In my last post I mentioned I’d peddled for over 40mins and the voltage seemed to be settling about 12.0 – 12.1 volts.

Turns out those voltage readings weren’t reliable. I’d come out every few hours to do a few more turns and the voltage would have dropped by anywhere from 0.2 to 0.5 volts. It took another 45mins of pedaling (during which I finally began to hit 14.5v during intense bursts ) before it became clear that the voltage seems to be settling about 11.9v.

I talked this over with Eirbyte.com and they felt those kinds of numbers hint at there being a problem with the battery. It does not seem to be holding the charges I’m giving it.

To check this out, I intend to charge the battery electronically to be sure I’ve got it maxed. Using grid electricity is not something I wanted to do in this project, but this seems to be the only way to make sure I’ve recharged the battery to full capacity. Then I’ll see what voltage it holds.

If it’s not at least 12v then I’m back to the shop to get money back and (hopefully!) find a better battery elsewhere. Because no one deserves €115 of my money for a battery that doesn’t work after just one complete discharge.