Programming the Bafang Middrive BBS01+BBS02

pjgold said:

Had a little bit of luck today, I went to my local Jaycar store to get some jumper leads and found this plug that is almost the same as the green plug on the BBS02. It has a 7mm diameter but with a bit of careful filing it fits. So I now have a programming cable the works perfectly.

No problems with getting connection as detailed above and I was able to change the basic settings, however it looks like the pedal assist and throttle handle setting tabs are not working. I confirmed this by changing some settings and then reading the controller the settings on these 2 tabs do not change.

Click to expand...

Got the same interface like yours, but still to dumb to get a connection......3 wires to the Interface (gnd, rx, tx), switched rx and tx, shortened pl and p+ on the controllerplug to the motor/controller.
Connect battery and hit the connect button.....the same happens every time.

Always get an "error opening serial port" either the cables are connected or not.
The interface is showing a red light all the time and when i disconned the battery from the motor, a blue led light up for 2-3seconds(on the interface).

I ordered another interface, but now i see yours the same....
You dont get all the actions to work, but at least you got a connection
Maybe i should solder my wiring again.
Dont know where to start again.....

Do i need to setup the interface via windows?
Just installed the driver for the interface and opened the bafang software.
The interface is properly listed, without any warnings, in the device manager.

You need to look for the com port associated with your serial device and enter it into the software (e.g. COM1, or COM2, or COM3, etc...). Have a look at Somebodystopme!!'s screen shots. He's using COM7.

If you have more than one com port listed in device manager unplug/eject your serial interface then while watching device manager plug it back in. Note the new port number.

If you've done that and are still having problems opening the port it could be that the driver has not released the port when the software was shut down last time. Easiest way to release the port is to restart Windows.

ziltoid81 said:

Got the same interface like yours, but still to dumb to get a connection......3 wires to the Interface (gnd, rx, tx), switched rx and tx, shortened pl and p+ on the controllerplug to the motor/controller.
Connect battery and hit the connect button.....the same happens every time.

Always get an "error opening serial port" either the cables are connected or not.
The interface is showing a red light all the time and when i disconned the battery from the motor, a blue led light up for 2-3seconds(on the interface).

I ordered another interface, but now i see yours the same....
You dont get all the actions to work, but at least you got a connection
Maybe i should solder my wiring again.
Dont know where to start again.....

Do i need to setup the interface via windows?
Just installed the driver for the interface and opened the bafang software.
The interface is properly listed, without any warnings, in the device manager.

Click to expand...

You will need to enter the COMM port ID in the software. Look for the Breakout Board hardware in the "Ports" Section of the Device Manager. Mine Was identified as "COM7"

Then, in the controllerst software, type in COM7 (or whatever port yours is) - The software should then be able to communicate with your PC.



Click "Connect" and you should be up and running.

Thanks Telsa. It's after midnight here and I was considering getting out of bed to use my desktop PC to edit a screenshot like that. It not easy to do on a tablet. Now there's no need

Thanks for the replies, but i actually did that comport thing.
There are other options too in the device manager but i think i just leave it stock.

Try unplugging the USB board, closing software, plug USB board back in, double check COMM port ID, restart Software, reenter the COM ID, click connect. It took me a couple tries to get it to work, too.

Tom L said:

Thanks Telsa. It's after midnight here and I was considering getting out of bed to use my desktop PC to edit a screenshot like that. It not easy to do on a tablet. Now there's no need

Click to expand...

Just FYI.. I was having issues with my Windows Surface Pro 2 running Windows 8.1 as well.

On my tablet, when I open the programming software it does not see the com port despite it showing ok in the device manager.

On my windows 7 laptop though, it's no problem. The software see's the com port and programs perfectly.

I am not sure of the work around yet for windows 8.1

ziltoid81 said:

Im getting frustrated......always got the same error, either the cables are connected or not, even when the usb interface is NOT plugged in.

'Error opening serial port"

Got this Interface "3V / 5.5V USB to RS232 Serial TTL PL2303 USB UART Board PL-2303HX CP12004 C54"
http://www.ebay.de/itm/281274548169?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

The LED on the interface indicated red all the time, when plugged in the laptop.
When i disconnect the battery from the bbs01, a blue LED will also light up for 2 seconds on the serial interface.......
This didnt happens when i change rx/tx........so something must happen.

