A Hacker’s Guide To Programming

The BBS02 & BBSHD

Karl Gesslein
ElectricBike-Blog.com | June 26, 2015

One way that the BBS02 middrive unit shines over other competition
like the Bosch is the ability to program the controller yourself. Alt-
hough the process of programming the controller will void any war-
ranty that you got with the unit, to many people the risk of voiding
their warranty is outweighed by the possibility of getting more per-
formance or having the PAS settings more to their liking. There are 3
settings that most reputable resellers of the BBS02 will set for you.
 • Low Voltage Shutoff (in Volts)
• Limited Current (in Amps)
• Speed Limit

Update: The BBSHD is programmed the exact same way as the BBS02
with the exception of the Limited Current (Amps) which should be set
to 30 not 25.

Many US vendors will be resistant to remove the 20mph speed limit

as that may make them liable for any accident you are in with their
motor. The BBS02 at 750Watts is really only powerful enough for
about 25mph or so on level ground, although with a 52T chainring on
a downhill stretch I have reached 40mph. At higher speeds your bat-
teries get used up very fast.

It can be somewhat confusing as many of the settings on the drive

controller have a setting of ‘By Display’s Command‘ which means
the controller on the drive until will defer that setting to whatever
the display is set to. There are 3 different displays which all have dif-
ferent settings on them and ways to set different variables like wheel
diameter, speed limit and PAS levels. For instruction manuals for all
three display types look here. The C965 and C963 are generally set to
5 PAS levels, although the C961 is easily set to 9. You can also adjust
the C965 PAS levels up to 9. The last page after the Password has
been entered is the PAS page, it can be adjusted up to setting “0-9”.
Your controller will have silicone all over the connectors and will
be far less pretty than this one (notice I didn’t say ugly, I hated
being called ugly when I was a kid).

Before you start programming your controller, here are some

important quotes from Paul at em3ev.

• “The PAS functions like a switch, it either assists at a

certain speed and current percentage or it doesn’t. It is on
or off. The motor does not know how hard or how soft you
are pedaling, it is not assisting you, it is not reacting to your
behavior. It only knows that you are pedaling or you are
not. The only change in the so-called assistance, is because
the motor has been moved to a different point on the motors
power curve and that is not a programmable parameter, it is
just a case of pedaling that bit closer to the no load speed of
the motor/controller combination, where the motor will
deliver less torque and therefore less power. That is why
the PAS settings are best left pretty much like they come
from the factory, with gradually increasing speed and
corresponding increases in current values too, as you go
from steps 1 through to 9”
• “Users can change the LVC, change the current level (reduce
it preferably)”
• “Users can also change the speed limit to be controlled by
the display (but that does leave the kit more liable to
blow).”
 • “Setting the throttle to 100% and without speed limit is
what everyone wants, but is also a good way to blow the
controller.”
• “Once anything is increased, or the response is made faster,
the controller is more liable to blow. Setting every PAS level
to 100% is a terrible idea.”

The biggest problem with the BBS02 is when it is turning under too
much load at too low of a speed. The best way to keep the motor spin-
ning fast is to get a smaller chain-ring and to make sure you are in
the right gear for any hills you want to climb. The surest way to blow
your controller is to use full throttle in too high of a gear on a hill
where the pedals are turning too slowly. If you use a large chain-ring
on your commuter (mine is a 52T because I like to go fast) make sure
you shift down into a lower gear before coming to a stop even on
level ground so you are not repeatedly trying to start moving in too
low of a gear. Your pedaling cadence should always feel normal to
fast, especially on hills.

Another strong recommendation for not frying your controller is to

install a temperature probe. Instructions on how to do this are here
and it takes about 7 minutes to do and costs $2 shipped.

In order to program your BBS02 you will need a windows PC with a

USB port, a programming cable (from Empowered Cycles) and the
software. More info on those three items can be found in this article.

Clicking READ FLASH or WRITE FLASH buttons changes or reads

values from all 3 tabs at the same time. You should always click READ
FLASH, then FILE->SAVE as a .el to make a back up copy before mak-
ing any changes to your current settings.

