Bafang MAX drive (250W) readout

[elenhinan]

For anyone interessted, I just connected my Bafang MAX drive to a computer and read out the flash settings using "Bafang Configuration Tool"
I have the 250W version, since I'm in Europe.

Apparently it uses the SW-06 sine wave controller, which is rated to a maximum of 14A (in some specs I found), but is set to 20A max in the configuration. However, the "keep current" under "pedal assist" is set to 30%, which at a voltage of 41V (36V battery bank) should give ~250W. In the specs I found for SW-06 it is good for 350W @ 36V, confirming my suspicion that the 250W and 350W version is the same hardware (would be strange set ut two different production lines).

Riding the bike it's very obvious that it can crank out a lot more power during acceleration from standstill, and up short hills, but the shorty reduces power. This is confirmed by the "20A max" and "30% keep current" setting. I think I read somewhere that the bafang max had 750W peak power, which the numbers seem to indicate as well.

 

[Squirrelpie0]

Thanks for the info. See various EU posts that talk about 'chipping' the Bafang MAX as well as the other mid mounts to work around the power and max speed limits. Now we wait to see how the controllers and gears hang together. Still don't see any availability as a kit in NA market. How did you find perf against the BBSxx units w cadence systems we currently have access to? Any experience w BBSXX units?

 

[elenhinan]

If you're so inclined, overriding the speed limit is just a matter of entering the pin code on the controller, and set it to whatever you want. And even though I haven't tried so myself, increasing the power output to 350 should be doable by increasing "keep current" from 30% to 42%. So I do not see the need for chipping.

I haven't tested it against any other e-bikes at all, so I can't compare it with anything. The torque sensor seems to work very well though, it feels very natural when pedaling. It feels like riding my ordinary bike, I just get more speed with less effort. Only accelerating from standstill feels different. That, and the weight of the bike of course.

 

[Squirrelpie0]

What sort of bike do you have your Max mounted on and are you using 36v or 48v battery, What sort of riding conditions and range?

 

[elenhinan]

A Diavelo, like this

36V, 324Wh integrated battery pack. I ride it to and from work now in the winter. Temperature between -5 and 10 degree celcius, with studded tires. 20 Km total to and from work, with ~220 m uphill each way (according to my edge 510).
The first two kilometer to work I have two kids in a Thule Cheetah trailer that I drag uphill (110 m up from where I start), so about 45 kg of extra weight there. Where I on my normal pedal bike would be hoping for death by the time I get to the top with the trailer (average speed 10 km/h), on the e-bike I barely start to sweat (average speed 15 km/h). It makes a huge difference

Not sure what the total range is as I haven't ridden it until empty. If I use set the assist level high (2 for flats, 5 for uphill) I have about 60% battery left when I get home, a bit more conservative and I end up at about 70% left.

 

[Squirrelpie0]

Once again thanks for the info

 

[Twofin]

I too have the Bafang max drive 36v 250w 14a however on the motor casing the ID for motor states it is G330.350 unit
I plugged mine in and have a readout, my controller type is different to yours and is listed as a HZXT controller MAX1 type, and Amps are 25a I upped my keep current to 60% and bike does pull very well, 10.6ah battery sags like a grannies hooters.

 

[gog]

Hi guys, thank you for really valuable reports!

I have just bought a bike with MM 33.250 and was frustrated that it turned out to be rather a closed system like Bosch but not configurable BBSxx units. Mine has no even E-brake cut-offs . I opened the motor and realized there is no way to replace EB-BUS cable to the one with cut-off connectors because my cable has a rectangular shape and differs from BBSxx round-shaped EB-BUS cables widely available. Moreover, it is almost impossible to find either MAX Drive itself or spare parts for it in retail.

You inspired the hope that I could at least increase current so that the motor would put more power out. Before I was afraid to fry the controller which I would not be able to replace etc. Now I will proceed to get a programming cable and try it out.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Sluug]

Hi guys

I have recently bought a bike (Crescent Elder) with what I belive is a rebranded Bafang MM 33.250 aswell and a rebranded DP C10.UART as controller unit. So I started to think about how I can increase the preset assist speed of 25km/h a little bit as it is a little low. I am not looking for redicilious speeds, 30-35km/h would be great.

