Turbo Vado SL 5.0 and Specialized App - Range Extender

[Douglas Ruby]

Hi all, while this may have been discussed elsewhere, I did not see it on my search of the forum. My problem:

I made the mistake of believing Specialized back in March when they said Mission Control would be disabled at the end of March and I had to switch over to the new Specialized App. I did this without fully understanding how green (i.e. not functional) the new App is.

A REALLY big piece of functionality for me is that the new App appears not to display the active status (charge level) of the connected range extender or deal with anything other than the potential charge status (health and # of cycles) of the main battery. Further, it no longer seems to support the "Use Range extender first" option.

For really long rides (over 45 mi), I travel with two range extenders and the ability to understand the real charge status of them is vital to my battery management. I tend to start the ride in "use range extender first" mode until the range extender is down to around 15%. I then swap over to the 2nd range extender and "use both batteries" mode for the remainder of the ride.

Am I missing something?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hi all, while this may have been discussed elsewhere, I did not see it on my search of the forum. My problem:

I made the mistake of believing Specialized back in March when they said Mission Control would be disabled at the end of March and I had to switch over to the new Specialized App. I did this without fully understanding how green (i.e. not functional) the new App is.

A REALLY big piece of functionality for me is that the new App appears not to display the active status (charge level) of the connected range extender or deal with anything other than the potential charge status (health and # of cycles) of the main battery. Further, it no longer seems to support the "Use Range extender first" option.

For really long rides (over 45 mi), I travel with two range extenders and the ability to understand the real charge status of them is vital to my battery management. I tend to start the ride in "use range extender first" mode until the range extender is down to around 15%. I then swap over to the 2nd range extender and "use both batteries" mode for the remainder of the ride.

Am I missing something?

Yes, you miss something. (Not everything, just something)

• Mission Control has actually stopped working.
• Please update the Specialized App (mine is on Android).
• The App shows the total charge of both batteries. I cannot remember I could see the separate value for RE in MC (I could be wrong here).
• It is true the App does not show the RE status. Besides, MC or SA have never shown the true battery health (it is all bogus).
• "Discharge Range Extender First" option does exist under "Settings". Just slide the screen up.

If you want to always know the status of your Range Extenders, there are two options:

• If your Vado SL is non-Mastermind, invest $10 in BLEvo app. Note: If you made the SA "the companion app", uninstall SA after you have installed BLEvo. BLEvo has the Battery Monitor that tells you the gospel truth about your batteries;
• Or -- sorry to say it -- buy a Wahoo ELEMNT bike GPS computer. Wahoo reads the main battery and Range Extender levels separately. No other bike GPS computer can do it! (It is like a premium display for Specialized e-bikes with GPS navigation feature and ride recording). Even SA can read the Wahoo data and store them in the Specialized Cloud!

 

[Allan47.7339]

"Further, it no longer seems to support the "Use Range extender first" option."

Discharge RE first option appears under Settings (Bike Settings) after the bike is ON and connected with a RE for my non-Mastermind Creo SL. You can have both BLEvo and Specialized installed as apps. If you want to switch just force stop the one you are not using. I rarely use either app except to turn on the RE first mode or check batteries status numbers.

 

[Douglas Ruby]

I have spent over an hour with Specialized Support on this and other topics...here is some additional feedback....

• The support tech showed me where use RE first was (as you all have so kindly done)
• No detailed charge level in the APP for RE's (this was in MC)
• You can no longer read serial number or firmware versions in the APP (available in MC).
• To get current firmware details and know whether you need an update, you must manually provide your serial number to support at Specialized, or take your bike to the dealer. No way to check otherwise. This has to make support harder for customers as well as dealers and feels like a reversion to the bad old days of the original TURBO (aka 2015 - 2017)
• The only way to know when to change RE's when using "use RE first" mode is to let the thing run down until the battery management drops assist down to ECO level no matter what (10-15% left?). This always happens to me when climbing a steep hill.
• I use a Garmin Edge Explore 2 and like it a lot (except for reporting battery status!) That is just about the only reason I used Mission Control during a ride, to verify individual battery charge status. I used Mission Control to verify firmware (know when to go to the dealer), set the "RE use first" (which I can do in SA), and set ECO/SPORT/TURBO assist levels (which I can do in SA).

All in all, I am not terribly happy with the APP and would use Mission Control if I could. However, within the limits of what it claims to do, I suppose it works fairly well and is light years ahead of early versions of Mission Control that I lived through with my original 2015 Turbo (with Turbo S battery).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Well Douglas, remember the saying: "Slowly grind the mills of Specialized" Or, "Ye goode ole Specialized"

The App will be developed more, it only will take months. It is a pity you have standardized on Garmin. I own as many as 4 Range Extenders and have learned to live with them. Besides, is your Vado SL Mastermind or not? (Read what Allan and I wrote on BLEvo).

