JW1980]

Hi Yellow Saddle,

That information I don't have and there are no markings on the bike to identify the motor rating.
This is part of the reason ainwas hoping to get some infirmstion on user or tehc ical manuals which would have the specs detailed.

inwas wipondering in more general terms what do most owner get rougly to a full charge in terms of distsnce travelled on a bike like this model?

 

[steveindenmark]

Ask this question on Pedalecs.com. Its the best Electric bike forum.

 

[Spinney]

...
Surely " as an engineer" you know that maximum speed has nothing to do with weight.

Actually, weight could have some effect on maximum speed, couldn't it? Extra weight could affect the amount of friction in various bearings etc, which would therefore increase the resistive forces acting on the moving bike and thus reduce the maximum speed slightly?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Battery rating (do you mean capacity?) is usually measured in amp hours, not amp/hour. That's the number of amps it can deliver for a length of time. (It's actually a measure of the amount of charge (Coulombs) the battery contains, as passing one Coulomb per second is a current of one Amp. Looking at the dimensions involved that's (Q/T) * T. The T cancels out, leaving you with Q, charge. Anyhoo...

How is one watt one amp per hour?

Sorry, obviously I wrote complete drivel and should read what I write before hitting Enter. Shall fix. Thanks.