Shimano e-Steps

This repository is dedicated to the Shimano e-Steps as I happen to have an e-Bike that is fitted with the Shimano drive-train. There is hardly any technical information on the electronics, so I decided to do a little exploring myself.

Update: 19-09-2018

e-Bikes

Electrification of a bike is very populair. There are two basic bike types:

• pedelec, limited to 25km/h, no helmet required
• speed e-bike, limited to 45km/h, requires a helmet, insurance

Among the pedelecs, drive-trains of Bosch, Shimano, Bafang and Yamaha are used as well as automatic transmission systems of Shimano, NuVinci, etc. which make riding a bike a joy.

Speeding up the e-Bike

Somehow we always are looking to get close or beyond the boundries that are set. In a case of a pedelec it would be interesting to go beyond the 25km/h speed limit. Doubling speed is dangerous, however setting the limit to 28 or 30km/h would be nice.

In the software the circumfence of the wheel is all that needs to be set, but where...

Documents

You can find some patents in the patents directory.

Communication

The communication between the different system parts on the e-bike use power line communication (i.e. data is superimposed on the DC voltage).

TODO

• Hookup oscillocope and see what happens
• Measure voltages on the "bus"

Experiments

I ordered a bunch of accessoires and started experimenting...

Add the EW-WU111

For anyone that thinks that just adding the Bluetooth module to the bike: it doesn't work.

• Connect EW-WU111 to EW-SD50
• Take out any connection on the bike
• Place the interface and cable in between
• Pressing the power button

The display stays clear and the e-steps system does not turn on.

• Restore the situation
• Pressing the power button

The display turns on and the e-steps system works like before.

Use the SM-PCE1

Let's try to hookup the PC interface. For that we install the software on a PC.

• Preinstall Microsoft dotnetfx35.exe software as this is required. You can find this on the Microsoft website.
• Install the Shimano software e-tube project. This can be found on the Shimano website.
• Put the SM-JC41 junction box in one of the wires from the e-bike system
• Attach the SM-PCE1 to the USB port
• Attach the special cable to the SM-PCE1 and the other end to the junction box

Tested on 13-08-2018 with the above setup and the result was that the setup is not working. The setup uses a Mac, with VMWARE and Windows 8..10, to work like a PC. Checking some forums revealed that there are more problems using "other" systems than PC's as people claim that the USB implementation of the SM-PCE1 does not comply with the USB standard.

NOTE: So the next step is to find a PC and repeat the above process.

So far all experiments turned up nothing and are a bit frustrating.

Accessoires

SM-PCE1 PC Linkage Device

The SM-PCE1 is an USB interface to connect the e-Steps system to a PC. It is used for service, configuration and maintenance. It is normally not required for a bike owner to have such an interface, but my curiosity was triggered to find out if I can hookup Bluetooth to my bike.

Refer to the pictures directory and look for all pictures that start with the prefix SM-PCE1.

Super Capacitor

Strangely enough the PCB has two super-capacitors. These are 2.5V and stacked so they can handle 5V.

mini USB Interface

The USB interface is a Texas Instruments chip.

EW-WU111 Wireless Unit

The EW-WU111 is a wireless interface with ANT and BLE wireless standards. The interface can be placed in between a wireless connection cable.

EW-SD50 Electric Wire

The EW-SD50 is a piece of wire in various lengths with connectors at both ends. The length of the wire can be ordered between 150mm and 1600mm.

SM-JC41 Junction Box for Di2

The junction box has four connections for cables, making it easy to insert a device to the e-Bike system.

SM-DUE10 Speed Sensor

The SM-DUE10 is a Reed switch with an attached cable, together with a magnet that can be attached to the spoke of a wheel. It is handy to have the magnet around if ever you loose the magnet the e-bike doesn't function anymore.

TL-EW02 Plug Tool (for ST-6770)

Just a piece of plastic to insert and/or remove a connector from a device.

EC-E6000 Power Supply 42V @ 4.0A

The power supply is not just a regular power supply, but comes with a lot of electronics, including a micro-controller that talks over the power line. For the curious user you will find pictures that show the various parts of the power supply.

Refer to the pictures directory and look for all pictures that start with the prefix PS.

micro-controller

The micro-controller on the Power Supply board is from SinoWealth. It is a 8051 class processor with some standard integrated peripherals.

Tools

There are several companies and people who offer all kinds of hacks to speed up the pedelec. Clearly that is against what is legal: a pedelec has a maximum allowed speed of 25km/h and speeding it up beyond this point is a violation. If you want speed then use an e-Bike.

YouTube

You can find hacks on YouTube that decrease the rotation of the magnet along the sensor by a factor two. The bike electronics controller thinks it rotates slower (half the speed) and increases its support effectively towards 50km/h (in theory).

Shimano

As already mentioned Shimano has its own support software that works with their special interface.

eMax-tuning

Another company emax-tuning provides software for the Shimano e-Steps 8000. They also provide some freeware that can be found here.