Dont know where to start again......maybe its the wrong serial interface.

Need to reprogramm this little sucker to current control.

At least i didnt blow up my controller so far......

bbs01 350w with 961.

Click to expand...

The LED should not be red all the time. it should only light up when data is moving back and forth. The problem definatley lies with your PC and the USB-TTL converter. The software so far seems to work fine. At least with windows 7. I have not got it to work with Windows 8 yet.

Somebodystopme!! said:

The LED should not be red all the time. it should only light up when data is moving back and forth. The problem definatley lies with your PC and the USB-TTL converter. The software so far seems to work fine. At least with windows 7. I have not got it to work with Windows 8 yet.

Click to expand...

Will try it at the weekend again, maybe the new interface will be there too.

Ordered one with the same IC like yours, unfortunately i didnt found your exact model here in germany.
But i think the same IC will do the job either.

I got the same interface like pjgold.

I plugged it into another laptop this afternoon, but the same red light all the time, maybe its defective, maybe its a led for "power on", want to try the new interface when its there.

Got windows 7 on both laptops.

pjgold said:

No problems with getting connection as detailed above and I was able to change the basic settings, however it looks like the pedal assist and throttle handle setting tabs are not working. I confirmed this by changing some settings and then reading the controller the settings on these 2 tabs do not change.

Click to expand...

This was operator error everything is working correctly I didn't realise that you need to read an write each tab in the software individually.

ziltoid81 said:

Will try it at the weekend again, maybe the new interface will be there too.

Ordered one with the same IC like yours, unfortunately i didnt found your exact model here in germany.
But i think the same IC will do the job either.

I got the same interface like pjgold.

I plugged it into another laptop this afternoon, but the same red light all the time, maybe its defective, maybe its a led for "power on", want to try the new interface when its there.

Got windows 7 on both laptops.

Click to expand...

There are 2 red lights on this IC one stays on all the time the other flicks with data transfer.
Here is a link to the drivers that I am using http://prolificusa.com/pl-2303hx-drivers

pjgold said:

I didn't realise that you need to read an write each tab in the software individually.

Click to expand...

Good to know

Thanks

Quick update:

On my BBS02 I programmed the pedal assit 0 setting to give me 100% Limit Current and 100% Limit Spd.

While testing on a stand produced full throttle control at setting 0, I did not ride the bike till today. It also gave me 100% Pedal assist at 0 too.

Makes sense now that I look at it.

I want full throttle control at 0 Pedal Assist. Looks like I will have to play around with the throttle settings and return my Assist settings back to stock.

Also, Although my motor states 48v 750W 25A it is actually set from the factory at 20 amps. They must have a heating problem and revised this setting.

We need a service manual from the factory posted online. Free six pack to anyone who can get it!

Somebodystopme!! said:

Although my motor states 48v 750W 25A it is actually set from the factory at 20 amps. They must have a heating problem and revised this setting.

Click to expand...

Can you reset the Amps max to 25A? Or higher? I am not surprised they derated the controller, actually.

Pedal Assist settings findings so far.

Slow Start Mode(1-8) No surprises here this controls how fast the power ramps up when you start pedalling 8 is fastest 1 the slowest.
Startup Dgree(Signal No) Not sure of the measure but controls the amount of pedal rotation before power kicks in lower is faster.

Work Mode(Angular Speed of pedal/wheel*10) This is the biggy, the setting I was looking for, this setting dramatically increases the power in pedal assist mode. It effectively closes the gap between the power that is available with the throttle mode compared with pedal assist. Not sure what the measure is however the higher the number the more power, it appears to be held on higher in the pedal RPM range or at least spreads the power over a greater RPM range and gives the bike a far more torquey feel in pedal assist mode. Whatever the case in my opinion the setting dramatically improves the pedal assist of this BBS02 and drastically improves its hill climbing ability without resorting to the throttle. Fair word of warning we all know that too much throttle for to long will over heat the BBS02 having this setting to high will be like riding around full throttle all the time use with caution.

teslanv said:

Somebodystopme!! said:

Although my motor states 48v 750W 25A it is actually set from the factory at 20 amps. They must have a heating problem and revised this setting.

