If you change your Purion (and maybe others..)

[millemille]

I recently had to change the Purion controller on my Focus Sam2 due to crash damage.

The last few rides I'd done I'd had a nagging feeling that the battery wasn't giving me the range it used to, I'd be finishing the ride with fewer bars/miles remaining. Got the LBS to do a health check on the battery and all was good but the more I rode it over the same routes as before the more I was convinced I was down on range by a noticeable amount.

While out riding I inadvertently held the "+" button down for a few seconds and I had a headlamp symbol pop up on the display next to the battery symbol.

"Odd" thinks I "I'm sure it didn't used to do that...."

Aaaaaaaaah! The penny slowly drops....

The OEM Purion unit had the Focus factory settings in it, which included disabling the lights powered from the battery, but the replacement doesn't.

Which means that the Bosch software is partitioning off a portion of the battery, making it unavailable to power the motor, to power the lights and hence why the range is reduced.

Quick trip back to the LBS, use the dealer software to disable the lights and hey presto the range is back!

So if you have to change your controller for any reason it's worth checking this...

 

[RustyMTB]

Is this so? My Sam2 has a lights symbol on it which puzzled me as the bike has no lights. Fully charged, the Purion says 44 miles range in EMTB. You're saying this goes up if I have the battery reconfigured?

 

[millemille]

Is this so? My Sam2 has a lights symbol on it which puzzled me as the bike has no lights. Fully charged, the Purion says 44 miles range in EMTB. You're saying this goes up if I have the battery reconfigured?

European law requires that if the control software is configured so that the main battery is powering lights (which can be checked by holding the "+" button down for a few seconds and seeing if the headlamp symbol appears") then the main battery has to power the lights for a 2 hour period AFTER the motor has exhausted the main battery.

So if the lights are enabled in the software then the software partitions off a portion of the main battery to power the lights and which the motor cannot draw on. The power of the lights, hence current drawn and hence amount of battery that needs to be partitioned, is configurable and it appears - if my Purion is typical - that the software defaults to the maximum light power setting, and in this case it is about 10% of battery total capacity.

The technician in my LBS said that all of the full suspension "proper" emtb's he works on - Trek and Whyte mainly - have the lights turned off in the software from the factory and I'm reasonably sure that my Focus didn't have them turned on either on the Purion that was fitted when I got the bike.

The range* was showing 24 miles with the lights enabled and 26 miles with the lights turned off, changing nothing else and I'm now back to where the bike was before the Purion change, in terms of riding the same routes and how much battery/range was remaining at the end of the ride.

it's not the battery that gets reconfigured, it's the software in the controller and it's done simply and quickly by any shop that has the Bosch dealer software on their laptop/tablet. A USB lead plugs into the controller and then it's a box to un-tick and that's it done.


*obviously the range figure is a constantly changing number as it depends on the current being drawn by the motor from the battery at the time, if you start freewheel downhill the range will increase despite you covering ground and if you start powering up a steep hill in Turbo the range will decrease at a rate faster than the rate at which you are covering ground until the power drawn and range remaining equal out.

 

[Zimmerframe]

This came up a bit in here with some more info ..

Purion : % battery for each bar.

Having had a spesh with access to Blevo, I've got used to being able to see how much percentage battery I actually have left. Bars are great for simplicity, the purion estimated range is generally accurate if you keep in mind terrain changes, but I still like to know the % So rather than a...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[RustyMTB]

That is interesting although Rob's reply suggests it's a controller on/off thing. I don't ride at night & so would be interested to see if this is a thing I can turn off permanently. Obvs the Purion is short on info full stop but mine consistently shows a range of 44 at full charge & my Stilus gives 48 & doesn't have the lights icon - I just checked. With the Purion, this is the only information I can offer.

 

[millemille]

That is interesting although Rob's reply suggests it's a controller on/off thing. I don't ride at night & so would be interested to see if this is a thing I can turn off permanently. Obvs the Purion is short on info full stop but mine consistently shows a range of 44 at full charge & my Stilus gives 48 & doesn't have the lights icon - I just checked. With the Purion, this is the only information I can offer.

I've already explained that it's simply a matter of going to a Bosch dealer/shop and having them hook up to the Purion with their dealer software and disable the lights. it is "controller on/off" thing, exactly as I've already explained.

I don't know where you ride but is it pretty flat? I ride in the Peak District which is pretty much either up or down and my range is very variable as it depends on what the bike has been doing for the last few minutes; if I'm spending 10 minutes or more grinding up a steep hill the range could drop to single figures (initially concerning if you're still looking at 10 or 15 miles of riding left to complete the ride) but when you've rattled down the other side the range has gone back up to double figures.

