Hello,

I have a Wilderness Energy kit BD36 kit with 26" motor wheel. The range between charges is purported to be 10 - 15 miles on a charge. I was only getting 3-4 miles and I called distributor and was sent new battery pack, charger and wiring harness. New harness got me up to 5 miles but still this range is only half of the low end of what is advertised.

I put kit on a Nishiki Cascade mountain bike which is old and heavy just like me. I have put street tires on this thing and have repacked all the bearings including the bottom bracket. Now when I ride I pedal 50- 60% of the time and there are few hills where I live. I still am only getting 5 miles max on a charge!

This is very frustrating as you can imagine that it limits the versatility of my unit when I can only travel 2 and a half miles to destination and 2.5 miles back.

Has anyone else encountered this and are there any suggestions, something I may have missed?

Sincerely,

Babyboyprime (new member)

Yes.. That is a brushed motor and depending on hills, weight of rider etc.. In my opinion Wilderness simply lies to sell bikes.

Buy an ampedbikes kit or crystalyte. Brushless is the only way to go.

Everything in my BD36 kit has been replaced except the motor and I've yet to get it running. At least you're rolling and could do OK with a better type battery.

I'm 400lbs and I'm getting 25-30kms but I'm wired up to 2 battery packs (about 24Ahrs)

check you tire pressure. are you running knobbies?

If you have SLA batteries the voltage will sag after you have ridden for 10 minutes or so. Are you getting dead batteries at 5 miles, or are they just not as strong as the first 5 miles?

My batteries sag fairly quickly, but then they continue to work for quite some time after.

Are you sure your batteries are getting fully charged? The resting voltage on my fully charged W.E. 36v battery packs is about 39.7 volts. This is after being off the charger for at least an hour.
If you' don't have a multimeter, I recommend gettin one. You can buy a cheap one like this and it will really help in diagnosing problems with your e-bike

https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92020

W.E. sent out a batch of defective chargers earlier this summer. The symptom of the defect is a rapidly blinking and faint indicator light at the end of the charging cycle. If you leave these defective chargers attached to the battery after they start to blink, they will discharge your battery down to about 50% charge. If you unplug the charger when it starts to blink, you can get a nearly full charge. If you've got a blinky charger, see this forum for a possible fix,

https://visforvoltage.org/forum/4487-...er-suggestions

or if it's not been more than 30 days, see your dealer for a replacement.

If you're running full throttle, not pedaling and have some hills in your route, you might only expect 5 or 6 miles. The hype about 20 mile range is just that. It might be possilbe with a 110 pound rider on a lightweight road bike with high pressure tires running at partial throttle setting. In the real world, you'll probably only get half that range at best with the SLA batteries and a BD36 motor.

I have both a BD-36 and my wife has a BL-36. I'm quite happy with my brushed motor for my relativel short 3 mile commute. It's much smoother and slightly faster than the BL-36. It does use a lot more juice from the battery pack though. When my wife and I ride together, I will be at 50% charge when she is still at 80%. I like to attribute that to the greater efficiency of her brushless motor rather than to the fact that she is in better shape than I am, although I imagine both factors are in play here.

Hi Wakataka,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running street (smooth) tires with full pressure. When batteries fully charged the output on the RCA plug is at 40.8 volts.

I'm pedaling 50% of my ride.

Babyoyprime

Hi SeizeTech,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running street (smooth) tires with full pressure. When batteries fully charged the output on the RCA plug is at 40.8 volts.

I'm pedaling 50% of my ride.

Babyoyprime

Hi bikefreaks,

Thanks for the reply.

Babyoyprime

Hi anlvilma,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sorry you are having worse luck then me with the Wilderness kit.

Babyoyprime