Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com

EcoModder.com (https://ecomodder.com/forum/)

- Open ReVolt: open source DC motor controller (https://ecomodder.com/forum/open-revolt-open-source-dc-motor-controller.html)

- - 500A controller troubleshooting II (https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/500a-controller-troubleshooting-ii-32128.html)

500A controller troubleshooting II

I'm looking for some basic stuff .. I have already posted that I purchased another guy's project, re-soldered a fair chunk of the control board, and have powered it up.

I have a solid green LED and a solid Amber LED. On power up, with a serial connection to hyperterminal running I see this

Cougar OS controller firmware v1.11b

But when I type - no echo of the characters. From the code here
Open ReVolt/Software - EcoModder

it looks like there should be local echo if the controller is receiving characters ...

So I guess that's question 1. Why don't I see echo of characters?
hyperterm running on XP SP2, using a real serial port (not USB converter). This is the same port that I've used to communicate (with the same serial cable) to Paul's new Open source AC controller
19200 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no flow control

I could live without the serial working .. so when I ramp up the throttle, there is no output (connected to a small blower). The blower works fine. I keep checking it to make sure. At about 25% throttle, the amber LED starts to flash. That's question 2. Can I figure out why the Amber is flashing without the serial working?

So I tried

rt-period 1000

No response, no data. So I don't think the controller is receiving.

So I read the 500A controller troubleshooting thread, and tried this http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post482317 and got 0.0 mV at 0 throttle and 2.5 mV at full throttle. So I guess the PWM output is not responding.

I'm not sure where to go from there. But I expect that it's to a poor solder joint somewhere. :eek:

I hope you find it.

I just received my parts yesterday and replaced U6 and U7 because I wasn't getting any PWM output either.

Just finished it up and put it back together this morning and I still have no responce in RTD Explorer. I'm about to start measuring voltages again.

I'll let you know if I find anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lectrik (Post 483255)

I hope you find it.

Me too!:D

Quote:

I'll let you know if I find anything.

Much appreciated!

Long time ago in a galaxy far far away, we had a command for terminal programs run on command prompt : Echo on. Default is "off"

Check for continuity between J2 Pin 2 and U4 Pin 13. Apparently I must have blown the trace off because I had an open.

It still didn't fix my communication problem but gives you something to check..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotrsko (Post 483294)

Long time ago in a galaxy far far away, we had a command for terminal programs run on command prompt : Echo on. Default is "off"

I guess I'm old enough to have thought of that. But I didn't.

So I tried it, or I TRIED to try it.

I booted the controller with just 12V, no pack. There was no display of the cougar firmware version at 19200,n,8,1. Odd. So I checked the 12V battery - 12.8V seems OK. I cleaned the battery terminals - they are a bit corroded. Nope, that does not help. Pull out and reseat the serial cable connector on the board and to the computer. There is a bit of a squiggle, like I'd expect if I was at the wrong baud rate, on that one. But it's not reproducible so it may be just some noise. Most times there is nothing.

So I appear to be going backward. The controller LEDs are still the same - solid Green and solid Yellow. Increase the throttle (with the pack connected) and the Yellow blinks at about 25% throttle. Come to think of it, it does that with or without the pack.

It would be nice to use the terminal interface for troubleshooting .. but that has not worked well so far.

This code leads me to believe that there is no 'echo on'

Code:

if (cmdok) {

                                        // cmd is string, x is numeric value

                                        if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("save"))) {

                                                write_config();

                                                sprintf_P(str, PSTR("configuration written to EE\r\n"));

                                                uart_putstr(str);

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("idle"))) {

                                                sprintf_P(str, PSTR("AVR %lu%% idle\r\n"),

                                                        wait_time(100) * (long)100 / idle_loopcount);

                                                uart_putstr(str);

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("kp"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 500) {

                                                        config.Kp = x; config_pi();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("ki"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 500) {

                                                        config.Ki = x; config_pi();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("t-min-rc"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 1023) {

                                                        cli(); config.throttle_min_raw_counts = x; sei();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("t-max-rc"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 1023) {

                                                        cli(); config.throttle_max_raw_counts = x; sei();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("t-pos-gain"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 128) {

                                                        cli(); config.throttle_pos_gain = x; sei();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("t-pwm-gain"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 128) {

                                                        cli(); config.throttle_pwm_gain = x; sei();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                        else if (!strcmp_P(cmd, PSTR("c-rr"))) {

                                                if ((unsigned)x <= 100) {

                                                        cli(); config.current_ramp_rate = x; sei();

                                                        show_config(str);

                                                }

                                        }

                                }

                                else show_menu(str);

                                // reset command string

                                cmdpos = 0; cmd[0] = 0;

                        }

Just 'save', 'idle', 'kp', 'ki', 't-min-rc', 't-max-rc', 't-pos-gain', 't-pwm-gain' and 'c-rr'.

As I read it, any command that is not found should show_config .. but it does not do that for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lectrik (Post 483324)

Check for continuity between J2 Pin 2 and U4 Pin 13. Apparently I must have blown the trace off because I had an open.

It still didn't fix my communication problem but gives you something to check..

I have 0.00 ohms on that link. So that should not be the problem.

Looking at the board under the magnifier ... I am pretty embarrassed by the re-soldering that I did. It looks like pin 1 on U4 is a cold solder. Perhaps I should go over the board again with a soldering iron and try to make it a bit more of an example of what you SHOULD do instead of the present state - an example to AVOID.

It's been years since I soldered anything ... but it should come back with practice!

Quote:

Originally Posted by thingstodo (Post 483430)

Follow the schematic and check continuity between a questionable connection and where it goes to. I found two open circuits where a pad should have been on the board.

I was once getting crap on serial output, I even changed MAX serial interface IC but then I found poor solder job (mine...) at its RX line. Check if you have +5V and GND (pins 15 & 16) and resistance between processor's 2,3 and 12,11 of max202 (or HIN202) - should be ~1k. Pins 13 and 14 of max/hin should be connected to port RxD/TxD.
If you have processor mounted in a socket then there's old trick - take it out and bridge pins 2 with 3 in socket - you should then see echo of every sign sent with terminal to the board.

The amber LED blinks when you get to some nonzero throttle because it ramps the PWM duty up to 100%, but is still receiving 0 amps of feedback current, which is bad. So, the PWM isn't making it all the way to the output of U7. I would theck the voltage at R11 (either side of the resistor) relative to the back of U1 (ground) when you give it throttle. It should climb from 0v to 5v. Then, if that's happening, the PWM from the microcontroller is working, and we can move to the voltage at the left side of R15 relative to the back of U1 (ground). If that is inverted (it should go DOWN as throttle goes UP, then check the bottom of R16 relative to PH1 or PH2 while you give it some throttle.