New Segway "Key" Idea

[macgeek]

If you have ever had the luck running out of battery power 3/4 thru your "glide" as I now have on 2 occations, you will appreciate this idea.

A New "key mode" that puts your segway in regenarative state, so as your pushing your segway the mile down the road, you can then have enough power to go the LAST mile.

Jonathan

www.segwaygeek.com

[Hauptagon]

You can do that by putting it in power assist mode. I've had this happen on several occasions too, but I've found it just isn't worth the effort to push in PA mode -- it's a lot of work. I've also tried making it easier to push in PA mode by reducing motor resistance (increasing "throttle") and still pushing more than it pulls, but I always just wind up just shutting down and pushing. It's much more sweat than it's worth just to ride it a little more.

On a related note, I have a crazyish idea for just such instances, but it would have to be a windy day... I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

-Justin

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams." -From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

[KSagal]

I recently had my first experience with red faced shutdown while over a mile from the house. (I also had my 4 year old, and the exta weight was likely the reason for the shortened range)

I pushed in power assist. It was like pushing an old buick with flat tires...

I pulled in power assist. It felt like the yoke of marriage...(Just kidding honey!)

A lot of work it was. Efficient it was also. I manually recharged it for a few hundred feet, and then powered up and rode as far with my son.

I then had to get off and push/pull and start again. I only had to do this three times in about a mile. I luckily got to a small hill, and with that and a 4 mph max, I got home.

I really was impressed with the power that was generated in a relativly short push. If speeds are kept down while gliding, I imagine that I got a 4 or 5 to one ratio of charge miles to glide miles. push up the hills and glide slowly down, and this ratio gets even better.


One last thought. I once took the dogs for a trot and went about 3 miles and never saw even a blinking bar. Of course, the small dog is over 120 pounds, and is a Rhodi Ridgeback mix and the other is a full Rottweiller. I don't think the range of the seg was an issue, it was the dogs.


Karl Ian Sagal

Each road you travel should be just a bit better for having had you pass.

[macgeek]

Sadly, power assist shuts down rather quickly, And then I almost lurched foward without the resistance (I know, resistance, is futile!) -- I drather have something that stays on longer, let me push it 1/4 mile, and ride it 1/2

Jonathan

www.segwaygeek.com

[Sid Viscous]

"let me push it 1/4 mile, and ride it 1/2"

Heve we repealed the First law of thermodynamics again?

__________________
What's the font Knneth

[Ground Loop]

I have a suspicion that these efforts to "charge" the HT by pushing it around in Power Assist mode aren't really putting much if any power into the batteries. Most likely, the resulting "Hey! It's back!" brief run is from a slight surface charge on the batteries or simply allowing them to rest. The rest brings their voltage reading back up high enough that the HT will again power on and let you suck more power out of them.

In other words, it's just getting around the "over-discharge protection" built into the Segway.

The only way to know for sure would be to do this repeatedly -- push, ride, push, ride.. then if you get to a point where the battery is so overdepleted that pushing won't get you a ride, I'm right. If you can do this indefinately, each time getting a run of equal length, then I'm wrong and pushing really does charge it up enough to allow a brief ride.

Anyone need a new workout program?

[macgeek]

...And they say you don't get any excersize using a segway!!!

HA!!!

Jonathan

www.segwaygeek.com

[Deviant]

rehash: This is just the battery voltage rising from having been lowered during usage - relaxation. From last SegwayFest, the engineers stated that continually restarting after shutdown could lead to permanent battery damage (cell reversal).

Regeneration is an apparently good braking system. It would be nice to hear the engineers give a number on the energy recovery that makes it into the battery. My wild guess would be that 20% recovery would be doing great. And at a 20% recovery, usage losses still wouldn't allow getting 1 mile out of 5 miles of pushing.