openinverter forum

Once again I find myself needing to politely request that I not be contacted for one to one support. A detailed explanation of the logic behind this can be found here : https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopi ... 169#p41169

Testing the 'hateful' wi-fi module

Can someone let me know when is the appropriate time to test the wi-fi module?

I have my board mostly populated and it powers up OK. The 3V3 LED is lit and the ACCTY LED is flashing. The wi-fi module also powers up showing a solid red LED and a solid green LED (although sometimes on power up the green LED isn’t on). However I’m not seeing the wi-fi access point on any of my devices. The board isn’t connected to the inverter but I thought the wi-fi access point should be visible anyway.

There’s a note on the wiki about manually assigning an IP. The linked thread suggests the issue has been solved so I haven’t tried that (partly because I didn’t understand it!).

Hope someone can point me in the right direction.

The wifi board needs tobe programmed. Is that already done?

EV_Builder wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:00 pm The wifi board needs tobe programmed. Is that already done?

That’s my understanding, yes. I purchased it from Damien together with the Zombieverter board. He says in one of the videos on the Wiki that he ships them pre-programmed.

Then no clue!

EV_Builder wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:10 pm Then no clue!

Thanks anyway. I’ll try again once I’ve made the basic connections to the inverter and throttle. If it still doesn’t work I’ll assume it’s a bad wi-if module. In the videos I’ve watched the green LED on the wi-fi module is always flashing. Mine is solid green which could mean it’s not processing anything.

Sounds like yet another wifi module problem. I'd suggest reprogramming and if that does not work contact me via pm with your order number for a replacement.

I had the same problem with the wifi module every time i tried the Arduino flash process it would fail then i changed the board to "Generic ESP8285" it worked but it is not that board. I'm going to try using the "Generic ESP8266" to see if that one works. I cannot get the wiki instruction olimex mod_wifi-esp8266(-dev) board selection to work at all.

Tested a few times with susses.
Board: "generic Esp8266"
Build:2
upload speed 115200
cpu 80mhz
crystal 26
Flash 2mb (FS:512kb ota: 768kb)

The rest of the settings the same as wiki.

In my testing today i had GPIO set to 1 and held down the button on power up and it puts it in program mode it also mentions it in the Olimex documentation if you don't have the button you need to move the jumper. No need to move solder jumper every time. ?an any one try this and see if it works for them?

paaa wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 2:16 pm This is an older .hex that works but dashboard can output doesnt. It does start up correctly and can spin gs motor backward and forwards and reads e65 direction input by can so should help people stuck at the motor not spinning stage.

Hi paaa - thanks for sharing this binary! I was able to load it using STM32link.

I updated to try to get the ISA shunt configuration option. Do you know if this exists in your version and where it should show up in the interface? I believed it should be "under comms" but it doesn't look like it.

Cheers

edit: I remembered how to initialize the shunt using my hacked firmware from last year.. but it would be nice to know if there's a "proper" way to do it...

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 03, 2022 3:10 pm ...I'd suggest reprogramming and if that does not work contact me via pm with your order number for a replacement.

Thanks for that. I don’t have the cable or software to do the reprogramming so I may decide to just buy another module from you.

Something a bit odd with the contactor control on my setup. After a few seconds, one of them starts to buzz, or even chatter and drop out. I added bulbs to each coil to see what's happening. The behavior improves with the bulbs wired in!

Any idea what's going on here? As far as I know none of these contactors have an economizer built in.

In the video you can see the start sequence, then bulbs dimming in turn (why?), then the buzzing sound from one or more coils). I didn't look with a scope yet.

Thanks

et0 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 10:41 am I updated to try to get the ISA shunt configuration option. Do you know if this exists in your version and where it should show up in the interface? I believed it should be "under comms" but it doesn't look like it.

Damien's Nov2021 video "ZombieVerter VCU Part 3" covers this, but it's 1:16 in. I knew I'd seen it, looked for it last week when you first asked, but couldn't find it again until now!

asavage wrote: ↑Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:06 pm
Damien's Nov2021 video "ZombieVerter VCU Part 3" covers this, but it's 1:16 in. I knew I'd seen it, looked for it last week when you first asked, but couldn't find it again until now!

Thanks, I thought that's where it was meant to be alright. It's not though! Guess I'll need to rebuild the latest source to get it.
Appreciate the help.

Double posting this here for maximum visability :
So the situation is the release code here : https://github.com/damienmaguire/Stm32- ... tag/1.00.A
works fine with the gs450h system. Compilation from the source has some major bugs so please use the release binary for now until I fix.

I don't know why the isa init was removed. Will sort this as part of the next release.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:57 pm Double posting this here for maximum visability :
So the situation is the release code here : https://github.com/damienmaguire/Stm32- ... tag/1.00.A
works fine with the gs450h system. Compilation from the source has some major bugs so please use the release binary for now until I fix.