There are 3 pages of programming variables. You can click READ for
each page but it will only load the current settings on the controller
on that page before you change them. Sometimes the serial connec-
tion is unreliable and a variable will have a totally wrong setting or
garbage in it. I suggest clicking the READ button twice before you
start changing the settings to make sure it read the controller settings
correctly. I’ve never had garbage persist through 2 READ clicks, it
always seems to get it right on the 2nd try. When you edit the varia-
bles you want you will then need to click the WRITE button for each
page you change or WRITE FLASH for all pages. I would click the
READ button again on each page after waiting a few seconds to make
sure that the settings you changed were actually written to the con-
troller firmware when you clicked WRITE.

Programming cable that plugs into the display port of the BBS02 from Matt at
EMPowered Cycles

Variables are color coded based on how safe they are to modify

• Green variables are safe to change

• Orange variables can be changed but there is some risk
• Red variables should never be changed unless you know
something that I don’t
 The color of the variables are what defaults from various drive units
as well as the .el configuration file for each vendor. You must save the
file to your drive then rename it from .doc to .el then FILE->LOAD it
directly into the Bafang program. All variables will be automatically
set on all three pages and you need only to WRITE FLASH to write it
to the controller.

• Black is for em3ev settings. .el File is here

• Brown variables and text is EMPowered Cycles settings & quotes. .el
File is here
• Purple variables and text is Kepler from Endless-sphere’s settings &
quotes. .el File is here
• Aqua variables and text is Karl’s special sauce, which are pretty much
the only settings I ever use. The .el file for the BBS02 is located
here and the BBSHD is located here.

These .el files are designed for the BBS02 but work just as well for
the BBSHD. If you use them with a BBSHD make sure to change the
Limited Current(A) on the first page to 30 amps. You do not need to
lower the amps on the BBSHD, it can do 30 amps all day long without
breaking a sweat.

BASIC TAB

Listed below are the settings and what little we’ve learned about
them. This article will be updates as we experiment more.

Low Battery Protect(Volts): 41/41/41/41 to 43/41 – This number

will change based on the pack size and configuration. Most likely your
battery will have a BMS that will shut off power when it gets too low.
This setting is mostly useful when you are running a battery setup
without a BMS which is not advised. Kepler notes,

“I use 43V on my 14S 4P 18650 pack setup”

Limited Current(Amps): 25/25/18/18 to 20/25 This sets the power

level that the drive unit will pull from the battery pack. Be aware that
just because it is set lower, does not mean that it will not draw more
amps for brief periods. If you don’t want to stress the BMS you may
want to set this number lower than you think it should be by 2-3
amps then slowly increase it over time if your $15 watt meter shows
that it is not pulling too much power on a regular basis. This variable
will be set lower than 25 if you have a BBS01 or a BBS02 with a lower
power level rating than 750W. If this is set lower than 25 from the
factory you CANNOT RAISE it safely unless you are sure it is a 750
Watt unit & controller and your battery can handle the draw (it
should say on the bottom of the unit). Matt from Empowered Cycles
has this to say:

“I recommend 18 amps in most cases. You still get amazing per-

formance, prolonged controller life, more charge cycles from your
pack, more range on your rides. If you have an internally geared
hub, I recommend 15 amps and changing the “start current” on
pedal assist and throttle all the way down to the lowest setting of
1. Even at 18 amps the 750 watt motor keeps up with an 8T
geared MAC hub motor that is pulling 1500 watts. You do not
need 25 amps for this motor to perform.”

Kepler has this to say

“ I agree that 18 amps is a good all-round setting. I then rely on

the Limit Current Assist level to fine tune the max power best
suited to bike.”

If you have a BBSHD make sure that this is set to 30 and no lower.

Asst0 Limit Current(%): 1/0/0/100/1 – This is the setting for the

PAS at level 0. The throttle might not work in PAS 0 unless this is set
to 1 on more recent controllers. You must set limit speed to 1 as well
as well as setting the Designated Assist to 9 on the throttle page.

Asst0 Limit Spd(%): 1/0/0/1/1 – At power level 0 causes the con-

troller to lower current gently to maintain motor rpm when 44% of
speed limit is hit. Speed limiting is done based on motor RPMs not
road speed. The throttle might not work in PAS 0 unless this is set to
at least 1, it is really nice to have a hand throttle setting without any
PAS intervention.

