Wolfsfriend42
New Member
Does anyone know how to turn the speed governor off and back on, on a Rad Wagon purchased this year?
Speed Governor
- Thread starter Wolfsfriend42
- Start date
Doesn,t work on 2020 bikes, you can set it but it has no effect.
Geno929
Member
Uh, it works fine on my two 2020 Rad City & 2020 Rad Rover bikes. My bike will give PAS right up to 24.8 mph, then will restrict speed. And when I put it into PAS 0 or 1, I can pedal over 24.8 mph and get speed up to 27 - 28 mph.
Wolfsfriend42
New Member
hmm, this does nothing at all. I need to be able to turn it off altogether and also be able to turn it back on.
Rumor has it, that it has been disabled on some recent Rad Bikes. There have been several posts on it here.
Presumably for liability issues related to top speed on class 2 e-bikes.
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Geno929
Member
Wow! Did not know that. Bummer!
Geno929
Member
On my ride into work today, I turned PAS to 0 and did 28.6 mph down a long hill, pedaling as fast as I could. I reached the bottom of the hill, kept pedaling and went to PAS 2 / 3 up the other side of the hill. Hopefully this helps. At 24.7 mph in PAS 1 - 5 the motor will try to restrict speed.
That's what I would do prior to installing the Bolton Kit. The kit allows me to go to about 40 mph downhill with a larger chain ring.
I think the Bolton bag is fugly.
If you get a higher voltage battery, you get more speed but doesn't add much range as it also raises the corresponding minimum cut off voltage.
Instead of 42-54 volts (for a 48 volt battery) you will be 46-58 volts, you will have more power when the battery is low.
My Rover is fast enough, would prefer more Ah and more range, 20Ah at 48 volt would be good. 10 miles additional range?
cuekwe Jones
Member
Wondering if you (or anyone else on this forum) has since been able to confirm (or disconfirm) this rumor? It seems to be true, as I set the display on my 2020 RR+ to 40 kph yet with no measurable effect. I also tried a reported hack for my 2020 RR1 by taping over the motor cable pin that (again reportedly) limits the speed on this bike -- again no effect. However if RPB has indeed disabled the speed limit hack on some/many/all of their 2020 bikes, you'd think there would be more folks out there reporting this. Yet this is the only forum of which I am aware that so much as even mentions this rumor. Can you please tell me where you have read/heard this???
Probably from multiple people like us who have reported here and elsewhere that the top speed hack no longer appears to work with Rads delivered from roughly June 2020 on.
Attempting to cheat by entering a bogus wheel size will cause the odometer/speedometer readouts to change (reporting gross errors), but the actual top speed cutoff remains the same, as verified by my highly accurate Garmin handheld GPS units.
Easily understandable, the fixed electronic revolution counter circuitry in the rear wheel must feed two logic branches, one to the odometer/speedometer display calculation registers (which the user can diddle with), and the other branch to the top speed limiter circuit in the Rad OEM controller, which is apparently now hard programmed as it is being installed into a specific bike at the factory (depending on wheel size), using a proprietary device that connects to the rectangular mystery plug with the rubber cover connected to the controller. IF this is true, swapping as delivered Rad OEM controllers between ~post-June 2020 Rad bikes with 20, 24 and 26 inch wheels SHOULD affect the top speed.
cuekwe Jones
Member
Thanks for the clarification; most detailed explanation I have seen (though I am not on FB, if this is where all/most of the discussion on this topic has occurred). Btw, my RR1 shipped in mid May. So it seems that the new speed restriction may have been implemented a bit earlier than you suggest.
It strikes me as at least possible, in principle, that the new restriction is hard-coded through the display, and not necessarily the controller. If so, then it would also seem possible to use a device like EggRider to reprogram the controller (unless the restriction is implemented in hardware, not firmware). But either way, if the limit is now fixed within the controller, as you suggest, then a controller & display mod from Bolton or EBW would obviously eliminate this restriction. I don't know if it's even possible to set the limit in the motor itself, but this seems unlikely as it would probably require a costly mod from Bafang (though given that Bafang is already supplying proprietary motors to RPB, maybe not...).
