Been reading through several threads here about connecting up non-factory headlights and I see the term "wattage" thrown around a lot.  As though you can take something that is of similar wattage and just connect it without knowing the other variables involved in the circuit. 

Wattage is not set value when it comes to electronics as it can change based upon other values involved.  Please review the Ohm's law diagram.
Wattage is generally calcuated based upon knowing the current and the voltage of the circuit.  So let's look at a basic example for those of you that aren't into electronics. 

Your average hair dryer is 1500W, and in the US it would be running off a 120VAC circuit.
1500W / 120VAC = 12.5Amps
But in Europe and other countries, they use 220VAC
1500W / 220VAC = 6.8Amps
Increasing the voltage supplied lower the current drawn.  Running devices in your home on 220VAC is more efficient as it draws less current.  Less current, less heat.
Now in the cases of headlights I'm seeing lots of values being thrown around without much consideration as to how much current is actually going to be drawn in the circuit.  The headlight circuit in the controllers doesn't supply much, and if you connect something in there that's going to draw more than it can supply you'll quickly burn out the voltage regulator for that part of the controller.  Unless you're really handy with a soldering iron and trouble shooting circuits, you'll be buying a new controller.
Let's do some math, cause math is fun.
You buy a headlight that's an 18W, but it needs 12V to function.
18W / 12V = 1.5A

What if the circuit only supplies .5A or 500mA?  You just tripled the amount of current the circuit needs to supply.  It will work, but only for a little bit before the magic blue smoke is released.
Part of the problem in figuring these things out is what voltage and how much current the headlight circuit is designed to supply.  You can measure the voltage with a standard multimeter and that will give you a start, but unless you can get the manufacturer to tell you how much current the circuit was designed to supply you're just kind of guessing.  And when you're guess, it's best to guess low.
Let's got back to our 18W light.
18W / 36V = .5A  which fits into our example from above.18W / 48V = .375 which again would fit.
You need to know the voltage that the light circuit is supplying before you can make any kind of proper guess if it's going to work without burning out the circuit. 

Most everything in electronics can be expressed as a math equation, even horsepower.  1Hp = 745W, so your 1500W hairdryer is a little more than 2Hp.
How many horsepower does your average horse supply?  Between 20 and 25hp.
Please before you start hooking random lights up to your bike's controller, take some time to measure voltage of the circuit and do the math.  You do not want to release the magic blue smoke of your controller.  Once it's released you can't put it back in.

This isn't going to help Radpower: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-05/e-bike-crash-death-daughter-manufacturer-to-blame-rad-power-bikes
I've read several articles about this now.  I do not see how this is RP's fault, but of course, they family wants to go after who has the money, and not who's actually at fault. 

The bike belonged to the 13yr old sister of the 11yr old that crashed.  Molly was riding on the back and got thrown as they rolled down hill at a high rate of speed.  The 11yr old claims the bike started to wobble as she tried to apply the brakes which didn't slow them down.  Molly was thrown and injured and died in the hospital several days later.
They family is claiming that RP is negligent because of a defective design and the fact that the manual only says that no one under 18 should ride the bike on page 49 of a 57 page manual. 

1st, obviously no one in the family that owned the bike read the manual, and if they did, they ignored it.  It wouldn't have mattered if it was on page 1, they bought the bike for their 13yr old daughter.
2nd, Molly and her parents obviously didn't read the manual before she went for the ride.
3rd, chances are the brakes needed adjustment if they failed to stop the bike.  I don't know about you guys, but it seems as though every week I have to adjust my rear brakes so they're not spongy.  I don't consider that a design defect, it's just the brakes wearing.
4th the lack of riding experience of the 11yr old contributed greatly to the crash.
This is a tragedy, but it isn't RP's fault.  Lots of other people made mistakes that allowed this to happen.

My helmet is able to connect to my phone via bluetooth.  The first time I tried it just to play some music to see if it worked, every time I pedaled, the music would wash out with digital static.  I figured it was shitty circuitry on the controller or motor's part and figured I just wouldn't use bluetooth.
The other day I thought maybe putting a ferrite bead on the motor cable might stop the EMI.  I dug one out of my ferrite bead drawer and put it on then went for a ride playing music. 

The music played perfectly now matter how fast I pedaled.  I thought "success" the ferrite bead wiped out the EMI.  Then I remembered that I put the 35A controller on the bike since the last time I tried this.  I stopped, and took the bead off and rode home.  No interference.  The controller supplied by RAD apparently produces the EMI all on it's own. 

