How Do I Make The Yukon 2018 Voltbike faster?

[NickVolk]

Hi, I want to buy a Yukon 750 Limited in Canada but heard

they limit the motor to 500-watts to comply with Canadian regulations​

Does this mean the bike caps assistance at 32KM/H? How do you get higher level of assistance like 45KM/H?

 

[NickVolk]

The 500W is nominal power, not maximum power. Although that might depend on which part of Canada you're from.

You would need to go to advanced setting to unlock it.
The password is 1919.

You can adjust the top speed up to 50km/h, however according to some of the Voltbike owners, the power really tapers off above 40km/h, this is not limited to Volt, a lot of so called 28mph (45km/h) ebikes really tapers off after 40km/h.

https://www.voltbike.com/Manuals/voltbike-owners-manual.pdf

Also, which part of Canada are you from? Each province has different laws.
For example, British Columbia follows Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 system, same as Califora ebike regulations.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/sports-recreation-arts-and-culture/outdoor-recreation/camping-and-hiking/rec-sites-and-trails/ebike_policy_final_04-25-2019.pdf

Class 1 - Max 32km/h, no throttle (500W nominal power)
Class 2 - Max 32km/h + throttle
Class 3 - Max 45km/h, no throttle
aMTB (Adaptive Mountain Bikes) - 800W nominal or less

Class 1 is categorized as "standard ebike" (motor assisted cycle) and Class 2 and 3 are "motorized ebike" (motor vehicle)

For Class 2 and 3, British Columbia does not specify 500W like Class 1 ebike.
Although I am not certain, this is probably due to many Class 2 or 3 ebikes have 750W nominal power.
They seem to follow California ebike rule.

Thanks for all these insights!

I live in Quebec.

So if I understand correctly, I go to advanced settings, unlock it, put top speed to 50KM/H, and this unleashes the 750W?

 

[Calicoskies]

You need to change the CUL which is current setting to 15 also, Canada it should be set to 10 amps for 500W. You can set these numbers higher but they are hard coded in the controller that as far as I know nobody has tried to cable in and change them with APT software. Will go to about 22 MPH and start to lose power and the amps will stop at 750 watts. It is a class 2 not 3.

 

[NickVolk]

You need to change the CUL which is current setting to 15 also, Canada it should be set to 10 amps for 500W. You can set these numbers higher but they are hard coded in the controller that as far as I know nobody has tried to cable in and change them with APT software. Will go to about 22 MPH and start to lose power and the amps will stop at 750 watts. It is a class 2 not 3.

Thanks!

So I need to change the amps from 10 (Canada) to >15 in order

You need to change the CUL which is current setting to 15 also, Canada it should be set to 10 amps for 500W. You can set these numbers higher but they are hard coded in the controller that as far as I know nobody has tried to cable in and change them with APT software. Will go to about 22 MPH and start to lose power and the amps will stop at 750 watts. It is a class 2 not 3.

Gotcha.

So it sounds like there is no easy way to move amps from 10 (Canada) to 15 in order to experience the ~750 watts. Correct?

 

[Calicoskies]

CUL is what it shows in the advance password area on the display, just means Current Level. They just use the 48vdc battery as reference, so 48 x 10 amps = 500 watts and 48 x 15 amps = 750 watts. Numbers little higher because a 48 vdc 100% charged is around 54 vdc.

 

[NickVolk]

CUL is what it shows in the advance password area on the display, just means Current Level. They just use the 48vdc battery as reference, so 48 x 10 amps = 500 watts and 48 x 15 amps = 750 watts. Numbers little higher because a 48 vdc 100% charged is around 54 vdc.

So if I understand correctly, since they are hard coded 10a in the controller for canadas, even if you increased cul to 15a, you still wouldn’t get the aprox 750w?

 

[Calicoskies]

The hard code in controller is 15 max on all bikes, no difference on where they are shipping. The owner can adjust from whatever the low is (7 or 8 amps) up to 15. If you set the current (CUL) to 25 it is still only going to go as high as 15 because of the controller max that is set.

