Levo Gen 3 Power down after first climb

seamarsh

Active member
May 7, 2019
350
174
usa
Anyone ever feel like the levo throttles down the power on successive climbs?

Climbed about 1000' on fire road.. bombed down single track then back up.. I swear half way up it bogged down to where I couldn't tell much difference from eco to turbo.. continued even after reaching the top?

I've felt this same thing before.. but not always.. am I going crazy or anyone have similar experiences?

22 gen 3 levo
 

Janisj

Member
Aug 27, 2022
45
32
Germany
I saw it once by one strong 600hm, 10% road climb in 100/100 microtune mode (shuttle to hotel). Outside was just below 30°C.
The first 200hm went well, then suddenly Brose started to drop the power down to ~350W.
After some short flat section the motor recovered but up to the end of ride anyway struggled to give full power.
The mytos, that Brose does not overheat is just mythos. Anyway, i use ECO almost all the time, so not relevant for me.

1692773473534.png
 

seamarsh

Active member
May 7, 2019
350
174
usa
I saw it once by one strong 600hm, 10% road climb in 100/100 microtune mode (shuttle to hotel). Outside was just below 30°C.
The first 200hm went well, then suddenly Brose started to drop the power down to ~350W.
After some short flat section the motor recovered but up to the end of ride anyway struggled to give full power.
The mytos, that Brose does not overheat is just mythos. Anyway, i use ECO almost all the time, so not relevant for me.

View attachment 123098
Is that a power meter you were using to gather data? Seems most likely, was 30c here yesterday... motor temp on app looked to be in range, motor was at 68*c.

Bummer.
 

Semmelrocc

E*POWAH Master
Dec 28, 2021
306
760
Germany
I saw it once by one strong 600hm, 10% road climb in 100/100 microtune mode (shuttle to hotel). Outside was just below 30°C.
The first 200hm went well, then suddenly Brose started to drop the power down to ~350W.
After some short flat section the motor recovered but up to the end of ride anyway struggled to give full power.
The mytos, that Brose does not overheat is just mythos. Anyway, i use ECO almost all the time, so not relevant for me.

View attachment 123098
According to your graph, your input (rider power) decreased significantly over that tour – and so did the motor output. Does not seem to prove a point here.
 

Janisj

Member
Aug 27, 2022
45
32
Germany
According to your graph, your input (rider power) decreased significantly over that tour – and so did the motor output. Does not seem to prove a point here.
Ah, you are so smart, was you on my bike or I? In spite it might look like that on the graph, it was not a case, and motor power loss was almost instant and heavy.
 

Christox

Member
Aug 12, 2020
88
78
Freiburg/ Germany
Hi !

I also had this issues. Pushing constantly, but rider and Motorpower decreased on the display. It seems like the torque sensor value is drifting when pushing over a long time and in the motor heating up phase.
After stopping for only a few seconds and unloading the pedals the full Rider power on the display was back. Looks like the torque sensor is readjusting. After a few minutes it was again drifting to lower numbers.

My warrantied new motor after belt damage runs normal till now...

Best regards,

Chris
 

rzr

Active member
Sep 26, 2022
402
251
bcn
for last 2 weeks i have a similar feeling. Like sometimes motor gives normal power (I have 70/100 setting),
and then, for some minutes like it gives half of it...
and then, again, I put almost no input (<100W) and motor just pulls hard forward.
And also power (displayed on my garmin Edge) looks suspiciously low sometimes, it shows 150-170W sometimes (my input), however I keep my HR around 80%HRmax, and for that I'd expect input more like 250-270W (It's like this on other rides and I have experience from my road bike).
motor feels fine, it's more like software or torque sensor problem ?
 
Last edited:
Thanks for starting this conversation!

Lately, I've been hitting the trails on my 22 expert in microtune mode, and I've noticed some power inconsistencies that many of you have also encountered. It's almost as if the motor assistance takes an unexpected breather, reducing its output by about half. This phenomenon has cropped up both at the start of my rides and during them, and during my recent 2.5-hour adventure, I counted at least three instances of this power drop.

I've given a few solutions a shot:

1. **Restarting the Motor:** Unfortunately, this hasn't proven to be a fix-all solution.
2. **Power Boost:** I've tried going from 30% to 80% power mid-ride, hoping to counter the drop, but it seems the reduced power delivery spans the entire range.

I have a few questions:

- Is this issue particularly linked to microtune mode?
- Could there be more riders facing this power hiccup but maybe not recognizing it?
- Or is it possible that only a subset of motors is encountering this challenge?

By coming together to share our experiences and ideas, we can create a roadmap for uncovering solutions.

FlashGordon⚡️ on Strava
 

DS.

Member
Mar 15, 2019
91
62
Devon
Same here power seems to be all over the place sometimes boost is pulling u up the hill lovely and then on the same hill five minutes later I have to put some effort in like the motor has dropped of slightly
 

iXi

E*POWAH Master
Feb 17, 2019
427
326
Brisbane
for last 2 weeks i have a similar feeling. Like sometimes motor gives normal power (I have 70/100 setting),
and then, for some minutes like it gives half of it...
and then, again, I put almost no input (<100W) and motor just pulls hard forward.

Yep I get that where its on turbo 100/100 and feels like eco, stop pedaling briefly and then it surges like crazy. Figured it's just flawed softalwarenon the motor. Who knows, does it from time to time
 

16Rally

Member
Jul 22, 2023
42
22
SoCal
I ride my Gen 3 Levo almost entirely in ECO mode or with assist completely turned off.
What I've experienced very consistently is that once remaining battery life hits 10%, the motor assist system apparently goes into some sort of battery conserve mode. ECO feels like no assist and Trail feels like ECO, I haven't even tried Boost in that situation.
Since my rides are door-to-door, I haven't really tried to figure out what exactly is happening and whether or not there is way to defeat that "limp" mode. Mainly because I consider it to be a blessing; at least it has helped me get home every time without losing assist completely.
Can anyone confirm this as a feature?
 

rzr

Active member
Sep 26, 2022
402
251
bcn
that's normal, power output is reduced below 20% and later even more below 10% (i'm not sure about 15%)
 

16Rally

Member
Jul 22, 2023
42
22
SoCal
that's normal, power output is reduced below 20% and later even more below 10% (i'm not sure about 15%)
Thanks for the clarification.
I finally took the initiative to actually read the manual which not only derailed the power reduction scheme, it also recommends running the battery 80-20%, when possible, for optimum longevity.
I also browsed thru a Specialized Battery Charging FAQ, which sugessted battery charge cycles are computed based on full charge capacity consumed as opposed to the number of times the charger is connected. In other words, on my 700WH battery, the charge cycle counter will be incremented by 1 for every 700WH of charge consumed!
 

seamarsh

Active member
May 7, 2019
350
174
usa
I talked to specialized and the dealer they had nothing to offer other than change the tuning settings to reduce power.. no fun! Haha

Didn't notice it much today.. but was much cooler.. maybe a temp thing? Idk hard to say. Sounds like it's pretty normal albeit odd.
 

seamarsh

Active member
May 7, 2019
350
174
usa
Just to report back.. I set trail to 80/100 and only rode in trail last few rides and have not had same symptoms. Maybe it's just enough off of full power to keep heat down, or maybe because the ambient temp has been lower.
 

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