[eldiablo]

Hi, just got a tesla and was out tonight for a ride. The red light came on after about 1hr 30 - 1hr 45 mins, so just wondering how much time i have left on full power when this comes on

Battery is new so might not be up to full capacity as its only had one charge so far.

Thanks

 

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My review sample ran for 2.6 hrs on high. The intensity didn't dimish, it just shut off at that point.

Hi, just got a tesla and was out tonight for a ride. The red light came on after about 1hr 30 - 1hr 45 mins, so just wondering how much time i have left on full power when this comes on

Battery is new so might not be up to full capacity as its only had one charge so far.

Thanks

 

[BBW]

red light means "significant" amount of battery power has been used. When it stars to flash is when it is letting you know that there is not much left and that you will have to activate the reserve tank soon.
if Lupine state 3h running time, then you still have 1:15-1:30h left on high.
Note: for your piece of mind you could switch to medium and prolong the run time by about 4-5 hours setting the medium power (assuming 1/2 juice is left):thumbsup:

 

[GEOMAN]

I'm getting 2.5+ hours on mine at high but bear in mind that there are other considerations especially in the winter.

Do the new battery charge routine and let us know how you do afterwards.

Thanks!

 

[Tanin]

Do the new battery charge routine .

Did I miss an important step ??

OP: Done a half dozen rides with my Tesla . Mounted on my head so can't see the warning lights but had the unit shut off last ride. I have a short backyard loop that I can knock out in 50+ min. and the Tesla shut off heading back up my street after my third ride on a charge.

** Amazing light BTW !!

 

[eldiablo]

just done a couple of runtime tests now, indoors with a fan to cool the lighthead.

Full power:
2hrs 30 until red light comes on
2hrs 39 flashing red
2hrs 42 beam started flashing and went into reserve tank mode. (which put the light into a low power setting so i stopped timing then, as i was testing the time on High compared to lupines figures)

repeated the test twice with pretty similar results both times.

So not quite the 3 hrs that lupine claim...which i'm a little bit dissapointed with considering the cost of the light and lupines reputation. I night ride 2-3 times a week in winter with about a 3 hr ride time, so if i switch them beam up and down i'll be ok, but one reason i went for a 3 hr light was to try and avoid changing beam settings on the ride, but hey ho not much i can do!!

Not sure how much shorter these times will be outside in the cold though, i'm hoping there wont be too much of a reduction...

 

[radirpok]

Mine turns red after ~30 minutes of HI mode run. So ~30 mins to the trail @LO or MED, then ~30 on HI and the red light is on.
Funny thing though is that it keeps working without a problem after that, I didn't measure the total runtime but I do believe it is near the advertised 3 hours (since I often switch to lower modes when HI is not needed, during climbs etc. it is hard to tell what runtime I should expect). I have not had my light shut off because of the low battery, even when my rides are longer than ~3 hours.
So it is an annoyance, yes, but nothing too bad. I usually have my other light with me on the helmet, so I can just ignore the red light warning knowing that I have a backup ;-)
I'm thinking about getting a proper bottle-type battery though, my bottle cage is unused anyway (have a camelbak), and ~500gr is not that much heavier than the ~250gr with the standard framefit battery, but the runtime would double - sounds like its worth it...

 

[GEOMAN]

Mine turns red after ~30 minutes of HI mode run. So ~30 mins to the trail @LO or MED, then ~30 on HI and the red light is on.
Funny thing though is that it keeps working without a problem after that, I didn't measure the total runtime but I do believe it is near the advertised 3 hours (since I often switch to lower modes when HI is not needed, during climbs etc. it is hard to tell what runtime I should expect). I have not had my light shut off because of the low battery, even when my rides are longer than ~3 hours.
So it is an annoyance, yes, but nothing too bad. I usually have my other light with me on the helmet, so I can just ignore the red light warning knowing that I have a backup ;-)
I'm thinking about getting a proper bottle-type battery though, my bottle cage is unused anyway (have a camelbak), and ~500gr is not that much heavier than the ~250gr with the standard framefit battery, but the runtime would double - sounds like its worth it...

I would recalibrate the battery.

Simple Li Ion Guidelines

* Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.)

* Batteries with fuel gauge should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.

* Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.

* If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.

 

[radirpok]

I tested my Tesla 4 battery with a Wilma lighthead. After charging the battery with the Wiesel, the Wilma said 7.7V, the Wilma's own (6.5Ah) battery read 8.1V. So I guess the Tesla's battery is a bit weak.
On the other hand, I used the 6.5Ah battery with the Tesla last night and exactly the same thing happened: after a short full power run the light went into the red.
I perused the Wilma PCS docs and I see that there is an option to set the "sensitivity" of the battery power detection - of course, this cannot be changed on the Tesla. It could be that my unit is factory-programmed to be too sensitive to low voltage, I will ask this on the Lupine forum, maybe they can answer it.
Now I am reading the microcharger docs, maybe I'll be able to do some "conditioning" while I have the unit. So I plugged in the Microcharger... At the moment I'm unable to understand the flashes: after disconnecting the battery the yellow light keeps flashing continuously, and the green doesn't flash at all. Hm... Also, Wiesel doesn't want to charge this battery anymore, but the Microcharger does. Hm-hm.

Update: the Microcharger kicked up the Tesla battery to 8.0V. Nice. But why is it not reachable with the Wiesel?

 

[BBW]

As soon as I get back to my lights I will see this.... My Tesla came to red after about 30 min on high (18 degrees though). I'll see what the difference with the micro/wiesel is

 

[BBW]

Radirpok I got pretty much the same finding.....
Wiesel charger went off and when pluged in the Wilma it read 7.7v. Then I plugged it in the micro charger and it took 1:30h extra to give me the green light
I plugged it in and it reached 8.1v
Somehow the Wiesel is not charging more than 7.7v and that could be the source of the red light so early?
I'll post in Lupine forum as soon as I find my password, if you get any light on this let me know

B

 

[HBR]

I have had the same problem; light going to red after a short run time. Has only done it intermittently however. I had a look at the charging instructions and tried this sequence.
1. Plug charger into wall socket.
2. Turn on switch at wall socket.
3. Plug battery into charger.

When ever I have done it by reversing steps 2 and 3. I seem to get an early red.

Hope this works out.