Steps Unlocker issue

[Johnnie]

I have ready access to private land and was attracted to the idea of experimenting with derestricting my eBike. I was particularly attracted to the various software solutions on offer, rather than installing a hardware modification, as the ability to easily switch this particular machine from a road legal status for testing and then back again was a principal consideration for me.

Although I am actively researching the purchase of an EMTB, my current machine is a Shimano E6100 powered hybrid, so I apologise that this posting is slightly off topic for an EMTB forum, the question raised however is of wider relevance.

Using the iPhone E-Tube app I easily changed the wireless unit name and passkey from their default settings. I purchased and installed Steps Unlocker version 1.37 on my iPhone and, impressed by the slick operation of the app, decided to purchase a full licence. Shortly afterwards, via Steps Unlocker, I changed the ‘Market’ setting of the DU-E6100 from EU to US - the setting was accepted and all appeared to be well. However when riding the bike it was apparent that motor support was still cutting out at 24 km/h. I rechecked the configuration settings via the app, which still indicated that the Market setting was “US (original EU)”.

After repeatedly changing the settings without success I decided to email the developer describing the situation and enquiring if he had any suggestions. His response was terse saying “if App shows US - you got 32 km/h”. Since this clearly wasn’t the case I thought he must have misunderstood my query, so I emailed him back thanking him for responding and suggesting that my original enquiry may not have described the situation clearly. I described the problem again, but in more detail. His response was to simply state that he didn’t believe me.

Then followed a brief exchange of emails where I tried to convince the guy that I had no intention to deceive him, saying that I was not seeking a refund and suggesting that my reporting a potential issue may be of use to him in the future. I offered to film the display unit whilst cycling to demonstrate the motor cutting out at 24 km/h, then (while still filming) switch to Steps Unlocker to prove that the US setting was still current. All to no avail however, he simply told me he had hundreds of E6100 customers, none of whom had had problems with derestriction, and he reiterated that he still didn’t believe me.

I appreciate that one is taking a risk with a niche product of this type and can hardly expect much in the way of support, but I have to admit to being astonished and irritated by my recent experience. I’m still hopeful however that a future version of the app will resolve this issue.

My reason for posting is to enquire if anyone else has observed this or a similar issue? It’s perfectly apparent that a lot of people are very happy with Steps Unlocker, and obviously I too would like to be amongst that number. I’m wondering if this is a issue solely associated with E6100 hardware? or maybe just firmware version 4.4.0? or even a software issue limited to the iPhone version of Steps Unlocker? Also I shouldn’t dismiss the possibility that I made some mistake, but I think it unlikely.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[AndreaFx]

Stupid question: Have you power off the bike after the changes?
If you don't restart the system it is normal that it doesn't work.

 

[Johnnie]

Thanks for the suggestion, but yes I did do that. I even removed the battery from the bike overnight.

 

[RickBullotta]

Did you get a resolution to this? I have something similar going on - but I have a US-based bike, and only the basic version of the iOS app, and it seems like it is showing EU (originally US) as my "market". That would suck if it really changed it.

 

[Johnnie]

Thanks for responding. No resolution as yet but your observation is extremely interesting.
One potential cause of the scenario that you and I have observed (from different angles as it were) is that the iPhone version of the Steps Unlocker is incorrectly interpreting/manipulating the value of an important firmware variable (or a number of variables). Speaking as a former software developer I know that such errors are very easy to make, but once identified are generally straightforward to correct.
I hope that your timely observation is sufficient to convince the developer that I was not trying to deceive him when I contacted him recently, and that this matter is worthy of further investigation.

 

[AndreaFx]

Johnnie can you find an Android phone to try? You don't need to buy another full license because the licence is linked to the serial of the shimano engine.
So.....you take away the doubt

 

[Johnnie]

Thanks Andrea - that had occurred to me as something to try, but I currently don’t have access to my eBike as I am working away from home. When I get back next week I can ask a friend of course. Hopefully the developer or someone else from the forum will pick up on this in the meantime.

 

[RickBullotta]

Thanks Andrea - that had occurred to me as something to try, but I currently don’t have access to my eBike as I am working away from home. When I get back next week I can ask a friend of course. Hopefully the developer or someone else from the forum will pick up on this in the meantime.

