Making Begode wheels safer: PWM tiltback with custom firmware

[Chris Wagner]

@Freestyler thanks for your work and efforts!
Do you perhabs know if a custom firmware could fix the issue that the Master´s display/lights won´t turn on under 20°C?
I know, very specific question but maybe you know (Master batch2/v2).

[Freestyler]

Nope, that's a hardware issue on the small aux board that requires a different resistor.

See this: 

 

 

You should contact your reseller for a free replacement.

 

[Chris Wagner]

Thank you, will do!
Could you also advise me on how to flash the custom tiltback firmware?

[Zrex90]

1 hour ago, Freestyler said:

^ What Seba said. There are many custom firmwares circulating before we made the change to help apps identify that a custom firmware is running.

 

I will send you instructions @Zrex90 to flash a more up to date firmware that is compatible with 3rd party apps: Euc world, Darknessbot (beta) and Wheellog (beta).

 

Also, not every wheel firmware is updated with the above changes, but every time I get a request for a wheel, I make sure to update it to the latest patches.

 

Thanks FS, I flashed again my firmware following your instructions, and then I have now access to the dynamic tilltback menu in EUC World. CF2002002 FW version is now mentionned page 2. One thing is that I can't adjust the safety marging threshold (20%). I believe it's a wheel depending parameter. 

Thanks guys @Seba @Freestyler for your amazing contribution to the community 

[Freestyler]

Yeap, not all wheels support pwm adjustment. The hardcoded value is 75% for those

[NYC One Roll]

On 12/17/2022 at 4:11 PM, Freestyler said:

Yeap, not all wheels support pwm adjustment. The hardcoded value is 75% for those

@Freestyler I can't seem to get the custom firmware to become visible after adding the proxy : 4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io and port 16456 .. upon opening the begode app, I get network failure when looking at the firmware upgrade list. Using an iPhone 14

Does look like your proxy is up and running on that port though : 

telnet 4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io 16456

Trying 3.127.253.86...

Connected to 4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io.

Escape character is '^]'.

 

Any thoughts? 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by NYC One Roll

[vladdark]

@Freestyler i have your old custom firmware on my master. im trying to update with new one CF. Can you send me correct proxy settings?

[Freestyler]

18 hours ago, NYC One Roll said:

@Freestyler I can't seem to get the custom firmware to become visible after adding the proxy : 4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io and port 16456 .. upon opening the begode app, I get network failure when looking at the firmware upgrade list. Using an iPhone 14

Does look like your proxy is up and running on that port though : 

telnet 4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io 16456

Trying 3.127.253.86...

Connected to 4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io.

Escape character is '^]'.

 

Any thoughts? 

 

Proxy information regularly changes. I'll pm you updated info

17 hours ago, vladdark said:

@Freestyler i have your old custom firmware on my master. im trying to update with new one CF. Can you send me correct proxy settings?

sent!

[Rawnei]

17 minutes ago, Freestyler said:

Proxy information regularly changes. I'll pm you updated info

sent!

Same, I want the CF version, thanks. 🙏😁

[NYC One Roll]

6 hours ago, Freestyler said:

Proxy information regularly changes. I'll pm you updated info

sent!

Thanks again for all this hard work @Freestyler.. can't wait to test it out. 

I made a quick video tutorial for the challenges I ran into and make it more transparent for others 

 

 

[mrelwood]

18 hours ago, NYC One Roll said:

I made a quick video tutorial for the challenges I ran into and make it more transparent for others 

Btw, your video would be found better if you fixed the title: it’s PWM, not PWN. Comes from the words Pulse Width Modulation.

[Jerqfase]

@FreestylerHall Effect sensor replaced, motor rebuilt, running perfectly using the EX.N tiltback firmware! Thank you for all the help!

Does the exn support custom pmw adjustment or is this model hard-coded to 75? 

Haven't hit tiltback yet, but I'll report my findings once I do. 

[Ben Kim]

7 hours ago, Jerqfase said:

@FreestylerHall Effect sensor replaced, motor rebuilt, running perfectly using the EX.N tiltback firmware! Thank you for all the help!

Does the exn support custom pmw adjustment or is this model hard-coded to 75? 

Haven't hit tiltback yet, but I'll report my findings once I do. 

Older firmwares are hard coded to 75. 

[Vince.Fab]

Just a quick review. 

I have been using Freestyler's PWM firmware on my molicel RS19 Speed with awesome results for over 500 miles.   It's so nice not having to be plugged into EUC World with headphones to ride safely up to the limit.   Max speed to date is 44.2mph (240lb rider) and at no point did it feel dangerous due to the pwm tilt.  

At a certain point I wasn't sure that the pwm tilt was even working so freestyler let me try a custom 50% firmware and I couldn't push past low 60s.  I found that using soft mode really made the initial tilt very subtle so now I ride mostly in medium.  

5 out of 5 stars over here.  Begode really needs to use this type of pwm firmware stock. 

Also just picked up an EXN HT but really want to flash it before riding due to its lower top speed.   So, @Freestyleri you see this,  I would love updated proxy!  Thank you!!

[lattisimo]

New member of an EB Commander and am excited to add dynamic tiltback. May I have the new proxy? Thank you

[Mike Sacristan]

Testing the 78% PWM FW on the EXN HS.
Works like a charm... we could go deeper... it is still a little to slow/safe haha... but let's not fool around too much.

Testing starts at 14:30.
 

 

[Michał Kowalski]

I uploaded the CF2002003 software to my EX.N but it shows that I have CF2002002. In addition, the front lamp does not have a strobe. have there been such cases?

[Rawnei]

1 hour ago, Michał Kowalski said:

I uploaded the CF2002003 software to my EX.N but it shows that I have CF2002002. In addition, the front lamp does not have a strobe. have there been such cases?

