Hi folks.
I'm new to this group and, while I've been happily riding e-bikes for nearly 10 years, I have to admit that I have close to zero understanding of exactly how the electronics of them work, so I do beg your patience with me. I should also mention that I'm in New Zealand, because it will help provide some context to the rest of this post.
I recently had the opportunity to purchase a "new" Pedego Interceptor Platinum for $NZ1300 (around $US840).These models retail in the US for over $5000. The catch was that the bike was missing certain key components - in particular, the battery (and casing) and the LCD display. As there is no longer a New Zealand distributor for Pedego bikes, there is also no local support for them, so I knew this was going to be a bit of a gamble.
The battery needed to be 48v and ideally have the same casing and mount as the is standard on these bikes. I managed to purchase a 36v version, at a discount price, off the company who used to be the importers and had a local battery guru re-pack it as 48v. Pedego support in the States sold me an LCD display which arrived a month or so ago.
So I installed the battery and display and took it for a test ride. The throttle works perfectly. Of the 5 PAS levels, 1 works exactly as I'd expect in terms of the assist level. 5 also works as I'd expect for a 48v 500watt bike - almost like a turbo-charger. Haha. BUT, levels 2, 3 and 4 all offer exactly the same level of assist as level 1. So, other than using the throttle, I get to go either really slowly or utterly flat out. Not ideal.
When I contacted Pedego Support about this, they were very apologetic and said they had sent me the wrong LCD display (for the standard Interceptor rather than the Platinum version) and they sent me a replacement. This replacement arrived last week and guess what? Yep... I still have the same problem. (The display is a Bigstone C500B in both cases, so I suspect any differences must be in the way they've been programmed).
Now I'm a bit concerned that this might be the sort of problem that might require an expert, with the right kind of testing equipment, rather than something that might be sorted out via a few emails back and forth between me and Pedego Support. But then I came across this group and wondered if anyone here might have any ideas of things I could try (or have a local e-bike tech try for me).
I do know that when the battery was re-packed as 48v, the circuit responsible for showing the charge level on the battery case wasn't changed, so this will show the battery as charged even when it's actually quite low (as shown on the LCD display) and I can't help but wonder if this could have anything to do with the issue.
Anyway, thanks if you've taken the time to read this rather long post. And thanks in advance if you have any helpful advice that wouldn't require me to have a degree in electrical engineering to understand.
I'm new to this group and, while I've been happily riding e-bikes for nearly 10 years, I have to admit that I have close to zero understanding of exactly how the electronics of them work, so I do beg your patience with me. I should also mention that I'm in New Zealand, because it will help provide some context to the rest of this post.
I recently had the opportunity to purchase a "new" Pedego Interceptor Platinum for $NZ1300 (around $US840).These models retail in the US for over $5000. The catch was that the bike was missing certain key components - in particular, the battery (and casing) and the LCD display. As there is no longer a New Zealand distributor for Pedego bikes, there is also no local support for them, so I knew this was going to be a bit of a gamble.
The battery needed to be 48v and ideally have the same casing and mount as the is standard on these bikes. I managed to purchase a 36v version, at a discount price, off the company who used to be the importers and had a local battery guru re-pack it as 48v. Pedego support in the States sold me an LCD display which arrived a month or so ago.
So I installed the battery and display and took it for a test ride. The throttle works perfectly. Of the 5 PAS levels, 1 works exactly as I'd expect in terms of the assist level. 5 also works as I'd expect for a 48v 500watt bike - almost like a turbo-charger. Haha. BUT, levels 2, 3 and 4 all offer exactly the same level of assist as level 1. So, other than using the throttle, I get to go either really slowly or utterly flat out. Not ideal.
When I contacted Pedego Support about this, they were very apologetic and said they had sent me the wrong LCD display (for the standard Interceptor rather than the Platinum version) and they sent me a replacement. This replacement arrived last week and guess what? Yep... I still have the same problem. (The display is a Bigstone C500B in both cases, so I suspect any differences must be in the way they've been programmed).
Now I'm a bit concerned that this might be the sort of problem that might require an expert, with the right kind of testing equipment, rather than something that might be sorted out via a few emails back and forth between me and Pedego Support. But then I came across this group and wondered if anyone here might have any ideas of things I could try (or have a local e-bike tech try for me).
I do know that when the battery was re-packed as 48v, the circuit responsible for showing the charge level on the battery case wasn't changed, so this will show the battery as charged even when it's actually quite low (as shown on the LCD display) and I can't help but wonder if this could have anything to do with the issue.
Anyway, thanks if you've taken the time to read this rather long post. And thanks in advance if you have any helpful advice that wouldn't require me to have a degree in electrical engineering to understand.