Display for battery peak/avg/instant amperage;ampHr/watt hours consumed, voltage, batt temp, motor temp, etc

[mindgames11]

so I just got my first ebike : used decent standard diamond suspensionless disc brake 27 inch wheel bike converted with a direct drive hub motor by ebikeling that I interpret as the 1500 watt- Ebikeling EBLG150020060164 is the only thing on the motor. controller is :ebikeling DC moto controller dc 36/48V, brakes:low level, current 35A, PAS1:1, and SPEET:1.1-4.2v dual mode" I dont know what SPEET is supposed to be, although I understand dual mode and 1.1-4.2 might be the hall sensor voltage range.

and while I'm redoing the previous owners wiring and bike set up, I'm trying to catch up on all the stuff I didn't know before having made my rather inexpensive initial purchase. This came with the LED880 display- the cheapest one in the range of displays when one searches "e bike displays"
While I'm probably going to buy a mid drive motor before the year is out, I'm trying to learn more about motor/controller programming and a USEFUL display, which is what this post is about (although I would gladly take links to pdfs about the various standards and softwares used for motor/controller programming).

I disconnected the PAS on my bike since the system sucks and does more harm than good. I find it easy to modulate the level of motor assist I want with the thumb throttle. When I get a mid drive it's likely that I'll try out the pedal assist, which seems to be the main function of most displays.
Most displays that I see show the instantaneous voltage, "speed", level of assist, and a vague indicator of battery charge remaining.
I'd like a display that gives me (what I perceive as) useful data: battery peak/avg/instant amperage;ampHr and watt hours consumed, voltage, batt temp, motor temp.
there are a variety of displays on ebay/aliexpress: Tk15 battery columbmeter, PZEM-015 battery charge monitor, and countless others. What looks quite neat to me are a series of battery monitors VAC8810F 2.4 inch wireless display monitor, which seem to be as typical a whole range of products stemming from someones original design long buried under countless imitations. They run from 20-40 dollars and include the data categories I listed except for the temp, plus a graph trace mode which looks really cool. BT24DW is a similar style using a hall sensor for current monitoring.

Can someone advise or link me to technical documents regarding the main types of display (and these are just my interpretation of what I've seen)- UART based displays (five pin standard?), controller specific displays (I don't know anything about these but assume they exist), programmable arduino based displays (I'd love to learn more about these), and the various battery monitors available on the net.

Which kind are most often used for ebikes and have a "proven" history for the application? what features to look for or stay away from? what things haven't I thought of?

any advice or links to data is appreciated. I'm fairly versed in electrical engineering so the more technical the literature, the better.

 

[nicobie]

By far the best display for ebikes is the original one. Cycle analyst from Grin. It does everything you asked for plus more. It is a little pricey though.

 

[fechter]

I have a TK15 and it’s a great battery fuel gauge but the display is so small you can’t read it while riding.
The Cycle analyst is much easier to read and withstands rain better.

 

[amberwolf]

so I just got my first ebike : used decent standard diamond suspensionless disc brake 27 inch wheel bike converted with a direct drive hub motor by ebikeling that I interpret as the 1500 watt- Ebikeling EBLG150020060164 is the only thing on the motor. controller is :ebikeling DC moto controller dc 36/48V, brakes:low level, current 35A, PAS1:1, and

SPEET:1.1-4.2v dual mode" I dont know what SPEET is supposed to be, although I understand dual mode and 1.1-4.2 might be the hall sensor voltage range.

That's the throttle (speed) voltage input range. below 1.1v the controller considers off, above 4.2v is past WOT, out of range and should either generate an error or also turn off the motor.

and while I'm redoing the previous owners wiring and bike set up, I'm trying to catch up on all the stuff I didn't know before having made my rather inexpensive initial purchase. This came with the LED880 display- the cheapest one in the range of displays when one searches "e bike displays"
While I'm probably going to buy a mid drive motor before the year is out, I'm trying to learn more about motor/controller programming and a USEFUL display, which is what this post is about (although I would gladly take links to pdfs about the various standards and softwares used for motor/controller programming).

The programming depends on the specific controller. If you post a clear well-lit pic of the controller label we might be able to find info on what it is capable of. My guess is there is *no* programming capablity by the end-user, only at the factory; tha'ts common with kit controllers.

