+/– touchscreen buttons for assist mode switching

[Citizenyolo]

Hi,

I’m using a Garmin Edge 1050 with a TQ HPR50 eBike. The default Garmin eBike datafield actually provides +/– touchscreen buttons for assist mode switching. This demonstrates that direct mode up/down switching is technically possible, but unfortunately after a few changes it becomes unstable and the logic gets confused – at least on TQ HPR eBikes.

This seems to be a flawed implementation on Garmin’s side, but it proves that the bike does accept proper assist up/down commands over LEV.

Since you already dug deep into this area with this project:
• Do you understand what exactly goes wrong with the current implementation?
• Do you see it as possible to implement a correct up/down assist mode switching in your own app/field (instead of the clunky single-button cycling: OFF–2–4–7–4–2–OFF)?

If this is possible, I also have two ideas how to link assist mode changes to STI buttons on Di2 systems, which could make this even more practical for many riders.

Thanks for your work – this feature would really be a game-changer for those of us using TQ motors.

[maca88]

Hi,

Do you understand what exactly goes wrong with the current implementation?

Not really as Garmin does not provide the source code for their EBike datafield. It could be an issue with the EBike datafield or an issue in with the implementation of LEV ANT+ profile on TQ HPR50 eBike side.

Do you see it as possible to implement a correct up/down assist mode switching in your own app/field (instead of the clunky single-button cycling: OFF–2–4–7–4–2–OFF)?

As far as I know it should be possible to send the up/down commands via CIQ, but it is not guaranteed that it will consistently work on your bike as I don't know on which side the issue is.

If this is possible, I also have two ideas how to link assist mode changes to STI buttons on Di2 systems, which could make this even more practical for many riders.

Unfortunately, with a CIQ application it is not possible to control buttons behavior on a Di2 system.

[Citizenyolo]

Hi,

Do you understand what exactly goes wrong with the current implementation?

Not really as Garmin does not provide the source code for their EBike datafield. It could be an issue with the EBike datafield or an issue in with the implementation of LEV ANT+ profile on TQ HPR50 eBike side.

Do you see it as possible to implement a correct up/down assist mode switching in your own app/field (instead of the clunky single-button cycling: OFF–2–4–7–4–2–OFF)?

As far as I know it should be possible to send the up/down commands via CIQ, but it is not guaranteed that it will consistently work on your bike as I don't know on which side the issue is.

I cannot write code so I can only speculate common sense-wise how it may or may not work. I noticed there is a sequence in which it works by default (but not for all support modes) and there are +/- click sequences which mess up totally real quick. So I started speculating if there may be two ways to set the assist change instructions: (1) UP and DOWN command, this could be used by Garmin and can lose logic quickly (2) But if there is a way to code switch to a concrete assist level (like OFF, 2, 4, 7 ie. OFF-Eco, Mid, High) then you can try a logic that based on the starting state, WHAT would mean an UP or DOWN click. For instance rather than "sending" an UP command from Eco (2), you know that from Eco (2), one step up would be Mid (4) so you send a "Mid" command instead of UP (if indeed these are different things). There aren't that many permutations to cater for if that means a stable switching solution.

If this is possible, I also have two ideas how to link assist mode changes to STI buttons on Di2 systems, which could make this even more practical for many riders.

Unfortunately, with a CIQ application it is not possible to control buttons behavior on a Di2 system.

STIs by default (as a Di2 sensor property) can be assigned to "Volume down" and "volume up" (helps if you listen to music while you ride). One workaround may be that if you assign the volume up command in your code to trigger the "assist up" line AND you have STI assigned to volume up, I would imagine every time you press the STI as defined (single, double or long click) would trigger the assist UP, too. Of course even if it works it is useful for those who never listen to music while they ride (like me). But there are other less frequently used default Garmin STI functions to choose from.

If you ever decide to experiment with this and you need a guinea pig to test things, happy to help in any way I can. I think a LOT of people would be interested in a working assist mode change solution.