Winter riding (not) and some problem with the BionX (now solved!)

I has been a while since the last post. I haven't been riding a lot for many reasons. Nr.1 is that I had my first immobilising velomobile mishap/accident in ten years of riding. Bit tired, in the dark, unfamiliar road, some snow cover and blinded by car lights, I rode the Waw straight onto a 10cm high curb at approx. 30-35km/h. From the tracks in the snow, one could see I had been "flying" about 3m. I was quite shaken but uninjured and feared the worst for the wheels and suspension of the Waw. My worst fear was that the blow would have torn out the suspension mounts in the body. It turned out the wheels and mounts were undamaged, and that the blow was taken by some uncritical bending of the front suspension. Pfew. Soon after I was abroad for 6 weeks and after coming back I was sick a few weeks. And after that, we had the worst snow since a long time…

I have ridden now and then, shorter distances. With a studded MTB rear tire, traction is sufficient to make riding possible in snow and ice, although within limits. The assist is a welcome help to plough through the parts where the roads have not been ploughed from fresh snow. Much depends on the quality of the snow, some snow gives hardly any (rolling) resistance, other types are so mucky that only a few centimetres is enough to seriously hinder progress.

On my latest two rides, I have noticed that sometimes the assist (not generator) tends to switch on and off every few pedal strokes. On, off, on, off. Sometimes it occurs, sometimes it doesn’t. I haven’t had time to look into it in more detail, but I intend to investigate and write about it. I suspect it occurs less when the system is warmed up and that it is a glitch in the control, not the power circuitry. Perhaps the power measurement (which is most sensitive) is a bit off in cold weather? As said I need to investigate more...

***********UPDATE*********

The answer to the BionX hick-ups problem is given in the comment section. My interplenation: in cold weather the voltage of the cold battery is lower. So when the assist switches on, the voltage drops even more and the control cuts the power since it thinks the battery is empty. After that voltage raises again and the assist switches on again, only to repeat the cycle. Or something like that.

Solution: one should not leave the battery outside in freezing temperatures, which I do (to see how far one can go? -5C here). It is very easy to take the battery out from the Waw and take it inside, so that is what I will from now on during winter...