If you want a fairly programmable controller, you can get the Phaserunner or one of it's cousins from ebikes.ca , or the VESC series, etc., buuut... programmability means you *have* to program it to get it to work with your system, before you can use it.

The same is usually true of nonprogrammable controllers that come with LCD displays with setup menus.

I disconnected the PAS on my bike since the system sucks and does more harm than good. I find it easy to modulate the level of motor assist I want with the thumb throttle. When I get a mid drive it's likely that I'll try out the pedal assist, which seems to be the main function of most displays.
Most displays that I see show the instantaneous voltage, "speed", level of assist, and a vague indicator of battery charge remaining.
I'd like a display that gives me (what I perceive as) useful data: battery peak/avg/instant amperage;ampHr and watt hours consumed, voltage, batt temp, motor temp.

If you use a basic throttle-controllable controller that doesnt' require a display or PAS, then i'd recommend the Cycle Analyst v3.x from ebikes.ca because it will give you all of that and more, and it will also allow you to add actual cadence-controlled PAS (like I use on my SB Cruiser, MUCH MUCH better than the on/off PAS controllers generally have), or even torque sensing PAS if you want it.

FWIW, middrives may also use on/off PAS, just like what you have, so they simply give you full assist at whatever level you've chosen. Most of those types of assist are just speed limits, so if you pedal, at all, you go the speed that assist level is set for, and if you stop pedaling, you coast to a stop. A very few MDs use a torque sensor, and a couple might use cadence-controlled PAS (but I don't know which ones).

Can someone advise or link me to technical documents regarding the main types of display (and these are just my interpretation of what I've seen)- UART based displays (five pin standard?), controller specific displays (I don't know anything about these but assume they exist), programmable arduino based displays (I'd love to learn more about these), and the various battery monitors available on the net.

For controller-type displays, you usually have to use the specific one for your controller. They're not generally intercompatible (so picking a display based on what it's features are, for a controller you already have, may not be possible--you might have to pick the display first, then use whatever controller goes with it and be stuck with the controller's limitations).

any advice or links to data is appreciated. I'm fairly versed in electrical engineering so the more technical the literature, the better.

There's not really going to be much technical info available (from manufacturers, at least) for any of this stuff. If you get a link to a webpage with a connection diagram for a different controller than you were actually sold, that says "turn the wheel for fast and pull the knob for stop" you're often lucky. There's some technical info in variuos threads here for certain controllers, motors, displays, etc., but it's a few years of reading just to find them :lol: unless you have specific things you're looking for for specific parts, that the search can be used to find.


That said, there are *some* controllers and displays that have had opensource firmware written for them; primarily the KT Kunteng and LS Lishui brands; there are threads for them and their displays here on the forum. VESC is also OS, so you can

 

[Blacklite]

Can someone advise or link me to technical documents regarding the main types of display (and these are just my interpretation of what I've seen)- UART based displays (five pin standard?), controller specific displays (I don't know anything about these but assume they exist), programmable arduino based displays (I'd love to learn more about these), and the various battery monitors available on the net.

UART just means a serial connection - generally at TTL levels. Another form of data link used is CANBUS, it's still a serial data connection, but IIRC uses a differential signal vs. single ended and can have multiple devices on the line.

None of this actually describes the actual data sent or received by controller and display, what is expected by each of them etc. etc. Just about every type of controller has its own protocol. Some have been reverse engineered for open source controller firmwares, or some have been written from scratch eg. the OSF for both controller and display for 850C/860C displays with the TSDZ2 controller has a custom communications protocol and handshake between the two.

Have you found the German ForumsController project? GitHub - jenkie/Arduino-Pedelec-Controller: Software for the Pedelec/E-Bike controller based on Arduino hardware, see www.pedelecforum.de "ForumsController"
I believe similarly to the Grin CA it becomes the overall controller for an e-bike, so using a throttle only motor controller and receiving all the sensor inputs etc. including sending battery power through a shunt so it can measure current draw etc. I believe the code has facilities for using a few different brands of display, or a custom built one. If you look at the code you might get some idea of the data that is sent between controller and display.