EP8-RS Derestricting Torque and Boost - eMax

[ep8-rs]

Ep8-rs adjust boost to 10 and torque up to 85nm for FREE via bluetooth.

EMTB Forums has helped me in my research of this , so here's a thank you post.

Android or iOS download : eMaxMobileApp at Home EN – eMax Tuning

Unpack and run app

Allow bluetooth access

Click : connect to bike
bike information
get bike information (wait for bottom load bar to finish)
continue

main
motor performance settings

at this screeen I manually entered 85 in the "max. torque range [Nm]" as this is the true maximum Nm torque for the EP8.

program parameters to bike

profile 1 settings

here I again adjusted the max. torque [Nm] to 85
I also increased assist level of Boost to 10.

program parameters to bike

at this point I clicked on profile 2 settings and customised it as to how I felt would fit my riding for the day depending on distance to cover , elevation changes , etc... freedom to choose!

back
special settings

again here I changed the speed adjustment [%] manually to -5.0 (*** CORRECTION +5.0 ***). This will make the bike believe it is going slower than it is , thus allowing a slightly higher top speed. disadvantage to this will be inaccurate speed if you have the shimano display.

program parameters to bike
main
disconnect bike.

follow the instructions and power down the bike and then back on. Go for a ride and see what you think. I could definately feel more help from the assist without any abnormal sounds , vibrations or oddities as I have read others sometimes having. That being said , don't expect a huge jump in power , it's only an extra 25Nm , but every little bit helps.

Now I'm in the US , so I won't be paying for the speed increase as I mainly wanted that extra torque for those steep climbs and overall more support and fun. I mean , that's why I got an ebike in the first place.

I also confirmed the Nm increase by opening the Shimano eTube app and checking the settings. Sure enough , it now shows 85Nm max and also showed the 10 on the boost assist level. So yah , it's legit.

I hope this helps fellow Orbea Rise owners as I searched all over and looked at many if not all of the available ways to derestrict my bike. This one is the one I found to do what it says quickly and for FREE! No , I don't work for eMax , I just want to share my findings and hopefully save others the search and money.

Ride on

 

[ep8-rs]

Hey guys , just giving an update I felt might help people that are curious about the same things as me. Like motor noises , battery draw after derestriction of torque , and changes in riding style afterword as well.

So I noticed that the motor had a little whine in ECO mode after my eMax changes. Not in BOOST like I expected. Now I am of the thought process that whining means vibration and off frequency so not good. Noting that only ECO mode is set at 250w , I figured I'd bump it to 350w and adjust custom set the Nm. Sure enough , whine is gone. My current settings are:
ECO = 35Nm 350W , TRAIL = 60Nm 350W , BOOST =85Nm 350W

Along with this , I also found my thinking has changed on how I use the 3 assist modes. Honestly , I was a set it and forget it kind of rider before, but with the derestricting and noted warnings from others on the forum about stressing the battery at 85Nm , I decided to experiment.

So now I use the ECO mode on downhill runs , TRAIL on flat and gentle rises , and finally BOOST on hill climbs. Of course , all along side of appropriate gears , which remind me to change the mode accordingly. Today I rode 15 miles of all 3 types of slopes and easily managed the 3 mode selections accordingly. I can enthusiastically report that not only did it work perfectly , but my battery drain was virtually identical to pre-derestriction. SWEET! And the bike never made a whining peep no matter the mode or incline , and the BOOST mode was awesome! To me my Rise always had the tire noise matching the motor so close I couldn't differentiate the two anyway , and it is right back there now with the new settings.

Hope this helps anyone out there debating or wondering about these things like I was. And if anyone has any advice or additional finds , please share as I would greatly appreciate it , just like I appreciated all the advice regarding this topic to get me to this point.


Ride on

 

[cookie70]

interesting findings. I've been told by my local shop and people at shimano that any bluetooth app that connects to the motor that is non shimano will trigger the "modified" flag on the motor if it is plugged into the shop hardware shimano app they will see it. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Astro66]

Bike computers like the Garmin, connect and read data from the motor over Bluetooth. There is no modified flag after connection.