I traded some messages with the developer and got more or less a "i don't see anything wrong" response. Deleted the app immediately. I'm not going to risk it f*cking up my eMTB.

 

[Johnnie]

Rick - It was disappointing to read that he chose not to take you seriously and I understand your reasoning for deleting the app.
I plan to stick with it a while longer, and will try running the app on a various iPhone & Android handsets. Depending upon the results I should be able to get a better handle on whether the problem I have is specifically with the iOS version of Steps Unlocker or a more general issue affecting e6100 motors.

 

[RickBullotta]

Rick - It was disappointing to read that he chose not to take you seriously and I understand your reasoning for deleting the app.
I plan to stick with it a while longer, and will try running the app on a various iPhone & Android handsets. Depending upon the results I should be able to get a better handle on whether the problem I have is specifically with the iOS version of Steps Unlocker or a more general issue affecting e6100 motors.

And I quote the response I got from the developer when trying to help diagnose the disconnect: "I don't care about your opinion."

I've been in the software industry for a long time and if I treated my customers that way I wouldn't last very long in business.

It'll be obsoleted soon enough anyway most likely with a firmware upgrade that'll block it.

 

[Johnnie]

Following on from this - I have now had the opportunity to test the Market feature of Steps Unlocker running on different IOS and Android hardware with my e6100 eBike. The results obtained were consistent, in that all of the combinations I tested behaved in exactly the same manner, effectively disproving any previous suspicion on my part that the Steps Unlocker bug I discovered (and reported to the developer) may have been limited to the IOS version of the app only.

The result obtained however still proved revealing, and has reinforced my conviction that the Steps Unlocker app has a definite problem.

To reiterate - I am only interested in adjusting my e6100 eBike ‘Market’ setting from EU to US when I am cycling off-road. I have no desire to fiddle with the wheel circumference settings etc. and have not attempted to alter anything other than the Market setting. My e6100 motor is running firmware version 4.4.0.

The problem I originally observed was that changing the Market setting via Steps Unlocker on my e6100 bike (via my iPhone XS) initially appeared to work - as the App reported that the Market had changed from ‘EU (originally EU)’ to ‘US (originally EU)’. When riding the bike however it was immediately apparent that motor assistance continued to cut out at 24km/h, instead of 32km/h. I reported this to the developer, who flatly refused to believe me.

I decided to perform a series of tests - I have a number of other compatible iOS devices (iPhone 6, iPhone SE, iPad Air2). I installed Steps Unlocker on all of these and (using the app) changed the Market setting of my e6100 from EU to US, then restarted the Shimano system - I wasn’t surprised to find that motor assistance still continued to cut out at 24km/hr in every case.

Recently I borrowed a couple of Samsung phones from friends, installed Steps Unlocker, applied my license and repeated the above - in both cases the display suggested that the process had worked, but I was disappointed to find that my e6100 still cut out at 24km/h.

My thoughts now changed, from initially suspecting that the problem may only be limited to the iOS version of the app, to a stronger conviction that a wider compatibility issue existed between both iOS and Android variants of Steps Unlocker and my 6100 motor. To confirm this I put feelers out amongst my MTB circle to enquire if anyone was acquainted with an e8000 EMTB owner. Via a friend of a friend I was put in touch with a fellow enthusiast and as luck would have it he was already a Steps Unlocker user. I visited him recently and was able to load his license onto my phone - I subsequently adjusted the Market setting on his bike without a hitch, proving that Steps Unlocker does in some circumstances work on my iPhone, but not unfortunately with my own eBike. In due course I hope to test my new friend’s phone on my e6100, though I have little doubt now that the outcome will be exactly the same as with every other phone I have tested my Shimano system with.

So to conclude, I’m now very sceptical that the Steps Unlocker developer has exhaustively tested his app on Shimano e6100 hardware, and feel less inclined to accept his assertion that he has hundreds of satisfied e6100 users. I’m ready to stand corrected though, and would be pleased to receive comments/suggestions from any Steps Unlocker user - most particularly those who own an e6100 equipped eBike and have attempted to change the Market setting.

