EV Conversion using prius gen 2 inverter/transaxle

[voti]

MattsAwesomeStuff had promised me his parameters for using 12v on the high voltage input for testing.

My question is that are his parameters different from the ones found on the link below
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Toyota_Pr ... Controller

Step 7 says ( Step 7: Connect fused 12 volt power supply
for SMD board , Pin #25, and Inverter 2-pole
connector - You are now set up for basic
Open Loop motor spinning!)

Is the inverter 2-pole connector still I9 connector or these are two different connections. If they are different where is the 2-pole located.

Step 8: Connect 21 watt light bulbs in Delta
connection to the 3 PWM outputs in Inverter
(no motor)

Can I use my cars 12v 55w light bulbs for the Delta connection config instead of the 21w lights bulb or there's a reason why the 21w light bulbs were chosen for this test due to power consumption?

Step 9 : Web Interface Basic parameters (
stm32_sine. bin) set up - to confirm PWM
outputs : Full boost (curki= 20000 min) with
12v supply, default forward, ampnom @ 70%,
and fslipspnt @1 Hz. Select - "Start Inverter
in Manual Mode" Confirm flashing lights

1.(stm32_sine. bin) set up - to confirm PWM
outputs : Full boost (curki= 20000 min) with
12v supply, )
Please help me understand what this means because I only know [boost 20000]

2.default forward, ampnom @ 70%,
and fslipspnt @1 Hz. Select - "Start Inverter
in Manual Mode" Confirm flashing lights

This part is simple and straight forward.

The reason why I broke it down like this is to try and avoid simple mistakes. Some of the questions I'm asking I know for you guys may sound a little bit stupid or too simple for your experience, I understand and I'm sorry for that. But I wouldn't be asking them if I really knew what had to be done.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

My question is that are his parameters different from the ones found on the link below
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Toyota_Pr ... Controller

Unsure. They're different boards. But you can do a comparison once I get them to you.

I moved 6 months ago. And by "moved" I mean, I stuffed all of my tools and EV stuff into a small storage room, until my garage was "sorted". I have been there 6 months now, it's -30'C outside, there's more stuff than there is somewhere to put things, and I still haven't even started moving my actual garage stuff into the garage. The storage room requires some cave-diving to get to the things I was working on, as the things I wasn't working on got piled on top of that when I packed everything all in there. And it's in a different city than I live. I'll make an attempt tonight. No promises.

Step 7 says [...] Is the inverter 2-pole connector still I9 connector or these are two different connections. If they are different where is the 2-pole located.

Assumption: Yes they're the same. But, I'll try to do better than that since the whole point is to confirm things for sure.

Let's go through the edit history and see who wrote that section on that page and what it might have said before that. It was written by ... ... me? Sh#t.

"pole" isn't a descriptive term I'd use (I'd have said "pin"), so this section was copy-pasted from a different article or forum comment that I just threw there so it'd be in the same place. Johannes would be my guess.

Scrolling up: "Connect the 2-pole white power connector ("I9") inside inverter to 12V and Ground to power up inverter electronics." <-- That seems to confirm, it's the same as i9.

Scrolling down to Step 5: "and 12V and Ground to 2-pole Inverter connector (next to main 32 pin white connector)" <-- That seems to confirm i9 again, it's on the inverter next to i10 (the 32 pin connector).

This is actually a really good example of how something can be correct, but not useful. To someone who knows what it's talking about, it's correct and it appears well documented. But for the person who needs the documentation, it's still highly ambiguous.

This page hasn't really been fleshed out at all by anyone. I don't know if it's even linked to by Johannes' purchase page. I kinda just threw some initial seeding at it for others to fill out and it's been mostly untouched since. This versus: https://openinverter.org/wiki/Toyota_Pr ... 2_Inverter I've documented the hell out of.

Rather than verbally describing things, I took pictures. Rather than just pictures and descriptions, I labelled everything in the pictures themselves. If I defined a term, I used the same term thereafter.

Guess what you get to do once you're confident in your setup working? *points to ambiguous and missing documentation you're struggling with*

Step 8 [...] Can I use my cars 12v 55w light bulbs for the Delta connection config instead of the 21w lights bulb or there's a reason why the 21w light bulbs were chosen for this test due to power consumption?

Hmm, good question.