Asst1 Limit Current(%): 52/20/52/10/52 – Power cut based on road

speed at power level 1.

Asst1 Limit Spd(%): 44/44/36/100/44 – Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 1.

Asst2 Limit Current(%): 58/20/58/20/58 – Power cut based on

road speed at power level 2 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst2 Limit Spd(%): 51/51/44/100/51 – Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 2 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst3 Limit Current(%): 64/30/64/30/64 – Power cut based on

road speed at power level 3 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst3 Limit Spd(%): 58/58/52/100/58 -Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 3 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst4 Limit Current(%): 70/40/70/40/70 – Power cut based on

road speed at power level 4 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst4 Limit Spd(%): 65/65/60/100/65 -Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 4 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst5 Limit Current(%): 76/50/76/50/76 – Power cut based on road

speed at power level 5 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst5 Limit Spd(%): 72/72/68/100/72 -Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 5 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst6 Limit Current(%): 82/60/82/60/82 – Power cut based on

road speed at power level 6 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst6 Limit Spd(%): 79/79/76/100/79– Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 6 if set to 9 power levels.
Asst7 Limit Current(%): 88/70/88/70/88 – Power cut based on
road speed at power level 7 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst7 Limit Spd(%): 86/86/84/100/86 – Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 7 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst8 Limit Current(%): 94/80/94/85/94 – Power cut based on

road speed at power level 8 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst8 Limit Spd(%): 93/93/92/100/93– Power cut based on motor

RPM speed at power level 8 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst9 Limit Current(%): 100/100/100/100/100– Power cut based

on road speed at power level 9 if set to 9 power levels.

Asst9 Limit Spd(%): 100/100/100/100/100– Power cut based on

motor RPM speed at power level 9 if set to 9 power levels.

A quick note on power levels. If your display is set to only use 3

power levels then the controller uses settings for Asst1, Asst5 and
Asst9 and ignores all the rest. If it is set to 5 levels than it ignores
every other power level setting (but uses Asst1\3\5\7\9). On the C963
display I have still not figured out how to set the display to 9 power
levels, so you may be stuck with only 5 PAS power levels with that
unit.

Wheel Diamter(Inch): 26/26/26/26/18 – Set this to whatever your

wheel diameter is. I always set this number so that if the display is
set to show kph that it really shows mph instead. For a 26″ fatbike
tire that is about 18″.

Speed Meter Model: ExternalWheelMeter

/ ExternalWheelMeter / ExternalWheelMeter / External-
WheelMeter / ExternalWheelMeter – As far as I know this is the
only speed sensor that is set up for the BBS02

SpdMeter Signal: 1/1/1/1/1

PEDAL ASSIST TAB

This page is for the Pedal Assist Settings. Change conservatively,
make small incremental changes and test rather than large ones.

Pedal Type: DoubleSignal-24 \ DoubleSignal-24 \ DoubleSignal-24

\ DoubleSignal-24 \ DoubleSignal-24 – Unknown

Disignated Assist: By Display’s Command \ By Display’s Command

\ By Display’s Command \ By Display’s Command \ By Display’s
Command – This setting if set will override the Limit Speed setting on
the Basic Tab and also overrides the speed limited on the Basic Tab.

Speed Limited: By Display’s Command \ By Display’s Command \

By Display’s Command \ By Display’s Command \ By Display’s
Command – Cuts power when the road speed from the mag sensor
hits the number set here. If set to By Display’s Command then it uses
the Display’s set speed limit.

Start Current (%): 10\50\40\30\10 -This variable is vital for not

killing the controller. The lower the Start Current is set the less
power is directed to the PAS system upon startup, this will create less
strain on the controller when starting from a standstill, especially if
you are in a gear that is too high. 100% Start Current will peak at
well over 1kW draw. With Kepler’s settings this should be set to 30%
or less. This can be set all the way down to 1, very useful for IGH
bikes and for people wanting a more gentle start

Slow-Start Mode(1-8): 3\4\5\6\4 -Controls how quickly the power

ramps and how much it overshoots. If this variable is set too high the
PAS start will be jerky, if set too low you risk blowing the controller
as with Start Current above. If you are in too low of a gear to start
and this variable is set too low it can blow the controller.

