Any advice before installing the Kunteng Display and Controller upgrade ?

[Biko]

I'm getting tomorrow Tuesday the KT-LCD8H & 35A Controller for my RadCity, aka Bolton upgrade.
Bought them last Friday from electrobikeworld.com, great service and fast shipping.
So I was thinking in making some tests and taking notes with the Rad's OEM hardware before Installing for comparison.
A test I can do is acceleration, max watts per PAS level, max throttle speed in a known, repeatable road, etc.
Any other ideas ?
Thanks.

 

[ExPatBrit]

This mod has been around for a while.

My friend modded his city about a year ago. It’s fairly straight-forward plug and play.

The controller is larger, tight fit on the city step-thru be interested if you have a more elegant mount than zip ties.

A list of the final settings might be useful, They are different from the Rover.

 

[Biko]

I studied the manual, which is badly written plus the Bolton videos.
There are a couple of settings which are different than the Rover, which is the gear ratio, the number of magnets and the regen braking. However, there is a setting which remains obscure, since the manual doesn’t explain nor anyone seem to fully comprehend, which is Motor Phase type, the recommended value is zero, but I might experiment with it once I have all setup and working. Most other settings are straight forward.
As for the controller, I wish there was a more water proof case. From the teardown pictures, I couldn’t see any gaskets, so that remains a concern.
I’m curious about the max Amps from the USB port and more important, if the controller can power my 1,100 lumens Juiced headlight, the City stock controller couln’t.
I read somewhere that the LCD3 USB port can deliver up to 2.1 amps, hoping the LCD8H/35A controller are different at 2.4 or 3 amps so I can power my Canon camera.
Will report back my findings since most of the information seem to be about the Rover.
If I can get Class 3 speeds from it and the other features working, it would be money well spent, at $230 for the kit you start wondering about cost/benefit ratio.
I might sell the Rad OEM Display and controller to recoup some money if satisfied.

 

[ExPatBrit]

I sold my friends ex-city and my (ex-rover) own old controller/ lcd on eBay.

These were both circa 2019 Rad they didn’t have the max speed hard lockout that the newer bikes have.

Over $100 + shipping each set, that blew me away

 

[Biko]

Sounds, good. Hope I can sell mine for that too.
I got my City 4 earlier this year and you can still change the max speed limit to 24mph/40kph.
One unexpected thing though was having the regen braking automatically triggered once you pass 24mph, that was definitely not Rad! Not sure if this behavior was the same with previos City releases but it irritates the hell out of me.
With the upgraded 53T front sproket is easier to reach that speed.
This is one aspect I am looking forward to fix with the controller upgrade, among other things.

 

[ExPatBrit]

Regen has limited value, you can effectively disable it it on the KT.

My current bike has a Bafang display with dual modes , eco and sport be nice if Rad/ KT offered that as option to turn regen off.

I live in PNW, it rains quite a lot never had a problem with the new controller . I always wipe my bike down after I return if it’s raining.

 

[Biko]

Good to know, that has some kind of water resistance, I have not read complains about it either.
So, In your current bike setup you have the KT controller with a Bafang display or this one has a different controller?
One thing I‘m gonna miss about the Rad stock display though is the big contrasty text. The color KT one, you can barely see the watts numbers cos is so small, a waste of dead space in that layout.

 

[ExPatBrit]

Apologies, my current bike is not a Rad, I sold my Bolton modified Rad Rover in January. Resale prices were good.

The color LCD-8 is much easier to work with than the stock Rad display. Especially when you tinker with the settings.

The color display displays voltage, much more useful than just the battery-charge graphic. If u use the additional power it’s important to monitor voltage so you don’t trip the BMS . Limit throttle and PAS 5 to when your battery is above 45 volts.

 

[BKing]

I'm getting tomorrow Tuesday the KT-LCD8H & 35A Controller for my RadCity, aka Bolton upgrade.
Bought them last Friday from electrobikeworld.com, great service and fast shipping.
So I was thinking in making some tests and taking notes with the Rad's OEM hardware before Installing for comparison.
A test I can do is acceleration, max watts per PAS level, max throttle speed in a known, repeatable road, etc.
Any other ideas ?
Thanks.

No need to bother with detailed comparisons, it still ramps up the power when starting out. This is to prevent over stressing everything and to keep you from falling off the back of the bike. The throttle will take off still. Be careful, that city motor is rated for 500 watts and it gets real hot if you forget and max it out too much.

