Electric Elk Blog

 That stupid little key/horn/headlight/battery 'gauge', was really driving me up the wall. That goofy little thing- I get why they put it on though, it's cheap and easy. But Electric Elk seeks to be the Mercedes of Velomobiles so that was one of the first things that had to go.  This did take a bit of rewiring, but not much and all of the components you can buy on Amazon. I'm still trying to find some software to make a decent wiring diagram. As soon as I do, I'll make a post about fixing the wiring / installing headlights and front turn signals, etc.  But this post is about the new speedometer/battery gauge. There is a really good and in-depth thread on E ndless Sphere , but this guide will append some informaion and give parameter settings for the JX Cycle Pickup Trike. The guage is a pretty nice, water proof, all-purpose gauge. They cost about $110 on Amazon (at time of writing), and I would say a fairly good value for the money. The one caveat is, they are not ...

 In various places I've noted my first motivation for this little endeavor was so that I can bike year round with out getting cold and wet. I've been a lot more active on bike Twitter recenlty, and I get there are lots of clever jackets and other devices to keep you warm, dry, and visible, but I'm an engineer and I think I and we can do better.  So I'm working on bringing these trikes to market. The point of the three wheeled platform is that it will give me the opportunity to put a cab on my bike. I'm hoping to start that little project this weekend, and blog post will follow.  But there is another issue for 'winter ebiking' and that is battery protection.  Lithium Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are some of the best performing batteries in cold weather but they have their limits. And the biggest bummer is, those limits are far far before the abuse Chicago will put them through in the winter.  Specifically- LiFePO4 batteries will discharge at 70% of their rat...