Turbo Vado SL 4 EQ - Questions about power management and Mission Control

[Qamera]

E-bike newbie here. New bike, love it. Testing out Mission Control but a bit confused about the Tune settings on the app. If I 'select' a tune setting then go for a ride, does that over-ride the setting (1,2,3) shown on the TCU display? And if I then manually move the control lever up or down, does that then over-ride the Tune settings? Same for Smart settings.

Also - I'm told this bike has 2x power. So I'm a bit confused about the 1,2,3 settings. Are those just different torq sensitivies for delivering power? From a several very casual test rides, it seems to me that 1,2 and 3 are pretty much the same. Or maybe that's because I tend to ride with high torq?

Thanks in advance for advice and help.

 

[BarryS]

You should notice differences in Torque But not necessarily Top end : For example I can get to 28 MPH in any of the 1.2,3 modes : Torque is like speed from 0 MPH > I have a Vado 4 . I ride 99% in ECO : If I had your Bike : Which I have ridden 4 times (Friends) I wouldn't mess with teh settings. I'd leave it where it's at . So I could get different levels of personal effort when wanted or needed : Butttt You are correct between teh Modes : You don't notice teh difference at speed like you would off the stop.
I really liked the Vado SL series : I chose the Vado 4 original because I ride alot of Fire roads and trails : It's better suited for that vs Your Bike I'd leave your settings alone simply because they are set at optimum performance according to the Companies extensive tests >

I have to admit I have had my Bike 30 days > I've yet to play with anything on mission control . Best of Luck

 

[Qamera]

Thanks. Yes I'm just not yet seeing the benefit of Mission Control and I'm not clear if it over-rides the manual selections. The few rides I've done have all been a combination of 1 and 0.

We did take the bikes off onto gravel and dirt, nothing serious but fun.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

First of all:
TCD is the display. TCU is the control unit inside the bike.

Secondly:
Any change in Tune done on a connected bike is reflected instantly in the bike, even if you move the slider in the app during the ride. So if you ride, the app's connected and you increase the Support from 20 to 60% in the current mode using the app, you'll instantly feel the kick from the motor. Yes, Mission Control overrides the manual selections.

Smart Control: It works online, too. If you set, for instance, that you want to ride for 50 miles with 1200 ft elevation gain and you want to end your ride with 10% battery left, it will be instantly transferred from Mission Control to the bike: actually the app and the bike continuously work together as long as the app is connected. You will see unusual layout of the Support Mode on the TCD display with Smart Control: two upper bars at the right hand side will be "lit".

You are told your e-bike is "2x you!" It is not exactly that. "100% Support" means it is 1.8x you, or 180% assistance. Let me explain that:
The Specialized 1.1 motor has 0-180% assistance (translated to 0-100% Support in Mission Control). Now:

If you are in 100% Support in MC (full Turbo), each Watt you input into the cranks is supported with 1.8 W by the motor. Let us say you are pedalling with 100 W of your own input. When the Support is set to 100% in MC, the motor will give 180 W of assist power for your 100 W leg input (you are producing 280 W together). If you pump up 200 W of yours, the motor should "revenge" with 200 * 1.8 = 360 W of power. But you know the 1.1 motor can provide up to 240 W maximum only. What gets? However strong you are pedalling, the motor can assist you with 240 Watts, and not more.

Then, there's the second parameter to be set in Mission Control (Support % is the first one). It is the Peak Power % (0-100). The Turbo mode example above assumed the Peak Power is set to 100%, or 240 W motor power. Now, let's look to some Eco (level 1) mode.

Let us assume you set the Support to 30% and the Peak Power to 30%, too. The Peak Power of the motor gets limited to 240 W * 0.3 = 72 W. Under no circumstance will the motor assist you with more power than 72 W for this setting. Now, you have set the Support to 30%, too. The Vado SL becomes 0.3 * 1.8 = "0.54 x you!":

Input 100 W yourself, the motor will help with 54 Watts. Input 200 W, and the motor will help you with 72 Watts (240 * 0.3). However, if you input 250 W, the motor will help with the same 72 W (not more) because the Peak Power has been limited to 30% of the max motor power of 240 W.