 

[RickBullotta]

Following on from this - I have now had the opportunity to test the Market feature of Steps Unlocker running on different IOS and Android hardware with my e6100 eBike. The results obtained were consistent, in that all of the combinations I tested behaved in exactly the same manner, effectively disproving any previous suspicion on my part that the Steps Unlocker bug I discovered (and reported to the developer) may have been limited to the IOS version of the app only.

The result obtained however still proved revealing, and has reinforced my conviction that the Steps Unlocker app has a definite problem.

To reiterate - I am only interested in adjusting my e6100 eBike ‘Market’ setting from EU to US when I am cycling off-road. I have no desire to fiddle with the wheel circumference settings etc. and have not attempted to alter anything other than the Market setting. My e6100 motor is running firmware version 4.4.0.

The problem I originally observed was that changing the Market setting via Steps Unlocker on my e6100 bike (via my iPhone XS) initially appeared to work - as the App reported that the Market had changed from ‘EU (originally EU)’ to ‘US (originally EU)’. When riding the bike however it was immediately apparent that motor assistance continued to cut out at 24km/h, instead of 32km/h. I reported this to the developer, who flatly refused to believe me.

I decided to perform a series of tests - I have a number of other compatible iOS devices (iPhone 6, iPhone SE, iPad Air2). I installed Steps Unlocker on all of these and (using the app) changed the Market setting of my e6100 from EU to US, then restarted the Shimano system - I wasn’t surprised to find that motor assistance still continued to cut out at 24km/hr in every case.

Recently I borrowed a couple of Samsung phones from friends, installed Steps Unlocker, applied my license and repeated the above - in both cases the display suggested that the process had worked, but I was disappointed to find that my e6100 still cut out at 24km/h.

My thoughts now changed, from initially suspecting that the problem may only be limited to the iOS version of the app, to a stronger conviction that a wider compatibility issue existed between both iOS and Android variants of Steps Unlocker and my 6100 motor. To confirm this I put feelers out amongst my MTB circle to enquire if anyone was acquainted with an e8000 EMTB owner. Via a friend of a friend I was put in touch with a fellow enthusiast and as luck would have it he was already a Steps Unlocker user. I visited him recently and was able to load his license onto my phone - I subsequently adjusted the Market setting on his bike without a hitch, proving that Steps Unlocker does in some circumstances work on my iPhone, but not unfortunately with my own eBike. In due course I hope to test my new friend’s phone on my e6100, though I have little doubt now that the outcome will be exactly the same as with every other phone I have tested my Shimano system with.

So to conclude, I’m now very sceptical that the Steps Unlocker developer has exhaustively tested his app on Shimano e6100 hardware, and feel less inclined to accept his assertion that he has hundreds of satisfied e6100 users. I’m ready to stand corrected though, and would be pleased to receive comments/suggestions from any Steps Unlocker user - most particularly those who own an e6100 equipped eBike and have attempted to change the Market setting.

FWIW, it reports the *wrong* market/destination setting on my E8000 system too. Not that the developer gives a sh*t.

 

[Johnnie]

Yeah - it’s the guy’s belligerent attitude that pisses me off more than anything.

 

[StuE]

Yeah - it’s the guy’s belligerent attitude that pisses me off more than anything.

The app only costs €30 its not like he's charging 100s of $ for it, I think if you are patient he will sort the issues with the app on ios

 

[Johnnie]

Yes the license only costs €30 and it is a niche product - I did make that point earlier. I’m not an unreasonable individual demanding that the developer provide me an instant solution.
But simple courtesy doesn’t cost a dime, and with respect StuE you’re not party to the arrogant and dismissive language he used when replying to my polite and non-confrontational enquiry. His terse response was to dismiss me out of hand, ignore my offer to make him a video demonstrating the problem, and worse of all infer that I was a liar.
The reason for my posting on this forum was simply to alert others to the issue and the unhelpful attitude of the developer. I hope that, in due course, the latter does come to the conclusion that there is a compatibility issue with Steps Unlocker and E6100 hardware that warrants his further investigation. Hopefully he will address the issue raised by RickBullota too, which he previously dismissed.

 

[vadII]

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Look, at this moment more than 90 customers of mine successfully changed market from EU to US on their E6100 motors. No one reported about any issues! In such case I think that something wrong not with the App... Moreover, E6100 & E7000 firmwares are same/identical. So then this "issue" would affect to E7000 as well. But it doesn't. And this is why I don't believe in your story.