Startup Dgree(Signal No.): 4\4\4\4\2– The number of sensor steps

before the start up commences. The maximum accepted is 20. 24 is a
full pedal revolution. Too few makes start-up occur with too slight a
pedal movement. Lower number is less pedal movement to start the
motor. Does not work properly with 1 or 0.
Work Mode (angular Speed of Pedal/wheel*10): Undeterminated
\ Undeterminated \10\10 \ Undeterminated — Adjusts the amount
of power that can be applied to each pedal rotation. The higher the
number the greater the power applied to each rotation. This might
affect at what rpm peak power sits in PAS operation, changing it
doesn’t seem to be noticeable so we advise to leave it alone.

Time of Stop(x10ms): 25\25\25\25\10– This affects how quickly the

drive stops after you stop pedaling. Some people report that setting
this lower (as low as 5) may affect the startup delay on the throttle. If
you set it to 0 the PAS system ceases to work. 25 is probably too high.
This setting disables the PAS if it is set less than 5. I strongly recom-
mend setting this to 5, especially if you want to use the PAS system
without using ebrakes. If you set this less than 10 on the v2 of the
BBS02 controllers then your PAS will not work properly at all. On the
older BBS02v1 controllers and the BBSHD controllers you can set this
as low as 5 before you start having issues with the PAS.

Current Decay(1-8): 4\8\6\8\8 – Determines how high up the pedal

cadence rpm range it starts to reduce power, 8 being the highest.
There is no detail on actual rpm speeds for the Current Decay setting.
The lower this setting is the sooner the drive unit will start cutting
back on the power as you pedal faster.

Stop Decay(x10ms): 0\0\0\20

\0 – The amount of time the system takes to cut after pedaling stops.
Lower is faster. Kepler says,

“I prefer a smooth stop transition. It is still quite quick to shut

the drive down when you stop pedaling”
Current Decay settings mapped vs Power. Image from Ken Taylor on Endless
Sphere

Keep Current(%): 60\60\60\60\80– What this setting does when

set at 60% is ramp the current down to 60% of the PAS level selected
based on pedal cadence rpm, so at low pedal cadence you get 100% of
the level selected but as your pedal cadence increases the power is
reduced down to 60%. As you pedal faster the motor does less work
down to whatever this number is set to (60% of max current or 15
amps on 25 Amp system).

THROTTLE HANDLE TAB

Start Voltage(x100mv): 11\11\11\11\11 – The is the throttle input

starting voltage, the point at which the controller responds to input is
at 1.1 volts, so set value to 11 which = 1.1 volts. As you begin to roll on
the throttle the voltage moves up from zero and when it reaches 1.1v
the motor begins to turn. Best to leave between 10 and 15. Too low
and the display will throw an error as the motor will want to run con-
tinuously. If you change the throttle you will need to find the new
lowest setting.

End Voltage(x100mV): 35\35\42\35\35 – You can set the max range

to 42 which is the max input the controller accepts from throttle
input 4.2v. If you set lower than this value your throttle response is
not as linear or smooth as it could be. Matt suggests you set start
voltage to 11 and end voltage to 4.2 for a wider range of throttle
response and smoother control of motor output. If you use an after-
market throttle you will need to test to see what voltage the hall sen-
sor throttle is giving off at full throttle and set this number slightly
lower than that voltage shown on the meter (times 10).

Mode: Current\Speed\Speed\Current\Speed – Switching this to

Current Mode (instead of Speed mode) has an improvement in the
throttle response smoothness. If you change this then set the Start
Current % on this page to 10 or less. Personally I prefer the intensity
of the speed setting, although setting this to Current will be much
easier on your controller.

Designated Assist: 9\9\9\9\9 – If you disable the PAS system (step 5

here) then this will give you the same number of levels of throttle
power as PAS settings. If you don’t disable the PAS system then you
should probably set this to 9. If your bike is in a rental fleet and don’t
want to deal with fried controllers then you should set it to something
much lower like 6. This setting if set will override the Limit Speed
setting on the Basic Tab and also overrides the speed limited on the
Basic Tab. If you set this to 9 be aware that you can and will fry your
controller if you are in too high of a gear on too steep of a hill and you
peg the throttle.

