Tesla Small Drive Unit Support Thread

[Jack Bauer]

UPDATE : Sales of built and tested Tesla boards is now handled by Johannes. I am doing this in order to concentrate on new developments (model 3 etc) and focus on Toyota/Lexus in order to enable lower cost conversions. The opportunity is now there for someone to fill this gap. I would hope that if someone does step up it is done so in a way that respects the opensource philosophy and the work put in by Johannes and myself.

Wiki Page: https://openinverter.org/wiki/Tesla_Mod ... %22SDU%22)

Setting up a support thread for the open source small drive unit control board.
Built and Tested boards available from the webshop :
https://openinverter.org/shop/index.php ... duct_id=62
Github resources :
https://github.com/damienmaguire/Tesla-Front-Drive-Unit
Firmware releases :
https://github.com/jsphuebner/stm32-sine/releases

PLEASE READ THE THREAD OR USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION BEFORE POSTING A QUESTION. YOU WILL PROBABLY GET AN ANSWER MUCH FASTER THAT WAY

Here is a video detailing exactly how support works for Tesla and other logic boards from the evbmw webshop. I would encourage anyone considering a purchase to please view this video and ensure you are comfortable and familiar with the support structure around these products.



Update : 21/01/20 : V6 design files now released. Both fully built and partial built boards available from the EVBMW webshop : https://www.evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-webshop
Don't want to buy from me and support ongoing development? That's ok as this release also includes the BOM, CPL and Gerber files needed to build your own at JLCPCB : https://jlcpcb.com



Taking the liberty to link the testing video here:

[manic]

How about some 'getting started' documentation that gives a basic overview on how to install the board, hook up the various inputs/outputs, and make configuration changes?

[Jack Bauer]

That's on the way:)

[Jack Bauer]

To get the ball rolling. Here is a video detailing how to fit the open source Tesla small drive unit logic board to the Tesla current sensors.

[Jack Bauer]

The number one most common question I get asked is why is the motor only turning slowly when I press the throttle.

The symptom of the motor turning slowly is almost certainly caused by a missing or inverted encoder signal. The encoder output consists of two channels : A and B. The signal from these is used by the microcontroller to determine the speed and direction of rotation of the motor. If for example the A and B signals are swapped then the inverter will be trying to drive the motor in one direction and the encoder signal will tell it the motor is running backwards hence this behaviour. If either or both signals are missing then the microcontroller has no speed or direction information and the same symptoms result.

[Jack Bauer]

Just a little note to let people know we have finally been able to source the 2 pin JST connector for the HV interlock and coolant temp sensor so all future opensource boards will be supplied with these connectors fitted. At least until Elon buys Mouser out of stock again

[Kevin Sharpe]

Damien tweeted today that he had just shipped the 100th open source Tesla drive logic board

Congratulations to him, Johannes, and everyone else who has made this possible

[PoloLbricolo]

Hi,
At work i'm fitting a SDU to a Porsche 944 (curently doing an internship at EVRomania) and i wondered how the Tachometer signal works.
As the porsche OEM gauge expects ground pulse for every revolution the motor does. I haven't been able to find this information.

Where can i find it ?

[Jack Bauer]

The current versions of the SDU logic board do not bring out an analog tachometer signal. If you wish to run a gauge from the drive unit it would be best to send the speed signal out over CAN and then use a microcontroller to read the CAN signal and translate this to a pulse train to drive a tacho. The new "BlackBoard" version of the SDU logic board will have this functionality available but won't be released until later in the summer.

[Jack Bauer]

Another FAQ : All fully built boards purchased from the EVBMW webshop are programmed and ready for testing and use. There is no need for initial programming. Firmware updates may be accomplished over the web interface and may be downloaded here :
https://github.com/jsphuebner/stm32-sine/releases

Another FAQ : The web interface.
Once 12v power is applied to the board or drive unit the wifi interface becomes available. Simply connect with any wifi enabled device (laptop,phone,tablet etc) to the wifi access point called inverter. The passphrase is inverter123. Once connected point any web browser to 192.168.4.1 to bring up the interface. Note some devices may complain about not being connected to the internet but just ignore.

