Regenerative (Regen) Instructions

Enabling Regenerative Braking

Regenerative (‘regen’) braking uses your bike’s motor/controller to apply a braking force to the rear wheel when the throttle is released. The effect is similar to engine braking on an internal combustion bike.

Things to note:

• Regen braking applies a braking force using the motor as a generator. The energy generated is fed back into the battery. This will result in increased range during city riding.
• Adjusting your riding to favour regen braking can result in longer life for your brake pads.
• Regen braking uses the rear wheel hub motor - so the regen braking force is only applied to the rear wheel.
• Rider feedback suggests that the regen braking becomes ineffective below 15 km/h so you will need to be ready with mechanical braking at low speeds.
• Incorrectly adjusted regen braking (ie. too much) could make the bike difficult to handle during braking or lock the rear wheel in low traction situations (eg. wet weather, gravel road). Do not enable excessive regen braking.
• Regen braking is not limited by the ABS system, but the ABS will reduce the mechanical braking force if the rear wheel locks up (if the brakes are applied at the time).

A - What do I need?

Use a TTL serial to Bluetooth dongle (something like this) and smart phone with the FarDriver app (eg. iOS version here). Note that there is no password security on this app/dongle so you should NOT leave it connected to your bike. You don’t want someone messing with your controller settings!

The dongle connects to the wiring loom coming from the 30 pin connector on your controller. On some bikes this socket can be found by looking between the battery case and outer fairing on the left hand side of the bike. If not then you will need to access this connector from under the ‘tank’.

Note: If you aren’t technically capable and safe around high voltages then you will need appropriate assistance. Assume all thicker cables connecting to the top of the controller are ‘live’ with high voltage (eg. up to 84V).

On some bikes there will be a 3-wire extension coming from this socket up to under the passenger seat next to a charging plug. You can disconnect this lead at the controller end to plug in your Bluetooth dongle. When finished, you may find it convenient to leave this socket in an accessible position between the battery case and outer fairing on the left hand side of the bike.

B - Getting connected

Note: this app lets you change the whole range of settings within your controller - don’t mess with anything unless you are absolutely sure what the effects will be - you could easily make your bike unsafe or cause permanent damage to your bike that would not be covered by warranty.

1) Connecting to your bike’s controller.

• Once you open the app, click the Comms icon in the lower-right corner of the screen
• Click ‘Scan’ - you should see your controller appear in the list eg. ‘YuanQuFOC214’ or similar. Anything in the list like ‘ANT-BLE24AAUB…’ is the bike’s BMS and can be ignored.
• Select the controller and click ‘Connect’.
• You should see the ‘Received Frames’ number ticking over.

2) Getting into the expanded parameters list.

• Click on the ‘Paras’ icon at bottom-left.
• Check that the ‘RcvFrames’ number in blue at bottom-right is still ticking over - this indicates a live connection to the controller.
• Click ‘Expert…’ at the bottom of the screen.

C - Enabling Regen Braking

1) Setting regen braking levels.     

• Scroll down to the ‘Energy Regenerate’ section. The image above shows an unmodified 10kW bike’s settings.
• Enter the suggested values using the table below. If your maximum motor RPM isn’t set to 4500 RPM then you will need to adjust the % accordingly. eg. if your maximum RPM is 5000 then enter 100% for that value and the next higher value. Then 50% for the next higher after that and 5% for all values above that.
• Double check the entered values. Incorrect values will result in a regen braking response that is uneven or excessive - this could create dangerous raiding conditions.
• Click the ‘Save button at the bottom to store the values.

2) Disconnecting and testing.

• Click the Comms icon in the lower-right corner of the screen
• Click ‘’DisConnect’ and unplug your Bluetooth dongle.
• Reassemble the bike if necessary and take it for a gentle test ride to check the regen braking operation. It should feel like firm, but controlled engine braking.
• You can adjust the suggested values for StopBackCurr and MaxBackCurr - just make MaxBackCurr larger by about 10A. We would not recommend going higher than 40A for StopBackCurr.

* Remember to remove your Bluetooth dongle from the bike when you are finished.