I'm just thankful that I am not among the poor saps who shelled out $99 to RPB for an outdated monochrome display thinking this would allow them to override the speed restriction -- I'll bet RPB made a small fortune over the past few months on unwitting customers who purchased that display for precisely this reason.
I suspect the change cut-in may have occurred over a span of several months for the different models. I'm not on FB either so my exposure is also limited.
I suspected the controller as the thing being programmed largely because it has that suspicious "extra" connector. I worked in manufacturing for years and can appreciate the simplicity of stocking only a single part number for an item (rather than a different pre-programmed part for each distinct bike model), and then flashing specifics as it is installed. I wonder if Rad OEM replacement controllers now come pre-programmed for the customers specific bike, or whether they might be the older/generic type with a 40 km/h diddleable top cutout, hmm...
I went down on wet leaves the other day (thanlfully not on the Rad), so it's probably best for me to stay well south of 20 MPH for a while anyway.
cuekwe Jones
Member
On my June 2020 shipped 2020 RadMini 4 it's in the rats nest bundle of wires tie wrapped underneath the bottom bracket (it may be in a slightly different place on other models). It's on the end of one of the shorter wires (5 of them if I remember correctly) coming directly out of the controller, and it has four open female connectors underneath its tethered rubber cap.
cuekwe Jones
Member
Hmm... I am (obviously) not intimately familiar with the Rad controllers -- never had a reason (yet) to dig into this in any great detail. But I notice that the Bolton controller also has five cables, including (as I understand) a new one for the tail light, whereas the EBW controller appears to have just four.
Would be great if others would pipe-in here to help sort out the confusion...
cuekwe Jones
Member
Thanks for the update; I stand corrected (maybe the photos on EBW's website are out of date). More generally, I find it fascinating that any of this is still a mystery. Seems to me that there are very likely lots of smart/experienced Rad owners out there who know exactly what are the possibilities and limitations of these mods, yet who seem to struggle to clearly, precisely, and concisely communicate the relevant details. I guess the best option is to write to the source of these mods and ask them directly. Otherwise, I get the distinct feeling that what I read in the forums is mostly just speculation.The Electro Bike World kit has tail light connector.
Here, someone bought it and confirmed.
Bolton controller
I have a 2020 radrhino e.u. version I'm in the uk i was wondering if the bolton controller fitted straight on my bike or would i need some modification also is there anywhere in the uk i could purchase one its the 250 version would be grateful for replys thanks.electricbikereview.com
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legsofbeer
Active Member
If I may help and add to the confusion: the stock 2019 radrover controller has *six* cables, the extra one being the one with the loopback plug to keep it clean. The sixth has the approximate shape of a USB A connector, but it is something else, looking at it theres's four contacts, likely a proprietary programming connector. Regardless, the bolton controller upgrade swapped in plug-compatible to the five connectors that mattered with no issues. Maybe the difference is the EBW absense of the brake light wire (that's the one on the right in the photo, sorry for all the shadows)?
Now, if anyone wants a 2019 radpower stock controller and display that most definitely will do 40 kph (24.7 mph when the power cuts off), I have a post in the classifieds forum here for that. Just be sure your radpower bike is plug compatible. The bike it came from is a 2019 radrover.
cuekwe Jones
Member
Thanks. I understand that the Bolton controller is compatible with several 2019 Rad bikes (including the new tail light addition). The question at hand is whether the Bolton (and/or EBW) controller is compatible with the newest/latest 2020 models, under the (as-of-yet unconfirmed) assumption that RPB has made changes to their stock controller in order to block the speed limiter hack/override? If the extra/loopback cable to which you refer is the same "mystery" plug to which @EBJ above refers, and this cable is benign with respect to speed control, then it seems relatively safe to further assume that the Bolton controller will still work as expected with the newer 2020 models. But again, I am seeking reliable/confident confirmation.
