Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Topics concerning the Tesla front and rear drive unit drop-in board
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Jack Bauer
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Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

Setting up a thread to document the reverse engineering of the Model 3 rear drive unit. The specimen is from a European 2019 car with just over 20k km on the clock.

Initial observation is the motor exhibits cogging on initial turn but very little while turning via the drive shafts. The plan will be in two parts :

1)Remove inverter and run the motor with a prius inverter so we can learn how to control it with the Openinverter system.

2)Reverse engineering the Tesla inverter to allow use with an open source logic board.


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2020-02-28 13.41.48.jpg
2020-02-28 10.56.22.jpg
2020-02-28 10.55.13.jpg
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

Some useful background videos of the rear motor 8-)




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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

From the inverter video description :
Here is the list of major components:
SiC FETs: ST GK026 (24)
Gate Drivers: STGAP1AS (6)
MCU: TI TMS320F28377DPTPQ
Resolver Amp: ON Semi TCA0372BDW
Temp Amp: TI LMV844
EEPROM: Microchip 25LC256E
CAN Transceiver: TI SN65HVD1040A (2)
LIN Transceiver: NXP TJA1021
HV Sense: Broadcom ACPL-C87BT-000E
DC-DC Power: Infineon TLF35584QVVS2
DC-DC Transformer: TDK VGT22EPC-222S6A12
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

As the Tesla wiring diagrams spread out the connector info over several pages I have put together the oem pinout for the rear du.

https://github.com/damienmaguire/Tesla- ... Pinout.pdf
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by JeanVapeur »

Hi Damien,
can you do me a favour and make a raw drawing/video (L x W x H x D) of the dimensions of the 2 Model 3 DriveUnits.
Ony for a rough placement check.
Thank You very much!
Peter
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

JeanVapeur wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:00 pm can you do me a favour and make a raw drawing/video (L x W x H x D) of the dimensions of the 2 Model 3 DriveUnits.
You might be interested in this crowdfunding for a 3D scan of both motors... would save Damien or myself from doing the work and provide a much more accurate result :)

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=184&p=7280#p7280
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by 57 Chevy »

Been looking at the component specs and discussing with a very learned MC designer here. Given how integrated it is and that all the gear is about as good as you can find, is it worth trying to erase the micro and reprogram it? If that isn't possible then resolder another one onto the board. I believe the TI dev tools come with a vast array of motor control libraries which would make a lot of the initial setup fairly straightforward. I'm not a code person really so have no experience with that.

The SiC switching devices appear to be a custom package. They obviously set out to sell a lot! Also there will be no replacing them other than by replacing the whole module so test carefully.
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

57 Chevy wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 8:33 am is it worth trying to erase the micro and reprogram it? If that isn't possible then resolder another one onto the board.
Lots options are being considered ;)
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by JeanVapeur »

Kevin Sharpe wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:06 pm
JeanVapeur wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:00 pm can you do me a favour and make a raw drawing/video (L x W x H x D) of the dimensions of the 2 Model 3 DriveUnits.
You might be interested in this crowdfunding for a 3D scan of both motors... would save Damien or myself from doing the work and provide a much more accurate result :)
3D scan will be nice to have, but as long as I dont have a CAD drawing or 3D scan of the underbody of my car, is this for me not realy helpful.
I try to keep it simple.
With the dimensions of the DU, I lie under the car with my pocket rule and can imagine if it fits or not.
Because actual are there exhaust pipes, differential housing and the fuel tank... ;)

So the dimension of the hight and the distance from the driveshaft to the front edge, will help me further. :)
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

JeanVapeur wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 3:46 pm 3D scan will be nice to have, but as long as I dont have a CAD drawing or 3D scan of the underbody of my car, is this for me not realy helpful.
With a 3D scan of the motor you can measure anything you want including;
JeanVapeur wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 3:46 pm the dimension of the hight and the distance from the driveshaft to the front edge
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

Weigh in for the rear drive unit.
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2020-03-05 14.27.03.jpg
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by MattsAwesomeStuff »

Awww yisss.

Every time a new project's motor spins, an angel gets his wings.

That first wiggle of movement where you pump your fist in the air, nod to your buddies, and say "Fuck yeah!"

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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

So, first power up of the M3 rdu inverter on the bench. Elon flashed some nice coloured leds at me and pumped out massive amounts of CAN on TWO busses. I took a sample for posterity. Up on the github repo for the can hackers :)
https://github.com/damienmaguire/Tesla- ... Drive-Unit
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2020-03-13 15.04.53.jpg
2020-03-13 15.02.01.jpg
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

Now we can start the real hacking. Phase one : eliminate the musk, eliminate the problem.

Pin 124 of the TMS main processor is the reset pin called XRS. Pulling that to ground puts Elon asleep and leaves everything else up and running. Easy pickings for the upcoming HubenAtor XM-3000 modchip:)
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2020-03-13 15.36.19.jpg
2020-03-13 15.34.34.jpg
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

"time to get some sleep Elon... night, night"

https://twitter.com/EvBmw/status/123850 ... 38432?s=20
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by JeanVapeur »

Hi Damian,
maybe this pictures helps you a little bit in your exploration...
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

Great to see the underside. Many thanks.
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

JeanVapeur wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:50 pm maybe this pictures helps you a little bit in your exploration...
Do you have any photo's of the power stage?
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Kevin Sharpe »

Kevin Sharpe wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2020 10:11 am
JeanVapeur wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:50 pm maybe this pictures helps you a little bit in your exploration...
Do you have any photo's of the power stage?
Some useful info in this article;

ABOUT THE SIC MOSFETS MODULES IN TESLA MODEL 3
Model3-inverter-e1530096423831-450x328.jpg
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by JeanVapeur »

Thats all I found, possible this can help... ;)

Image

Image
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

Anyone find a high res shot of the rear of the board? I'm getting a feeling old Elon is using bootstrap gate drivers:)
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

Yep. D421,D422and D423. High side bootstrap diodes:)
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Re: Tesla Model 3 Rear Drive Unit Hacking

Post by Jack Bauer »

So a little more investigation reveals a Viper16A based power supply section used to generate the low side iso voltages. Not 100% sure as yet but looks to be derived from the hv. Can't say I like this. They're building cars not cheap mobile phone chargers. A multi output dcdc wouldn't have put them out of more than a few $...
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