Levo SL Gen 1 Levo SL Battery Drain

[albort1]

Hi All
Wondering if anyone else has this problem or am I overeacting?
I go for a ride on my Carbon Comp Levo SL and when Im finished the ride I take note of the battery %, say for example it might be at 40%.Load the bike and go home. After I get home I check the battery charge again and its always 4 to 6% less than what it was when I switched it off at the trail, so in this example it would read 34 to 36%.
The bike is only a few months old with about 200km on it.
Im worried that when I do a big ride I might run out due to this inacuracy.
What are your thoughts,should I push for warranty?

 

[jbodnar]

I have a 2021 CC SL...I might have noticed a slight drop...I will pay more attention to it.

Just curious, what does Mission Control show for your battery health and are your firmware firmware versions up to date?

I almost always ride my SL with the extender battery...so I can usually ride longer, whenever desired...I mostly do shorter rides.

 

[albort1]

Thanks for the reply. My battery health is at 100%. Firmware shows all up to date ,motor,display and battery according to mission control app.Ive done 6 charge cycles and the battery firmware is on 2.4.11.

 

[p3eps]

I’ve never specifically taken a note of it, but I think mine does this. I often ride at the weekend, and finish Saturdays ride with say 52%. When I switch the bike on to go out on Sunday, it’s 47%.
Mine is a year old now... but the battery health is still at 100%, and it’s done this since the beginning. If it’s fully charged at 100%, it stays at 100% though (If I didn’t ride till the next day).

 

[jbodnar]

I have noticed that my Y cable doesn’t charge my batteries all the way sometimes...I have to remember to make sure the Y cable‘s connector is pushed all of the way in...I always do this on the battery connectors, but I sometimes forget to check the cable connection too.

On my last charge, it turned off at 100, but when I disconnected the charger, MC showed 98...I realized the Y cable connector wasn’t pushed all the way in.

I’ve also seen the battery lights flashing and look like they are charging, but the adapter light is green (also when the Y cable connector wasn’t pushed all of the way in).

 

[albort1]

Thanks p3eps, that’s exactly what mine is doing so I’m not alone! I’m taking it up with the bike shop tomorrow so I will keep you all posted. Probably just have to keep it in mind when doing extra long rides, that is you could be up to 6% less charge than what is showing.

 

[Zimmerframe]

@Specialized Rider Care any idea what causes this ?

 

[Olof Bike Adventures]

Speculating for fun only... I am not sure how the percentage is measured, if it is only measuring voltage that number can fluctuate depending on the temperature for example. To measure in a more proper way, there has to be a short load test and I am guessing that the BMS is not doing that.

Some drone batteries have got a self discharging function. If the battery is full for a few days, it discharges itself to around 50% to preserve the battery (when not being used for extended periods of time). Maybe there is such a function for bike batteries too, but that does probably not kick in until a few days and does not explain why the percentage is lower only hours after a ride. I stick with the explanation in my first sentence.

 

[ThierryGTLTS]

@Specialized Rider Care any idea what causes this ?

Temperature variations affect strongly the displayed remaining energy.
Same problem with the Creo.
For example if I do a ride at low temperatures, have a look at the jauge immediately, and then after 2 hour in a warm room, the figures may be up to 5% different, but it doesn't worry me anymore now.

 

[albort1]

That’s good info and makes sense. I am annoyed that I’ve had two Ebikes prior to the SL and they were spot on showing percentage with no variation after riding at all, an 18 model Levo and a Norco sight VLT.

 

[Olof Bike Adventures]

That’s good info and makes sense. I am annoyed that I’ve had two Ebikes prior to the SL and they were spot on showing percentage with no variation after riding at all, an 18 model Levo and a Norco sight VLT.

That could be that your old bikes only show last reading and do not do a new reading until the motors are in use again.

In general I think the displayed percentage should only be considered as a rough guide and not an exact science.

 

[Konanige]

Cant help I'm afraid I think I'm doing it all wrong, I charge it up then I ride it till its flat!

 

[boBE]

Cant help I'm afraid I think I'm doing it all wrong, I charge it up then I ride it till its flat!

Electric vehicles use charge management systems to limit "full" and "empty" on their batteries, I expect Spec does the same. Charging is limited to 80-90%, discharge is maybe 20%, all in order to extend the life of the battery beyond its normal 600 cycles. We will probably never know just what limits Spec sets but we may not be too far off by guessing at EV industry norms.

The Secret Life Of An EV Battery - CleanTechnica

I've heard detractors gleefully declaring that anyone buying an EV will find that their EV battery will be defunct within a couple of years.

cleantechnica.com

 

[Norcalsl]

My SL does the same thing.

 

[p3eps]

Makes sense that the temperature changes the reading. Over the last few months I’ve probably been riding in anything from 7degC down to -3degC... and then I come home and the bike is in my heated garage where it’s usually about 20degC.

It’ll be interesting to see if it still does it in the summer when the outer and inner temperatures are much the same.

 

[MacCruzIn]

So far so good with my battery and extender, still at 150% when I charge and I have ~1030 miles after 6 months. Have not notice a change from trail head to home in %, but will check. I tent to charge once or twice a week, short 10 mile rides (~1Hr) or more allow for multiple rides before charging. A ~40K (25 miles) and ~5,000 ft requires a recharge for the next day after a epic ride in the Santa Cruz Mountains, have about 20% left. Have yet to completely drain the battery on a ride, but I am sure I will get there, usually go about ~4 hours on epic rides.

 

[chamaruco]

guys after 4000km my MC says 100% healthy but i'm noticing (ah here in italy is not cold at all) that i reach 60% or 40% faster then few months ago. the battery or MC are issued? my warranty is ending...so i'm aware of little signals before it expires.