Zombieverter Goes Into Gear When Status=Potpressed

[Steve16]

I just received my new Zombieverter and have started bench testing. Thank you, Damien. I believe it is all working as designed. However, I was surprised to find that it will go into forward or reverse from neutral while in run mode and the status is potpressed. I know it is designed not to go into run mode when status is potpressed. Is there a particular strategy for it to be able to go into gear while status is potpressed? My thinking is that it should not go into gear for safety concerns. My specific setup is firmware 2.17A and my electrical connections are 12V, GND, T15, Start, Forward, Reverse, and Throttle 1.

[tom91]

I can have a check of this behavior tomorrow on the bench. If this is true I will look to resolve this.

Can you please provide the parameters from your Zombie to me.

[Steve16]

Sorry, should have known to include parameters...

params.json

(1.96 KiB) Downloaded 81 times

[tom91]

Wait I have misread your post, taught you had issues where it would go into run with throttle pressed and gear selected.

Going into gear from neutral with throttle pressed is something else, will need input from others to decide whether this needs to be a fixed strategy or it needs to be selectable.

[uhi22]

Did I understand the use case correcty?
Preconditions: Inverter in run and neutral. Vehicle stationary. Accelerator pedal pressed (lets say "to the metal").
Action: Push the Forward button. (Or in case of gear selector switch, turn the switch from "Neutral" to "Drive")
Observed: Inverter changes to "forward" and vehicle accelerates.

Isn't the brake pedal also a precondition that change from N to D works?
Tested on my Ioniq, at least while vehicle is rolling, with full pedal, I can change between D and N, and get full/none torque accordingly. So it has the strategy, that a change from N to D is possible regardless of the throttle.

[tom91]

Look you can do it however you want.

Just looking to see what people are expecting, I have done all sort of implementations for various reasons over the years.

The issue is communicating why the vehicle is not moving to the driver. With a BMW or Jaguar/Land Rover gearstick fine we wont change the gear thus the indicated on on the shifter. However with a car that has a simple switch it is a lot harder.

It will most likely become a selectable parameters with "off" as default and then options for:
-No throttle to go into gear
-Apply brake to go into gear
-No throttle AND Apply brake to go into gear

[Steve16]

I believe the Ioniq is acting the same as an ICE car with automatic transmission. One other ICE feature is the brake needs to be pressed to get out of park. Also, the ICE provides some audible feedback if the throttle is pressed, which is not true in the EV. I, too, am interested in the thoughts from the community and am OK if feedback is to leave it as is. Just adding selectable parameters may be the quickest and easiest way to make a change (avoiding long discussion) and move on to other development tasks. I would prefer to start in the safest mode with default to throttle off and brake on to shift out of neutral. This would may not give feedback to the driver, but it will prevent any unintended movement/acceleration. Let each individual choose to disable safety features.

[Steve16]

My initial concern was operation when the vehicle is stationary. I assume the zombie can detect whether stationary. Changes while the vehicle is moving is another set of conditions. If the current behavior is changed, shifting into gear while rolling (or not allowing it) may cause other issues, such as with regen. Again, I rely on the expertise and recommendation of the community.

[jrbe]

Maybe brake pedal pressed at startup to go in, and if brake pressed / was in drive or reverse within 3? Seconds it can go into another direction?

[johu]

Just important to keep it simple. My dads Seres sometimes doesn't go into gear and it seems random. So you pulled out of a parking spot and then you can't drive away because it doesn't go into forward for no obvious reason. So you block the road until you figured it out

[LRBen]

I've done quite a few thousands of miles with Zombieverter and from my experience being able to change gear with the throttle pressed isn't really an issue. In low speed maneuvering I will quite often change gear/direction while still slowly moving, the Nissan Leaf allows this behaviour as well. Having to apply the brake to change gear would make it quite cumbersome to maneuver.

I think the current system of not going into run mode with the pot pressed is fine, possibly you could add the requirement of brake input just for start up to be extra safe. But I'm not sure that's entirely necessary given there is already 0 throttle.

[Steve16]

I decided to try this on my Tesla SDU with OI board using 5.32 firmware. It appears to operate the same as the zombie. I believe consistency across the OI family of products is more important than making a change to the zombie, especially since no one has noted any previous issues. Thanks for all of your input.