Anyway, what do you want from me? To buy a bike with E6100 motor and test it? But I already did it with 90+ customers! Everything works fine as it should!

P.S. I receive 100+ emails each day about STEPS Unlocker. Every day some asshole write something unpleasant to me because his hands are growing out of his ass... So do not expect from me that I will give up everything and will deal with your unique case. If there will be similar cases with other customers - I will figure out them. Moreover, STEPS Unlocker is the side project of my main work, and I should spend most time on my main work.

 

[Johnnie]

Thank you for responding Vadll, but you continue to misinterpret me.

When I initially contacted you with a simple query - your immediate response was to state that you didn’t believe me.

You subsequently ignored my offer to prove my assertion and remarked that you had ‘hundreds’ of satisfied E6100 users.

I told you that I wasn’t looking for confrontation, asking for a refund or apportioning blame, and that I believed you when you said that no other customer had experienced a derestriction issue. I concluded by making the simple point that my reporting a potential issue may be of use to you later should anyone else experience a similar problem.

But your final remark was to repeat that you still didn’t believe me.

Returning to your recent post - You ask what I want of you? The answer is simple - only to be taken seriously.

If your responses to my query had been remotely professional, stating that my problem had not been reported previously and for obvious reasons you were unable to follow up individual enquires but would make a note in case others reported the same problem - that would have been the end of the matter.

You make some valid points in your post however - I perfectly understand that developing an app in your spare time is time consuming. Dealing with unreasonable people and fools is frustrating too, but don’t make the mistaken assumption that I am an uninformed idiot - You were probably still in diapers when I started teaching advanced computer science and mathematical processing techniques to postgraduates.

You now concede that should other customers report a similar problem you will address it - thank you. Finally (albeit grudgingly and with bad grace) you make a response I could reasonably expect. I hope too that in due course you will come to accept that at no time have I attempted to deceive you, and agree that my emails, unlike yours, were proportionate, reasonable and polite.

 

[vadII]

But your final remark was to repeat that you still didn’t believe me.

Yes. This is true.

Anyway, here what you can do:
1. If your bike has other "speed cut" stuff - remove them
2. Don't change anything else except US market (try to change to EU, then to US). If you have changed circumference or speed correct - back it to stock values.
3. Try to downgrade FW to 4.3.1 and check Speed Limit, after that you can upgrade to the latest FW

 

[Johnnie]

Changing the Market setting via Steps Unlocker is the only system change I’ve made, and I’ve already switched from EU to US and back repeatedly.

I knew that firmware regression is a viable technique for the e8000, but wasn’t aware that it is an option for the E6100 too - thank you for this suggestion which I shall investigate. Am currently working abroad, so I won’t be able to try anything for several weeks.

 

[BJep]

I don't like to insert a comment on what appears to be a contentious matter, but there may be other bike owners like me considering the use of the Steps Unlocker app. I have every sympathy with Johnnie- but my situation is not the same. i.e. I have a 2019 E8000 motor and display, new firmware 4.7.1. The bike is a new Pivot Shuttle Team XTR and my aim was just to convert to US market (32kph). I downloaded the app, requested a license, and it worked immediately.
My sympathies to anyone for whom it isn't that simple, but for me it has been a great solution, and much cheaper than the badass boxes I bought for my old bosch bikes.
If any of us feel sufficiently motivated to protest against the 15.5mph speed limit (like me)- I'd be happy to add my energies to those protests. I think this is a better use of our time and efforts. The difference between 15.5mph and circa 20mph is all it needs, imho.