Speed Limited: By Display’s Com-

mand\40KmH\40KmH\40KmH\40KmH – Cuts power when the
road speed from the mag sensor hits the number set here. If set to By
Display’s Command then it uses the Display’s set speed limit. How-
ever this setting can sometimes cause severe Throttle lag in PAS0 so
if you set it to 40km/hr the 2-3 second throttle lag should disappear.

The speed limit only applies to the PAS and in ignored by throttle
input, so in other words, if you want to go past the speed limit, just
use the throttle. This is a setting that allows the rider to set a pace or
cadence when using pedal assist for a comfortable steady pace.
Almost like cruise control, when you begin to go past the speed, the
motor cuts out to maintain a lower speed. It is a useful way to extend
range. The max speed limit of the display is 45 mph.
Start Current(%) : 10\10\10\10 to 20\10 – Percentage current of
available when throttle initially applied. Unwise to raise beyond 20,
but fine to lower, however motor will give less power when the throt-
tle is engaged. If you set the throttle Mode to Current (which I think
you should) you will want to lower this number substantially or it
will be very jerky on startup. 5-10 gives a much smoother
startup. This can be set all the way down to 1, great for IGH bikes and
smoothing out power delivery.

So what do you recommend?

For smooth throttle control and less delay the Current Mode on the
Throttle Handle Tab is the way to go, but you should keep the Start
Current % low (below 10 is safe) otherwise the throttle is far too
jerky and wheelie prone. If you want max power and torque then set
the Throttle Handle to Speed Mode.

I have 8 BBS02 controllers from various manufacturers and I’ve only

had one controller failure from the first one I bought from elife-
bike. The two I have bought from Lectric Cycles and all the ones I
have bought from Paul and Doug at California-Ebikes (which both use
em3ev’s settings) have given my absolutely no problems. The Lectric
Cycles settings has a jumpy throttle and a little throttle delay which
could be corrected by switching the Throttle Mode to Current. I have
hundreds of hours beating the living piss out of my drive units
with em3ev’s and Lectric Cycles settings with no complaints and no
controller failures. At this point I’ve set all my drive units to the
“Karl’s Special Sauce” settings which is the only way to fly if you
want max throttle power without blowing your controller and PAS
that actually is usable.

There are plenty of people who say Kelper’s settings are very reliable,
but I have not tried them yet so I cannot say. I would not advise using
Kepler’s settings at a full 25 Amps, as you are asking for trouble.
100% Limit Speed at every PAS level at is going to put a serious load
on the cheap-ass controller mosfets.
In some ways it’s great that we can get into the software and change
so many of the settings for the BBS02. Along with this flexibility
comes taking responsibility for the controllers and drive units we end
up destroying by tweaking the settings. This guide is a way to share
information that others have discovered the hard way, but by no
means is definitive. All the information here could be wildly inaccu-
rate as no one that I know of has gotten any real technical guidance
from Bafang on how to program these units at all.

Program at your own risk. Don’t program your controller, fry it, then
try to get it replaced under warranty pleading innocence. If you fry
your own controller then have the common decency to spend the time
and energy to fix it yourself or just suck it up and buy another one.
Paul has had so many problems with people ripping him off by cus-
tom programming and frying their controllers and then trying to get
free warranty replacements that he no longer warranties the individ-
ual controllers. Can you really blame him?

This article is the culmination of many hours of work and was con-
tributed to by Paul(cellman) from em3ev, Matt from Empowered
Cycles, kepler and drprox from Endless-Sphere and this insanely long
37+ page thread on ES. Many thanks to everyone who contributed. I
could have done it without you but the results would have been really
laughable.

Ride On.

UPDATE: A hacker from Norway named Penoff used the source code
and completely rewrote the Bafang programming software. All the
settings are the same but the software that Penoff has written fixes a
lot of the annoying bugs (like the com ports not showing up properly)
and works the way the original Bafang software SHOULD have
worked. I’ve tested it pretty extensively and emailed back and forth
with Penoff who seems to be a stand up guy. If you want to download
his application you can do it through his website here. You won’t be
disappointed.