Need Help Identifying My Controller

[rpr]

I have a Rambo Hellcat 2.0 for beach riding, it works great for that purpose. But the power delivery is ridiculously abrupt, it feels like the motor is either full on or full off, with nothing in between.

I know the terrible power ramp goes with the territory of cadence sensor hub drive e-bikes, but I’m wondering if I can confirm that it has square wave controllers then I might see some improvement if I swap them for sine wave controllers, particularly programmable ones.

Can anyone tell me which controller this is? There are no other markings on them.

 

[BubbAlou88]

Rambo Customer Service 952-283-0777. Mon – Fri 8:30AM – 4:30PM CST

 

[Victor Dupont]

This is interesting, because I was recently thinking about something related.

I am curious, why is it a problem for you if the motor is either full on or full off? You can adjust the power level, right?

I am asking because I was recently wondering the opposite: I feel like on my partner's bike, the controller takes too much time to detect pedals turning, and thus turn on, and too much time detecting the pedals stopping, and thus turn off.

 

[rpr]

I also feel the power takes too long to come on (almost 2 full revolutions) and waaay too long to turn off (~2 seconds after pedaling ceases), but I didn’t think that was something that could be easily modified, if at all.

However, if it has the cheaper square wave controllers, then swapping them for sine wave controllers can likely provide a much smoother power ramp. I don’t know if sine wave controllers would improve the time to power up and power down though.

The Rambo techs I’ve spoken to really don’t seem to be very knowledgeable, seem like message takers who just work in the tech dept, don’t think the techs actually pick up the phone, but I’ll give them a shout.

 

[HumanPerson]

On some display models the P11 (PAS Sensitivity) When set to higher numbers, it will take more crank rotations for the motor to turn on.
Then P12 (PAS Strength) When set to higher numbers the motor will come on stronger, lower numbers will be a bit more gentle.

Note that not all displays will be the same, hope this helps.

 

[rpr]

Interesting, I’m not sure if my controller has those settings but they might be buried somewhere. I’ll definitely look for this. Thanks.

Regarding the question as to why this is an issue, even in PAS1 the power is way too strong from a stop. Walk assist is too fast as well.

It’s just a very crude on/off power delivery system with nothing in between, even for cadence sensor bikes. That’s why I’m thinking they used cheap square wave controllers.

 

[Annieolnie]

Another thing to look at is how many magnets are in your pedal assist sensor. You may be able to switch it out if you can set your controller for that magnet count. It might work to switch it out anyway. The number can range from 5 to 24. With obvious differences.

 

[rpr]

I just spoke to Rambo tech support and as expected they had no idea, no specs available to them at all on the controllers. The person I spoke to said they never even heard of square wave or sine wave controllers.

They created a case number for me and someone is supposed to call me back on Monday, probably with the same non-answer.

 

[HumanPerson]

yur controller is more than likely square wave. for them to niot know is plum dumb LOL

 

[rpr]

Yep, don’t get me started. Unfortunately, lack of basic job knowledge and intellectual curiosity seems to be par for the course in all things these days. I’m no longer shocked when reaching out to companies who acknowledge they know very little about the products they sell or claim to be tech support for.

 

[BubbAlou88]

Yep, don’t get me started. Unfortunately, lack of basic job knowledge and intellectual curiosity seems to be par for the course in all things these days. I’m no longer shocked when reaching out to companies who acknowledge they know very little about the products they sell or claim to be tech support for.

I hate calling a Tech Support and all they know is what is written on tech cards where they can get about anyone that can read to do the job! Tech support should know all the aspects of the product they are selling and have good repair knowledge but unfortunately they (particular company) get what they pay for.

 

[Chumley]

In my pre-retirement career, I had to set up the script for the third party telephone operators to help customers at a level 1. Level 2 was the serevice office, level 3 were us field engineers. There were no other levels. If you ask our phone operators anything other than what was in the script, they knew absolutely nothing. They just gave the unplug it, plug it in, reboot type problems. Many companies use these third party systems, as setting up a call center and training and staffing is something that a small company doesn't have resources for.

I also found it amazing that our service people often did not know when to ask for help. After doing the phone center, we also found our service offices were poorly trained. In response, my engineering group and I came up with training programs and then had week long training on the operation and repair of our equipment that we sold. It would (or maybe not) surprise you how many people work on equipment yet know very little about it.

So not surprised a company that sells "branded" generic products don't know the specs of the equipment they sell. A lot of parts people relate to you if you give them a part number, but couldn't tell a carburetor from an alternator.

 

[Victor Dupont]

Regarding the question as to why this is an issue, even in PAS1 the power is way too strong from a stop. Walk assist is too fast as well.

Ah maybe our bikes are different. Mine doesn't have walk assist, and I don't have a problem from a stop, because it wouldn't kick in until after I start pedalling, thus never from speed 0.

 

[Annieolnie]

I have a Rambo Hellcat 2.0 for beach riding, it works great for that purpose. But the power delivery is ridiculously abrupt, it feels like the motor is either full on or full off, with nothing in between.

I know the terrible power ramp goes with the territory of cadence sensor hub drive e-bikes, but I’m wondering if I can confirm that it has square wave controllers then I might see some improvement if I swap them for sine wave controllers, particularly programmable ones.

Can anyone tell me which controller this is? There are no other markings on them.

Going back to the very beginning here, Manuals+ has your manual. The good news is that they are showing a Bafang display, so you ought to have a Bafang controller, which should allow you to choose one of there other controller models. Like a lot of manufacturers (even expensive ones) they don't seem to care about giving you much instructional support. If you can tell me what display numbers that are on the back of your display, since it is a Bafang, we ought to be able to track down a proper manual. Also, can you post a picture of your display plug, so I can tell which style of controller they installed. We can just keep going with this for a bit, until we get somewhere.

 

[rpr]

Thanks for the reply. When I go to manuals+ I see a foreign site, no English option. Regardless, the controller I have is not the controller pictured in your post.

If you can believe it, Rambo doesn’t even appear to have a manual for the Hellcat 2.0. The only manual they have is for the original Hellcat.

I don’t have access to the bike right now, these are the only pics of the display I have handy.

Thanks.

 

[rpr]

Here’s one more:

 

[rpr]

And I just heard back from Rambo. They said their Product Development Team advised that they use sine wave controllers on the Hellcat 2.0.

I’m skeptical…

 

[Annieolnie]

I don't recognize your display, does it have a model number on the back?

 

[rpr]

Could be but the bike is not accessible right now. I’ll post it up when I can. Thanks!

 

[Annieolnie]

Do you have two controllers going to one display, or one controller with two seperate batches of wires? It is going to be hard to switch that out, unless you go to two different controllers and two separate displays. If you get a chance, post a picture of your motor plugs (showing the pins) so I can get a sense of what they did there. Can you also tell us, do you have advanced P settings on your display. You have an expensive ebike, there is a very good chance it is sinewave. How many magnets are on your Pas sensor?