 

[Johnnie]

I wholeheartedly agree with your comments concerning changing the Market setting from EU to US, that is the only change I would ever consider making, but only for off road use, I’ve no wish to operate my E6100 beyond its design spec, or break the law. I do feel for those guys though who have burnt out their EMTB motors by pushing them too hard, then finding themselves in a no-win situation with Shimano.
I’ve no wish to denigrate Steps Unlocker, it would appear to work perfectly well for most people. After loading a friend’s license onto my phone recently I too was able to change the Market setting on his 2019 E8000 EMTB without any problem at all.
All I can say for definite is that an incompatibility currently exists between SU and my particular E6100 motor, and unfortunately I don’t know anyone else with an E6100 with whom to compare notes.
It could be that my motor is faulty? It works perfectly well in all other respects though.
Another possibility is my bike manufacturer has altered the value of a rarely used firmware switch that Steps Unlocker currently doesn’t access?
I really don’t know - there could be a myriad of different reasons. I personally haven’t investigated the methodology Shimano uses to update/adjust eBike & Di2 firmware, though I suspect it to utilise a propriety messaging protocol. If I had the time it would prove an interesting project to investigate.
Anyway BJep thanks for your contribution to the discussion.

 

[BJep]

Good Luck with it Johnnie.

 

[Jcoote87]

Hi all. Has anyone tried downgrading firmware to the older version 4.3.2?

 

[AndreaFx]

Hi all. Has anyone tried downgrading firmware to the older version 4.3.2?

Yes.....I downgrade from 4.7.0 to 4.3.2 without problem

 

[Jcoote87]

Yes.....I downgrade from 4.7.0 to 4.3.2 without problem

Do you remember where you downloaded the firmware from?

 

[AndreaFx]

Do you remember where you downloaded the firmware from?

Sure......from stepsunlocker homepage.....Ops It does not work anymore

 

[Johnnie]

Two months have elapsed since I last commented on an apparent incompatibility between my E6100 eBike and Stunlocker (formerly Steps Unlocker). I am pleased to say that I recently identified the underlying issue, and have performed a simple workaround which corrects the problem.

Briefly, to recap - Changing the Market setting from EU to US, via Stunlocker, on my E6100 eBike resulted in a frustrating situation where the app reported that this setting had correctly changed from ‘EU (original EU)’ to ‘US (original EU)’, but in fact this configuration change made no change whatever when riding the bike - i.e. motor support still continued to cut out at 24 km/h (15 mph). I reported this situation to the developer who fobbed me off, saying he didn’t believe me.

Via a process of elimination I was able to ascertain that the problem was not with my iPhone (see earlier posts in this thread), but pinpointing the cause any further proved elusive. After my posting on this forum Vadll confirmed that if the problem was reported by others he would investigate further, and in a later post he suggested I could try downgrading the E6100 firmware from 4.4.0 to 4.3.1. After looking into the practicalities of the later however I decided to wait for a month or two, in case someone else reported the same problem.

Thereafter every time a Stunlocker app update was released I tried to change the Market setting on my bike to US, but unfortunately every time the process failed in exactly the same manner.

Because of horror stories widely reported by others I’ve avoided using the Shimano ETube app, apart from using it to set the Bluetooth password when I first purchased the eBike. However yesterday, after purchasing new lights for the bike, I needed to run the ETube app to check the Light Connection option. Out of curiosity I checked the Drive Unit section of the app too and noticed the ‘Maximum assist speed’ reading showed 24 km/h. This was strange as I knew a few days previously I had left the Market setting via Stunlocker set at ‘US’.

I rechecked the Stunlocker situation, which confirmed the anomaly - Stunlocker was indeed saying my bike was set to US (i.e. 32 km/h), but the ETube app contradicted this by saying that the bike’s maximum assist speed was 24 km/h (confirming my own experience)

I investigated further changing the market setting from US to EU and visa versa (remembering to power cycle the bike each time of course) but the ETube maximum assist speed indicator resolutely stayed at 24 km/h, no matter what I did. I wish that I had noticed this inconsistency earlier and reported it to the developer - he may have taken me more seriously.

At this point I decided that I had wasted enough time trying to get Stunlocker to work, I resolved to reset my eBike completely back to its default settings, which is easily accomplished via the ETube app. Imagine my surprise however when immediately after doing this I noticed that ETube now indicated that the maximum assisted speed had changed to 32 km/h ! I quickly confirmed this was indeed the case and for the first time was able to ride (off road of course) with motor support up to 32 km/h.

I ran Stunlocker and was able to change the Market setting from US to EU and visa versa without any problem. It worked reliably, exactly as others have described.

