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Old 01-01-08 | 06:15 AM
  #75  
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geebee
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Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Tasmania, Australia

Bikes: GT3 trike,Viper chopper, electric assist Viper chopper,Electric moped(Vespa style)

The only way to know how to interpret the gauge is to ride until cutout, once off it won't harm the batteries greatly and atleast you will have a feel for the gauge.
The bike will cutoff power at a preset voltage that also tends to vary (like the gauges) a touch but should be above 80% discharge (one of my controllers cuts off at 50% it is annoying but great for battery life).
A digital gauge will be a little better but you would still have to run to cutoff to find the cutoff voltage.
Bare in mind as well that an increased load ie. up hill a heavy bag of groceries will affect the cutoff due to increased voltage sag, temperature and battery age will also affect sag and thus cutoff.
A reduced throttle setting will often get you home if you hit cutoff by lowering the amount of voltage sag due to load.
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