Back in 2019 I bought an ALDI “special buy” e-bike for $999 – the Cell Ultimo Urban E-bike. It is an OK bike, but due to the way the pedal assist works it can be a bit annoying trying to take off on a high gear (as you need to begin to pedal before it works) or go up a hill on a high gear.
I wanted to fix this by adding a throttle. In some states this may be an illegal modification and will definitely void your warranty so please do your own research.
The Cell bikes use the Entity ECU-100 as it’s controller. There’s no datasheet or diagram of the available pins for this controller but researching generic e-bike controller boards (the kind you see on aliexpress/ebay) I found that you wire up a throttle to the “SP” pin.
Remove the two screws on the back of the battery housing where the controller is, then proceeded to label each of the wires while detaching them (this is important, there are many different connections and you don’t want to wire up the wrong thing when reconnecting them).
Remove the three screws on the side of the controller housing and then the four screws on front and back. You can now see the SP pin.
Solder three wires to the controller board. I drilled an extra hold in the plate the writes come out of, fed them through and crimped them to some bullet (socket) connectors.
I purchased a random thumb throttle from ebay for about $20, snipped the end off and crimped on some bullet plug connectors, ran the wires through the bike tube (you want to find something long and slightly bendy to feed it through).
Now everything is hooked up, you can put it all back together and enjoy your new speedy bike.
Hi Jason
Great mod mate.
To get to the reason for this email. I Googled ECU 100 ebike controller and low and behold I stumbled on your blog.
Why my question? I’ve fried my controller and need are a replacement however the Entity rep in AU doesn’t have any in stock and doesn’t know when there will be any.
I am writing to you in the hope that you could advise me as to which alternative controller would do the job using the same display as used for the ECU 100. Failing that, I do own an LCD display S866
Cheers mate, hope to hear from you
Hi Peter
I’ve actually been looking into this as well. The main issue is display compatibility. Otherwise, you want a controller that takes the same voltage (36v), powers the same motor (250W, hall sensor), has sine wave output and is rated for the same current output (rated 7A max 15A).
I did some research because I wanted a controller I could customise the parameters on (in particular, the speed limit) and found that KT S06S looks like it meets these specs, however I’m unsure about the display compatibility – I’ve ordered one and can let you know once I’ve tried it (otherwise, I’m just going to buy a different display).
A safer bet would be finding a replacement Lishui controller, since the entity controllers appear to be a re-badged Lishui controller, however it is difficult to find sellers selling just those controllers (I think they whitelabel them a lot).
I will let you know how I go with the S06S and if it works then maybe I can sell you my old entity controller!
Hi Jason did the KTS controller work?
Hey Peter, sorry I never replied. It’s still sitting in my drawer… The display definintely didn’t work and I need to work out the lights wiring, I ordered a KT display so hopefully I can get it working when I get the time.
Anyone know how to remove the speed limiter?
It’s on the firmware on the computer, and can’t modify it but if you disconnect the sensor it won’t throttle (the display will just always say 0 though)
Thanks – I did the throttle mod as per these instructions and it works fine. If you’re not familiar with soldering you need to be careful. I was able to extract the controller from the housing without unplugging any wires but obviously the battery!
I used an old USB cable which is very small diam and was able to push it through the existing cable gland (hot glue) so even neater.
I too used a generic eBay thumb throttle which cost about $14 – made the join to the ex-USB cable in the down tube with heat shrink etc.
Very happy overall as we got two of these bikes on clearance for half price. I also installed a wider range rear cassette on mine (11-34) as we have some steep hills here and the motor needs helps up those for my 100Kg
Oh wow! I can’t believe I found this site. Its taken me over a fortnight to find more fitting information for the ebike I bought from Aldi for $999, theres not much on the internet about these cheap Aldi ebikes.
Apart from the many other common problems with these bikes, my main problem at the moment is the sensor stopped working, it won’t sense the magnets, with no throttle, it renders the bike useless. This is the 2nd time this has happened, The 1st time it happened, my boyfriend put a new sensor in & it worked again fine but it only lasted 2 months & now the sensor had not picking up the magnets again & I am no longer seeing my boyfriend.
I also ordered a throttle from ebay, I tried to connect it to the sensor wiring but it didn’t work. I took the battery out, the connectors & the plate on the frame off, gently pulled out the controller box, i can’t see much of the wires further inside the frame. I have a good idea of which wires go where but I do not see the 3 wires I need to connect the throttle. So I read your article here where you opened up the Controller & soldiered wires on. My controller has “DC MOTO CONTROLLERBYLITHIUMBATTERY” written on it, I don’t think it’s a “ENTITY ECU-100” like yours.
So I’m going to do like you said you did & open it up & see if I can find the spots & solider the wires.
I will come back & let you know how I go.