Because of Step 6: "Step 6 : Connect fused 12 volt and Ground to HV Inputs (battery), along with 55 watt light bulb in series (resistor) on the Positive line"

That tells me that total "HV" power in this temp setup is going to be limited to 55 watts, because you only threw a 55 watt lightbulb in there.

So, across your phases, if you had more 12v 55w light bulbs wired in Delta, they'd each draw as much power as the maximum the "HV" line is going to let through. (You've got 165 watts hooked up to 55 watts max, even though not all will be on max power at the same time, it'll still be over 55w for sure). They'll get suffocated and maybe never get bright enough to notice, or, I'm not sure, maybe just behave unpredictably with the voltage plummeting and causing other issues.

It probably doesn't matter, especially since you have a scope and a meter that can check the actual results rather than relying on light bulbs, but, meh, if the cost of 3x 12v light bulbs is trivial to you, I'd just go buy some to remove the unknowns. It might only be something you use for 10 seconds before moving on.

Your suspicion that changing the setup might change the results seems founded.

Please help me understand what this means because I only know [boost 20000]

I am not familiar with much of the OI setup, nor this board.

That said, I've never seen the term "curki" anywhere before, ever.

On the page you linked, I also don't see where you're quoting from. Step 9 doesn't look like that to me on the wiki.

Regardless, I think it just means change Boost to 20000, the part you understood.

I'm not sure what parts you're not understanding, I'll try to break them down:

"Full Boost" - Change the value of the Boost parameter to be 20000.

"12v supply" - Just means that you connected your 12v to the inverter I think, they're telling you these instructions are for 12v.

"default forward" - One of the parameters is about which direction the motor should be spinning by default. I forget what it's called, and it doesn't matter, because this'll be the default and even if it's not, it'll still work.

"ampnom @ 70%" - "ampnom" is a parameter, (I think it's down in the "testing" section, near the bottom of the list I think) its units are %, so set the Ampnom parameter to "70". This is what percentage of your maximum current (as determined by some other parameter, the default of which is presumably fine), it'll try to let the motor phases use.

"fslipspnt @1 hz" - "fslipspnt" is a parameter, (I think right below ampnom?), its units are hz, so set fslipspnt to "1". This is how fast the motor is going to attempt to spin, 1 cycle per second. It depends on you correctly telling it the number of pole pairs in another parameter (for example, I had 3 pole pairs in my motor and until I told it that, "1 hz" was actually "0.33 hz" by observation). Precision doesn't matter, this is just "start spinning the minimum amount to see what happens", that's all we're telling it. Later you can change this to "2" and see if it spins twice as fast, rather than just some random power going to a motor.

"start inverter in manual mode" is a button in the interface up top. This is when it's going to engage all this stuff.

Also, note that I think you have to hit "enter" after you make changes to a parameter, else it'll look like it's changed, but not actually be changed. Another way to verify is to write the parameters to memory or, I forget what it's called up top. This means when you lose power or refresh you don't have to make all the changes again. You can verify that it saved them by refreshing the screen and seeing that it loaded them properly. Don't use "autorefresh", that will constantly undo any parameter changes you've done, it's like you hammering the "refresh" button every second.

The reason why I broke it down like this is to try and avoid simple mistakes. Some of the questions I'm asking I know for you guys may sound a little bit stupid or too simple for your experience, I understand and I'm sorry for that. But I wouldn't be asking them if I really knew what had to be done.

Naw, they're all great questions. In your case, I think your instincts were right on all of them, but this is what troubleshooting is. Ruling out all the things it's not, until we find the thing you interpreted wrong.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

And, minor update... I dug through the metal jungle to arrive at my motor and inverter.

Bad news, both car batteries were dead. I think, I can't be sure because my multimeters were left on 6 or 8 months ago and are certainly dead too.

Good news, I can't think of why I would've played with experimental settings, so, presumably they're still whatever was making my motor move 6 months ago?

So attached to this post (never done that before, see how it works), is a file of the parameters I was using.

You'll need to set fslpspnt to 1 and ampnom to whatever.

And, I dunno that it matters for you, but I think I have my polepairs set to 3, so you'll probably get 1/3 of a rotation instead of 1. Or, maybe you'll get 3 instead of 1. Whichever.

Else, it should (?) work?

[johu]

Hmm, these worry me a bit, especially the pole pairs part....

Here's the Audi A2 ones that definitely drives

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Hmm, these worry me a bit, especially the pole pairs part....

He's still at the testing stage. As was mine. So, not sure if yours being more complete, and set up for an actual vehicle, versus one set up for a 12v test spin would be any better.

