Derestricting Urban Mover UM36

[Haku]

In the last few days my UM36 had been occasionally cutting out on full and empty battery, throttle and pedal sensor, so today I opened the section below the battery pack on the bike and set to on disconnecting & re-connecting each of the controller connectors (apart from the battery & motor bullet connectors) a few times to help the contacts make better contact.
On the short distance I test it things seem to be going ok *fingers crossed* as my 1yr warranty ran out today I think

But the interesting part was one of the connectors hanging out the control unit plugged back into itself, a single white wire with a connector on the end that plugs into another white wire.

So I disconnected the white wire from itself & twisted the throttle with the back wheel off the ground, *whizzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*! derestricted! Another short test run and the throttle appears to get me up to the 15mph pedalling speed along the flat and probably faster (still no speedometer yet), unsure if it's derestricted on the pedal sensor side of things so will find out on the way home, should be a fun ride

 

[frank9755]

To de-restrict the Wisper you have to remove a similar wiring loop from the controller. Perhaps the same trick might work on other bikes too. Obviously you may run into problems as a result, but an interesting experiment nevertheless!

 

[Haku]

The ride home was fun, a little hairy though getting used to the new found speed, the link appears to only derestrict the throttle speed, pedal help speed is still restricted to 15mph but that doesn't stop you twisting the throttle & pedalling at the same time

From my ride home I wouldn't reccomend a new ebiker derestrict their bike for quite a while as they'll need to get used to riding with the extra power the motor gives in the first place.

Can't wait till my battery recharges so I can go out for a burn without the additional pannier weight. I wonder how quickly I can run the battery down now...

 

[MaryinScotland]

Haku, did you look inside the silver box with the controller circuitry?

I've just been investigating my UM, because my bike still isn't right following my wet-day problem last week. Sometimes when I pick up the back wheel and blip the throttle, the motor spins. Then next time, it's dead.

I haven't yet tried your disconnect-reconnect everything strategy, although that may be the next thing to do. Today I just checked visually that nothing looked loose or corroded. I did notice that there's a red LED on the controller board. When the battery is switched on, the LED flashes. I don't know if that indicates "normal" or "problem".

Holiday weekend coming up - I may have time to do some more fiddling with it. But I'm not an enthusiastic tinkerer. I foresee a better bike in the near future...

Mary

 

[Haku]

Mary, I did take a peek inside the silver box out of curiosity as one day I'd like to see if it's possible to 'switch off' the 3 second delay of the throttle control, another day perhaps.

Do try the disconnect-reconnect each connection individually a few times strategy, as you've had your bike for over a year like me and rode in wet weather then chances are the contacts have some 'dirt' on the surface. It'll only take you a few minutes and you've got nothing to loose by trying it.


Just went out for a blast with the new throttle speed, eep! the journey I took used to be a nice ride and now it feels like I'm in some sort of race, battery wasn't fully charged but it sure drained quick. I may put the restriction back on because it almost feels a bit too much, and the throttle spring is still strong so it'll ache my wrist again.

Does anyone know if the connectors on ebike controllers some sort of standard type? I haven't seen that type before, if I could get a plug+socket I'd install a restrict/derestrict switch for when I want some fun speed and when I want normal journeys.

 

[keithhazel]

Just went out for a blast with the new throttle speed, eep! the journey I took used to be a nice ride and now it feels like I'm in some sort of race,
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what actual speed are you getting up to ?

 

[Haku]

The throttle on UM bikes are set to 10mph but I've not been able to find out exactly as I don't yet have a speedometer, so I'm guessing about 20mph derestricted as it feels noticably faster than the 15mph assisted pedalling.

Going along a bumpy cycle track in the dark at 20mph does feel like racing

Really need to get on and finish my 60 LED front light if I'm going to keep it derestricted so I can see more and further into the distance at night.

 

[barnabear]

Haku, when you derestricted the UM did your throttle control still work progressively, or did you get the full beans at say half power?

How controllable is all this and do you feel any concerns about e.g. battery or motor warming?

Do you still keep your UM derestricted and what issues, if any, have you encountered?