Once every month, I check my TWIKE’s exterior for potential problems (like this one, or this one) that are easily fixed if detected early and turn can into very costly repairs, if left unattended. This entry shows you another part of your TWIKE you should check regularly – which I haven’t … until now. TW560’s swing steering arm! Seeing this brown colour – very unusual for a TWIKE since all other parts are made of either plastic or aluminium – got me thinking: rust is never a good sign. I’m aware that most of my readers haven’t seen this […]
Post-TDE2017 TLC for TW560 (Part 2/3)
With part 1/3 TW560 taken care of, it’s time to put my focus on two other issues: After just one day of constant wiper usage during a storm in Hungary, TW560’s acrylic windscreen is badly scratched and needs urgent attention. When the sun or lights from oncoming traffic hits the windscreen, I’m almost blind. Lots and lots of dirt in my TWIKE Let’s start with TW560’s windscreen: This is how my windscreen looked like before I started the procedure. Luckily, a few years ago, I found a new method to polish the plastic back to perfection. Another picture […]
Post-TDE2017 TLC for TW560 (Part 1/3)
Unlike our many other yearly TWIKE adventures, TDE2017 took a heavy toll on TW560. Time to give TW560 some TLC and make TWIKEing great again! 🙂 First stop is at Andreas Martin’s Ksenotek, Switzerland’s newest TWIKE service partner in northern Switzerland. The 360° sphere below was created by me during TWIKE Klub Switzerland’s 2016 general assembly which started at Andreas’ workshop. Use your mouse to pan around in any direction. Andreas workshop is right behind you 🙂 As usual, Andreas greets me enthusiastically and before he starts working on my TWIKE offers me a coffee and catches up […]
Hello 2017
Welcome 2017 – I haven’t been blogging for a while, there hasn’t been much to blog about anyway – having been rather busy with (international) travel and finally some well-deserved vacation, this entry is somewhat of a quick re-cap of the last few months. After my TWIKE-related accident it took surprisingly long to get rid of my crutches – I was getting worried I’d have to take them with me to Sri Lanka, a two-week escape to a warmer place, spicy food, beautiful landscapes, highest-quality tea and laid back beaches, beginning of December 16. Being back to Asia means that […]
Solar TukTuk & TW560
For some time now, I’ve been following a very interesting project: Tejas, the Solar Tuk Tuk. Naveen Rabelli is driving his DYI-conversion of an Ape three-wheeler on a 10’000km trip from India to England. On his trip he is proving that very simple sustainable technology can be as reliable as mass-produced conventional technology and at the same time connecting people involved in sustainable technologies. Switzerland wasn’t on Naveen’s route originally. I was extremely happy when I was unexpectedly added to a chat-group on a popular mobile chat platform supporting his trip from southern Germany to France via Switzerland. I was […]
My first 35E-week – a recap
Installed on August 8, the first week saw the new 51Ah pack being put through its paces: Normal commuting, every day usage Capacity testing, hypermiling Quick dash to Austria and back Overnight stay and slow TWIKE-style traveling Let’s see how my TW560-usage for this week looked like in detail: Drove to Dreifels from my office in Zurich: 35E pack genesis. Very relaxed return home – percentage counts down very, very slowly. Day at home, some quick trips to Bülach. Same, same. An additional trip to Eglisau. How much capacity does my battery have? After this day, we know it’s 17.77kWh! […]
New Battery Pack: How far can I go on a charge?
Every time when changing something related to batteries, many other parameters potentially change at the same time: Chemistry, response to load, max/min voltages and discharge curves, etc. In a way, it feels like being a novice TWIKE pilot again – you really don’t know how your battery will react and – in consequence – how far your will be able to drive. Without a reliable total charge capacity figure, any subsequent computations are meaningless. I’m currently driving with the 29E-config I just left in-place since my 35E pack has at least 14% more capacity. It would, nevertheless, be interesting to […]
Finally: My 51Ah pack has arrived!
Samsung’s 35E cells weren’t available when I ordered TW560’s new Dreifels 51Ah battery pack. Thanks to a very kind offer by Ralph from dreifels, I was still able to go on my yearly TWIKE adventure and experience a large pack / range with his personal 29E/45Ah pack. During my vacation Dreifels sent me an email telling me that they had received the cells and were having them spot-welded at a third-party supplier. After receiving the welded cell-packs, Dreifels then builds battery-blocks consisting of multiple cell-packs, adding up to a standard voltage of 180V and 17Ah. I’m really looking forward to […]
A 2nd Life for TW560’s previous batteries
My last battery-related entry was on TW560 getting a new battery pack. (Finally, I have the time to write an entry after my epic 10-day TWIKE adventure across some of the highest passes of Europe with less charging stops. 🙂 ) This entry is dedicated to the previous’ pack’s second life as a stationary battery pack for a Swiss household. The application they are going to be used in is very simple: Solar panel – charging circuit – battery – inverter – 230V-loads in household… grid. The idea is to keep renewable energy in-house and only send energy to the […]