Can't hurt to try both though.

[voti]

Because of Step 6: "Step 6 : Connect fused 12 volt and Ground to HV Inputs (battery), along with 55 watt light bulb in series (resistor) on the Positive line"

That tells me that total "HV" power in this temp setup is going to be limited to 55 watts, because you only threw a 55 watt lightbulb in there.

I have a question- what if I hook up a 100w light bulb in series (resistor) on the Positive line and then I connect 55w light bulbs in Delta.
Does this mean that I'll be limited to 100w and Will it work.

My reason for this is because 12v 21w light bulbs are hard to find in my location.

[RetroZero]

I dont see a problem, but you will require more voltage than the 12v. It would be good to measure voltage on the HV bus when putting Inverter in manual run mode. Does it drop out or not when initiating Manual run mode?

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I have a question- what if I hook up a 100w light bulb in series (resistor) on the Positive line and then I connect 55w light bulbs in Delta. Does this mean that I'll be limited to 100w and Will it work.

Mmm, 100w 12v bulb?

We're playing a bit fast and loose with "wattage" here. A 100w household bulb has far higher resistance than a 100w automotive bulb (10x as much).

And at the end of the day the resistance of the wire is what we care about here.

...

All you're really doing is giving it 12v and seeing if the 12v bulbs illuminate. So, yeah, a waste to buy bulbs. You could go to a junkyard and grab any tail light or indicator bulbs, those'd work fine (they might be 12w instead of 21, doesn't matter I don't think). Just some visual indication, with a bulb that matches the correct voltage, at a safe low voltage. That's why 12v, 12v, 12v is convenient.

And, you don't even really need bulbs. I think your setup is failed before that. You should see voltage on those wires I think, and I bet you're not yet.

An oscilloscope would tell you 100x as much as illuminating bulbs would, if you know how to use your scope.

[voti]

It saddens me to tell you guys I tested today with a car battery but still nothing happened. I even replaced the cables to the i10 connector but the bulbs still wouldn't light up.

I really wish I knew what is wrong with my setup.
Below I attached pictures of the setup during testing.

[jrbe]

Can you find something better to connect the wires to your battery? The wrap / twist method can glitch and drive you in maddening circles of reboots, brownouts, etc. I'd suggest starting there then retest. Some terminals can unbolt from the cable and use a ring terminal. Or if you are really short on parts / availability you can put the wire under a normal battery terminal as crude wire to post clamp.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Hang in there. If I could get mine working with everyone's help, we'll get yours working too.

What we did with my troubleshooting was dig deeper and deeper into the "What's not happening" to find out exactly where it's not happening.

You gotta be more detailed though, for this to work. You gotta be more descriptive, and if we ask questions to clarify something you should try to answer all of them.

What exactly did you try? And what does "nothing happened" mean?

- Did you try my parameters? Did you dry Johu's?

- Did you try my suggestion of measuring the output voltage or scoping it instead of relying on bulbs as a purely visual indicator? If so what did the voltage and scope pattern say?

- Did you swap out your 55w bulbs for 21w or smaller ones?

- Do you know how to use a scope? Earlier when you didn't have a ground on it, that was a pretty basic mistake. I can't imagine how someone would own an oscilliscope but not actually know to hook up a ground when measuring voltage, so, just trying to get a feel for your knowledge level here. No shame, I own and barely know how to use one myself.

...

Probably the easiest thing would be to backprobe a wire into the inverter side of the i10 connector's pins 9, 10, and/or 11, and scope that output when you're telling the inverter to start. You'll have to be a bit tricky about it, to make sure the measuring wire is actually making contact when wedged in there.

To be precisely clear, I've labelled them here. Your wire colors should match.



And here's a rough tutorial on how to back-probe. Yours shouldn't be sealed and should be easy to just jab a wire or needle in there:



You should see a waveform. It should change when you change FSLIPSPNT.

If you do see it, then the fault is somewhere inside the inverter. If you don't, the fault is somewhere in the OpenInverter board or software.

We'll keep doing stuff like this, kinda chopping the task in half, until we figure out what's not doing what it should.

[voti]

You gotta be more detailed though, for this to work. You gotta be more descriptive, and if we ask questions to clarify something you should try to answer all of them.

What exactly did you try? And what does "nothing happened" mean?

OK let me try and break it down.

