openinverter forum

Hello,

Starting a thread to try organise openinverter/Zombie-side efforts around this feature in the Battery-Emulator project. If this is already being done elsewhere you can point me to that place and I can get this thread locked.

https://github.com/dalathegreat/Battery ... /pull/1917

This PR adds experimental VCU support. This allows Battery-Emulator to translate any battery that it supports, into a more common CAN message format (LEAF) that many common VehicleControlUnits (VCU)'s support.

Why

User requested feature on the Discord. This allows for example:

Using Renault Zoe Gen2 50kWh battery with Zombieverter VCU
Using BMW i3 battery with Resolve EV VCU
Etc. basically any supported battery can now be mapped for common VCUs

I think this feature has real potential. Battery-Emulator does for EV BMSs what Zombie does for components, so getting them to talk to each other could be quite powerful

There is a discord server where Battery-Emulator people discuss things. I think you need to Patreon first. Here is the link (from the project README):

https://www.patreon.com/dala

I am not trying to take traffic away from our forum, I think these are naturally complimentary, with the Battery-Emulator sites for battery hacking and this site for component hacking.

And here is the Battery-Emulator wiki:

https://github.com/dalathegreat/Battery-Emulator

I'll try update my progress in using this experimental feature on this thread. Here are the steps I need to follow, as suggested on the discord server:

1. Obtain hardware
2. Set up VSCode and Platform, flash hardware
3. Hook up BE hardware with Zombie (no battery needed, can use dummy)
4. See if Zombie recognises data from dummy, and, if not, start advocating for getting support added to Zombie.

Scrappyjoe wrote: ↑Thu Jan 15, 2026 11:25 am tart advocating for getting support added to Zombie.

It pretends to be a leaf battery. This is already proven with Zombie.

If Zombie not displaying data your are doing something wrong, wiring, setting ect.

Correction, if Zombie is not displaying data correctly, Dala did something wrong and the Battery-Emulator code needs improvement

Amazing, everyone is here! Hello tom91 and dala.

Well, I'll take all your guidance on whether it is useful to keep this thread up. Since you two are the maintainers of the respective repos.

As I promised on the discord, dala, I've ordered the Lilygo T-2CAN, and when it gets to me I'll flash it and try get it working with the Zombie in Test Fake Battery mode. Apparently it should get to me late February. I will write up a little step by step guide and post it here, and if I hit any issues I'll use discord for Battery-Emulator support questions, this thread for Zombie questions.

I think a good outcome would be a guide that can be posted in the openinverter wiki and perhaps mirrored in the Battery-Emulator wiki.

Once that's done, I'll try get it working with a real battery.

Hi ScrappyJoe,
Did you get any further with the testing?
I am planning Zombieverter, Lexus L210 plus Stelantis 50 kWh setup.
Also Resolve EV plus the same Stelantis battery.
I am curious if the battery and BE output to the 'Leaf' can stay on one CAN bus or need separate busses.

Hi Paul, the lilygo have arrived, but the BYD battery I was going to buy (which would need this working to be integrated into my setup) is no longer available, so I’ve bought some modules from China which I’ll use with the Orion BMS I have on my shelf.

I’m still happy to do the test, but it makes sense to do it when I’m busy building the battery - that will be in a couple of months.

Hi, it turns out the BE needs to have two CAN buses, one to the VCU talking 'Leaf BMS' and the other will be talking to the battery in question, in my case the Stelantis battery.

I need to either, use a Leaf contactor block or, figure out how to turn the VCU analog output signals, that operate the contactors, into CAN bus messages that operate the Stelantis contactors.

(me fantasizing of converting my 1967 Citroen DS with leaf motor, zombiverter and stellantis battery, hopefully in 2-3 years).

Maybe Dala can add an option to have 2 or 3 inputs on the lilygo 2can board as contactor control.
Or have the Zombiverter team intergrate one of the inverter can protocols in the battery bms module.

sadly my programming skills leave to be desired in this field. I do plan to buy a peugeio E-208 battery end of this summer (for home storage), and a zombiverter to play with. so can test in the fall of this year if desired.

edit: would the equipment stop input on the battery emulator do the trick?