The strobe is reserved for CF flashing the headlight when you hit PWM limit so it's normal.

[Bizra6ot]

2 hours ago, Michał Kowalski said:

I uploaded the CF2002003 software to my EX.N but it shows that I have CF2002002. In addition, the front lamp does not have a strobe. have there been such cases?

 

It works by activating the headlight, if there is only the light halo it does not trigger the strobe

Edited December 31, 2022 by Bizra6ot

[Freestyler]

On 12/29/2022 at 11:10 PM, lattisimo said:

New member of an EB Commander and am excited to add dynamic tiltback. May I have the new proxy? Thank you

Extreme bull wheels are not flashable

11 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

Testing the 78% PWM FW on the EXN HS.
Works like a charm... we could go deeper... it is still a little to slow/safe haha... but let's not fool around too much.

Testing starts at 14:30.
 

 

Always enjoy your videos!

Just to reiterate on the reasons I choose the default 75% PWM (for other people, since we have talked extensively together about this).

Doing tests with several people on my mcm5, we have found that we can overshoot the pwm limit by 22% (short spike) if we really try (pushing aggressively into the tiltback). Therefore 30% safety margin (pwm goes up to 105%, but above 95% the pedals will be very soft) was selected to account for aggressive riding close to the limit.

If someone knows he is not going to be aggressive close to the limit, then he can slightly increase the limit. Although an unseen pothole might bring the wheel over the limits.

So the 75% limit was choosen for minimizing the things that a rider has to think when riding close to the limits. (Took the worst case and added even more margin)

For wheels that support pwm adjustment, it will be very helpful for people to set the pwm limit between 50-60% and see how much they can overshoot it themselves in a safe manner. (There is also the problem of "resolution". The pwm spike might be too quick for pwm packets to capture it)

Report back your results if you do so

 

7 hours ago, Michał Kowalski said:

I uploaded the CF2002003 software to my EX.N but it shows that I have CF2002002. In addition, the front lamp does not have a strobe. have there been such cases?

For the strobe part, see Rawnei's reply.

Begode app lists firmwares, their names and their versions.

Sometimes what's listed as a version, differs from what it is actually embedded in the firmware file.

So, Begode posts a GW2002002 firmware, but on the app they state it as GW2002003.

The correct version is whatever is actual inside the firmware file (GW2002002 in this case).

So I should stop trusting Begode and use the actual versions, so people don't get confused.

 

Rest assured, that if flashing starts, the firmware will be written. The flash process overwrites the written firmware as it progresses.

There is no temporary space to copy the firmware and then write it.

So the firmware is either written or the wheel is bricked. There is no "the flash was not written, let's try again", unless a firmware from another wheel is attempted to be written and in that case the flash process will abort immediately. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Freestyler

[Ben Kim]

75 imho too conservative unless you’re excessively heavy. 78 PWM should work well for the majority of riders under 200 lbs. if you’re lighter you could get away with an even higher PWM. 

[GottaWay]

Holy crap, this website works absolutely horribly on Brave via Android...

New user that's been following this thread for months.

Does the MCM5V2 support adjustments to PWM % via the github site from Freestyler? I would like to try 50% before trying 80-85%(lightweight rider...understand why 75% was chosen).

[Mike Sacristan]

14 hours ago, Freestyler said:

Always enjoy your videos!

Just to reiterate on the reasons I choose the default 75% PWM (for other people, since we have talked extensively together about this).

Doing tests with several people on my mcm5, we have found that we can overshoot the pwm limit by 22% (short spike) if we really try (pushing aggressively into the tiltback). Therefore 30% safety margin (pwm goes up to 105%, but above 95% the pedals will be very soft) was selected to account for aggressive riding close to the limit.

If someone knows he is not going to be aggressive close to the limit, then he can slightly increase the limit. Although an unseen pothole might bring the wheel over the limits.

So the 75% limit was choosen for minimizing the things that a rider has to think when riding close to the limits. (Took the worst case and added even more margin)

For wheels that support pwm adjustment, it will be very helpful for people to set the pwm limit between 50-60% and see how much they can overshoot it themselves in a safe manner. (There is also the problem of "resolution". The pwm spike might be too quick for pwm packets to capture it)

Report back your results if you do so

 

Thanks!

I totally agree with the PWM value chosen. 75% is a very nice number. At 75% and surfing the tiltback I could expect to maybe be around 79%.
And with 78% I could expect to be around 82% or even 83%. But this scenario is me riding fast, the wheel beeping and initiating tiltback... and me continuing to push. So this is a very controlled scenario.

I rarely do high speed overshooting but my friend did it on the RS HS we were testing a few months back. This is where the safety buffer is super handy and needed the most! If we raise the value then we won't be able to handle overshooting so I think it is great as it is and makes the wheel feel very safe.

[GottaWay]

@Freestyler

Can I get the current proxy address and port when you have a chance please.

[Freestyler]

On 1/1/2023 at 4:09 AM, GottaWay said:

Holy crap, this website works absolutely horribly on Brave via Android...

New user that's been following this thread for months.

Does the MCM5V2 support adjustments to PWM % via the github site from Freestyler? I would like to try 50% before trying 80-85%(lightweight rider...understand why 75% was chosen).

Instructions sent. Stock mcm5v2 firmware has PWM alarm at 75% with a max value of 98%. (compared to 100v wheels that have 80% alarm with 105% max)

So putting the PWM at 85% leaves you with 13% safety margin. Close to the maximum PWM the available torque is greatly reduced, so the the 13% from 85 -> 98 is weaker than the 13% from let's say 50 -> 63.

You will definitely overlean eventually.

The firmware I sent you has 70% PWM limit. Try that and see how much you can overshoot and then we can increase it.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Freestyler