More power for hills on Samebike LO26

oCammyWammyo

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 2, 2019
6
0
I currently ride the Samebike LO26 which mostly meets my needs, however certain hills on my commute to work are too much and it can barely get beyond 6/7mph. This is Edinburgh (Liberton if anyone knows the hill I mean) What makes it worse is after taking 20% of my battery to conquer this one hill my top speed seems reduced to 13/14 mph from 17.5 mph for the rest of that leg of the journey.

I think the specs are 300W 48v, not sure on the Amp rating of the controller. I was considering upgrading to get more power on the hills but I'm not sure if that would mean a new motor or whether the controller and battery would require upgrading.

If this is the case should I instead look at a new bike altogether?
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,993
Basildon
I currently ride the Samebike LO26 which mostly meets my needs, however certain hills on my commute to work are too much and it can barely get beyond 6/7mph. This is Edinburgh (Liberton if anyone knows the hill I mean) What makes it worse is after taking 20% of my battery to conquer this one hill my top speed seems reduced to 13/14 mph from 17.5 mph for the rest of that leg of the journey.

I think the specs are 300W 48v, not sure on the Amp rating of the controller. I was considering upgrading to get more power on the hills but I'm not sure if that would mean a new motor or whether the controller and battery would require upgrading.

If this is the case should I instead look at a new bike altogether?
What you need is more current to climb the hill. First we need to know how much current you're getting at the moment, which means reading the label on the controller that's in the compartment behind the fold in the frame.

More current means using up the battery faster, so, ultimately, you might need to upgrade the battery.
 

oCammyWammyo

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 2, 2019
6
0
What you need is more current to climb the hill. First we need to know how much current you're getting at the moment, which means reading the label on the controller that's in the compartment behind the fold in the frame.

More current means using up the battery faster, so, ultimately, you might need to upgrade the battery.
39079
Here's the controller. The connectors seem to be different from ones I see in conversion kits too.
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,993
Basildon
There's your problem: 12 amps. You can turn it up to 15 amps, which will give 25% more torque. There are two ways to do it depending on what LCD you have. Show us which one you have. If it's not adjustable via the LCD, you can solder the shunt, which just takes a couple of minutes. While you have the controller out, remove the end-plate at the opposite end to the wires and take a photo of what's inside.
 

oCammyWammyo

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 2, 2019
6
0
There's your problem: 12 amps. You can turn it up to 15 amps, which will give 25% more torque. There are two ways to do it depending on what LCD you have. Show us which one you have. If it's not adjustable via the LCD, you can solder the shunt, which just takes a couple of minutes. While you have the controller out, remove the end-plate at the opposite end to the wires and take a photo of what's inside.
I think I can turn it up in the LCD the model is an S830, would that not fry my motor though? turns out the motor is apparently at least 500W with some people saying 599W?

I don't own a solder iron and so I don't think this is possible. The battery is 10.4Ah However there are larger capacity ones available.

I also don't have the controller out. It's a pic from another forum about an unrelated issue. (see tech cat and you'll find it fast)
 
Last edited:

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,993
Basildon
I think I can turn it up in the LCD the model is an S830, would that not fry my motor though? turns out the motor is apparently at least 500W with some people saying 599W?

I don't own a solder iron and so I don't think this is possible. The battery is 10.4Ah However there are larger capacity ones available.

I also don't have the controller out. It's a pic from another forum about an unrelated issue. (see tech cat and you'll find it fast)
P14 in the display sets the current to anything up to 20A. I would try 15A first, then go up to maybe 17A if it's still not enough. Your motor can probably handle 25A easily.

It's counter-intuitive, but 12A might be worse for your motor than 15 amps. What kills motors and controllers is going too slow up hills. By increasing the current, you go up hills proportionally faster, which can get the motor speed out of the danger zone. The danger zone is typically anything less than 8 mph, but time is a factor too.

It might be worth turning up P12 too depending on what it's set to out of it's 5 values. I believe that it affects how quickly the power ramps up after you start to pedal.

Long press of up and down buttons together to enter the settings, then M button to change the parameter and up and down to adjust the value of the parameter. Long press of M to save the parameter. To save and exit the settings, either wait 10 secs or press the up and down buttons together again.
 

oCammyWammyo

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 2, 2019
6
0
P14 in the display sets the current to anything up to 20A. I would try 15A first, then go up to maybe 17A if it's still not enough. Your motor can probably handle 25A easily.

It's counter-intuitive, but 12A might be worse for your motor than 15 amps. What kills motors and controllers is going too slow up hills. By increasing the current, you go up hills proportionally faster, which can get the motor speed out of the danger zone. The danger zone is typically anything less than 8 mph, but time is a factor too.

It might be worth turning up P12 too depending on what it's set to out of it's 5 values. I believe that it affects how quickly the power ramps up after you start to pedal.

Long press of up and down buttons together to enter the settings, then M button to change the parameter and up and down to adjust the value of the parameter. Long press of M to save the parameter. To save and exit the settings, either wait 10 secs or press the up and down buttons together again.
I will and will post the results tomorrow. Thank you.
 

oCammyWammyo

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 2, 2019
6
0
I will and will post the results tomorrow. Thank you.
So upping the amps on P14 didn't do anything, even on major hills the max current it would display during the ride was 11A. I also upped P12 to 5 but didn't see any noticeable increase in start power.

Do you think I could simply replace the controller to allow for more Amps?
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
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West Sx RH
One can't get more amps by a setting button if the controller is already maxed out, one can try the shunt mod then adjust the setting for more amps.