3000 km, KT-LCD3 display, etc.

Spring flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and I've started putting distance onto the Firefly again.  It's important to get outside, despite the many warnings about COVID-19 from politicians and public health busybodies.  Their science is tentative and fraught with conflicts of interest, and their claims - hypocritical as they may be - of valuing safety above all else do not reflect my values.  Fear, i.e. focusing on worst-case-scenarios, is a choice that I reject.  Life is for living.

I'm using a new KT-LCD3 display, which works as a drop-in replacement for the original KT-LCD5 after setting the various parameters.  The LCD3 shows power in Watts, which maxxes out at about 550 W for me.  I really wanted to know the maximum power.  The display also shows ambient and motor temperature, but unfortunately the motor field does not measure anything, and the ambient value is inaccurate.

Update: After this post I reverted to the original LCD5 display and spooled the LCD3 odometer distance onto it, using the documented communications protocol.



Together, the old (2730.5 km) and new (273.6 km) odometers add to 3004.1 km and 286.1 hours for the following statistics:

• 2 years ownership
• Several hundred trips enabled by the Firefly
• Scores of friendly compliments
• 10.5 km/h (average speed)
• 3 worn out front tires (current one seems like a winner)
• 2 significant mechanical issue:
• Loose axle nut
• Shims for the wheelchair frame attachment are slippery.  If used, inspect regularly and check bolts for tightness.
• 3 tip-over accidents (sideways)
• Turning onto an uphill ramp.  Too much speed and off-camber.  Kind bystanders tipped me back up.
• Riding up a steep and narrow temporary ramp, losing traction near the top, fishtailing backwards, and tipping over the side.  Relying on momentum rather than traction to get up steep slopes is dangerous.  The result of not reaching the top can be an extended loss of control, because sliding friction is less than static friction.  Rear wheel braking could help, because the rear wheels have a lot more traction (but engaging them while moving backwards could make the vehicle flip).  Reversing up steep slopes can be safer.
• While going around an illegally parked truck.  Always cross drop-offs at a perpendicular angle, even when annoyed.
• 1 empty battery (later replaced with a larger one)
• 1 flat rear tire (from a thumb tack)
• 1 flat front tire
• 0 collisions

Tip-over accidents are a recurring theme, because any safety gains due to skill and experience seem to be cancelled out by higher speed and reduced caution.