Fazua software use anyone?

Electrically assisted bikes, trikes, etc. that are legal in the UK
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Cugel
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Fazua software use anyone?

Post by Cugel »

There are now two Fazua-powered e-bikes in the bike shed. I haven't used the new motor in the latest bicycle, as I'm riding it sans-battery & motor, as an ordinary bike, until I get truly decrepit. The ladywife's e-bike still has the Fazua software settings it had when we bought it three & a half years ago.

Fazua have issued some software updates and an app allowing owners to tweak the profiles of their Fazua motor outputs at various levels. Here's a description of how it works, which contains "nerd talk" as their blurb warns:

https://fazua.com/en/support/help-cente ... ustomizer/

My question: are there any Fazua e-bike owners out there who've used this software to try and choose various options for the power profiles and outputs? I'd like to have a go but the experience of others would be a useful guide.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
bikercolin
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by bikercolin »

I have found the software easy to use, and settings and info very helpful.
The only issues is plugging the whole bike into my desk top.
Well worth keeping up with the upgrades, black pepper changed my bike.
richtea99
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by richtea99 »

bikercolin wrote: 14 May 2022, 11:46pm I have found the software easy to use, and settings and info very helpful.
The only issues is plugging the whole bike into my desk top.
Well worth keeping up with the upgrades, black pepper changed my bike.
Agreed with the Black Pepper update - it made a difference, improving the power output.
I don't think I've updated since then - I'm not sure there has been a newer update beyond that for the older system (2020).
Instructions are here:
https://fazua.com/documents/709/200414_ ... online.pdf

> The only issues is plugging the whole bike into my desk top.
Just the removable motor+battery unit - not the whole bike!
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Cugel
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by Cugel »

'Afternoon chaps,

There seems to be some relatively recent additions to the software set available for use with that Fazua Black Pepper firmware update.

https://fazua.com/en/support/help-cente ... -software/

This is what gives us the tools to select different ready-made power profiles but also to tweak things in "advanced mode" to alter individual parameters such as maximum power for each mode, the ramp-up peed of the motor when you start to pedal and so forth:

https://fazua.com/en/support/help-cente ... ustomizer/

The options available in this "advanced mode" have many permutations, so I was hoping someone else with a Fazua equipped bike had not only downloaded and used the "standard" Black Pepper firmware update but also downloaded and used the Toolbox software to try various configurations of the motor's power profiles and behaviours.

I know, I know - I could play with the software meself! However, I'm lazy on that front and also don't really want it for my own bike but for that of the ladywife. I hope to avoid using the motor in mine for a year or ? yet, before creeping decrepitude sets in. Use it or lose it (my thrusting muscle that is) eh? :-)

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
mrburns
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by mrburns »

Hi Cugel,

Just wondering if you ventured into downloading the toolbox and changing the user settings.

I run mine on Eco setting and customised to give little power
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Cugel
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by Cugel »

mrburns wrote: 17 Aug 2022, 10:15am Hi Cugel,

Just wondering if you ventured into downloading the toolbox and changing the user settings.

I run mine on Eco setting and customised to give little power
Yes, the software is established on the PC and in me noggin. We have three Fazua-equipped bikes now, replacing all the non-e-bikes, so there's been plenty of opportunity to try different settings.

I've put various settings into both my motor and that of the ladywife, so that when we ride together she can easily keep up on the rises with me pedalling unpowered by my motor. In addition, we have settings that allow us both to get up longer and steeper hills either faster than we would unpowered or in the same time but with less effort, leaving more stamina for a series of such long steeps. Maximum motor output 220 watts for her and 150 watts for me. (I'm 4 stone heavier than her but more powerful personally).

We're aiming to refine the settings so that we can extend our runs to around 60K without using up all the ladywife's battery. In practice, if we do a 50K ride (our normal distance) always with 1000M or more of climbing, she comes back with 2/10ths of her battery left whilst I have 9/10th of mine left. This means we could actually do 90 - 100K rides with a battery swap halfway, without running out of e-go juice.

The average speed isn't measured by a gizmo but looking at distances (from the map) and time taken, it's around 15mph. That's quite similar to what I do when I go out by myself unpowered by the motor. But I can descend a lot faster than the ladywife.

We leave the pink setting as a get-home-when-bonked mode: 200 watts motor power for a 50 or 75 watt rider input. :-) Haven't used that yet and hope we never have to.

