Paul and Sabrina's Cheap 3 Phase Inverter (AC Controller) with Field Oriented Control

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by freebeard

When I try to figure this out, there is a set called 'polyphase DC'. Is that a thing?

Just when doing dc to dc converters, I think.

[arber333]

Hi Paul

Last week i have been reassembling my inverter in more convential configuration. That is IGBT rails with snubbers on them with large elcaps over them. I had to fight trough different versions of code until i found one that worked for me.

Yesterday i gave LEAF motor 48V from my ebike battery and i got it to run with positive control. You may remember i made a special fitting for magnet encoder. This works now. Today i will try 360Vdc and see how it goes...

Encoder is 10bit RLS RMF44IC10BA11 with differential signal push-pull. I only use ABZ lines and i leave negative lines unconnected. It works!
https://leafdriveblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/encoder/

I have a question about reverse. It is the only thing i dont have setup here. Everything depends on it. Is the procedure from post working now? Can it also reduce power in reverse? Can anyone with experience join in?
Oh i have the DIP version of inverter. I dont use third current sensor. Which pin i can appropriate for reverse then?

EDIT: There is another matter. I was discussing Emrax motor with its constructor Roman and he said his motor can be easily used with 120° 3x hall sensors that can tell controller where active pole is. Would you care to write code for that setup? I cant imagine how much work this would take but i can see the benefit. For example i was able to run Emrax with ebike 48V inverter and 3 sensors just fine. However motor is wound for 500V and so i only got 500rpm from it...


tnx

[ScottyWarpNine]

I'm having trouble programming my PIC. I have quite a bit of experience working with AVR microcontrollers, but MPLab is some voodoo magic. I'm assuming what I need to do is take the C files and Hex files in the "ACController" folder and put them into an MPLab project, which would compile into a hex file which would be flashed onto the PIC?

Could somebody guide me through this?

Thanks!

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by ScottyWarpNine

I'm having trouble programming my PIC. I have quite a bit of experience working with AVR microcontrollers, but MPLab is some voodoo magic.

Assuming that you have loaded the latest MPLAB X ... I`d agree with the voodoo. I have yet to get Paul`s code to compile. Last time I threw it in the corner in disgust was ... mid last year or so.

I'm assuming what I need to do is take the C files and Hex files in the "ACController" folder and put them into an MPLab project, which would compile into a hex file which would be flashed onto the PIC?

If you can get the Import Legacy to work, I believe that is supposed to be the path from the older MPLAB projects to the new. It does not find any files that it likes the extensions of .. for me.

Creating a new project and adding the .C and .H files manually gives me a few screens full of errors. I think the hex files are the output and will be over-written if you do things right.

The new code is a bit bigger than the old code (from MPLAB 8.x) but I believe that it still fits into the PIC. Paul had tested the newer version of MPLAB and did not like it. But I think he got it to compile.

I tried to get his older copy of MPLAB running on my laptop and failed.

So I keep bugging him to send me the various files .. as a backup .. but so far I have not been able to build hex files.

Could somebody guide me through this?

Thanks!

If you find someone - let me know! MPLAB X may be the new way of doing things .. but it does not like my install. It likely has some doofus path hard-coded ... or something equally lame.

I have been meaning to do a clean install on a plain-jane windows 7 machine with default paths for everything and see if that clears things up ... but MPLAB X has not made it to page 1 of the todo list.

[ScottyWarpNine]

Interesting, so would it be easier if I could try to install a previous version of MPlab? if there are legacy versions available for download...

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by ScottyWarpNine

Interesting, so would it be easier if I could try to install a previous version of MPlab? if there are legacy versions available for download...

My apologies .. perhaps I made some assumptions that are not correct!

The only reason to deal with code and compilers is if you want to change the code yourself.

If you buy a board from Paul and do the soldering yourself, he sends you a hex file to load into the dsPIC (or you find it yourself from the forums etc).

To load the hex file you use a utility in MPLAB X called MPLAB IPE, which loads a HEX file from your computer and uses a PICKit 3 to write the code to the dsPIC. The PICkit 3 is a $80 USB device (seen as low as $39). MPLAB X is free from Microchip, who make PIC and dsPIC CPUs. The PICKit 3 connects to the dsPIC via a JTAG port, which is a 4 pin interface, which is beside the dsPIC on the board.

Other JTAG debugger/burners will work - I know Paul uses the PICKit 3 so that's what I ended up buying. I had an older PICKit 2 but had trouble loading the library for the dsPIC. It was far too frustrating ... so I spent a bit of money and got a running system.

As for the older versions of MPLAB - I have not found a source. MICROCHIP does not appear to support the older versions and seems to be discouraging their use. Or they were ... perhaps .. by not giving general access to the archives

Did that help?

[ScottyWarpNine]

Ok, that makes sense. I figured there was pre-compiled code, but was confused since I couldn't find it. Paul sent me a bunch of files (c files, header files) but no hex file that I'm aware of. I guess I need to track that down.

Does the Pickit 3 supply power to the board or do I need to power the circuit with a power supply?

Thanks for the help!

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by ScottyWarpNine

Ok, that makes sense. I figured there was pre-compiled code, but was confused since I couldn't find it. Paul sent me a bunch of files (c files, header files) but no hex file that I'm aware of. I guess I need to track that down.

That's a bit strange. I've attached the latest one that I have on this message. I have source dated Jan 3 2017 but it has no hex file. The latest one that I have the hex file for is April 17 2016.

Does the Pickit 3 supply power to the board

Yes it does. I think that's how I loaded the firmware. Using the DC/DC supply works for debugging ... but there was something about loading firmware that I only used the PICKit 3 to power the board.

The file is too big to post as a zip file. I renamed it to an xls extension and it uploads ... but you will need to rename it to zip to use it.

I tried to add the hex file separately - unknown file type - sigh!

[ScottyWarpNine]

Sorry for all the questions! I tried uploading the hex file using a pickit3 and the MPlab IPE but I keep getting an error it says:

Target device was not found (could not detect target voltage VDD). You must connect to a target device to use PICkit 3.

Edit: just found the setting to supply power to the circuit through the pickit3. Now it won't program. it is giving me this message:

Programming...

The following memory area(s) will be programmed:
program memory: start address = 0x0, end address = 0x7fff
program memory
Address: 0 Expected Value: 40100 Received Value: 0
configuration memory
EEData memory
User Id Memory
Failed to program device
2017-08-29 21:34:43 -0400 - Programming failed

The device will erase but will not program or do the blank check.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by ScottyWarpNine

Programming...

The following memory area(s) will be programmed:
program memory: start address = 0x0, end address = 0x7fff
program memory
Address: 0 Expected Value: 40100 Received Value: 0
configuration memory
EEData memory
User Id Memory
Failed to program device
2017-08-29 21:34:43 -0400 - Programming failed

The device will erase but will not program or do the blank check.

What does your setup look like? I think there may be a cable that is too long.

I use the pickit 3 ribbon cable plugged directly into Paul's board. I don't remember if I need to use a male-male header ... I'll have to look tonight.

Prop the pickit 3 on a piece of insulating material, like perfboard or a ceiling tile. Then the USB cable goes to the laptop.

I have had similar problems when using a ribbon cable extender from Paul's board to the Pickit 3.

At that point, selecting the correct dsPIC is about the only config required. But I have never had a verify complete successfully .. which is a bit strange .. the erase and program work.