I found the 12v 21w light bulbs and connected them in delta configuration, I then connected them to the three phase output. The reason why I had to find the bulbs was because I'm not well versed with using the scope plus I don't have the connecting probes to use with it. The wire I was using is not able to make a ground connection because the connection input on the scope have ground on their outer diameter and the inner female connector on the inside of it.

I also changed the wires on the i10 connector because I was suspecting false connection on them. I also tried your parameters aswell as Johannes' . After all this updates the light bulbs still didn't light up.

I have a question- are the any other parameters that I'm suppose to put in the web Interface ?. e.g under motor section there is "snsm" I found a list of different cars to choose from and also on the inverter section there is "snshs" I found a list of other option there and I didn't know which one to choose. Please also help me with that.

I've attached pictures to show this parameters that I'm talking about

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I found the 12v 21w light bulbs and connected them in delta configuration, I then connected them to the three phase output.

Gotcha.

Did you ever test voltage on them, even with a multimeter, or did you solely rely on the bulbs as a visual indicator?

If not, go test the output voltage when the motor should be on.

I'm not well versed with using the scope plus I don't have the connecting probes to use with it. The wire I was using is not able to make a ground connection because the connection input on the scope have ground on their outer diameter and the inner female connector on the inside of it.

Hmm, not picturing what the constraint is that you're describing exactly. You have a scope, but no ground probe? Well, a ground probe doesn't need to be fancy. A chunk of wire will work. Don't go betting your career on the precise measurements but, a wire will be fine.

How do you have a scope but no ground wire and don't know how to use it? (I used one years ago, and then have since found a couple for free, is my excuse).

Learn the absolute basics of how to use your scope, then we can use that to figure other things out.

I also changed the wires on the i10 connector because I was suspecting false connection on them. I also tried your parameters aswell as Johannes' . After all this updates the light bulbs still didn't light up.

I'm not even certain the bulbs will light up. I had bulbs but I aborted that part of the procedure and just measured voltage when I actually got it to work. Someone else could help you figure that out but, no need to. Use your multimeter and test the voltage when it turns on.

I have a question- are the any other parameters that I'm suppose to put in the web Interface ?. e.g under motor section there is "snsm" I found a list of different cars to choose from and also on the inverter section there is "snshs" I found a list of other option there and I didn't know which one to choose. Please also help me with that.

I either haven't made it that far, or that's different than mine.

Have you looked up what those parameters are in the parameter list? Did you know that there is a parameters list?

*cringes*

I don't offhand know where they are, let me risk the wrath of the community again by being critical, and trying this from the perspective of a beginner, going to the OI main page and trying to find parameters...

As a beginner I would start at the OpenInverter.org main page. And there is... no mention of parameters. Okay, no problem, a beginner wouldn't immediately start looking for parameters. They'd look under the speed controller or inverter section. And on the main OpenInverter page there is... no mention of the Open Inverter itself, nor speed controller, nor inverter.

*sighs*

The Open Inverter page... does not link or describe... an inverter or speed controller. Even in general.

I just... don't get this community sometimes. I really don't. If I was knowledgeable enough to just gut it and rewrite the whole thing I would, but I'm not.

...

Okay, the Index has the parameters list, as does at the bottom of the main page in the "additional reading":

https://openinverter.org/wiki/Parameters

And it says:

"snsm" - "Motor temperature sensor."

So, no, we don't need a motor temperature sensor yet. We just want to bypass all the BS and see if we can even do PWM motor control correctly.

"snshs" - "Heatsink temperature sensor."

Also no, we don't need a heatsink temp sensor, yet, or maybe ever.

...

Stay on target.

1 - Use my parameters. When the motor is supposed to be spinning, put your voltmeter on any 2 of the output phases (or try all 3 combos). Do you see any voltage difference between the inverter being started or stopped?

2 - Throw a ground wire on the scope, look up a video of the absolute oscilloscope basics. Put that across 2 phases and see if you see anything different when the inverter is on vs. off.

Once that's confirmed I'll walk you through the next thing to test.

[voti]

I found a wire to use as my probe for the oscilloscope, I put in your parameters as is and started the inverter in manual mode. The scope showed no difference in readings.

I think I might have connected probing wire for the oscilloscope correctly because when I tested it with my hand it showed a waveform. I've linked pictures below. Not the best way to test it I know.