 

[Mambo99]

I picked up a lightly used 2019 RadCity a few months back. I'm looking for a bit more acceleration since I use the bike as a daily commuter in traffic in a large city, so I also purchased the KT-LCD8H & 35A Controller from EBW a few weeks ago. I tried installing the controller + display last weekend but ran into a couple issues I'm currently troubleshooting. The hardware install seemed pretty smooth and I used the controller settings Alan B provided in an old ES post. However, using those settings I'm unable to get continuous motor operation with the new controller. When I twist the throttle on the RadCity, there is a single motor pulse followed by a faint "whirring" or "buzzing" sound until I release the throttle. I didn't get a chance to play around with the controller settings. More concerning is the PAS no longer works. I re-installed the stock Rad controller + display and was able to regain full throttle control, but the PAS still does not work. I went through the Rad Power PAS troubleshooting guide - PAS sensor LED never turns on (even when pedaling) - so I think I may need to replace the sensor.

Hope you're having better luck with your install. What controller settings are you using for the RadCity?

I found the attached manual for the KT-LCD8 controller on an earlier thread on EBR.

 

[ExPatBrit]

The plastic PAS magnet ring on the inside of the crank/chainring is very flimsy and easy to break. It can stop rotating and providing a signal when you pedal. After a few years the plastic becomes brittle.

Amazon sells an inexpensive two piece version that does not require crank removal.

 

[BKing]

 

[BKing]

This is what I have on a 2019 city.
Does anyone know which one to change to eliminate this:
When riding with a small amount of throttle then start pedaling in PAS 1 thru 4 while still holding the small amount of throttle, it takes off in full power.

 

[AHicks]

No way around it that I've found. You can stop pedaling and add throttle to get a proportional response. If you add throttle while pedaling - with my bike (1000w geared hub) you had better be holding on! Took me a while to figure that out - but not difficult to deal with once I understood/knew what to expect. -Al

 

[Biko]

I picked up a lightly used 2019 RadCity a few months back. I'm looking for a bit more acceleration since I use the bike as a daily commuter in traffic in a large city, so I also purchased the KT-LCD8H & 35A Controller from EBW a few weeks ago. I tried installing the controller + display last weekend but ran into a couple issues I'm currently troubleshooting. The hardware install seemed pretty smooth and I used the controller settings Alan B provided in an old ES post. However, using those settings I'm unable to get continuous motor operation with the new controller. When I twist the throttle on the RadCity, there is a single motor pulse followed by a faint "whirring" or "buzzing" sound until I release the throttle. I didn't get a chance to play around with the controller settings. More concerning is the PAS no longer works. I re-installed the stock Rad controller + display and was able to regain full throttle control, but the PAS still does not work. I went through the Rad Power PAS troubleshooting guide - PAS sensor LED never turns on (even when pedaling) - so I think I may need to replace the sensor.

Hope you're having better luck with your install. What controller settings are you using for the RadCity?

I found the attached manual for the KT-LCD8 controller on an earlier thread on EBR.

Hey Mambo,
Looks like it could be the sensor cable, did you inspect the pins, the cable, etc ?

I ended up returning the KT kit to EBW because I did not see enough value for the $.
The USB port has less power than the Rad and this controller could not handle my brighter headlight either.
The motor became a bit noisier and the Rad's Direct Drive 500W motor is already maxed out at 25MPH, same with the Rad controller.
Also, I did not like the color display either, it has less contrast and the Watts numbers are harder to read, this is a stupid layout design I couldn't stand so back it went.

I had good experience with EBW though and would buy from them again.

I spent quite a bit of time researching the controller settings and this is what I settled with.

P1: 46
P2: 1
P3: 1 or 0
P4: 0
P5: 15 or 0
C1: 6 or 5 or 7
C2 0, but this might need experimentation because nobody understand this setting.
C3 8 or any PAS level you want the bike default to upon powered on. I set mine to 2 since is the one I use more often.
C4 0
C5 10 but it is according to your preference.
C6 Backlight brightness. Your preference.
C7 1
C8 0
C9 0
C10 N
C11 0
C12 4
C13 Regen Braking Strength, your preference.
C14 2 but tweak if you need to. This is like a global PAS strength multiplier.

L1 3
L2 0
L3 1

 

[BKing]

Do you know what L1 does?

 

[ExPatBrit]

Do you know what L1 does?

Manual attached, L1 sets how the BMS measures the voltage. 0 is default automatic. Use the C12 setting to actually set the cut-off

 

[Biko]

@ BKing.
L1 it is confusing because it kinds of replicates what C12 does, which is setting the cutoff point for the controller, for minimum Voltage.
So you can set it for Automatic mode, in which either C12 or the battery's BMS takes over, whichever hits first, or you can force it to be 20, 30 or 40 volts.
So is basically, Auto or Manual.
I suppose it would require playing with L1 and C12 to fully understand it.