Click to expand...

Can you reset the Amps max to 25A? Or higher? I am not surprised they derated the controller, actually.

Click to expand...

When I get it on the stand tomorrow to readjust I'll check the max amps.
Good question

Max speed successfully delimited. My unit appears to top out around 37.8 MPH. However it can reach that speed with less than Max Amps, so I suspect it can be increased further if we can identify and adjust a setting for max crank RPM.

PAS settings adjusted, but some further fine tuning is required to suit my preferences.

I have not yet adjusted max amps.

Here are some measurements of the female plug we need.

6mm OD
2.5mm pin to pin

It looks like 6 pins are out there which is no problem because we would just not use that one.

OD and Pin to Pin need to be exact so we don't stress the pins on the male plug. (Repeatedly taking it on and off)

Decided it was about time to see if I could gain access to controller seeing the process was quite well documented and proven. I must admit, TomL's experience had held me back as I didn't want to end up in the same situation and end up with a bricked controller. However reading back through the posts I picked up that it was an unfortunate mistake rather than a random failure. With confidence gained, time to get onboard a give this a go.

I used the same USB-TTL adapter that is used to program the CA3 and wired up a 3.5mm stereo jack (to suit the CA3 USB-TTL) with individual leads from a couple of RC extension cables using the individual female metal plugs. Covered the plugs with heat shrink and plugged them into the Bafang controller side of the cable. This works but it is tight fit and easy to get wrong so we really need to come up with a proper compatible plug.

Good thing about the USB-TTL for the CA3 is that there are Windows 8 drivers it. Just remember to start the Bafang program in Administrator mode otherwise the the program won't pick up the serial port.

Powered the controller up and the controller info on the lefthand side came straight up. Perfect. Next I did a read and took screenshots of all my stock setting just incase I much something up. It was nice to see that the programing changes i requested from Amy when I purchased the drive were actually done.

So here are my controller's stock settings.

Haven't made any changes yet as i wanted to absorb all the settings and figure out what I really want without going back into the controller too many times. I plan to set all the speed limits to 100% but leave the Assist current limit % as they are.

Can anyone tell me what you adjust to give you 100% throttle on all Assist levels without interfering with the PAS settings?

Interesting that my drive has 25A stamped on it but the amp limits is set to 20A in the software.

Some settings on page 2 and 3 weren't making sense so I went back for a closer look. Discovered that you need to read each page individually to see your drive's settings. Settings make more sense now and are vastly different to the software default settings.

Kepler said:

...I did a read and took screenshots of all my stock setting just incase I much something up.

Click to expand...

You should be able to save the settings to a file too.

Thanks Tom, I have done that also. Have you got your new controller yet?

Got an email from lcrews the other day. He has picked up one for me. Just waiting for him to send me payment details.

Been going over the software settings and reading back over what has been posted. Most of the settings are straightforward and not really in need of adjustment for my personal needs.

Adjustment I will start off with are as follows:

Set all limit Speed % to 100%. Having the speed limited per assist level has been the biggest dislike for me about this drive and in stock form, tends to force you to select a higher assist level then what you really need.

Assist level 0 has been useless to me. The drive defaults to this setting when you activate it. I always end up switching on then adjusting up to setting 5 (out of 9) and going from there. I will make setting "0" , 50% current limit and 100% speed limit so I can just switch the drive on and start riding.

I will have a play with Work Mode. For high speed commuting (45kph and above), I always need to use throttle. I will try and tune this so that level 9 on PAS allows me to sustain close to 45kph.

In regards to have 100% hand throttle without effecting PAS seems to outside of the parameters we have available to us with this software. Perhaps it can be done but I can't see how it can be done at this stage.

Kepler said:

In regards to have 100% hand throttle without effecting PAS seems to outside of the parameters we have available to us with this software. Perhaps it can be done but I can't see how it can be done at this stage.

Click to expand...

On the Throttle tab set the Designated Assist to 9 and the Speed Limited to By Display's Command, this will give 100% assist (level 9) no matter what the display is set to and cut off at 50kph (max for the display unit)