Another FAQ : Low voltage testing.
It is recommended to perform initial tests at a low DC bus voltage in order to confirm correct operation of the drive unit and logic board. The voltage should be between around 40 and 100v dc. Some parameters need to be set to enable operation at these voltages.
UDCSW set to 0.
UDCMIN set to 0.
You will need to perform a manual precharge or set UDCSW to about 10v less than your test voltage and use drive unit contactor control.
Don't forget to reset these parameters to their original values when finished testing.

[Jack Bauer]

FAQ : Precharge system.
The precharge system behaves as follows :

Upon application of 12v power, energise precharge contactor.

If after 5 seconds the measured voltage at the drive unit (UDC) does not exceed the UDCSW parameter we shutoff the precharge contactor as it is assumed the precharge has failed in some way.

If during those 5 seconds UDC exceeds UDCSW we leave the precharge contactor energised and wait for a start signal. Once start signal is received we close the main and open the precharge contactor.

[js1tr3]

Damien,

a Followup question on the contactors.

I have pos negative and pre-charge contactors with my battery pack, Do you recommend a 2nd set of contactors for the inverter, or can the close request come from the inverter via a can-message? I'll dig into the can section of the firmware next.

[Jack Bauer]

No you cant send a close via can. Precharge and main close can be done separately from the inverter and the inverter enabled via a start signal if so required.

[PoloLbricolo]

Hi,
I'm still working on the 944 conversion. I need to put some regen (as the brakes are 1982 standard) and to help with the consuption.
So the setup was : E46 throtle pedal wired to Pot1 and pot mode set as single regen.
I would expect some regen as i let of the throttle (with regen parameters set to default values) but i didn't get any.
So i thought that i needed a second pot for the regen (or a redondant one) so i've put the pot1 signal to pot2 aswell.
Changed the default values of pot2min and pot2max to be the same as potmin and pot max, and still no regen
so i reversed the values pot2min and pot2max and still no regen.
So i moved the values of potmin, pot2min, potmax and pot2max up and down and still nothing.

So what am i doing wrong ?

[Jack Bauer]

See here : https://openinverter.org/docs/index.htm ... rs,24.html

Scroll down the page to the section on the Regen parameters.

[PoloLbricolo]

Thanks but when i wrote

(with regen parameters set to default values)

i was talking about brknompedal at -50, brkpedalramp at 10, brknom at 30, brkmax at 50, brkout at -100, brkrampstr at 0

I tried a bunch of variations and still had nothing.

[Jack Bauer]

Please download and post your parameter file.

[PoloLbricolo]

Here you go

[Jack Bauer]

try this :
"brknompedal": -20,
"brkpedalramp": 5,
"brknom": 30,
"brkmax": 15,
"brkrampstr": 10,
"brkout": -50,

The one thing I spotted is a negative sign on brkmax.

[tom91]

If regen does not apear make sure 'speedkp' is not set to '0' this does interfere with regen, might be fixed but on most cars this fixed the absence of regen.

[PoloLbricolo]

Thanks a lot guys, it worked !
It appears that the bug with 'speedkp' is not fixed. I did put it to 1 and it worked perfectly. The car is totaly different now.

[Jack Bauer]

Excellent Even I didn't know about that.

[tom91]

A gotya Johannes found out after at Zero-EV we had the same issue and went to the source for help.

[Jack-Lee]

Hi,
i have a SDU and installed a Controller von Damien.
Sadly the documentation is not realy "Noob-Friendly". Is there a Parameter-Setup for the "first Start" ? I dont want to kill the Inverter on first try.

Thx

[PoloLbricolo]

Hi,
I think there is a parameter file on the SDU repository on Damian github. It's called driftparams.json if i'm not mistaken.
https://github.com/damienmaguire

Furthermore, can ask my boss if he is willing to share the parameters that we use.