Your observation that modes 1, 2, 3 (Eco, Sport, Turbo) are very similar to each other in your situation is correct. You probably pedal hard and the motor gets "saturated", not being able to help you any more. One of TCD screens shows Rider's Power: How much do you typically input into the cranks yourself?

A good advice for a strong rider is to dramatically reduce Support % and Peak Power % at least for the Eco mode: It ensures very long range on the battery.

I hope that helps.

 

[Qamera]

Thanks. Clear explanation. So are you saying that modes 1,2 and 3 correspond to the three Tune modes in Mission Control? In other words, switching from 1 to 2 on the bike will switch me from Eco to Sport mode? (I watched the video and this was never mentioned). If so, that makes perfect sense. But if so, what happens if I take a ride without MC being connected to the bike? Say I leave my iPhone at home. Will those the settings for those three levels correspond to the last settings that were on MC?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I've never ridden an SL but the technology around Mission Control, Turbo Control Unit (TCU) and Turbo Control Display (TCD - wireless; TCD-W - wired) remains universal. (Actually, the owners of Specialized Turbo Levo and Kenevo get even more options in the MC). What you say is correct. Do a test:

Start Mission Control, let it connect to your SL, then go to Tune. Your SL might start in Mode 2 by default, which is called Sport on Vados, Comos, and Creos, or Trail on Levos and Kenevos. Now depress the minus button on your remote. You will see the highlight will shift from Sport to Eco in the MC. Basically, we prefer to call these Support levels Eco, Sport, and Turbo for simplicity. Interesting feature of Turbo e-bikes and MC is you can set the Support and Peak Power as you please in Mission Control. Meaning, you could put the weakest Support and Peak Power for the default Sport mode. This feature is unique to the Specialized system.

Once connected to a Turbo e-bike, Mission Control stays connected. However, if you set the Support and Peak Power with Mission Control, these settings are written to the TCU and stay there. (Once you have tuned your Turbo, you don't need to keep the MC connected! You just ride your tuned e-bike) .

The only exception is Smart Control. As the actual assistance is calculated automatically by Mission Control, MC needs to stay connected to the bike as long as Smart Control is active.

The last remark: There are situations in which you need to override Smart Control. Depressing the plus button twice overrides Smart Control (the bike goes into emergency Turbo mode) until the minus button is depressed, which restores Smart Control.

Say I leave my iPhone at home. Will those the settings for those three levels correspond to the last settings that were on MC?

Positive.

 

[Qamera]

Got it, thanks! Your explanations are more clear than the documents I've read or the video's I've watched.

 

[richiebike]

I just picked up my Turbo Vado 4.0, after 40 miles, so far so good. So I decided to try the Mission Control App. I connected but I only get the TUNE screen with only Support and Peak Power. Acceleration Response and Shuttle do not appear. I reinstalled the App, but the same issue. Any advice will be appreciated. Sorry I had to post this in a response, but I don't see anywhere else to start a new thread. Thanks

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Acceleration Response and Shuttle do not appear.

These features only appear for Turbo Levo and Kenevo. Don't worry.

 

[Qamera]

Looks like Acceleration Response and Shuttle are either not available in the app, or for the Turbo Vado series (do you have the Turbo Vado, or the Turbo Vado SL?).

I have set my controls pretty much the same as in the video and then made a few updates. Here are my settings:

1
10% Support, 35% Power

2
20% Support, 75% Power

3
85% Support, 100% Power

On my Vado SL, Level 2 works well for roads that have normal inclines of less than 5% but I'll jump it up to 3 if the road is steeper (and, of course, switch to a lower gear!)

 

[Qamera]

These features only appear for Turbo Levo and Kenevo. Don't worry.

Looks like we crossed posts. I'm not seeing those features on my Turbo Levo.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm not seeing those features on my Turbo Levo.

How come...
Bad Specialized! Really bad!

 

[richiebike]

Thanks for the responses. Ok, I won't worry about it, but I wonder why they wouldn't apply to the Turbo Vado 4.0 (It's not an SL). Anyway I'm looking forward to trying out the Support and Peak Power adjustments.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The software in the e-MTB Turbo Control Unit must be different... But Qamera says the features don't work on his Levo either...

 

[Qamera]

Anyhow, I'm enjoying the bike so much on "0" that each time I switch to any power at all, I feel like I'm on the moon. My partner and I just love these bikes.