I do like my RR2, but I don't believe that the company is as innovative or plan things on their bike as well as they should.
The frames themselves, are well designed, and they seem strong, although heavy.  But that's ok, I bought mine to as a tool, a cargo bike to go shopping and survive the rigors of being hauled all over the place.
But, there's some issues that I think all their designs are going to have over the years.  One is the lack of stress relief on the wiring at the controller.  Those wires are stretched and bent too tight in that space.  That's eventually going to lead to wear and broken wires inside the insulation.  They only needed 1/2 or 1" more to make it better, but I'm sure the bean counters decided that saving those couple of pennies was better than building a long term reliable product.
Availability of spare parts in the next few years.  If they're cutting staff now, while people are still buying bikes like crazy it doesn't bode well for the long term.  If you guys haven't already started sourcing spare parts, do so now.  Especially the parts that you know you'll need, brakes, rotors, tubes and tires.  Source controllers and displays well.  If they go under you'll be needing to buy a new controller that's compatible without cutting into the wiring harness.
Leaving the charger plugged in past full charge.  If it's still supplying voltage once the light turns green, it ain't much.  I haven't measured to see if there's power there or not, but what I noticed today when recharging in the vehicle off the inverter is that once it got to full charge, it stopped drawing lots of current from the inverter.  The charger is still using power, since the LED is lit, but it doesn't seem to actually send anything to the battery.  I'll measure it when I get home today.
The default starting torque from the factory is dangerously low.  When trying to cross busy roads, you need that torque and speed to get you going quickly.  The torque provided by RP is too low, and it relies too much on pedaling to accelerate.  It doesn't need to be bumped up much, just a bit more would be helpful especially on heavy bikes such as these.  With the 35A controller installed, the torque is better tuned to a fast start.  I feel safer trying to get across intersections now.
Possibly more to follow.

I ride my bike to work, the route that I normally take is 10.5 miles, today I made it there in 6.5 miles.  I rode the same route both days.  I noticed that my PAS wasn't engaging the way it did when the bike first got here.  It's a bit of a delay when it engages.  Also, while riding out today, I was stuck to 20mph even though I have the speed cranked up the whole way.  I did double check to make sure it's still set up, and it is.

I'm thinking it's a bad cadence sensor.  I read through the trouble shooting steps from Rad's site, but since I don't have a magnetic sensor I don't know where else to look.  I did open a ticket with RP, but thought I'd like to get opinions from here first.  If I have to replace the cadence sensor, I'll have to buy a crank tool.  Anyone got recommendations on what to get for that?

This is how I charge my battery after riding to work.  I should not have to go through an inverter, there should be a device, that's "certified" by RadPower and other Ebike manufacturers that can charge from a DC source, such as a vehicle, or solar.

To have to go through and inverter is a terrible waste of efficiency.  Every time you convert DC to aC there's a loss in power.  In the case of the setup pictures, I'm going from 12VDC to 110VAC back to 52VDC. 

I looked for a while, and I cannot find any clean and guaranteed device that will go from 12VDC to 52V with the correct charging profile for these batteries.  Yes, I'm aware there are devices that claim to do it, but they all come from China and there's no guarantee that they are, what they say they are.  The consequences of plugging in an unknown device could be dire.  From destroying the battery to burning your house down. 

There's also a certain level of irony of Ebike manufacturers requiring the usage power plants to charge the bikes and not making it so that the end users can use solar in a safe and efficient way.  We shouldn't have to cobble something together, hope it works and doesn't burn up.

I got a RadRunner 2 a little over 2 weeks ago for getting myself to my work 10 miles as well as shopping trips to my local grocery store 2.5 miles up, farmer's market, 6+ miles, a[/ind to Costco 6 miles.   

This is as it came while I waited for all the accessories I ordered to arrive, it took a while to get them, due to RadPower choosing FedEx ground as their shipping partner.



First addition was a horn, that also operates as an alarm, they're available on Amazon for around $55.




Eventually (about 2 weeks), the rest of the parts arrived, the large rear basket, the upgraded headlight, upgraded control panel and fenders.



I didn't like the basket mounting across the frame, so I 3D printed some brackets to hold it inline.  I used ABS which I then smoothed with acetone, and they work, but I suspect they're not going to last forever.  I contacted a machinist friend and sent him the STL file of the parts and he's going to make them on his CNC.  I'll then have them anodized.

I ordered a trailer, since I'll need that for grocery store and Costco runs.  It's mounted to the rear axle after I drilled out the mount to fit the axle, and inserted a lock washer into the recess, which is great for holding the original nut on and not letting the trailer bracket loosen it.



My first grocery run with the trailer, a water melon shifted against the wheel, and it promptly ate a hole through the nylon bag and left black tire marks on my melon.  I tossed the bag, and cut some black acrylic to fit as the walls, and 3D printed some brackets to slide onto the uprights and hold them in place using M4 nuts and button head bolts.

The tops of the trailer are/will be wrapped in Armaflex pipe insulation then wrapped in hockey tape, since I sometimes take the kids to the park in it.



The last mod was completed today.  I found with the rear basket on or when the trailer is attached, it throws off the balance with the kick stand, and it wants to rest on the rear wheel instead of the front.  This allows the front wheel to pivot around and smack the headlight out of alignment on the frame.

I grabbed some more black acrylic, cut and drilled it to mount to the front basket bolts.  The Headlight is attached to that using another M4 bolt and nylon lock nut.



The bike fits perfectly in the back of a Ford Transit van. 



Anyway, that's my first post here.