I don't know why the isa init was removed. Will sort this as part of the next release.

Hi Damien, the link is broken but assume it's this tagged release? https://github.com/damienmaguire/Stm32- ... tag/1.00.A

Do you have any comment about the weird contactor behaviour we're seeing? https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopi ... 714#p43714

We do actually have a vehicle driving with it currently but I'll try updating to this binary. Thanks!

If by weird contactor behavior you mean the vcu protecting itself from excessive current draw then yes I can explain:) The vcu uses either NCV8402 or NCV8403 self protected drivers for all contactor outputs. If the load draws too much current or too high a current for too long they will shutoff. I would not use an uneconomised contactor in any event as they will just melt coils.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:40 am If by weird contactor behavior you mean the vcu protecting itself from excessive current draw then yes I can explain:) The vcu uses either NCV8402 or NCV8403 self protected drivers for all contactor outputs. If the load draws too much current or too high a current for too long they will shutoff. I would not use an uneconomised contactor in any event as they will just melt coils.

OK that explains it, thanks. Are the output pins (and drivers) for the contactors PWM-able? I'm wondering about adding economizer functionality to the VCU code versus changing all the contactors...

No the contactor drivers are not on pwm channels. Such a stupid oversight.....oh wait! That must me why I included 3 9A push pull PWM driver outputs on the board...

Not really asking a question here, just sharing for info...as I scratch my head a little more. Zombieverter is just playing with me Looking forward to the new GS450H videos to see if something clicks.

So following Damien's post earlier in the week, I loaded up the binary from the link he posted and did a quick test with my GS450H setup. For the first time there was a whine from the inverter/gearbox, InvUDC was reading correctly, I could plot a torque curve (0 to 1000, where all previous binaries didn't give me any torque plot), InvStat never changed to 'On' though. Selecting fwd or rev, and pressing the accelerator pedal the gearbox would rotate a little but I was using a cheap 60V 3A or 5A supply that tripped out. I noted 'regen'travel' was set to 30% so figured I'd to a new test changing that to 0% and change over to some 12V batteries in series for the HV.

Forward to the weekend, swapped out the PSU for four 12V batteries, changed 'regentravel' to 0 and 'udcsw' to 30 from 50 for the lower voltage and tried to retest...no whine, no rotation, some head scratching. Contactors all working ok as before, 48V or so at the inverter HV input, almost 12V at the inverter power connector, and no data from inverter in web interface, looking like inverter is not powered on (InvUDC = 0 etc). Can plot pot values but zero's for torque and potnom plots. Back to the old behavior somehow.
So I tried a number of things to see if it was a sequencing thing for inverter power up, manually applying brake signal to vcu in different orders, etc, trying to mimic my test earlier in the week but don't see that I'm doing anything different and don't see any issue with the wiring. The setup still allows me to swap in the GS450H VCU, so powered it up and everything runs as it should and the whine coming from the inverter/gearbox, gearbox turns fwd and rev. So with the system powered up and in gear, I disconnected and reconnected 12V inverter power to see if this break in power shuts down the inverter until a restart or something (ruling out zombieverter and inverter power issue), but system kept working as normal once 12V applied again. Tried same disconnecting and reconnecting MTH and HTM, and the system just picked up where it left off and gearbox would still rotate. Tell's me that once the inverter is getting 12V power and has HV at its inputs, it should be spitting out any data that's needed, so is it just that the Zombie is not bothering to read it for some reason.

So I observed something like this on the bench myself just yesterday. If you set invtype to gs450h, save power off and back on you would expect it to work. Sadly not so. We have another bug in there that stops the clock oscillator starting at power on if a toyota inverter is selected. As a bodge work around, power on, goto web interface, set invtype to leaf gen 1, then back to gs450h and I bet you get a whine:)

Hope to bash out the toyota bugs this week and write an IS300h module.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:49 pm As a bodge work around, power on, goto web interface, set invtype to leaf gen 1, then back to gs450h and I bet you get a whine:)

Gave it a quick go, nope, it's still just me whinning no worries

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:49 pm So I observed something like this on the bench myself just yesterday. If you set invtype to gs450h, save power off and back on you would expect it to work. Sadly not so. We have another bug in there that stops the clock oscillator starting at power on if a toyota inverter is selected. As a bodge work around, power on, goto web interface, set invtype to leaf gen 1, then back to gs450h and I bet you get a whine:)

Hope to bash out the toyota bugs this week and write an IS300h module.

After doing this, got my tranny to turn for the first time . Can't say it spun, since on power supply, but going to hook up some batteries tomorrow to see it spin.

After hooking up to 60v worth of batteries, the transmission will spin nicely in forward, then without changing any settings, the next press of the throttle will spin the other way, not as well. In reverse, it won't spin at all, while juttering a little, and whining. This is the same whether it is in high gear or low. Any ideas?
Thanks