Trying to unlock my new ebike

I want to get into my new ebike’s display settings so I can adjust the speed limit for off-road use. The make and model appear to be Yolin 80C (YL80C), or perhaps some variant (visually identical, with identical wire connector). I’ve found a few manuals that tell me how to access settings on the YL80C, which is to press up and down simultaneously for 3 seconds, but it seems to not work for my display.

Anyone know what I can do here? The bike manufacturer (Avantrek) is somewhat new to the market, and they refuse to tell me how to get in. So I worry it’s just something I’ll have to figure out myself… However, I’ve heard that I can somehow connect the display to a computer via USB, but I assume I would need some sort of dongle or adapter to do so. The female port that connects to the male end of the wire is easily unplugged and very accessible. Could someone point me to where I can buy such a dongle? And also the software I’ll need? Thanks in advance!

P.S. it would be vastly preferred that I get into the display and change things directly from it rather than the computer option. So if someone knows how to do that, that would be ideal. Also, if it helps, the brand of the motor is apparently Lishen according to the manufacturer.

Anything is possible, its even possible to unlock brand new John Deere tractors, dare I say its even possible to unlock a new Tesla or a Trek Bosch ebike or a Shimano Steps ebike.

The best anyone can ever hope for is to not buy that stuff, or you just replace the controller and be done with it.

Welcome to EndlessSphere, Bikeyboi. Wow did you delete your thread over on 4 chins or did the mods do it? They're a bit overbearing IMHO.

The cheeky way to get more speed out of that ride would be to swap out the rear wheel and hub motor entirely with one thats got a slightly higher kv rating. Kv isnt kilavolts in this instance, its RPM per volt under no load. So if you had a 200kv motor for example and you gave it 10v and a 100% throttle signal it would spin at roughly 2,000RPM. The other thing you could do is to increase your battery cell count by one or two, but thats if the ESC can handle the voltage. That would also most likely involve reprogramming the esc (speed controller) settings since its probably not set to auto-detect.

I did find a thread on another site that might help.

https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/up-to-9-pas-settings-on-yolin-yl80c-lcd.35314/

calab said:

The best anyone can ever hope for is to not buy that stuff, or you just replace the controller and be done with it.

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But if I swap the controller I don’t know what settings will work with my bike. As in, the manufacturer has tuned the settings of the display to a 20 MPH profile that works with the correct battery and correct motor, and I like the profile, but I just want to be able to open the settings on the display and switch it to max speed… Unless it’s easier than I realize? How hard would it be to buy/tune a replacement controller that connects to the already existing battery wire (it’s the Bafang variety of connection; green with several pins)?

If you assume the locking is part of the display firmware, you could buy a replacement display, but ask the vendor if it's locked before hitting the buy button.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/HOT-SALE-YL80C-Electric-Bicycle-LCD_1600267494452.html

E-HP said:

but ask the vendor if it's locked before hitting the buy button.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/HOT-SALE-YL80C-Electric-Bicycle-LCD_1600267494452.html

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I didn’t even know bikes being locked is a thing... I thought the bike simply topped out at 20 MPH due to hardware limitations, not factory-imposed limitations. Kinda bs tbh. Is this how it is with every new bike on the market? Would’ve definitely gone with the Lectric XP if I’d done my homework. My Avantrek is quite decent, and will be very decent with some slight tweaking (might be able to squeeze an extra 3-5 MPH out of it for some quick and dirty off-road adventures).

Few more questions if you wouldn’t mind: how plug-n-play is that replacement display/controller? If it’s something that needs to be programmed on a computer first (my assumption), how do I rip the profile off the original controller? And what software should I use? Will Bafang software be adequate? Is there a guide somewhere?

TrotterBob said:

Wow did you delete your thread over on 4 chins or did the mods do it? They're a bit overbearing IMHO.

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Tbh I didn’t even know I could delete a post on 4chan, so yeah must’ve been deleted by someone else. Guess my workmate thought it’d be a fun joke to suggest I ask about my bike there… (Though to be fair it did lead me here.)

TrotterBob said:

The cheeky way to get more speed out of that ride would be to swap out the rear wheel and hub motor entirely … The other thing you could do is to increase your battery cell count by one or two, but thats if the ESC can handle the voltage. That would also most likely involve reprogramming the esc (speed controller) settings since its probably not set to auto-detect.

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Sounds pretty expensive, though maybe I’m wrong and it’s a $200 set of upgrades. Hell if I know how to wire up a dual-battery system, but I do have multiple batteries. Definitely something I want to learn about for the future. But for now I just wanna squeeze whatever amount I can outta the current setup so I can have a bit more fun with it off-road.

TrotterBob said:

I did find a thread on another site that might help.

https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/up-to-9-pas-settings-on-yolin-yl80c-lcd.35314/

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I don’t see anything there that translates over to my display… It seems the manufacturer may have programmed it so the settings can’t be accessed at all without either plugging it into a computer or… I don’t know how else. Do you think it could be worth it to buy a little dongle that lets me interface with the display? And would you happen to know what software I should use to change the settings? I only wanna push the bike about 3-5 MPH faster. I think it can handle that in short bursts as-is with the speed uncapped, but maybe I’m wrong.

This will become a problem in the future because how long can these big bike companies keep a 20 year old battery in stock? what about the other guys 25yr old battery. The day will come, probably be 5-8yr. One could just see when the first big corp made and sold an ebike and see if said ebike still has a battery to be purchased or else what is one suppose to do oh no.

Added content
Firmware lock is possible, how to hack is anyones guess. Possible yes, worth the effort? nope
See if you throw away your controller, you buy a new generic sensorless controller for $40, get a throttle for $5
Motor should be useful
Controller and display are of no use
Install and ride
Problem is which controller to buy. That would be based how your batteries specs of max and cont discharge.

From what I’ve been reading, some controllers have a lead that is shorted. That would lock the speed at 20mph. Check your controller leads for something that is shorted. Remove the short and see what happens. I would start there.

Wheres Louis Rossman when you need him?