Hybrid with torque sensor under £1500 or convert existing bike?

[ade towell]

Re the firmware update. I haven't updated the wife's, because it does everything we want. I added a couple extra power levels, changed the voltage to 52V, upped the available power. This was all done from the display. I haven't updated firmware, though I do have the programming lead

I know the latest TSDZ2 comes with colour display and additional settings to play with.

I would suggest, if it's working fine and you've got all the features leave it alone.

Ha seems we posted at the same time - yes I am going to leave firmware alone for the time being

 

[ade towell]

Ok just a quick update mainly about the battery after using for 150 miles - having calibrated the battery settings on the display I am now getting much more accurate battery readings, yesterday I did 41 miles mainly off road in relatively hilly Nottinghamshire with temperatures barely above freezing and at the end of the ride battery had 32% left. This was in Eco Level 2 which feels almost like bionic legs cheat mode but a whole lot of fun off road (level 1 is more of a work out and what I normally use on the road) Having kept an eye on the battery readings it felt pretty consistent throughout the ride and feel confident it is fairly accurate. From this I feel happy to be able to go on 50-60 mile rides without anxiety even in this cold spell, would imagine it will only get getter in warmer weather - is this true or just a presumption of mine? Am very happy with this from a £170 battery

 

[CXRAndy]

Yes, you will get more range when in summer. Around 20°C will be the Goldilocks temperature.

If you're using low settings mostly it will give great performance.

 

[ade towell]

OK this is another rambling newbie post of mine but I naively/stupidly learnt a big valuable lesson about my battery yesterday.
Was keen to find out what the range really was on my cheap unbranded Chinese battery 48v 20ah, as I said I'd gotten 41 miles from a fairly hilly, mainly off road ride using predominantly Eco level 2 and I had 32% battery left on display and still 1 of 4 green lights on battery itself

In my head that meant that I had about 60 miles range maximum if I used level 1 on the road and level 2 when needed on hilly off road sections. It was cold, 2 degrees yesterday but had been the same on my 40 mile ride. Anyway attempted a 59 mile ride up into the Peak District with a lot of steep hills.
Got to 42 miles and with the battery at around 25% it quickly started giving me less assistance, and quickly plummeted down to 15% - and from then it was like peddling in treacle, quickly giving me no assistance at all. Anyway I managed to limp home the last 17 miles by a combination of putting the level to 0 when on the flat and downhill, and the battery level would slowly creep up to 20% so I could use level 1 sparingly just to get me up any inclines. There is definitely quite a bit of resistance when peddling at 0 or with the battery turned off, it is hard going on the flat but even the slightest incline is indeed like treacle.
I presume it is the batteries management system kicking in to protect the battery, is this behaviour about right at the % I mention? Also is there any of the battery calibration settings that I can play around with - again am presuming it is the LowCutVoltage setting (in my case 39.0v) which sets the cut off point for my battery?
Would a battery with the more expensive branded Samsung, LG or Panasonic cells behave in the same way or would they give me a bit more help when battery level dipped below 25%? I don't want to damage the battery and would always try and not let it go below 20% but there may be occasions when I overshoot and would be good to know if there are any adjustments I could make when out on a ride

If it helps these were the values I was recommended to put in for my 48v battery (ignore the 36v)

Battery	36V	48V
0%	30.0	39.0
20%	32.2	41.9
40%	34.4	44.7
60%	36.6	47.6
80%	38.8	50.4
100%	41.0	53.3

 

[ade towell]

Ok have since uploaded the latest firmware and am now getting 60 mile range mainly off road temperature 5C, fairly hilly.
Apparently the old firmware my motor came with had all 3 settings - Eco, City and Sport all set at the same 14a.
With the latest firmware Eco is about 9a, City 12a and Sport 18a. They each have 5 levels, am mainly using City level 1 and 2 for off road and even with relatively cheap £170 unbranded battery am getting 60 miles. Looking forward to seeing how it does in warmer weather.
So far I've done 400 very enjoyable miles, with the new firmware the torque sensor feels very refined with plenty of power when needed, and very quiet - I shared some single track with a fancy e-mtb with top of the range Bosch motor and it was so much louder than my Toseven. Surprised me. So far am very impressed with this motor