Questions about "Distance To Go" and "Ah" setting on new display unit

[PowerMe]

I was playing around with the new display unit I received (the updated LCD control unit) and I see there is another metric that comes up called, "Distance To Go." It will display in the user's choice of either mi or km.

What is this estimating? Distance To Go for what, exactly? On my display unit, even after resetting it, it was showing 6.3 mi to go. Can't be distance left on the battery because as you can see below, my battery is at 100%. I looked at the manual for the new display HERE, and there is no additional information about that reading.

Also, there is a new setting for the Ah. What is this? What should this be set to? It can be changed with the + and - keys. But again, no mention at all in the manual from Easy Motion about this setting, what it corresponds to, or how it should be set.

The manual leaves much to be desired as it's missing explaining all the features and it doesn't even match the new display unit (visually).

@Crazy Lenny Ebikes @lilrich1959 @Undercover Brother

 

[Pastabatman]

I have this same console unit. The PDF you linked to (which, btw, doesn't match this new console unit exactly) says on page 4 that 'M TO GO' is 'Distance to go in miles'. Go to what? Because you can set the number with the +/- keys, I'm guessing this is simply a mileage countdown.

The 'Ah' is Amp Hours for your battery, presumably so that correct battery levels can displayed. Your Evo Street's battery is 11.6AH (you can confirm by looking at the label on your battery.)

 

[PowerMe]

Thanks @Pastabatman I would think the bike was able to read the battery Ah level itself and calibrate the estimates automatically (as it must have on the older display because the user could not set up the battery Ah level).

This "distance to go" makes no sense to me. I didn't set up any trip distance. And it won't let me reset that one when I can reset all other trip metrics by pressing the power and - keys together.

When turning off the display and then turning it back on, the metric goes back to showing Total distance, even if you had set it to show Trip distance (which is what I like to set as my default).

The manual is awful in that it just doesn't explain things and it skips the whole setting for Ah altogether.

Another observation: When starting out I was at 100% on the battery, Level 1. The moment I went from Level 1 to Level 2, which was .2mi down the road, the battery dropped to 95%. Then it immediately dropped down to 92% the moment I switched to Level 3. The % never increased after that even though I immediately went back to Level 1 (aka 'Eco' mode). Total distance was 1.1 mi for this test and the battery went from 100% to 92%.

 

[Pastabatman]

I think the battery display algorithm is probably a lot less precise than the percentage suggests. My display drops 3% almost immediately, and really gets wacky when under 10%. I take that number with a grain of salt, and use it just to get some relative idea how close I am to dropping another bar.

 

[PowerMe]

Ok, there is no way to reset this "distance to go" estimate and I have no idea what it's referring to. I tried the + and - keys independently, I tried the power and - keys at the same time (which is the 'reset' trip function). No dice.

It started out at 6.3 and was down to 4.4 when I got home all of 1.1 mi later.

 

[Pastabatman]

Sorry, I misread your post, thought you were able to change it. So, maybe this is a countdown for the battery and will train itself over time to better accuracy? BH really ought to step up their game in the documentation department.

 

[PowerMe]

It's clearly a countdown of distance (either mi or km, whatever the user sets), but I can't figure out what it correlates to. 6.6 mi left on a fully charged battery? 4.4 mi left on a battery with 92% power left? Makes no sense to me.

 

[BadKnees]

I believe that I have the same display. On mine, this appears to be an attempt to give the rider an estimate of how many miles the battery can power the bike. I have noticed that right after recharging the battery that this number is very inaccurate. I have watched it decrease to 0.1 after only a few miles and with the more than 90% power remaining, then suddenly update itself to something in the low to mid 20's. This appears to me to be the system recalculating itself after having enough miles traveled to be able to have a much better estimate of remaining range available. It appears that this reset/updating of it's estimate doesn't happen until the original estimated range drops to 0.1 miles.

 

[J.R.]

Also, there is a new setting for the Ah. What is this? What should this be set to? It can be changed with the + and - keys. But again, no mention at all in the manual from Easy Motion about this setting, what it corresponds to, or how it should be set.

I know nothing about this bike or system, but was just wondering if the AH setting was another way to set the level of power from the battery to the hub? I know you have the PAS levels, but could this setting be a more finely graduated way of conserving power?

 

[PowerMe]

I know nothing about this bike or system, but was just wondering if the AH setting was another way to set the level of power from the battery to the hub? I know you have the PAS levels, but could this setting be a more finely graduated way of conserving power?

Good question @J.R. And if the manual was written to actually give information that would be great. As it is, this new function is not even mentioned in the manual and it's on its own screen in the setup. I set that Ah level to match the battery's actual Ah of 11.6 because I don't know what else it should be if not that.

 

[PowerMe]

I believe that I have the same display. On mine, this appears to be an attempt to give the rider an estimate of how many miles the battery can power the bike. I have noticed that right after recharging the battery that this number is very inaccurate. I have watched it decrease to 0.1 after only a few miles and with the more than 90% power remaining, then suddenly update itself to something in the low to mid 20's. This appears to me to be the system recalculating itself after having enough miles traveled to be able to have a much better estimate of remaining range available. It appears that this reset/updating of it's estimate doesn't happen until the original estimated range drops to 0.1 miles.

