Zombieverter & GS450H Communication Issues Investigation Topic is solved

[dadiowe]

Great to see all that work was worth it.
On my set up the InvStat reads off and on intermittently and the car still moves regardless

[paaa]

Sorry to be jumping in so late , glad to hear of your progress. Never underestimate the power of a bad ground or 12v supply. If you need any other reference values let me know.

[nkiernan]

Sorry to be jumping in so late , glad to hear of your progress. Never underestimate the power of a bad ground or 12v supply. If you need any other reference values let me know.

Cheers Paaa. Would be interested to know if others are keeping permanent 12V power to their Zombie VCU's in real applications, or shutting off power when car's switched off? Want to understand if switching ignition off and back on while permanent power to the VCU stays connected allows the system to start up again. I suspect yes, and am thinking higher test HV will likely work, but doing some investigation in case its a sign of another issue I need to address first

[DkubusEV]

I'm following along with great interest too as I'm considering only powering the zombie from ignition on and/or the "charge flap open" switch via a relay so that I can limit the power consumption when my car sits for long periods of time not being driven or charged. I figure if I don't do the charger door flap power up then it's going to be impossible to run my bmw i3 LIM for CCS2 dc charging?...

Hope to start contributing once my zombie arrives in Australia. Cheers guys.

[nkiernan]

Some further testing:

Was doing some more testing this weekend and curious about why 'InvStat' can read off periodically even though the inverter is whining and the transmission can be run ok.

After a number of tests, it seems like this can relate to the voltage of the 12V system. I connected up the 12V battery for the first run and the battery voltage was reading approx 12.34V. System started up ok and 'InvStat' turned to 'run' and I could plot the 'speed' data.

After some more testing, I noticed 'InvStat' would stay off but inverter still worked and span the transmission. Measured the 12V battery voltage and it was sitting at approx 11.7V. Even though transmission would spin, plot of 'speed' stayed at zero (speed data comes from the inverter comms data I believe).

As per earlier tests, I connected the PSU to the battery, PSU set at 13.5V, and rerun the test. This time 'InvStat' turned to 'On' and system ran as expected.

I will be keeping an eye on this, but would appear the 12V system voltage affects 'InvStat', and that could be important in my case where the standard car battery takes some abuse.

[AdrianB]

Some further testing:

After a number of tests, it seems like this can relate to the voltage of the 12V system.

At which point would your DC/DC converter switch on? This should hold the low voltage system at about 14.5v which would keep the inverter happy.

[nkiernan]

At which point would your DC/DC converter switch on? This should hold the low voltage system at about 14.5v which would keep the inverter happy.

Yes, the DC/DC will keep things in check once set up. Was an observation, but not fully confirmed just yet, and see some others reported cases where InvStat stayed off even though their systems could run ok so something they could check also.

[paaa]

I would have generally worked around the idea of keeping zombie 12v always powered , with caveat of using a low voltage cutoff that you manually reset to prevent it draining if car is only used every so often or very little. You could get creative and maybe try enable hv on mode for charging and bring DC DC alive when charging and or when volate is below a certain level much like how nissan does in the leaf.

[Solition1DC]

Very Simple question about Zombie VCU, after applying -12V pin 55 and +12V pin 56;
Enter wifi setting
Enter 192.168.4.1

The independent parameter boxes do not show up, after powering down for 10 days, the parameters will randomly show up. But when resetting they vanish never to be seen again.

Did the UART Update with stm32_vcu.bin (ver 1.10)

Still no individual parameters.

Just wondering if there are counterfeit components on my board IC24-26 IC-others.
Inspected solder, looks professional, is it possible that the polarity of IC14 is incorrect?

Have been stumped on this for months, does one need to connect HV and wire inverter to see the parameters?

We've not had these issues with the Lexus VCU, we're newbies but not complete newbies (still have to figure out how to use the SavyCan & CanDue V2). We're getting there, just need a little support along the way.

[dadiowe]

Very Simple question about Zombie VCU, after applying -12V pin 55 and +12V pin 56;
Enter wifi setting
Enter 192.168.4.1

The independent parameter boxes do not show up, after powering down for 10 days, the parameters will randomly show up. But when resetting they vanish never to be seen again.

Did the UART Update with stm32_vcu.bin (ver 1.10)

Still no individual parameters.

Just wondering if there are counterfeit components on my board IC24-26 IC-others.
Inspected solder, looks professional, is it possible that the polarity of IC14 is incorrect?

Have been stumped on this for months, does one need to connect HV and wire inverter to see the parameters?

We've not had these issues with the Lexus VCU, we're newbies but not complete newbies (still have to figure out how to use the SavyCan & CanDue V2). We're getting there, just need a little support along the way.

The parameter fields will show up with just volts as above. If you do not have the parameters it is usually due to a faulty upload.
Have a look through this info https://openinverter.org/wiki/ZombieVer ... nd_testing. Somewhere in there you will find some info about initial start up and problems with uploading.
Good luck.

[AdrianB]

It could simply be a WiFi issue. If you using the Omilex WiFi module I suggest you switch to the Wemos mini D1. See this post from Damien viewtopic.php?p=46666#p46666.

This probably should be a new topic. Perhaps one of the admins could move it for you.

[dadiowe]

Re Saavy Can, the key is to get the GVRET software (this is the interface installed on the Due that reads the Canbus) to install on the Due. I found that Arduino version 1.8.7 and the versions of the recommended libraries from around May 2019 in, https://github.com/collin80?tab=repositories, was the only way to get GVRET to compile & install.

[dadiowe]

Did this while waiting for some steel to cool after welding so don't expect hollywood:)

Further to my last Gvret advice it appears that Damien posted a video on the easy way to install Gvret on an Arduino Due. I have just tried it out and it worked for me.
I wish I had found this video a while ago it would have saved me some late nights trying to compile GVRET.

[Solition1DC]

Hello does anyone have part number for this black connector? Attached to Wemos mini D1 adapter board.

Screen Shot 2023-03-07 at 1.39.09 PM.png (30.24 KiB) Viewed 35742 times

It could simply be a WiFi issue. If you using the Omilex WiFi module I suggest you switch to the Wemos mini D1. See this post from Damien viewtopic.php?p=46666#p46666.

[FieroJam]

Hello does anyone have part number for this black connector? Attached to Wemos mini D1 adapter board.

Screen Shot 2023-03-07 at 1.39.09 PM.png

I got it from Digi-Key

# 732-2865-ND
# 732-2676-ND

[Bigpie]

nkiernan, did you conclude what the issue was? I'm getting the same with speed always 0, invstat going to off and invudc not correct. Mines in a running car with dcdc active, so not sure it's the 12v that's the issue

[nkiernan]

nkiernan, did you conclude what the issue was? I'm getting the same with speed always 0, invstat going to off and invudc not correct. Mines in a running car with dcdc active, so not sure it's the 12v that's the issue

Hi Jamie,
For me, tidying the wiring, good ground wire routing, and a decent +12V supply sorted the issues I was seeing. Nothing else showed up that I could find. I was reading your post on your issue. Can't think of anything other than have you ground straps to all the main components? Even with the DC-DC, might the 12V supply sag when any relays/contactors brought in (I had volage fluctuations as inverter was turning on with neg/prec contactors closing around same time initially). Have you the possibility to isolate the inverter power for a test to rule that out?

[Bigpie]

Thanks, I'll do some probing and experimenting to see if I can narrow it down.