Gosh I had forgotten how clever you are. I would not have the guts to start cutting up cables on my 3200€ orbea . Well done very impressive. Take the rest of the day off.

Hi Yako, I appreciate your answers. In short, and if I'm understanding correctly: when you reconnected the extender, the iWoc started blinking green, similar to when the battery is charging.
If this was the case, then let's discuss this a bit: 1) At the start of your ride, both batteries were connected in parallel. 2) When you reconnected it, it was already blinking green, meaning your main battery was at a charge level above 75%. 3) It means the extender connector had possibly recently come loose. 4) If it was in charging mode, I assume the green blinking continued, then it started blinking white, as in a normal charging process.
This is interesting, Yako. Excuse my methodology, but my background in electronic engineering doesn't allow me to stray from the search for what is real and proven, versus what isn't. Before issuing any opinions, I'm going to set up a scenario similar to the one you experienced in my lab and, in a very controlled manner, verify and draw conclusions. This may take a week, but rest assured, we'll try to support your finding. I'd appreciate your feedback on the above points.
Regards, Antonio

Great video Gareth,  it is incredible what you have done. My orbea gain is out of warranty and the locking clip has also broken so I would love to replicate your improvements, but I don’t have any electronics experience or indeed your level of intelligence, but the thought of going on a long distance bike ride with extra battery packs is just fantastic. Well done Gareth😊

Brilliant Gareth, or should I say Albert. Your abilities have no bounds. No need for Mensa...still enjoying all your videos...thanks

Nice.

Great video Gareth . That’s fab news finding out about the parallel battery . I put my diode in a unit power bottle battery I had , I have two more of those from kits I bought so in effect have about 1100 watts range touch wood .

I recommend plastidip to make things waterproof. I tend to do heatshrink and plastidip inside.

Great electronics lesson .....

Excellent video, I do think that the charging port is in a bit of an awkward place to access, enjoy your week

Tky again,

on the switch i have the same as you from the diode positive  then from the switch-neg do i connect to pos or neg on the cable

My wifes bike had this problem, disconecting part way round ride, she didnt realise unitl later, plugged it back in after switching on bike first, but it wouldnt charge main battery at all. Any idea why not, have the same diode set up as your previous video. Any help would be appriciated as she worries about the range being caught out before she had range extender. Is there any way of knowing or checking it is working?

hello,,thats very great ,,,   what hayou take for a lipo ???

3s   /4s   5000mha ??  or other  ,,the mahle system has 36volts

take a 5s  two lipos ??  vor 36volts or other ??

18650 industrie cells ?? liion

better is a link to your cells ,,thank you

greats lars

If you're not intending on taking it out a bit of rtv would do the job

Thank you very much for the update!
Quick question about your discovery: does that mean you don’t need to use an Ideal Diode for the extender anymore?

(I actually ordered the Ideal Diode from AliExpress, but it got lost in the mail! I've been waiting almost two months to use my extra battery—really eager to start doing some longer trips. The only part I’m still missing is the Ideal Diode.)

As an electronics technician, please don't twist and solder wires. Just lap joint them. Twisting before soldering will work but it gives you issues in the long term. Cracks, broken strands, air pockets and corrosion.

I've watched the initial video and plan to start the project this summer. Haven't seriously started yet. I have noticed a lot of cheaper batteries on Aliexpress that don't have the Samsung cells. Finding a nicer batter would take some work.  I'm willing to do the work but I wonder.  Does the realization here that a voltage differential causes trickle charging mean that those cheaper batteries are probably fine?  Was it the potential of a different voltage that made you so careful about the batteries?

I can’t believe these big bike companies don’t build extra batteries into the bottom of pannier bags, especially with the size of batteries you are using. The only thing I didn’t like about the video was it all seemed to be in a different language 🤣🤣🤣 I would never have the confidence of doing that to my bike

Warning… ⛔️ I had a volabike range extender.  Worked brilliantly in “ parallel “ with main bike battery to give enormous range.  I made mistake of switching it off mid ride at the off button on the extender battery.  Then rode a little.  It created a small voltage difference. Like an idiot I switched it back on after a long cafe stop and got the dreaded Purple light of death on the iwoc… my own user error .

Should never switch battery extender off manually. Just let the system self pause and it keeps everything in parallel.

Cost me £900 for a new main battery and £500 for a new volabike extender…. 😩

I also carry a Mahler top up battery 🪫 when riding in the Alpes.  This then “recharges” the main battery when the parallel battery set up is drained.   Gives enormous range in the mountains….  But the parallel volabike battery does Not trickle charge the main battery as you describe… just a warning from my mistake when fatigued once on a long ride.  User error…

Hello. Came here to say plugging in the second battery after the internal battery has been depleted serves no purpose. The motor never, and I really mean never, draws power from any external batteries. The bike is hardwired to draw power exclusively from the internal battery. The external battery's sole function (whether it's the official one or homemade) is to charge the internal battery like a power bank. That's really it. It can do so while riding, at its maximum output rate of 2A. The voltage difference between the two batteries makes no difference because they are not powering the motor in series. But you'd be wise to plug in the extender at the very start of the ride, because a moderately discharged internal battery discharges at a faster rate than a continuously topped up one does. Since the internal battery is the more expensive component, you should focus on its health rather than the external one.