Interesting. I've been wanting an estimate of range remaining in miles, so this sounds like it's that, but then it's not very accurate. Like I said, at full battery it was estimating 6.3 mi distance remaining (as can be seen in the picture I attached in my first post). Obviously BH/Easy Motion needs to work on figuring out how to increase accuracy of these readings. This is where seeing the actual watts used would be so helpful.

 

[J.R.]

Maybe the new display has more to do with those new models with the high-power motor/batteries that are due to hit Europe latter this year than it has to do with current models here in our "tiny" market. In any case an addendum to the manual was called for upon release of a new accessory.

 

[PowerMe]

This display also includes separate settings for the 'snow' ebikes, that's another of the new settings screens. That is mentioned in the manual though.

This display was rolled out with the release of the 2015 ebikes, starting in Jan./Feb. Because my bike was part of the initial shipment from E.M. ordered by vendors right after Interbike of 2014, it didn't come with the new display and I had to purchase the upgraded display separately if I wanted it.

Whatever the long-term intent of the new display, it should work accurately with any model of E.M. bike they pair it with. Imagine if your car couldn't give you an accurate display of speed, distance, or fuel remaining.

 

[Paul E.]

A system like this can't really measure the amp hours in the battery, it can only guess based on the voltage and the capacity. The amp hour setting that you can adjust is probably so you can tell the computer the correct max battery capacity so it can guess.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician or electronician

 

[PowerMe]

Went for an almost 20 mi ride today.

Observations on the new display:

1. The battery % amount left after 19.5 mi ride was estimated to be 41%. The # of bars down was 3.

2. When I pressed the button on on the battery itself, 2 lights were left.

3. The "distance to go" was as BadKnees said above -- it starts at some random low number that doesn't seem to match anything, then counts down. When it finally gets to 0, it then comes back with a new number/estimate (one that also didn't make sense). By the last few miles of my ride the "distance to go" was showing 19.1mi, which made a lot more sense than the 2.2 mi it was showing for awhile. The miles to go display would then alternate back and forth with showing 4 miles to go, then back to 19.1mi. Hmroo?

4. Why Easy Motion doesn't document this function is beyond me. What is the user supposed to understand from this?

5. According to today's reading, my expected range is right around 32 - 34 mi, if I stay in Eco and Standard modes the majority of the time. That's about what I had figured from previous rides before I had the new display.

 

[J.R.]

Soooo...... when you are all done riding for the day..... you get a reading... do a little math and you get a number that from experience you already knew

Usefull

 

[K. Jones]

I have an official explanation of the Ah setting. See, I was trying to fix an incorrectly set wheel size (which will cause your mileage and speed to be off). Well, in the course of that, I accidentally changed the Ah setting and I was like, uh-oh, is this important? So, I emailed BH and asked what it should be set to for my EVO City bike.

They said:
The AH (amp hours) is located on the back of the battery. This number should be set to 11.6ah for an EVO city. This number must match the battery or the display unit will not show the correct battery percentage.

So, that's that.

I don't know what the M to Go is precisely. Everytime I look at it, it seems remarkably inaccurate for an estimate of actual miles to go before the battery dies the way I'm riding it. That must be what it is supposed to be, though. Don't know at what assist setting, however.

As for the manual, I have the impression they don't want to explain too much for fear we will actually try to work on our bikes and adjust things ourselves and screw things up. Sort of like, take it to the dealer for everything because we don't trust you with a hex wrench around it. Which... I do get that. But when your dealers are as few and far between as they are, it would really be advantageous to have a user's manual that explains a bit more than that.

 

[PowerMe]

Working a display unit is quite different than grabbing a hex wrench and tearing apart a bike. In order to use the ebike's core features properly, it requires someone to either show you or, in absence of that, tell you in some way (like in a user manual). In the manual they cover the 'snow' bike setting screens in the display, which has nothing to do with my ebike, but they fail to document using 2 new features that will affect everyone who uses that display on their ebike. That in my mind is unacceptable on the part of BH/Easy Motion. I'm someone who will pick up a manual and actually read the thing cover to cover. I don't need hand-holding, but I do need correct and complete information. Easy Motion manuals are a weak point that has been noticed and commented on by more than just 1 bike owner.

My dealer is not near me so I am dependent upon the user guides for instruction. Further, I've not always gotten correct information when I have asked questions and have had to seek expertise elsewhere when it comes to my ebike.

Yes, the Mi to Go is wildly inaccurate at this point, and I would not count on it or plan riding range based on it. Cursory testing of this feature would have surely uncovered a problem in that the estimates displayed do not correlate to actual battery charge levels much of the time (estimating 6.6 mi left on a 92% battery?). This seems like a half-baked feature at this point. I'd love to chat with the product manager of the EVO product line to understand why he/she allowed this to be released when it's not ready for prime time at this point.

 

[Phildirt]

Well I'm with you @PowerMe my 15 Evo 27.5 came with the old display and I have the new one coming, and now I'm not sure if I want to use it. You are right as state of the art
as these bikes are (and I love mine) There printed material is a joke, and the worst manuals I have ever seen. Can't they see this.

 

[Svein]

Hey. I can tell you what distanse to go means. It means how low long distanse you can ride before you lose A bar on your battery indicator.