When I connected the probing wire to the inverter, to my suprise it showed a waveform even before I turned on the VCU. When I turned on the VCU the waveform was distorted and showed noise signs and i thinks its because of the wire I was using i dont know.thats not a problem because at the center of the distortion I was still able to see the waveform.

I went on the put your parameters that you sent me and started the inverter in manual mode. The waveform didn't change.i used my multimeter to test phase to phase but I got no readings aswell. I had the light bulbs connected but they didn't light up also.

Please see pictures below.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I put in your parameters as is and started the inverter in manual mode. The scope showed no difference in readings.

Okay, that's what we expected, because if it was getting the correct waveform it would be spinning a motor or lighting lightbulbs.

When I connected the probing wire to the inverter, to my suprise it showed a waveform even before I turned on the VCU.

Mmm... without testing a known-good signal, and you not giving any measurements for frequency or voltage, it's hard to conclude whether this is like, noise from fluorescent lights in the room next to you and almost zero amplitude, or whether it's something from the inverter, or leakage from the power grid, or who knows.

If it's the actual inverter signal it shouldn't be on before you turn the controller on.

I went on the put your parameters that you sent me and started the inverter in manual mode. The waveform didn't change.i used my multimeter to test phase to phase but I got no readings aswell.

Okay. Presuming you did that correctly (I'm skeptical, but that's another thing we'll narrow down), that's also expected otherwise it would be working.

...

I have two thoughts:

1 - What software are you using? Have you ever flashed software onto Johannes's controller? There are 2 types of software: Sine and FOC. Sine should run any motor (although some types very poorly and only in test conditions), FOC is needed for other types. I think the procedure is to start with Sine to do some of the tests, then switch over to FOC if you have that type of motor. I don't know if that applies to what Johannes set up on this controller or not.

2 - Back-probe wires like I showed you to several posts back, and hook the scope up to 9, 10, and 11 of the inverter side of the i10 connector (any 2, I guess). Double-check this with the picture of the color-coded wires I posted. When the inverter is started in manual mode, you should see a waveform, when it's stopped the waveform should stop. When you change fslipspnt from 1 to 2 (or 3, or 5, or whatever), you should see the waveform change. Regardless of what the scope shows, after, also use your voltmeter on any of the 2 signal wires (9, 10, or 11) and see if there's voltage on any pair of those pins, or a voltage that changes when the inverter is started vs. stopped via the software.

...

We are going to work our way backwards into the system from the end result (motor output not getting signal), towards the thing generating the signal.

This is a bit tricky to do because I'm skeptical that your scope works, or that you know how to operate it. The voltmeter is clumsy but should tell us some basic things.

Get back to me with that and then we'll try the next thing.

[voti]

Does the VCU have like a error message that I can atleast check to see what's really going on?

[voti]

Mmm... without testing a known-good signal, and you not giving any measurements for frequency or voltage, it's hard to conclude whether this is like, noise from fluorescent lights in the room next to you and almost zero amplitude, or whether it's something from the inverter, or leakage from the power grid, or who knows.

Thank you for mentioning this, I did a bit of research also and found that I had my phone charger way too close to the oscilloscope, I'll fix this mistake. Thank you for mentioning it

What software are you using? Have you ever flashed software onto Johannes's controller? There are 2 types of software: Sine and FOC. Sine should run any motor (although some types very poorly and only in test conditions), FOC is needed for other types. I think the procedure is to start with Sine to do some of the tests, then switch over to FOC if you have that type of motor. I don't know if that applies to what Johannes set up on this controller or not.

I took some pictures a while ago of the VCU settings amd on them Ir says I'm running on version
5.35.R-sine.

I HAVE A QUESTION. When I got the board I remember coming across a message that said the board comes with the latest software, so my question is "is there anything I should do in terms of update or software installation that I should do before I used the board or its just plug amd play ????.

controller or not.

2 - Back-probe wires like I showed you to several posts back, and hook the scope up to 9, 10, and 11 of the inverter side of the i10 connector (any 2, I guess). Double-check this with the picture of the color-coded wires I posted. When the inverter is started in manual mode, you should see a waveform, when it's stopped the waveform should stop. When you change fslipspnt from 1 to 2 (or 3, or 5, or whatever), you should see the waveform change. Regardless of what the scope shows, after, also use your voltmeter on any of the 2 signal wires (9, 10, or 11) and see if there's voltage on any pair of those pins, or a voltage that changes when the inverter is started vs. stopped via the software.

