Volt Savile - some things I know and some questions

[tampano]

Hi everyone,
I'll start this thread to collect all the info about my Volt Savile, to share the few things I learned so far (I'm not an expert of bikes nor ebikes) about this specific model (in the absolute silence of the manufacturer), and mostly to ask questions to people more expert than me. This thread will focus mainly on the electric part of my bike. Considering I found close to zero info when I started looking, I hope this thread can be somehow useful. Incidentally I'm asking you all to forgive my silly questions. Again, not an expert but very curious about everything technical.

All Started Here
I was trying to understand why my PAS was intermittent...and in the process of learning HOW the whole circus knew I was pedaling, I met this guy in a not happy state. From there I started to dismantle everything I could on my bike (damages narrated in another thread) and tried to learn more about the electric part. Of course I found a 5 Pounds replacement on eBay for the magnets' disc.


The Motor
I am pretty sure now that the motor is a very standard 8Fun Bafang 36v 250w. He lives more or less happily in my rear wheel and so far he's behaving. This is his 6 pins connector (cables 3,4,6 are thicker than cables 6,7,8 which are thinner - cable numbers in The Connections chapter below)


The Controller
So far I didn't open it. But the only pictures I found online with the name DPWK36V suggests is very well glued on board and components...to be verified. On the other hand the internet research gave no great results in terms of identifying a manufacturer or a compatibility with another controller if in need of replacement.


The Connections
It took me some minutes but I was able to draw a scheme of all the connections coming from the controller and going to different parts of the bike. Everything makes more or less sense to me, except I don't know why my motor needs six cables and what's the five cables connector that is glued and unused.


The Display
No idea if this display came with the controller or it's a generic one. I'd love to know several things, like what are all those millions of icons it shows at startup and that are not used during regular usage. I'll put more questions at the end of the thread but pictures are here, showing all the icons but also a state I can reach with the only keys combo I discovered (remember? no manuals). In a default state I can see the numbers 26 (suspect km/h) with a mysterious 2072 underneath. I'll save you all the intermediate steps, but the lowest and highest pairs obtainable are 28/2268 and 16/1272. Oh...on the bottom of the unit there's a rubber gasket that covers the access to five or six pins on the board. A proprietary/diagnostic cable? No idea and no picture, I forgot to take one before mounting the unit back.


Question Time (in no specific order of priority)

• Is any of the settings of this controller accessible/programmable? And how? I mean, do you connect to the controller box, the motor, the display unit?
• why my motor needs six cables? (three fat, three thin)
• is the controller super specific to my configuration or can I replace it with another one? I'm asking not for a specific need I have, except the curiosity to play with the PAS parameters, speed limits, etc., if possible...so maybe fiddling with another unit no to risk damaging this one?
• why the so called and advertised "self-learning" seems to do nothing? is there a way to reset and restart the learning process? (what is exactly the learning process?)

As said...I'll appreciate any comment to this page and hopefully will find interesting things to do (or not) with the electronics of my bike. You're more than welcome to add your inputs. I'll surely add eventual other doubts I'll have

Thanks in advance everyone

 

[Deleted member 4366]

6 motor cables is three for the power (3-phase sensorless) and three thin ones for a speed sensor in the hub.

Self-learning is to identify the motor configuration. There's no need to re-do the self-learning and no advantage from re-doing it unless you get a new motor. It simply matches the controller to the phase sequence, phase angle and hall sensors of the motor

Your controller is sort of specific. All controllers work the same, except yours is a dual-mode. It can work with sensored and sensorless motors if you do the self-learning. The spare connector is for the motor hall sensors.

If you wanted to change the controller and keep your motor, you'd need a sensorless one. You'd have to cut the connector off your present controller and splice the wires to your new one, which isn't difficult. Any sensorless controller would work. I'd recommend the 17 amp KT one from PSWPower and you need their LCD to go with it.

Your present controller looks like an Ananda one.

Most likely the speed setting is accessible through the LCD buttons. Try press the "set" button to enter the settings where you can change the wheel size, then press and hold it for 10 seconds to see if it goes further.

26/2072 is the wheel diameter (inches) and circumference (mm).

Symbols on the display are just routine information: brake symbol when you apply the brakes; battery symbol when your battery is too low, etc.

 

[tampano]

6 motor cables is three for the power (3-phase sensorless) and three thin ones for a speed sensor in the hub.

Great, thanks.

Self-learning is to identify the motor configuration. There's no need to re-do the self-learning and no advantage from re-doing it unless you get a new motor. It simply matches the controller to the phase sequence, phase angle and hall sensors of the motor

In my understanding the self-learning was some process that drove the "AUTO" setting of the assisted pedal. I mean, on the display unit I can select 1 to 6 bars/levels of speed as long as I pedal, right? What the "AUTO" does exactly is still a bit of a mystery to me.

Your controller is sort of specific. All controllers work the same, except yours is a dual-mode. It can work with sensored and sensorless motors if you do the self-learning. The spare connector is for the motor hall sensors.
If you wanted to change the controller and keep your motor, you'd need a sensorless one. You'd have to cut the connector off your present controller and splice the wires to your new one, which isn't difficult. Any sensorless controller would work. I'd recommend the 17 amp KT one from PSWPower and you need their LCD to go with it.

I wanted to try and buy a second controller to see if there was some sort of "programming" that could be done, and play a bit with it. I assume this is not the case with this model, right? (I see no ways of connecting to the unit)

Your present controller looks like an Ananda one.

A Google search for DPWK36V reveals a German forum (another Pedelec forum) and they suggest Vitenso. Anyway now I know I can study the controller-display thing a bit more but probably it's not needed that much. Unless someone here suggests me some cool things to do with the controllers

https://www.pedelecforum.de/forum/index.php?threads/welcher-controller-ist-das-an-meinem-pedelec.23367/

Most likely the speed setting is accessible through the LCD buttons. Try press the "set" button to enter the settings where you can change the wheel size, then press and hold it for 10 seconds to see if it goes further.

I tried but no luck. With the 10 seconds press on the "set" button I land on the wheel size page. Nothing more. Ideas?

26/2072 is the wheel diameter (inches) and circumference (mm).

Doh! Now I feel an idiot.

Symbols on the display are just routine information: brake symbol when you apply the brakes; battery symbol when your battery is too low, etc.

And thanks again!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Try pressing and holding the up and down buttons to see if that goes to the advanced settings. If that doesn't work, try set +up.

 

[tampano]

No luck apart from the wheel size menu.

The power button seems to be useful only to turn on and off. No interactions in combo with other keys or menu.

From the default screen i can reach wheel size menu with SET+ but also with SET-

Holding + AND - together: no effect

Holding + OR - together: no effect

From the wheels size menu, + or - just change values. Pressing SET goes back to default page (or just waiting few seconds as well)

It's weird because in theory I should be at least allowed to choose the measurement in mph or kmh, right?

At the moment I can't find a way to access other menus than the wheel size.

Of course pressing SET brings me naturally to (in this order):

- backlight setting (then + and - regulate the display backlight)
- trip
- time

Btw...using the throttle on the stand gives me a speed reading of 32.7 km/h

 

[Deleted member 4366]

One last thing. Sometimes you have to do it within a fe seconds of switching on, so switch on, immediately press "set", then immediately press and hold it for 10 seconds.

 

[Jazzman2444]

Hi,

Trying my luck in this post.

I have the same controller (DPWK36V) and my LCD display broke. The same model is not in production any more.

Will a S866 display (https://manuals.plus/lcd/s866-lcd-instruments-v1-0-operating-manual) work out of the box with this controller, or can any of you recommend a replacement display?

Thanks in advance
Jesper