I then tried to recreate the original (faulty) scenario, and after experimenting was able do this - basically all that is required is:

1. Ensure the eBike Market setting is set to EU via Stunlocker
2. Close the Stunlocker app and power cycle the eBike
3. Run the ETube App and make a system configuration change i.e. Display Units.
4. Close the ETube App and power cycle the eBike

On my E6100 machine the simple process above, when run on my iPhone, ‘locks’ the maximum speed assist to 24 km/h (15 mph) which Stunlocker is subsequently unable to change, despite the fact that it indicates that it has successfully done so.

This undesirable situation is easily reversed however:

1. Ensure the eBike Market setting is set to US via Stunlocker
2. Close the Stunlocker app and power cycle the eBike
3. Run the ETube app and reset the eBike settings to default (via the button with 3 dots, located at the bottom of the Drive Unit screen)
4. Via the ETube app now make any appropriate system configuration adjustments to the eBike settings (Light Connection, Display Units, Automatic Gear Shifting etc. etc.)
5. Close the ETube App and power cycle the eBike - US maximum assist settings (32 km/h, 20 mph) should be retained.
6. Use Stunlocker thereafter and avoid using the ETube app. If it is absolutely necessary to make a system configuration change, ensure that the Stunlocker market setting is US before running ETube, otherwise maximum speed assist will be locked at 24 km/h the moment any configuration change is made. Should that happen it’s easy enough to reverse by performing this procedure again from step 1.

I hope this explanation is of some use to others experiencing the same or a similar issue when changing the Market setting via the IOS version of Stunlocker - do take into account however that I have only tested it on my EU spec E6100 eBike running firmware 4.4.0 - I have no idea if E8000 drive units are vulnerable to the same set of circumstances, it would be interesting to know however. Similarly, as yet, I haven’t attempted to perform either of the two processes above via an Android device, so I make no claims in that regard.

I hope too that the processes described above are subsequently endorsed (and possibly expanded upon) by the developer and that any lingering misunderstanding between Vadll and myself is now resolved.

 

[RickBullotta]

I hope too that the processes described above are subsequently endorsed (and possibly expanded upon) by the developer and that any lingering misunderstanding between Vladl and myself is now resolved.

I had a similar issue with Stunlocker reporting incorrect data and was also dissed by the developer who told me I was basically lying. Glad to hear you've got it sorted, and I hope that the Stunlocker team can learn from this also. Sometimes the customer is actually right...

 

[MassDeduction]

Two months have elapsed since I last commented on an apparent incompatibility between my E6100 eBike and Stunlocker (formerly Steps Unlocker). I am pleased to say that I recently identified the underlying issue, and have performed a simple workaround which corrects the problem.[...]

Congrats on figuring it out! I'm very pleased for you.

I think your communication around this confirms you aren't, and weren't at any point, trying to deceive anyone. Why you would have been lying, when you weren't asking for a refund (weren't asking for anything at at all, in fact), is beyond me anyway.

I just bought the Android app moments ago, and hope to try it on a STePS 8000 bike. I'm curious to do the opposite to you, create a super long-distance touring e-bike by reducing the max speed/torque/wattage/etc, to see how low I can set things while still having enough assistance that it's nonetheless offering something more than just riding a regular bike. It seems like the e8000 is the most common/popular/thoroughly tested motor used with this software, so fingers crossed that it's a seamless experience.

I'm additionally curious about your repeated references to 24 km/h, I thought the EU/Asian/Australian cut-out was at 25 km/h.

 

[Johnnie]

Hi MassDeduction - thanks for your contribution to the discussion.
Re your 24/25 km query - yes in the EU any eBike capable of travelling faster than 25 km/h must be considered a moped if used on public roads.
I carefully observed when my bike’s motor support ceases by cycling up a steady gradient and watching the display - the current Shimano motors don’t suddenly cut out at a precise speed - support tapers off. On my eBike I noticed that motor support starts to reduce at just under 24 km/h and stops completely somewhere between 24 & 24.5 km/h (I haven’t bothered checking the accuracy of the display against an external means of measuring speed though).
I guess Shimano purposely calibrate their motors to cut out at a lower figure than 25 km/h to reliably stay on the right side of the law, it’s telling that their ETube app explicitly states powered support is up 24 km/h on EU drive units.
Best of luck configuring your E8000.....