 

[Douglas Ruby]

Well Douglas, remember the saying: "Slowly grind the mills of Specialized" Or, "Ye goode ole Specialized"

The App will be developed more, it only will take months. It is a pity you have standardized on Garmin. I own as many as 4 Range Extenders and have learned to live with them. Besides, is your Vado SL Mastermind or not? (Read what Allan and I wrote on BLEvo).

Mine is a 2022 which came with Mastermind. (which I like a lot).

BTW, I really appreciate your replies. In the past I have been pretty active here, but I had been debilitatingly sick for most of the last 6+ months with a variety of ailments (some serious). I am well again and today was my first outdoor ride of the season. It is GREAT to be back, even w/o Mission Control!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Specialized App is getting worse and worse.
Just recently, the App could not read parameters from my Vado SL. Clearing the App from the phone memory, restarting both the app and the e-bike has helped.
What else could go wrong with the Specialized App?

 

[BEC111]

The Specialized App is getting worse and worse.
Just recently, the App could not read parameters from my Vado SL. Clearing the App from the phone memory, restarting both the app and the e-bike has helped.
What else could go wrong with the Specialized App?

I’m sure that the folks at Specialized are working hard to screw up the software further in a future update.

 

[aj1]

I went to check to see if my bike had a firmware update. Have not booted app for a year or two. Turns out the old Mission Control app is dead so I installed the new one and apparently no way to even see my firmware, let alone update it? Ridiculous.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

The Specialized App is getting worse and worse.
Just recently, the App could not read parameters from my Vado SL. Clearing the App from the phone memory, restarting both the app and the e-bike has helped.
What else could go wrong with the Specialized App?

I'm glad I didn't go near the new app, just ignored the prompts. MC still working fine and it appears they've stopped prompting me. Long may it continue.

 

[dbsmith]

I'm glad I didn't go near the new app, just ignored the prompts. MC still working fine and it appears they've stopped prompting me. Long may it continue.

"Long may it continue"
The MC app on my iPhone stopped working mid-May; would only allow download of the "new" app which, as several have reported, has dropped a lot of useful features.
FWIW RiderCare told me via email this week that over-the-air firmware updates will be made available in the future. But RiderCare wouldn't offer any details (or guesses) about when.
I really like Specialized bikes but the company's attitude toward customers is pretty one-way i.e. 'we know what's best for you'

 

[mfgrep]

Yes. MC stopped being operational for me prompting and forcing the use of the new Specialized app. I suspect if this hasn't yet happened to you it will soon.
My only complaint is the lack of information relating to firmware updates with the new application. Aside from that, it works just fine.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The issue here is Specialized App stopped connecting to both my e-bikes. No big deal (I use BLEvo) as long as I don't need the Smart Control...

 

[mfgrep]

The issue here is Specialized App stopped connecting to both my e-bikes. No big deal (I use BLEvo) as long as I don't need the Smart Control...

This was not the case for me. My MC app, upon opening, inform me that it had been sunsetted and provided no functionality whatsoever. The app then directed me to download the new specialized app

 

[Stefan Mikes]

This was not the case for me. My MC app, upon opening, inform me that it had been sunsetted and provided no functionality whatsoever. The app then directed me to download the new specialized app

Same happened to me and only later the Specialized app stopped recognising my e-bikes...

 

[Nubnub]

Yes. MC stopped being operational for me prompting and forcing the use of the new Specialized app. I suspect if this hasn't yet happened to you it will soon.
My only complaint is the lack of information relating to firmware updates with the new application. Aside from that, it works just fine.

Maybe you are running an older version of the app? On Android, it now shows firmware versions. Not sure about IOS but it seems spec updates the Apple versions first. My bikes don't need an update but I"ve read on the Creo facebook page that someone recently updated their bike's firmware from home.

 

[mfgrep]

Maybe you are running an older version of the app? On Android, it now shows firmware versions. Not sure about IOS but it seems spec updates the Apple versions first. My bikes don't need an update but I"ve read on the Creo facebook page that someone recently updated their bike's firmware from home.

Are you sure that you are not still running an application called Mission control?

My specialized app is updated. I do not get those same screen options that you are showing me in the screenshots. I can no longer see the firmware, versions, or whether additional updates are available. I am running Android.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

There must have been yet another update, as the App started with a screen to accept the updated Terms & Conditions. Now the App can see both my e-bikes, and it can even connect to the Tune screen No firmware version information though.

 

[Cycologist]

Just got an RE and wanted to set the bike to use it first.
I assume it's the option that says "Discharge Range Extender ..."

I'm guessing the whole text didn't fit on the screen for some reason.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm guessing the whole text didn't fit on the screen for some reason.

Right. You need to activate that option then restart the e-bike.

It works very well. However, as a greater part of the Range Extender charge has been used -- and you request a lot of assistance -- the main battery will get slightly discharged, too, to make the total power demand without jeopardizing the extra battery. Also, riding with the RE disconnected will simply use the main battery.

Use both batteries in parallel for long demanding rides as you might get left with the RE discharged below 10% just in front of a serious hill! (Below 10%, the RE goes into a "very low assistance mode")