The Onewheel battery will need to be balanced at some point in time, the more you ride the more often you should do it. Balance the Onewheel battery is an easy task to do. Leave your Onewheel plugged into the charger for 24-72 hours. This will allow the battery management system (BMS) to rebalance the cell.
Balancing the cells is an automatic process that starts when the battery pack is fully charged, it’s not dangerous to disconnect the charger during the process, just keep in mind that you will need to perform the balancing at a later time.
When do I need to balance the Onewheel battery?
When the cells are getting unbalanced one or many of them will have a lower voltage than the rest. The result will be that the weak cell is draining faster, as the BMS controller uses the total voltage of the battery pack to calculate the remaining percentage it will show a higher value than the actual.
A weak cell could result in an early nosedive and therefore it’s recommended to keep an eye on the status of your battery pack. If the board starts to drain more quickly then it’s time to balance the cells.
If you have left the board unused for a long period of time the cells might have been unbalanced as they have different self-discharge rates.
What is Onehweel battery cell balancing?
Onewheel battery cell balancing is allowing the BMS to level the voltage of every single cell in the battery back. This is done by connecting the board to the charger and letting the system work. Cell balancing is something standard in all modern battery packs and battery management systems.
The process works that the BMS is equalizing the voltages and state of charge among the cells in the battery pack when they are at a full charge. As no two cells are identical, there are always slight differences in the state of charge, self-discharge rate, capacity, impedance, and temperature characteristics.
How often should you balance your Onewheel battery?
Future motion Inc is recommending balancing the battery for at least 24 hours once a week if you are doing a lot of riding. Another factor determining the frequency is, to leave your Onewheel plugged in for at least 24 hours once a week if you’re doing a lot of riding and short charging.
The more often you short-charge the more unbalanced the batteries become. For a normal rider try and balance your battery pack once every month for 24 hours.
Should I leave my Onewheel charging?
It’s a good idea to leave the Onewheel charging overnight, to allow the battery pack to thoroughly balance the individual cells if they are slightly off-balanced.
Don’t leave your battery charging for a longer period of time if you are not performing battery balancing. The battery management system will trickle charge the battery and put additional unnecessary stress on the cells.
For longer storage, you actually need to drain the battery.
How to balance cells Onewheel GT battery
To balance the cells on a Onewheel GT battery you will need to turn off the 90% charging feature. The cells only start to balance only when the board is charged to 100%. It’s recommended to every so often turn off the limiter and let the BMS balance the cells. The rest of the time you can set it to 90% charge to extend battery life as long as you don’t need the full charge for your ride.
The GT lightbar shuts off when the board is fully charged and has nothing to do with the balancing of the cells. This has only to do with the SoC, state of charge, the battery. Leave the board connected for a period of 24-48h to complete the process.
Conclusion
It’s important to balance the Onewheel battery to keep it functioning and lasting for a long time. A normal rider should balance the battery once every month as long as it’s not in long-term storage.
Are you riding shorter distances or pushing many miles per week, balance the battery more frequently.
For more battery management tips and more information about the battery system check out the Onewheel Battery Guide and Tips.
