All Systems Go: Testing Out Oonee’s Tech

An insiders view on our pre-launch testing process

Each Oonee is loaded with smart technology. We carefully check and calibrate all of it before opening to users.

Oonee comes with a bundle of smart, cutting-edge features. We designed our pod to make life easy for cyclists, while making sure it’s self-sufficient; the pod draws power from its solar panels, not the main grid. Before our launch this week, we put various features through rigorous testing, paying particular attention to their energy efficiency, reliability and performance.

We’re super proud of this process — and we’d like to share some of our experiences.

Solar Panels & Batteries

The Water-Whitehall Oonee came with with two solar panels and a high capacity battery system, which powers the lights, camera and the smart lock. After installation, we optimized the capacity of the batteries by tweaking the inverter settings and switching all the components to a 12v system. We’re also adding a third solar panel, which will allow Oonee to charge with greater speed during the day.

Oonee’s solar panels allow for “grid-free” operation — Oonee can go anywhere where there’s sun.

A member of the installation team configures the pod’s main inverter. This inverter would undergo more than a week of tests and tweaks before opening to the public.

Two high capacity batteries ensure that Oonee has enough power to operate, even on the darkest days in winter.

A voltmeter on each pod allows our team to easily monitor the system’s energy level. If the batteries get too low, we’ll charge them manually.

Energy Efficient LED Lighting Strips

Lights can often steal the show, and that’s no exception here. Our initial, ultra-bright lights commanded lots of attention, both from bypassers and from our batteries. We eventually opted for slightly dimmer, but more energy efficient LEDs.

Brightness levels at each Oonee will be uniquely attuned to the surrounding site conditions and available power source (solar, grid etc).

We swapped out ultra-bright LEDs for ultra-energy efficient models

As a result, we swapped out the ultra-bright LEDs for more modest (22% dimmer) ultra-efficient LEDs. While our previous 24-volt lights often depleted our battery by midnight, these new 12-volt lights only deplete our energy reserves by 20%, when running for the entire night!

The first image uses our ultra-bright LEDs. The second image uses our ultra-efficient LEDs.

We’re still tweaking the hue and tone of the ultra-efficient LEDs, but we’re pretty excited about the energy savings!

Wireless Security Camera

Oonee users gain access to the pod through a mobile app or by receiving a keycard. While we’re lucky that our Water & Whitehall pod is located under an NYPD camera, we want to provide peace of mind to our users by including a camera inside the pod.

After much research, we decided to add a wireless, battery-powered camera to our pod. We chose to go wireless so that we could easily move the camera inside the pod, allowing us to test different positions. The wireless option continues our “no frills” approach that we had when designing Oonee. The battery-powered capability was important since we originally had issues with our pod’s battery system. By having a battery-powered system, we can keep our users’ bikes under a watchful eye in the event of a power outage.

Smart Lock & Door

An access control system is the centerpiece of our security strategy — it’s Oonee’s “spine.” If we can’t provide a secure place to park your bike, then we’re not providing a worthwhile amenity to cyclists. Accordingly, we spent a week working with the great folks at Sabre Integrated Security to put our pod’s entry technologies through a variety of stress tests.

We test our door closer under a variety of circumstances to make sure that it shuts with enough force to ensure that the door locks.

Oonee’s locking mechanism outisde the case. We spent a few days tweaking the lock to ensure that door consistently closed reliably.

A “push to exit” button will always unlock the door from the inside when activated — you’ll never got locked in!

Oonee’s utility box, powers many of the pod’s smart features

This sophisticated cellular-powered security system packs an incredible one-two punch, combining incredible software with robust hardware.

We’re fairly relaxed, but we take design, reliability and security seriously here at Oonee. We live by the common interpretation of Murphy’s Law which states “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” That’s why we always take a few days to test various components after a fresh deployment. We’re not in the business of putting riders’ bikes and scooters at risk.

A lot more tech goes into Oonee than meets the eye!