My LBS that sold me my Shimano EP600 EMTB, actually lent me a cable to modify my motor with the EMax App, to allow me to install an electronic Di2 derailleur and shifter, as these are just parameters that can be modified.

If you don't modify the firmware, you should be fine modifying the parameters. You can always put the old parameters back. But if you do modify the firmware. Then this can be detected.

Normally the only way to put factory firmware back, is to wait for a new update from Shimano, and install that over your modified firmware, using the ETube Windows App and a USB cable. You can't roll back your firmware to a previous version, as far as I know.

All @ep8-rs has done is purely modified Orbea's tuning parameters. If you put them back to factory settings. It cannot be detected. Orbea marketing claim they install an Orbea Firmware in the EP8 RS. But that's a blatant lie. They only modify tuning parameters. Not the firmware.

So you can put standard EP8 tuning into an RS motor by using eMaxMobile.

 

[ep8-rs]

Exactly Astro66 , thank you for the reply. There is a one-click option in eMax that shows it will reset it to factory. I confess I have not tested it , but everything else in the app works as shown , so...

 

[Astro66]

As I do ride my EMTB on the road a bit. I have paid for the EMax license so I can set my bike to 30mph when I need to. But that does require a firmware modification, and is detectable by shimano.

But I plan to upgrade my EP600 motor to EP801 in the future. So if the motor fails. I'll just do the upgrade early.

With the EP8 motor, you'd need to upgrade the battery, and possibly the screen and switches, to do the EP801 upgrade. But the motor bolt holes are the same.

 

[ep8-rs]

This is the kind of information that I am here for. Sharing knowledge helps us all.

Thanks Astro66

 

[ep8-rs]

oops! looks like I made a small , but notable error in my original configuration post. It actually states in the eMax-possibilities pdf , that in the special settings the speed adjustment [%] manually should be to +5.0 . This will make the motor assistance remain full to peak speed , instead of gradually dropping off as it approaches. It also brings in wheel size reduction , but I cannot testify to this as my software is updated to the point it is no longer an option. C'mon Orbea , why did you disallow this simple little adjustment preventing people from going to accurate settings for mullet setups?
Anyway , if anyone out there is still following or interested I hope this helps.

Ride on

 

[Backflip]

oops! looks like I made a small , but notable error in my original configuration post. It actually states in the eMax-possibilities pdf , that in the special settings the speed adjustment [%] manually should be to +5.0 . This will make the motor assistance remain full to peak speed , instead of gradually dropping off as it approaches. It also brings in wheel size reduction , but I cannot testify to this as my software is updated to the point it is no longer an option. C'mon Orbea , why did you disallow this simple little adjustment preventing people from going to accurate settings for mullet setups?
Anyway , if anyone out there is still following or interested I hope this helps.

Ride on

Take care: The display speed adjustment value (in the range of +/- 5%) will not change the real max. motor support speed at all! This value will only adjust the speed on the Shimano bike display, noting less, nothing more.

Also when increasing max. torque (to e.g. the max. value on the standard DU-EP800 drive unit of 85Nm), then you also should increase max. peak power to e.g. the max. value on the standard DU-EP800 drive unit of 500W.
If you don´t do so, the still reduced value of the peak power most probably will prevent the drive unit from giving you the full potential of the newly programmed max. value of the torque.
This is because torque and power are physically directly related to each other by the cadence. See e.g. this link (use metric calculations):

So, in the upper picture you will find the "sweet spot" of cadence of your a DU-EP800 drive unit with the official nominal values of 85Nm and 500W which then is 56 rpm at the crank.
Below this 56rpm, you will hit the torque limit first, see e.g. next picture:

Above 56rpm, you will this the 500W limit first, see e.g. next picture:

So, depending on your cadence on the crank (pedals), either the max. peak power value or the max. torque value is limiting your drive unit.
So, you have to increase both values (torque and max. peak power) of your reduced RS drive unit to the nominal values of the (absolutely identical) DU-EP800 values (85Nm/500W) to get a real benefit.

And one last thing:
It seems like you are using a quite large font on your Android smartphone, so some values in the emax app are getting clipped or deranged.
If you go to Androids general settings and reduce the global font size a little bit, then the views should look much better in the app.