***********
There's plenty more scope for playing with motor power profiles against rider power profiles. But I'm wary of using full power too much as it'll just make my legs wither then fall off! :-)

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
mrburns
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by mrburns »

Hi Cugel,

Thanks for that, the battery difference between you and the ladywife is interesting. Have you thought about a tow rope ? :)

You live in west wales and I live in the midlands. I did the Cotswold run a while back, 1500 metres elevation and 120k long and my battery ran out with 5 k to go. However it still had enough to power Garmin with Watts etc. That was on Eco setting.

I guess everyone uses the power in a different way. I noticed that if I use my non electric bikes I am down the gears more (usually at least 2). Fazua suggest using as a normal road bike but I prefer to be up the gears and that way I appear to get reasonable mileage and power from battery.
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bikes4two
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by bikes4two »

Hi Cugel,
If you do a battery swap with the wife part way through a ride, surely the bespoke settings you've made for each other's riding styles will be 'swapped' too? A good idea though and not much of an issue if settings are similar enough.

I'm not a Fazua owner (unfortunately) but my understanding is that the 'smart' controller is all part of the battery pack.
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peterb
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by peterb »

That's an illustration of the Mahle X35 system, not Fazua.
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Cugel
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by Cugel »

bikes4two wrote: 27 Aug 2022, 6:36am Hi Cugel,
If you do a battery swap with the wife part way through a ride, surely the bespoke settings you've made for each other's riding styles will be 'swapped' too? A good idea though and not much of an issue if settings are similar enough.

I'm not a Fazua owner (unfortunately) but my understanding is that the 'smart' controller is all part of the battery pack.
I'm not certain in which component the Fazua software establishes the various power profiles. I'll need to investigate!

The battery/motor modules are encased in a single container, with the battery module easily removable from that container, so swapping just the battery - rather than the whole container of battery + motor - would be easily done.

I would have thought that the power profiles set by the software would be held in some way by the chip in the motor rather than by the battery .... but that's what I need to check. I'll ask the Fazua helpline.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
mrburns
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by mrburns »

Settings are held in the motor, below the battery; however you cannot swap motors as each motor is syncronized with the bottom bracket serial number.

If you wanted to swap them you will have to take them to a Fazua service dealer. They then will allocate the other serial number to the motor and that ill allow you to swap them en-route.

Should you load up the toolbox you will see the bottom bracket serial number on your bike. You can have up to 5 bottom brackets attached

Forgot to mention; obviously you can extract the battery and swap just that, but a bit fiddly.
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Cugel
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by Cugel »

mrburns wrote: 27 Aug 2022, 10:09pm Settings are held in the motor, below the battery; however you cannot swap motors as each motor is syncronized with the bottom bracket serial number.

If you wanted to swap them you will have to take them to a Fazua service dealer. They then will allocate the other serial number to the motor and that ill allow you to swap them en-route.

Should you load up the toolbox you will see the bottom bracket serial number on your bike. You can have up to 5 bottom brackets attached

Forgot to mention; obviously you can extract the battery and swap just that, but a bit fiddly.
Interesting info, that.

In practice, the ladywife and me haven't yet tried swapping either motors or batteries as we're limited in riding time so rarely do more than 50 - 60km, which so far has only reduced her battery to 2/10ths left. However, by next Spring we're likely to have the time & opportunity to do longer rides, so we will need to battery-swap to give her more powered mileage, as described in previous posts.

I have taken out a battery from the battery/motor module without any issues, to see how its done. It's just another easy-to-operate catch to free the battery from the motor casing. I suspected that the battery-swap would be unproblematic as Fazua sell spare batteries and also recommend taking a spare (they're quite light in weight) if very long rides are planned.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
whiskywheels
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by whiskywheels »

I seem to be missing something here! I've downloaded Toolbox, installed it and.........nothing. Can't open it or run it.
whiskywheels
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by whiskywheels »

Found it! It had installed the actual programme in my Downloads folder, rather than the usual place. I'll have a go with this tomorrow and will post anything that may be of interest or help.
stodd
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Re: Fazua software use anyone?

Post by stodd »

I use a utility called Everything (https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/) to help find things on my machine; from 'where did that latest file go' (last poster's issue) to 'where is that file from 1990 in my archive'? Takes a little getting used to, but amazingly fast and effective.

Sorry for diverging from the topic, but it does relate to the last post.
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