So I found this site and has been reading quite a lot about how to "configure" it.

Would this tool work with that motor? I probably wont damage anything by just trying to read out data via the RS-interface? 8)

 

[gog]

how I can increase the preset assist speed of 25km/h

actually, you needn't change controller settings just to increase a speed limit. My bike came with the manual describing this procedure so may be yours have it too. If not - press "i" twice - list the menu down to the PSWD setting by pressing "i", enter 0512 with +/- and you are in the 2nd level menu. Again, by listing it with "i" you can change the wheel size and speed limit by +/- buttons. Double "i" to save and return.
It is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YEDKbNS1oQ

trying to read out data via the RS-interface

the only reason to read out data is to write them out later on
If you happen to RTFM and go to the PAS menu, you could try to lift up motor's power output like it is reported here by others. It seems like you are in Europe and your motor is probably programmed to just 250 W that is way too low as compared to what it was constructed for.

If you succeed in reprogramming your controller please share your experience here.
Good luck!

 

[pstephend]

Hi, just got my max drive working and am interested in the configuration tool. My dealer has a tool, but the connector doesn't look like anything on my system. I know he has been tweaking the 8fun mid motors. How did you guys hook up the tool to max drives? Thanks

 

[PapaD]

Hi,
I also just bought the swedish bike Crescent Elder with this drive. Unfortunately, CycleEurope, which built the bike, also removed the password instance from the menu. Hence, we can't enter the password and neither can we change the speedlimit, nor the wheel diameter. Does anyone know how to make a factory reset of the display firmware, so we can use the bike to its full potential?

 

[PapaD]

Hi again.
I opened up the case to search for the contact interface you guys are connecting into. If I understand it correctly it is the square two-row 8-pin connector that you should connect into. I searched but found only description of a round interface contact. Can you please help me how to connect and run Penov's program?
Best regards,
PapaD

Edit: Oh, there was a round connector just by the display. I guess this is were I'm supposed to connect?

 

[pstephend]

I was able to find a cable at my local dealer and have made some adjustments to my Max Drive. Still trying to understand if some of these settings do anything for the Max Drive. For example the 0-9 settings are difficult to know if they do anything. Will continue to test.

 

[Sluug]

Hi again.
I opened up the case to search for the contact interface you guys are connecting into. If I understand it correctly it is the square two-row 8-pin connector that you should connect into. I searched but found only description of a round interface contact. Can you please help me how to connect and run Penov's program?
Best regards,
PapaD

Edit: Oh, there was a round connector just by the display. I guess this is were I'm supposed to connect?

Great with someone with the exact same bike. Tell me if you make any progress. My hope is that the UART interface is still aviable even though they have locked the user from easily chaning the controller parameters. If it is it might be possible to read/write data to the controller.

/Sluug

 

[PapaD]

First of all: thank you elehinan for your post. I got a google hit on it and here I am.
Now, I downloaded Penovs great software with the exemplary help file attached. With that it was easy to hook up a USB-to-serial cable to the round contact. I used a FTDI-cable, worked like a charm.
Beware, however, that the contact is tiny and I needed my best light and glasses and the thinnest insulation tape I could find to attach female receptacles to the pins. I have access to a well equipped lab, so perhaps not everyone can make a contact. I just wanted to give a heads up on this, I personally would prefer a cable from e.g. Luna. Anyway, once hooked up, following Penovs help file, I could read out the config. It turned out that the max speed was set to listen to "By Display's command'. I had hoped it was set to 25km/h, and by setting to "By Display's command' it would unlock the missing meny for password. No such luck. So I set the max speed to 30 km/h and tried it. Now the display says that the max speed is 25km/h, but it gives power up until 30 km/h.

