Experiences with Open Source Firmware on the Tongsheng TSDZ2

[bpratl]

New to this forum. I have a 20 year old trek that has been converted to a TSDZ2, 750W,52V and a 860C
display using OSF V20.1C3 . I find it a big improvement over the stock software especially on startups
and climbing big hills. To date I have only put 30 miles on it in both road and off-road trails with out any complaints or problems,

 

[allanx38]

Hi All,
great thread this thanks. I installed a TSDZ2 and it seems pretty good. I have just installed the OSF (following the post from Swizz, cheers). Just a note v20.1C has been suspended so I used v20.1B. I have only had a short ride with the OSF (it was raining ...) so its hard to tell what has changed, however the throttle has improved.
One thing I was a bit confused about is the controller screen (vlcd5), it hasn't changed, I was hoping to see the battery voltage somewhere. One change is that I can seem to enter the parameter options, EO2, E03 etc however I'm not sure I can change anything. Can anyone see the battery voltage on the vlcd5 after flashing to the OSF?

 

[Nealh]

For voltage one may have to fit the KT lcd3 and reprogram it as it has the voltage settings, if the vlcd5 doesn't have the settings in the first place it won't be able to display it.

 

[Bikes4two]

I've now raised this issue on the Endless Sphere forum here.

And there is now a reply from the OSF writer 'mbrusa' on Endless Sphere (link). In short the posts says:

----------------------​

Motor spinning without pedaling (phantom pedaling) is a known problem.
It is rare and is also present in all previous versions of OSF for stock displays, only those.
There was a bug in the communication code with the display, that could have been the cause, but after the modification the problem remained.
I have checked many times, for now I have not found anything else.
We talk about it here:
https://github.com/emmebrusa/TSDZ2-Smar ... /issues/10
---------------
So if the problem is a concern for you, it seems you can either revert back to stock firmware or use a display other than the VLCD5/VLCD6/XH-18 such as the KT-LCD3 or one of the Bafang displays. That will of course involve some jiggery pockery with wires, solder, firmware and so on.

Personally I have no interest in the info the bigger displays give and I like the minimalism of the VLCD6 and want the handlebar space for my GPS/Smartphone when needed.

More relevant though, is that I've now clocked up 1000Km on the TSDZ2 and the ghost phantom pedalling happened once and wasn't a problem to resolve and gave me no untoward concerns (but each to their own).

 

[sjpt]

Motor spinning without pedaling (phantom pedaling) is a known problem.
---------------
More relevant though, is that I've now clocked up 1000Km on the TSDZ2 and the ghost pedalling happened once.

Just a clarification. I hadn't heard the term 'phantom pedalling' but it appears to mean the system thinking you are pedalling when you are not.
'Ghost pedalling' is when you turn the cranks without putting in any effort so that a cadence system bike will power the motor and do all the work for you.

 

[Bikes4two]

Just a clarification. I hadn't heard the term 'phantom pedalling' but it appears to mean the system thinking you are pedalling when you are not.
'Ghost pedalling' is when you turn the cranks without putting in any effort so that a cadence system bike will power the motor and do all the work for you.

You're right - it is important to use the correct terminology - thanks for pointing this out and I've edited my original post.

Since that post, further reading suggests (but is refuted by some and is therefore not conclusive) that the phantom pedalling issue may only happen just the once after flashing the OSF, but could re-occur after a fresh OSF flash.

I'll be reflashing in a couple of days time - let's see what happens.

 

[Nealh]

Have any tsdz owners carried out the heat sink mods internally as well as the osf tweaks ?

 

[abrahad]

One warning when you wire up the programmer the wires to have to be as short as you can make them. I didn't do this and had repeated programming failures until corrected.

I have just made my first attempt to communicate with the motor by reading with the following linux command:

$ stm8flash -c stlinkv2 -p stm8s105?6 -r TSDZ2_origin.bin

I get back error #4.

I have searched for the meaning of stm8flash errror codes without any luck. Does anyone know what they are?
Secondly, in the quote above you say that the wires to the programmer should be as short as possible. The lead I made is about 130mm from the programmer end to the end of the connector. Is this still too long?

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Nealh]

Compare your one with swizz's one in the pic of # 1.

 

[Bikes4two]

Yep, my programming dongle is just about identical to @Swizz's too

 

[abrahad]

Mine is about 40-50mm longer. I need to eliminate some other potential problems before I get the soldering iron out again.

 

[TJS109]

130mm is definitely too long. I made the same mistake and nothing worked until I shortened them to 10-20 mm

 

[abrahad]

Ok. I'll give it a try.

 

[Andrewlee1]

I’ve installed two of these and flashed one of them with osf. (750w 48v 15ah)
Used a Mac to flash the OSF but had to instal windows 10 ( it’s free) and an old version of VM ware ( also free.)

Made the cables etc. really easy.
Have flashed one and kept my partners as stock.

We live in the Pennines so local rides are very hilly.

Stock they are excellent. I’ve had a 250w Bionx set up and a 350w hub motor kit previously. The TSDZ2 is a world apart.

Currently using stock and hybrid assist modes we can climb anything easily. We get a range between 45 and 90 miles depending on terrain and how much shopping I’m carrying.
I’ve had a slow learning curve with the OSF settings and I think currently I have the lowest assist setting way to high which is reducing my range. I am also scratching my head a bit with the battery display settings. The voltage displays as 62.5v but it will have dropped a bar on the display.
Really impressed with everything about it. Very smooth, powerful, and excellent range. I used PSW power and eBay for the batteries. Fully set up came to £380 per bike.
I’d add that the pedals are significantly wider on the cranks ( have a damaged vehicle to show for it ) but this isn’t noticeable when riding. Check your clearances on any bike carrier - I now remove a pedal to carry them.

 

[pedalfettal]

Have you tried folding pedals? I use Wellgo F265s - metal mechanism with resin cage

 

[Andrewlee1]

Have you tried folding pedals? I use Wellgo F265s - metal mechanism with resin cage

They are a good option, but we use SPD pedals & shoes - very comfortable, very secure, very very safe. (& serviceable) If you are not used to them note that there are two types of cleat - normal - stiff and firm lock - can be hard to unclip and 'M' Multi release which are fantastically secure and super easy to release. Having gone from having 14 bikes down to six we have a box full of spare SPD pedals! I have seen removable SPDs too but we've still got the box full to get through.

 

[Bikes4two]

Topic creep - I thought this thread was about Open Source Firmware?

So whilst on that topic, I have been using V20.1c.1 (I have the VLCD6 display) for some time now although I know that there is a v20.1c.2 too - is that the latest release and has 1c.2 been running for a while without issues?

 

[bpratl]

Topic creep - I thought this thread was about Open Source Firmware?

So whilst on that topic, I have been using V20.1c.1 (I have the VLCD6 display) for some time now although I know that there is a v20.1c.2 too - is that the latest release and has 1c.2 been running for a while without issues?

I just installed V20.1C.4 about a week ago with good results, from V20.1C.3.
There are a lot of bug fixes that were found in versions .2 and .3 and with added assist modes and functions.

 

[Bikes4two]

I just installed V20.1C.4 about a week ago

Thanks for that.
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 1c.4 for the 860c display?
I'm using the vlcd6 so it looks as though 1c.2 is the latest for the vlcd5, vlcd6, xh18.

(BTW, the fixes listed for 1c.4 are very similar to 1c.2 to no doubt to get the firmware for both display sets to a comparable level.)

 

[bpratl]

You are correct, .4 is for the 860C display.