Best BBSHD regrogramming for the option of getting a workout?

RSU

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So I settled on "Karl's Special Sauce" and it's pretty close now to how my Torque Sensing Hub Drive Juiced Fatty Feels, and by switching gears and levels I can get a workout. Just seeeing if anyone else has tweaked "Karls SS" set up or a completely different set up to make it easier to get a workout (when you want it), but still have a blast when you don't.
 
I went the 'completely different' route. There are a couple of generations of changes written up in this and a follow-on article. The biggest mistake you can make is to think any one individual set of settings is 'best'. You want to keep tweaking until its right for you and your bike and how you ride it.


Here's the settings on one of my bikes. You can consider this most-recent and it is heavily biased towards urban riding (fast cadence and low torque on pedal assist for a good workout)

Throttle screen. Noteworthy is the 4.2v top limit which increases the granularity of your throttle throw... its smoother and no longer closer to an an on/off switch as it is with the usual 3.5v default. Also start current is way down to 2% to keep the drivetrain from getting jerked on.
20230501_080808.jpg


Pedal assist screen. 2% start current again to keep the abuse on the drivetrain down to almost nothing. Slow start mode is fairly aggressive for the same reason. Start degree is reasonably fast simply because the motor is starting up so gently there is no reason for delaying its engagement (usually you would do that so the bike doesn't engage until its moving some to keep the chain from trying to haul the bike up from a dead stop). Stop delay is the safe minimum. Current decay is aggressive in cutting back power when its time to do so, and the amount of current it keeps is down to 30%. When I can demonstrate I can spin the crankarms, I don't need assist. This enhances range and efficiency.

EDIT: But its especially ill-suited to e-MTB riding. Think of how unpleasant it would be to ride in a granny gear up some steep slope and the motor decides your cadence is so hi its time to cut back on the power.

20230501_080736.jpg


Not an enormous amount of thought went into this. Started at 100% and worked my way methodically down. 1 and 1 preserves throttle function when you are at PAS0. These settings are good when working with the others. What you pick here can vary quite a bit depending on whats on the Pedal Assist screen.
20230429_154311.jpg
 
I went the 'completely different' route. There are a couple of generations of changes written up in this and a follow-on article. The biggest mistake you can make is to think any one individual set of settings is 'best'. You want to keep tweaking until its right for you and your bike and how you ride it.


Here's the settings on one of my bikes. You can consider this most-recent and it is heavily biased towards urban riding (fast cadence and low torque on pedal assist for a good workout)

Throttle screen. Noteworthy is the 4.2v top limit which increases the granularity of your throttle throw... its smoother and no longer closer to an an on/off switch as it is with the usual 3.5v default. Also start current is way down to 2% to keep the drivetrain from getting jerked on.
View attachment 8895

Pedal assist screen. 2% start current again to keep the abuse on the drivetrain down to almost nothing. Slow start mode is fairly aggressive for the same reason. Start degree is reasonably fast simply because the motor is starting up so gently there is no reason for delaying its engagement (usually you would do that so the bike doesn't engage until its moving some to keep the chain from trying to haul the bike up from a dead stop). Stop delay is the safe minimum. Current decay is aggressive in cutting back power when its time to do so, and the amount of current it keeps is down to 30%. When I can demonstrate I can spin the crankarms, I don't need assist. This enhances range and efficiency.

EDIT: But its especially ill-suited to e-MTB riding. Think of how unpleasant it would be to ride in a granny gear up some steep slope and the motor decides your cadence is so hi its time to cut back on the power.

View attachment 8894

Not an enormous amount of thought went into this. Started at 100% and worked my way methodically down. 1 and 1 preserves throttle function when you are at PAS0. These settings are good when working with the others. What you pick here can vary quite a bit depending on whats on the Pedal Assist screen.
View attachment 8893
Appreciate the input, but my riding is almost exclusively singletrack mountain biking in the woods..hilly wooods mostly. Karl's SS, so far feels pretty good, and way better than stock settings.
 
Appreciate the input, but my riding is almost exclusively singletrack mountain biking in the woods..hilly wooods mostly. Karl's SS, so far feels pretty good, and way better than stock settings.
If you change my Current Decay setting from 3 to 8 it becomes almost completely singletrack-friendly. After playing with this stuff off and on for a couple of years, I finally nailed down the one setting that pulls the teeth of a BBSHD in terms of limiting its peak power... which is great for street pedaling but awful for singletrack.

Current Decay of 8 essentially eliminates the power cutback and also gives you full power output on pedal assist, so you can get down into a granny gear and spin the crankarms like crazy in a high cadence and you'll get full support from the BBSHD without it screwing with you at all in terms of cutting power back. Current decay of 3 yields a motor that gives peak output of around 400w ... on PAS9. Current Decay of 8 gives you 1000+ with no other changes.

The settings on the Basic screen still do the power cutback, but only on the street with high cadence, low PAS level and speed high enough to kick it in. Secondarily, the only other change I make from my standard street settings is a 40% keep current.

Maybe one other thing would be helpful on singletrack and that is upping the start current from 2%. That keeps your drivetrain from getting its ass kicked, but a 5% number in conjunction with an aggressive slow-start is going to do the same thing. If 5% is not enough, increasing that and tinkering with slow-start mode is the next move to make, with the idea being you go to that kind of trouble to keep away the drivetrain wear and chain snapping demons.

The graph on this version of the PC config tool goes a long way to illustrate wtf is going on with these settings.

bbshd_PAS_Hill[1].jpg
b2_01[1].png

View attachment 9167
 
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