I still would like to re-flash the display to Bafang original, so I don't need this cable business if I ever would like to alter the max speed. If someone knows how, please post or PM me.
Best regards,
PapaD

 

[Sluug]

First of all: thank you elehinan for your post. I got a google hit on it and here I am.
Now, I downloaded Penovs great software with the exemplary help file attached. With that it was easy to hook up a USB-to-serial cable to the round contact. I used a FTDI-cable, worked like a charm.
Beware, however, that the contact is tiny and I needed my best light and glasses and the thinnest insulation tape I could find to attach female receptacles to the pins. I have access to a well equipped lab, so perhaps not everyone can make a contact. I just wanted to give a heads up on this, I personally would prefer a cable from e.g. Luna. Anyway, once hooked up, following Penovs help file, I could read out the config. It turned out that the max speed was set to listen to "By Display's command'. I had hoped it was set to 25km/h, and by setting to "By Display's command' it would unlock the missing meny for password. No such luck. So I set the max speed to 30 km/h and tried it. Now the display says that the max speed is 25km/h, but it gives power up until 30 km/h.

I still would like to re-flash the display to Bafang original, so I don't need this cable business if I ever would like to alter the max speed. If someone knows how, please post or PM me.
Best regards,
PapaD

Hmm, that is really interesting! All I really want initially is to increase to max speed, so I might give that a go following your method. I would also like to flash in the Bafang default firmware for full access via the display unit.. hmm.

 

[Sluug]

Update: now my bike assists up to 40km/h.. wow, what a difference!

 

[Lusi22]

I still would like to re-flash the display to Bafang original, so I don't need this cable business if I ever would like to alter the max speed. If someone knows how, please post or PM me.
Best regards,
PapaD

There is a way. You need the Bafang "Besst Box", Bafang DiagnosticTool "Besst" and a login to Bafang Cloud.
For diagnostic and edit setting you can use the tool offline, but i found not a salesman which offers the "Best Box"

http://www.szbaf.com/de/service/besst.html

 

[PapaD]

Danke schön for this info!
I will try to work it out, I hope I can PM you if I don't make it.
Best regards,
PapaD

 

[Lusi22]

Yes please PM me if you found a dealer for the BESST BOX.



Here you have a link to BESST manual: http://www.bsp-fietsen.nl/uploads/files/handleiding_bafang_best_systeem_dealer.pdf

 

[johncon]

I have a bike with this motor, stamps read
33.250
250w 15A

I have did a read out and its got the same controller as elenhinan as seen om the first post.
The FW is higher .4 and same Amp settings at 20 of 20max. My assist levels were lower 1-4. 5 at 100
On the PAS tab settings are equal.

I like the bike but really torn that I don’t know if I should keep it or search for a 350 version of the motor, if there are any differences at all?

 

[Hiekkis]

I just bought e-bike with Bafang max drive.
Speed limiter is now removed from display (thanks for instructions).

One thing I am really missing from my old e-bike is thumb throttle.
Has anyone tried if thumb throttle can be added to Bafang max drive system?

I think this cable http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bafang-midd...203675?hash=item1ec96a449b:g:ddEAAOSw0j9ZQszt should fit to connector where display is connected and it supports thumb throttle to be connected also.

This is the kind of thumb throttle I was thinking of http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bafang-Ebik...0dc087e&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=4&sd=132228203675.

Any help would we appreciated.

 

[dbIsMe]

I tried searching, but couldn't find the answer...

Both the Max G330.250 and the G330.350 mention rated voltage at 36/43/48. Does that mean that you can use anything between 10S and 13S battery? Or are they special builds for each of those voltages?

Anyone running one of those 36V motors with a different battery ?

 

[Alex Imreh]

Here is the deal I am considering: i have e-bike shop in Romania http://ibikes.ro and I have contract with a local factory who is exporting a lot of bikes to Europe, 2/3 out of their production. Now they offer at discounted price a decent bike with Max Drive, 2016 model, it would be great if i could use the batteries I import from China, 2 times bigger than the factory battery.


1# First question for me, the bike is built now to work @36V, if it could work @48V than i already have that 350w power without other tweaks. I worked until now with Kunteng controllers that can match battery voltage between 24-48V, Bafang controller can do same?
2# I would also change the gears, i found this 9sp 11-50T.