I will do that, thank you.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Thank you for mentioning this, I did a bit of research also and found that I had my phone charger way too close to the oscilloscope, I'll fix this mistake. Thank you for mentioning it

Aha.

So, basically, we're back to there being no signal. I guess that's normal, or you wouldn't be asking questions.

5.35.R-sine.

Okay, good.

"is there anything I should do in terms of update or software installation that I should do before I used the board or its just plug amd play ????.

Oh lordy.

It's an open source project. There is no such thing as "plug and play". You're lucky if it could be "plug and spend a month chasing down undocumented definitions".

Everyone's setup is unique, you'll have to understand how to connect your specific things in your build into the hardware and software, and then configure it correctly.

But no, you shouldn't need new software. Even if the software is outdated, that means it might be missing tweaks and new features and corrections. But not basic "can this generate an output at all" kind of stuff. That should work with any version.

And the stuff we're doing is the most basic "ignore everything and force this to start doing stuff" testing.

[voti]

So, basically, we're back to there being no signal. I guess that's normal, or you wouldn't be asking questions.

yes

It's an open source project. There is no such thing as "plug and play". You're lucky if it could be "plug and spend a month chasing down undocumented definitions".

Ok I understand what open source is, and my plug amd play I meant there is no need for updates or setup needed.

Everyone's setup is unique, you'll have to understand how to connect your specific things in your build into the hardware and software, and then configure it correctly.

I have a lot of work to do with this project but I can't do anything of I can't test amd see of the inverter is working.

So what do you suggest I do next?

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Ok I understand what open source is, and my plug amd play I meant there is no need for updates or setup needed.

"Plug and play" to me is a magical fantasyland where you plug it in and everything "just works". It figures out its own settings, calibration, configuration, etc.

While the open source EV community could go a long way towards being more user friends, better documented, and being a lot more intuitive... the nature of DIY EV car projects is going to always leave lots of need for configuration because of its flexibility.

So what do you suggest I do next?

Read back 2 posts, I wrote out the next steps to take. Backprobe the signal wires and see if the signal is even getting into the inverter, and check them with the voltmeter too in case your scope is broken or you aren't using it correctly. Might as well test both AC voltage and DC voltage on your multimeter, I'm not sure which should be telling you more.

Get back to me with the results of that, then we'll dig deeper.

[voti]

Read back 2 posts, I wrote out the next steps to take. Backprobe the signal wires and see if the signal is even getting into the inverter, and check them with the voltmeter too in case your scope is broken or you aren't using it correctly. Might as well test both AC voltage and DC voltage on your multimeter, I'm not sure which should be telling you more.

Thank you. I'll do that

[voti]

Probably the easiest thing would be to backprobe a wire into the inverter side of the i10 connector's pins 9, 10, and/or 11, and scope that output when you're telling the inverter to start. You'll have to be a bit tricky about it, to make sure the measuring wire is actually making contact when wedged in there.

Just did the back probe procedure on the front and at the back of the i10 connector.
The oscilloscope showed no change in waveform.

First I put your parameters and tested, then i changed the parameters, I change both fslipspnt and ampnom to try and see what will happen but still no change.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Just did the back probe procedure on the front and at the back of the i10 connector.

OH NO! No no no.

You don't pierce the insulation and stab into the wires themselves when you backprobe. You put a wire alongside the wire you want to probe, to butt it up against the metal pin inside! I even sent you a video tutorial how to do it without damaging the wires.

Now you've got wires side-by-side with pierced insulation. Hopefully you can later de-pin them and heatshrink them so they don't short against each other.

First I put your parameters and tested, then i changed the parameters, I change both fslipspnt and ampnom to try and see what will happen but still no change.

Just to be clear, my parameters have fslipspnt and ampnom at zero. You have to set fslipspnt to 1 (or whatever) and ampnom to 30, 50, 70, whatever.. and then click "Start Inverter in Manual Mode". Nothing will happen if you don't do that.

Did you test voltage (both AC and DC) on those pins as well? Again, I'm not confident you know how to use your scope, we should be measuring the voltage as a second backup.

...

Supposing that everything was done correctly, what this tells us is that the control board isn't sending signals out. That would mean a faulty controller, or, more likely, an incomplete setup or a wiring mistake.

It's hard to diagnose when there's so much uncertainty about what was done.

[voti]

P

You don't pierce the insulation and stab into the wires themselves when you backprobe. You put a wire alongside the wire you want to probe, to butt it up against the metal pin inside! I even sent you a video tutorial how to do it without damaging the wires.

