I just talked to Segway customer support. That problem with the over-eager governor? In a word, regenerative braking (OK, two words.)
According to company instructions, I keep the thing plugged in at all times because the manual says it’s good for the battery.
But I live at the top of the hill. And if the battery is fully charged and the regenerative braking tries to kick in, the stupid little thing doesn’t have the sense to just spew that generated electricity out into the ether. Ummmm, or better yet, turn it into a force field around me. So since there’s no place for the electricity to go, the Segway solution is to slow down forward movement so that no electricity is generated. Since I must go uphill to return home, the battery is being depleted, so of course I can go as fast as I want. Well, up to 12 MPH, which frankly seems much faster when you’re perched on a little platform eight inches off the ground instead of sitting inside a Hummer.
It is so strange to me that such a high-tech vehicle employs such a crude solution to a problem that would be experienced by every user who lives at the top of a hill. And let’s face it, folks who buy 5K toys tend to live at the tops of things. This is actually a real flaw rather than the minor inconvenience caused by their location of the charge indicator light immediately below the cord input. So all you have to do to make sure that you’ve got it plugged in properly and it’s charging is get down on your hands and knees and bring one of your eyes to a position about 5″ off the floor to get a look at the light. It winks at ya.
Now I’m going out to ride around some to run the battery down a bit and then try to zip down a hill at breakneck speed.
Tell Becky I loved her.