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Volspeed v4 quirks on Bosch gen 4

Huw169

New Member
Nov 7, 2021
39
20
Hampshire
Hi all
Had a go on a mates chipped ebike and the programming of the chip is a bit weird. 3 second hold to turn it on or off. But the trip display change is 2 seconds. Just trying to get it to show range and battery % while not switching the chip off was a right pain.
Anyone else have the same issues, or was it just me?
Cheers
 

Planemo

E*POWAH Elite
Mar 12, 2021
587
684
Essex UK
Hi all
Had a go on a mates chipped ebike and the programming of the chip is a bit weird. 3 second hold to turn it on or off. But the trip display change is 2 seconds. Just trying to get it to show range and battery % while not switching the chip off was a right pain.
Anyone else have the same issues, or was it just me?
Cheers
Yep, it's a bit of a pain. You do get used to it but even now I have to think about it - you need to let go of that button as soon as the screen changes!

I suggested to them that it would be better to have a different button config to activate/change max speed but I don't think enough people have moaned about it to get them to change it.
 

Peaky Rider

E*POWAH Master
Feb 9, 2019
824
522
Derbyshire Dales
Hi all
Had a go on a mates chipped ebike and the programming of the chip is a bit weird. 3 second hold to turn it on or off. But the trip display change is 2 seconds. Just trying to get it to show range and battery % while not switching the chip off was a right pain.
Anyone else have the same issues, or was it just me?
Cheers
That's awful, a whole five seconds of your life wasted. I'd be more concerned about relying on the range predictor on any e-bike, chipped or not.
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
13,805
20,498
Brittany, France
"Range predictor" ???
It tells you how far it thinks you have left in your battery if you stay in that mode and the terrain continues as it has for the previous "x" km's .. If you have a Spesh and Run Blevo, it's done the same for years.

On a purion for example.

You'd press the "-" button normally for 2 seconds and it cycles though the displays : "mode, emtb/eco etc", ODO, Trip, Range prediction.

If you have a Volspeed keeping it pressed for another second the speed display will show the limit you've configured. Whilst that stays on (couple of seconds) if you press +/- you can change the limit. Leave it 2 seconds and it reverts to showing the speed.

One big advantage of the Volspeed and the reason I got one, if you put it in Range prediction, it swaps every few seconds for 1 second and shows you the % of battery remaining. Bars are ok for a quick overview, but don't really let you know how much you have left - though the range predictor does generally work well for giving you a good idea.

The Bosch Range predictor uses a longer time period/distance to work out it's range. With a Volspeed, the Volspeed has to do the prediction instead because it's feeding false information to the motor, the volspeed range is averaged over a much shorter time/distance.

The Bosch Range predictor is slightly more accurate than the Volspeed one. But then the Volspeed doesn't know what % of battery is reserved for lights and the Bosch system does.

If you've not got one and want to know the % for each bar :

 

Peaky Rider

E*POWAH Master
Feb 9, 2019
824
522
Derbyshire Dales
"Range predictor" ???
OP said "Just trying to get it to show range"
The OP wanted to turn the bike on to check the range left is how I read it. The electronics don't know how many miles are left in the battery as it has no idea what the rest of your ride will be like, it can only predict (guess), based on your last couple of miles or something. Don't know exactly as it is a function I neither use nor trust.
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
13,805
20,498
Brittany, France
Don't know exactly as it is a function I neither use nor trust.
The Bosch version is actually surprisingly accurate - assuming your average terrain over the last few k's is consistent. I've normally found when it says you'll run out in 2km's/1km .. I run out within about 100 meters of when it said it.

Earlier on in your ride when it says you can go 250km's - yup, it's not so accurate :) or if you start your ride with a steep climb, it might say you can only go for 10 or 20k's - which won't be accurate.

Didn't happen - terrain and mode changed :

1687200013443.png


1687200322972.png


The Volspeed figures are less accurate. The other day it said I still had about 3k's left when I ran out - about 5k from the end :) I knew I'd be short as the % number from the volspeed was rapidly heading to the 4% (my cut out) - that's where you need to read between the lines on the volspeed, but the % is accurate so assuming you know the terrain you can use the numbers to work out if you can get away with one more run or not !
 

Shorty4

Member
Nov 7, 2022
27
16
Australia
As a matter of interest you can get your LBS to turn off the light facility completely if your bike isn't fitted with lights that run off the battery. This stops the bikes software from reserving I think it's 4-5% of the battery capacity for the non existant lights which might mean the difference between walking and riding home.
 

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