What is Your opinion/experience on the badass box for Bosch active line plus ...

Yayabike

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Europe
Cross posting here since i got no answer in the general forum ..... 4

First i m super happy with the bike, yesterday i did 70km with 1100 meters of climbing mostly in Eco mode and at the end i had still 4 battery bars.
So i was between 60 and 79% -- the purion really suck for battery state with 20% precision),

The seller had a badhass box on it, but i could not test it since i just climbed up at about 25km/h and went down over 40 for a short test of 10km.
So the badhass box was never really of any use, i watched my speed on my garmin.

The very great advantage of Bosch over many others is that the engine power is proportionnal to yours, so in eco mode you just fell 20 years younger, in touring 25 years younger and very fit and i m not event speaking about sport and turbo.

So i m interested in the badhass box, going at the speed of the trafic (30-40, 40 being really the max) would be great on some roads. It seems that the badhass box won't be dangerous since my undrstanding is that if i stop pedaling the motor stops too, and i i pedal with small power the motor will also use a small power.

But first does it work ? It simply modify the sensor data providing the speed date, you can do it for free by measuring the cranck number of rotations but it is a bit cumbersome and it cannot be removed at will.

The advantage os the badhass is that you can plug it in and remove it in 5 seconds.

The first drawback is that the speed and odometers are wrong, but you can use another device like a Garmin. The second is the price, 140 euro for a trivial component is quite a lot.

So anyway what is your experience with that chip ? is is waterproof ? How long last the battery? How reliable is it ?






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What make, model and year is your bike? Which Bosch motor? Is it gen 2 or 4? The correct answer to your question will vary depending on exactly what you have.
 
As i wrote in the subject it is an Active Line Plus, it is from late 2019. The bike is a cannonbale synapse néo 2.

No idea about the generation, i googled it but got not precise answer.
Here is Bosch information but it is for the current model, not the 2019 one.
 
According to what is quoted below It is a third generation,

"
Sorti pour l'année 2018, ce moteur Bosch de troisième génération partage l'esthétique de l'Active Line. Son design a été primé par un Red Dot Award en 2017.

Ce moteur Bosch Active Line Plus propose un comportement souple et harmonieux au démarrage. Il offre un gain de couple par rapport à l'Active Line. L'assistance fonctionne jusqu'à 25 km/h en restant remarquablement silencieuse. Au-delà, le moteur se coupe sans opposer aucune résistance ou sensation de friction."
 
I thought Bosch had FW in gen3 and 4 motors to detect dongles. If you buy this bike and take it to a shop, remove dongle first and don't allow shop to upgrade FW.

Being running 2xBadass dongle on my gen2 CX for few years with no problems. Speed inaccuracy is price you pay for hacking ebikes systems, really it doesn't matter unless you are riding so fast have to worry about speeding tickets.
Its a good idea to mark magnets positions on spoke with tape or paint so can switch back to factory position easily.
 
Well before buying the badhass I think i will try the 1 euro solution with a magnet from amazon. The idea is to measure the number of rotation on the cranck which is 2-4 time lower than the number wheel rotations. Of course if you are on a super steep slope you may have a gear multiplicator smaller than 1 but in such case you are for sure racing at a speed lower than the 25km/h (20 mph in the usa).
 
I wouldn't try the crank magnet trick on a Gen3 Bosch - I've heard stories about FW detection of it, rendering the motor virtually useless. It sometimes works for a while, but then poof, your power's gone.

As far as reaching speeds of 30+mph (if the chip works), unless you can pedal 120+rpms for long periods (harder than you might think), you're likely going to need a much larger chainring. Of course the tradeoff then will be much harder hill climbing...
 
LOL i m not a bioengineered cyborg like some famous "champion" that blackmailed former teamates or employees and even one of the most graceful and benevolent champion form the USA (the great Greg Lemon) ; so my cadence is usually around 70-80, i feel the most comfortable around 75, it is probaly too low but i always used gears that were too strong. 120 is out of question ;-)

I think that i still may try, you just need to move the sensor a little bit, so it is a reversible modification, but i wonder, there only very few section where it would be of any use. Mostly section that are slightly uphill, narrow with angry cars barking to overpass you.

Indeed if we had safe roads nobody would ever need to unlock the speed.
 
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