So when I charge the battery up the range when fully charged depends very much on what the bike was doing - climbing or descending - just before it was charged; I can have 15 miles range showing when fully charged if the last bit of riding was a climb or 50 miles if it was a descent.

 

[Bomble]

Good info on the light thing
I keep seeing people quoting the displayed range, it’s a total meaningless number. You could be sat at the bottom of Snowdon ready to peddle up for all your display knows.

 

[yorkshire89]

Interested to know if there is a battery partition on the Kiox's that have a light button on the controller?

 

[RustyMTB]

I

Interested to know if there is a battery partition on the Kiox's that have a light button on the controller?

Exactly. Mr Monday morning there didn''t grasp the underlying query whether the Purion would display a higher range at full charge with the partition removed than in place, since it's the only consistent output. Anyone who's spent even five minutes on a Purion bike is well aware the range display is garbage.

 

[millemille]

The range* was showing 24 miles with the lights enabled and 26 miles with the lights turned off, changing nothing else and I'm now back to where the bike was before the Purion change, in terms of riding the same routes and how much battery/range was remaining at the end of the ride.

I

Exactly. Mr Monday morning there didn''t grasp the underlying query whether the Purion would display a higher range at full charge with the partition removed than in place, since it's the only consistent output. Anyone who's spent even five minutes on a Purion bike is well aware the range display is garbage.

Your question was answered in post #3...

The Purion range display isn't "garbage" IMO. If you understand what it is telling you - the range remaining is how far you've got if you carry on at the recent rate of battery consumption - then it is perfect. It's no different to the range display in your car, it's showing you how far you've got left if you carry on driving in the current manner. In my van I can start a journey with a full tank and 550 miles range and spend two hours driving, empty a 1/3rd of the tank, and have 600 miles range remaining; because I was initially driving on local roads and averaging 35mpg but then got on the motorway and mpg went up to 50.

 

[RustyMTB]

OK cool. Have a great day.

 

[millemille]

Good info on the light thing
I keep seeing people quoting the displayed range, it’s a total meaningless number. You could be sat at the bottom of Snowdon ready to peddle up for all your display knows.

But once you've been pedalling up Snowdon for a few minutes it will give you a meaningful number...

 

[Peaky Rider]

I've just swapped out the Purion on my Rail for a Kiox and operating the light button on the display brings up nothing on the screen. From what MM says I presume this means that the lighting option is not enabled and I will be getting full battery power/capacity. ?

 

[millemille]

I've just swapped out the Purion on my Rail for a Kiox and operating the light button on the display brings up nothing on the screen. From what MM says I presume this means that the lighting option is not enabled and I will be getting full battery power/capacity. ?

One would assume so, but if there's a hard wired button it may be different. Howard at Fearns is the man to ask...

 

[RustyMTB]

As @millemille says (and yes, he does sound grumpy when he's right

Yes, an unfortunate manner zones me out, irrespective of the rights or wrongs. And that lad has a very unfortunate manner.

 

[Peaky Rider]

One would assume so, but if there's a hard wired button it may be different. Howard at Fearns is the man to ask...

I will, they're just down the road from me. I only bought the bike from them three weeks and technically I may have voided the warranty by fitting the Kiox myself, but I have been a constant customer of theirs for forty years so I can't imagine them being silly about it.

 

[Akiwi]

If you want to use a light on, you normally have to get it activated by your bike shop. With the Kiox, if you press the light button, then there is a symbol on the display.
I didn't know that it reduces the range but maybe explains something.
I have only run my battery completely empty once on a Trans Alp tour where we got lost and had to climb an extra 800m before we got to our accommodation.
I thought I had a chance to make it, and a few km before our goal my motor suddenly turned off with the battery still showing 8%. I had to push up a 16% climb for about 200 vertical meters :-(

 

[markloch]

I installed front and rear lights on my Trek Rail that summed to 12w, trek configured it accordingly, which cut the battery off at 11% or so. Found out the hard way: I had stretched the battery usage out to ensure I had enough left for the last uphill leg of what was then my longest ride, and poof! battery cuts off just as I hit that last ascent. I went back to trek and asked them to dial it back, I think they set it to 9w. I don’t need 2 hours of lights-only … might ask for 6w next time I’ve got the bike at trek.

 

[Akiwi]

Mine cuts off at 8%.. yeah found out the hard way. I had to push up a 16% road a couple of KM. Was on a day I did over 3000m climb, so I was exhausted too.