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

Hey Nick, so my understanding from all this is that you can simply go into the advanced settings through the display, you might need to enter a code of 1919 at some point, then you select CUL (current level) and change the setting from 10-15 and that should add something like 8kph to your top speed for either throttle only or pedal assist.

I saw a YouTube video explaining how to change out the controller (which is not the same as the control panel/display screen). The controller is a small metal box with electrical control components inside. I believe on the Yukon 750 it sits at the base of the vertical stem near the crank. The video didn’t explain why you would be swapping the controller but I assume there could be an after market controller out there that you could swap with the stock one from Voltbike. The issues I would be concerned about with doing this are that you then may increase your top speed beyond what the bike is designed to tolerate. So you might damage the motor, or see it wear out prematurely, or the tires or other components may experience a premature or even catastrophic failure. Just changing the CUL setting on the other hand, should be well within the bikes intended parameters as the higher setting is available to consumers of the exact same bike in the US.

I hope that summary is helpful, and if I’m wrong in any of my comments and assumptions I’m really happy to hear from anyone and continue learning.

Thanks all.

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

From the manual:

Advanced Settings: Double pressing power button in interval less than 0.3 sec. will get you into parameter setting mode. From here you can set various parameters like wheel diameter, system voltage and switch km/h to mp/h.
Once you are into advanced mode you can short press Up/Down buttons to change parameter value, short press power button to switch to the next parameter. The meter will automatically exit and save if there is no activity for 10 seconds.

Password – In order to proceed to speed limit parameter
you need to enter password. Default password is 1919.
Speed limit – Symbol on display SPL. Press Up/Down to change the value.

 

[NickVolk]

Hey Nick, so my understanding from all this is that you can simply go into the advanced settings through the display, you might need to enter a code of 1919 at some point, then you select CUL (current level) and change the setting from 10-15 and that should add something like 8kph to your top speed for either throttle only or pedal assist.

I saw a YouTube video explaining how to change out the controller (which is not the same as the control panel/display screen). The controller is a small metal box with electrical control components inside. I believe on the Yukon 750 it sits at the base of the vertical stem near the crank. The video didn’t explain why you would be swapping the controller but I assume there could be an after market controller out there that you could swap with the stock one from Voltbike. The issues I would be concerned about with doing this are that you then may increase your top speed beyond what the bike is designed to tolerate. So you might damage the motor, or see it wear out prematurely, or the tires or other components may experience a premature or even catastrophic failure. Just changing the CUL setting on the other hand, should be well within the bikes intended parameters as the higher setting is available to consumers of the exact same bike in the US.

I hope that summary is helpful, and if I’m wrong in any of my comments and assumptions I’m really happy to hear from anyone and continue learning.

Thanks all.

Thank for the facts!! Much appreciated

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

Hi, I want to buy a Yukon 750 Limited in Canada but heard
they limit the motor to 500-watts to comply with Canadian regulations

Does this mean the bike caps assistance at 32KM/H? How do you get higher level of assistance like 45KM/H?

Hey Nick, did you look at ace20ri’s reply? This guy is the real deal in terms of maxing out the bike’s speed capacity. As your comment above says, I think you’re in the same camp as me, just looking to go a bit faster, but what this guy has done is truly inspiring.

 

[NickVolk]

Hey Nick, did you look at ace20ri’s reply? This guy is the real deal in terms of maxing out the bike’s speed capacity. As your comment above says, I think you’re in the same camp as me, just looking to go a bit faster, but what this guy has done is truly inspiring.

I hadn’t - thanks for this!

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

Yes this gentleman changed the battery and the console as well. . . And the tires. . .and the crank. At what point does it become an entirely different bike? That’s a question for philosophers. He says he gets 30 miles an hour, that’s fast.

