New Rad City 5 Plus Controller Replacement-Is it an External Mount Now?

[salaryman63]

Hi all - anyone purchased the new controller for the Rad City Plus 5? My 2-year-old one is being replaced with the new design/upgraded controller. It should be shipping out this week, but I got the following message from Rad support after my order "our controller is a new undated design and will install to the rear seat post with the mounting plate included". This sounds like an external one, or am I wrong? A link to the video was included but the video is for the old design, where the controller is seated inside the downtube. If anyone has installed the new one and can share their install experience (or post a picture) that would be great. I'll report back once I figure out what I am up against as the video looks pretty intimidating! Thank you

[mrgold35]

Yup!  My spouse 2023 Radcity step thru had a controller failure a week after purchase in July 2023 (zero codes on LCD, no PAS/throttle power to rear hub).  The replacement controller was similar as the original; but, some of the cables were 2X longer.  Fast forward to Aug/2024 and I had an error 21.  The replacement controller was the external type that mounts to the back of the seat post down tube.  I haven't installed it yet.  We still have her 2018 Radcity Step Thru as a back up. We were going to sell the 18 Radcity and kept it instead because of the issues with the 23 Radcity.

[salaryman63]

Thank you so much for the quick reply!  Im trying to figure out if its something I can do myself or try to find a shop to do it-the video for the internal one doesn't look appealing to me and my limited mechanical skills!

[mrgold35]

Check out Rad's video for the tools and procedure for replacing the internal Radcity controller.  Probably going to be the same steps and tools for the external controller.  The issue I had was the replacement internal controller wires were too long and I couldn't get the replacement controller seated properly inside the hole to insert the mounting screws from the bottom of the bike frame (it was wedged in there and I plugged up the screw holes to water proof). 

I won't have the long cable issue and probably faster replacement with the external controller.

https://support.radpowerbikes.com/Maintenance_and_troubleshooting/Controllers/RadCity_5_Plus_Controller_Replacement_Guide