Now you've got wires side-by-side with pierced insulation. Hopefully you can later de-pin them and heatshrink them so they don't short against each other.

Please don't worry about the pierced wired I'll De-pin and heatshrink them.
I watched the video you sent me on hoe to backprobe but i decided to pierce the wires because when I stuck the pins next to the wires I wasn't sure if I was making contact on the inside so to avoid any mistakes I pierced the wires.

Just to be clear, my parameters have fslipspnt and ampnom at zero. You have to set fslipspnt to 1 (or whatever) and ampnom to 30, 50, 70, whatever.. and then click "Start Inverter in Manual Mode". Nothing will happen if you don't do that.

I noticed that and I first tested at zero fslipspnt and ampnom and changed to fslipspnt to 1 and ampnom 70 changed again to fslipspnt 3 ampnom 80 but still no difference.

Did you test voltage (both AC and DC) on those pins as well? Again, I'm not confident you know how to use your scope, we should be measuring the voltage as a second backup.

Yes I did. But I only tested AC.
I don't know if this is important but all the time I test for AC even on the three phase output of the inverter, when I place the testing probes of the multiple to Any of the three phases I usually see a reading of 0.01v. But it usually disappears in a second. I noticed the same thing too when I tested on the backprobe.


Is it possible to remove the other wire connections on the vcu to the Inverter and have only the required wires for testing purposes, because on some of the videos that I've been watching on YouTube, I think zookeeper didn't have all the wires connected when he did his tests. I'm not sure if it was him but I'm sire I've seen it somewhere.

Reason why im asking this is because you said the reason my setup is not working it might be due to incorrect connection

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Please don't worry about the pierced wired I'll De-pin and heatshrink them.

Alright, moving on.

You could've just done a continuity test with the other end of the wire. Don't go damaging things just to test.

when I place the testing probes of the multiple to Any of the three phases I usually see a reading of 0.01v. But it usually disappears in a second. I noticed the same thing too when I tested on the backprobe.

Ehn, just stray capacitance probably.

Is it possible to remove the other wire connections on the vcu to the Inverter and have only the required wires for testing purposes, because on some of the videos that I've been watching on YouTube, I think zookeeper didn't have all the wires connected when he did his tests. I'm not sure if it was him but I'm sire I've seen it somewhere.

I have reasonable faith in Johannes' assembly methods, so, no I wouldn't go removing wires.

That said, there's lots of them you don't need to hook up.

...

I think it's more likely you've made an error in assembling your wires. Unfortunately, I've never used Johannes' board so I'm not sure what's done for you and what needs connecting elsewhere.

I tried to read through as much of Johannes' stuff on this board as possible.

If you can log in and get the OI interface to load, and it pulls up a list of parameters, then you have at least powered the OI controller properly.

And if signal isn't getting to the inverter side of the i10, then it wouldn't matter if the inverter is blown up, powered incorrectly, or anything else. Because it's not even getting signal.

So we've narrowed it down to the OI board, or the wires to the i10 (at least).

So, let's chop into it further.

I'm going to make this completely idiotproof so we're super duper extra sure you've been wiring it correctly.



We are interested in pins 28, 29, and 30 on the above connector. So those are the lower pins on the smaller connector. That's the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pins on the bottom of the connector. I put a purple box around them in the diagram.

Those become 9, 10, and 11 on the inverter's side of the i10. I've shown in the diagram there, the wiring harness side of the i10, to ensure you have the orientation correctly. It's the 6th, 7th, and 8th wire from the left, if the plug is in that orientation. I put a blue box around them in the diagram.

...

I've looked at your pictures, but they're not clear enough for me to track where each wire is going (they change colors and don't show the side I'd need to see to confirm).

So, go check that that's all been done correctly.

If it has...

Carefully flip the OI board over. CAREFULLY use a voltmeter or probe pin 28, 29, and 30 (small connector, the row closest to the edge of the board) when you think the inverter is on. See what you get for voltages and or waveforms. Don't slip and short something.

If you've got voltage on those pins, then it's a wiring problem. If you don't have voltage on those pins, then it's an OI hardware or software problem, or some other wires aren't hooked up correctly to allow the OI board to engage, and we'll chase those down next.

You'll get there, we'll keep at this methodically until we find out where the signal stops or isn't being made in the first place.