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

Thank for the facts!! Much appreciated

Facts are only worth something if they yield results. In this case they were useless. The CUL can be set to a million...has no effect. You can enter the password but you will find it’s already set to 99 or 100 which is the top setting. So the answer for how to make the voltbike Yukon 750 faster is to change the controller, which may necessitate changing the console and the battery. I’m going to look into it further.

 

[CarlB]

So could he set tire size to smaller (if that's an option)? That might fool the speedometer into thinking he's moving slower than he really is. He'd have to find some other way (I think google maps shows speed now) to see if it works since his speedometer would be off.

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

So could he set tire size to smaller (if that's an option)? That might fool the speedometer into thinking he's moving slower than he really is. He'd have to find some other way (I think google maps shows speed now) to see if it works since his speedometer would be off.

Could it be so simple. I highly doubt it. The voltbike website says it’s the wattage that is controlled but others on here have questioned whether that’s really possible because of peak vs nominal output. I did try lowering the diameter from 28 to 26 but there was no noticeable effect. I may try to go really low which should give some funny speed readings if nothing else.

I’m trying to find out the specific name and brand of controller now. Let me know pls if anyone knows. For the 2019 Yukon.

 

[CarlB]

Could it be so simple. I highly doubt it.

Let us know what you experience. I'm thinking you might not accelerate as fast as a 750, but you might fool the controller into continuing to send the 500-level power beyond the maximum speed limit (because it thinks it's going slower). So maybe no increase in "power" but an increase in allowable top speed? That's assuming that tire size is used to calculate speed. Maybe it isn't. Or maybe it's used to calculate how much power to send; and the smaller the tire, the less it will send due to the mechanical advantage of the smaller tires, making the bike more sluggish.

 

[Love is...finding the right ebike]

Hey carlb,

I just got off my morning commute. I know you said use google maps for kph but I didn’t get a chance to look into that. Also I don’t know if google maps records top speed or avg speed but I have no phone mount so I wouldn’t be able to see the kph in real-time. I can say there was no discernable speed difference though. When I put the wheel size setting back to 28” (its 28” even though the wheel is 26” in order to account for the thickness of the tires) the speedometer seemed more accurate. I found that if I slowed my pedaling above 40kph I could feel the motor kick back in when my speed dropped to 40kph. So it seemed there is pedal assist up to 40kph, but other times I tried the same procedure and didn’t fee the assist. I think I need to get more diligent about noting the settings when I try different procedures. This will take some time and organization.

I still believe the best solution is to reconfigure the controller (not the console settings) to the motor but voltbike is not being forthcoming about whether or how this is possible. The next best option seems to be to replace the controller and configure that to the motor to get more top speed. But from what I hear that may still only get you to 40kph which would make me happy although 45kph would be better but may not be worth the time and money.

I have to say that I’m a little displeased w. Voltbike for not being open about how to make adjustments to the equipment they’ve sold me (liability, the law, blaw blaw). There is probably a way to hook up to the existing controller and reconfigure it to the motor. The search goes on.

 

[Rsplodge]

If anyone is on the FB group, I put a post (poll) there last week asking about interest in getting a Bolton upgraded controller and display for the Yukon. So far on my Yukon 750, I can't get over 40kph on PAS9 on flat ground, (yes with a larger chainring) even if I adjust the CUL and max speed in the Advanced settings. I would like the bike to go a bit faster and have some more power. An upgraded controller like Bolton sells for the Rad bikes and others seems like a possible solution, or there is the Grin solution mentioned in this thread which I will research a bit more if I can get info from poster.
Thx, ...Roger

 

[Mommys_Wittle_Helper]

I'm actually trying to reduce the power output. My mother just got a Trio and even at Pedal Assist 1, when the motor kicks in she feels it's too much.
Does anyone know of any negative effects to the motor if the current (P14 setting) is set to it's lowest value?
Or maybe setting the P11 (Power sensitivity setting) to the lowest value?

I'm thinking Power Assist level 1 already limits the current to the lowest output. Hopefully not.