Tesla LDU board problem

[mane2]

After my coolant problems I decided to get new board from shop. I soldered the legs and they seemed to be fine. Not touching and connected to board. But yesterday, when new motor was installed and everything was good to go, the first problem was OVERVOLTAGE. OI webinterface showed 550V even though battery was at 270V. So I adjusted udcgain, and ended up setting it to all the way to 11.5. Which seems very high, considering the default is 6. That cleared the OVERVOLTAGE error.

Pressed the accelerator, wheels barely moved and motor made bad clunking sounds. I remember having that when I first tested LDU and my encoder pins were reversed or in wrong pins, or not connected. So I thought maybe the encode pins need to be swapped. So swapped those, but same thing. Then tried to disconnect the whole encoder connector with exact same results. Same clunking sound and wheel barely move.

I had the latest release v5.32.R and remembered that there was some issues with rotation direction etc. I decided to downgrade back to v5.27.R if that would help. But no, still same results. Even tried with another encoder (speed sensor), still stuttering.

So the last thing to do, was to pull out the motor again, and put the old card back in. After about an hour, we were at the same situation with old card. Power on, and wheels turn normally! Phew! Drove the car home and all good.

But the question remains, what can cause this? I copied all the settings manually from old board and I could not spot any parameter differences. Tried different boosts, fweaks, ampmin etc, no change.

Maybe it's related to that Voltage/udcgain issue? CAN-bus worked, and so did everything else. Can the board itself have an issue? Is this common? It's a board with separate wifi-module. Ordered it about 1,5 month ago.

Any ideas, what can cause this?

[johu]

Can you post a close-up of the processor region. I have a suspicion.

[mane2]

Close up pictures from CPU. I think there is some flux residue between the cpu legs, could that be an issue or can you see something else?

[johu]

Oh no, that is one of the chip crisis boards that came without stm32 and I fitted it myself. Tested all the digital and some analog signals but not all.
Which order number was this? If it's not easily fixable I'll send out a new one.

[mane2]

Oh okay. Thanks. Order number is #1369

Is there big differences between my old V4A (November/2018) board and the current ones? Now that the old card is back in, and seems to be working.. I’m not that keen to install new board. If there is not anything major, I think maybe just refund?

If new WiFi signal is better, then definitely interested taking the new board. Currently I’m doing configuration changes and updates laptop under rear right wheel well.

[mane2]

I'll take that back. Now that old board is throwing OVERCURRENT with new motor - in park and now also happened while driving normally (not accelerating or any testing, just normal idle throttle). I think the first motor blowout did some damage to it, and now it's acting up. Wifi is disconnecting every now and then .. sometimes parameters won't seem so show up to web interface and might take a long time to appear. I definetly need the replacement board, forget the refund that I was talking about - car is now stuck on OVERCURRENT and won't move anymore.

Is it normal to have lasterr show OVERCURRENT and din_ocur = OK ? That feels weird.

Measured the motor with diode mode, and it gave me back 0,8 reading. So thank god the motor seems to be okay.

[catphish]

Wifi is disconnecting every now and then .. sometimes parameters won't seem so show up to web interface and might take a long time to appear.

This is annoying but totally normal on many older openinverter boards. I've had these problems on most boards I've used (though I think the latest boards use a much better wireless chip that solves this). It's annoying but doesn't affect the actual inverter performance in any way.

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

This is annoying but totally normal on many older openinverter boards. I've had these problems on most boards I've used (though I think the latest boards use a much better wireless chip that solves this). It's annoying but doesn't affect the actual inverter performance in any way.

This seems to be especially true with the big metal case of the LDU. I have to have my laptop directly over the LDU to get a reliable connection.

[muehlpower]

Is there a ready-to-use solution to improve the WiFi connection, e.g. another module?

[johu]

A CAN wifi bridge will be in the shop soon. It's based on the CanLite but has an SD card slot instead of the high side drivers.

Some info on the software here:

[jrbe]

This seems to be especially true with the big metal case of the LDU. I have to have my laptop directly over the LDU to get a reliable connection.

The ESP32 has an option with a u.fl connector on it to plug in an external antenna. Is this worth pursuing at all? Only downside I could think of is if its noticed during inspection. I'm not sure how it would do with vibration.

I added a zip tie hole on the gen 3 leaf adapter board for an antenna wire strain relief if anyone wants to try it.

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

The ESP32 has an option with a u.fl connector on it to plug in an external antenna. Is this worth pursuing at all? Only downside I could think of is if its noticed during inspection. I'm not sure how it would do with vibration.

I added a zip tie hole on the gen 3 leaf adapter board for an antenna wire strain relief if anyone wants to try it.

The other potential downside is water intrusion. You'd need to find a way to get the antenna out while maintaining a fairly tight seal. Or leave it in, and have to find a place to mount it.

Have no idea about inspection issues (because in my state cars as old as mine don't get inspected)

[jrbe]

The other potential downside is water intrusion. You'd need to find a way to get the antenna out while maintaining a fairly tight seal. Or leave it in, and have to find a place to mount it.

Have no idea about inspection issues (because in my state cars as old as mine don't get inspected)

There are plenty of options, and one thats IP67, https://www.digikey.com/short/905939t9

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

There are plenty of options, and one thats IP67, https://www.digikey.com/short/905939t9

Yeah but if the antenna is outside the case, you have to connect to it somehow, and unless there is a way to tap an unused pin on the 23 pin, that means a new connection through the case.

[jrbe]

Yeah but if the antenna is outside the case, you have to connect to it somehow, and unless there is a way to tap an unused pin on the 23 pin, that means a new connection through the case.

Yeah, a hole in the inverter case /cover, insert the antenna, then plug the connector into the esp32, zip tie the antenna wire for a connector strain relief. There are also extension wires available if it's not an easy to reach connection.

And keeping this genetic for the Tesla area, an inverter IO plug wouldn't be good for WiFi signal.

[muehlpower]

I have moved the whole wifi module outside. For this I have made a cable with a molex connector and cut a suitable hole in the housing. The mudul is attached to the molex counterpart and sealed. In addition, I have also led the programming connections for the STM32 out, so that I can connect a ST Link without opening the inverter.

[mane2]

I'll take that back. Now that old board is throwing OVERCURRENT with new motor - ...

Is it normal to have lasterr show OVERCURRENT and din_ocur = OK ? That feels weird.

Measured the motor with diode mode, and it gave me back 0,8 reading. So thank god the motor seems to be okay.

Returning to this, issue for car not moving was relay that controls main contactor had a loose wire and main contactor never closed, but I could see the voltage through precharge relay. Also webInterface showed OVERCURRENT, which made think that the problem is something else.

Car moves but one mystery remains. When I change direction to R, "Lasterr" message turns immediately to OVERCURRENT. Still, status shows Ok, din_ocur=Ok. Car moves normally. It clears when motor turned off, but comes back only when turning to reverse - and only when going to reverse.

I still feel that something is off with this board. Or any ideas what could cause that?