May 2012 - OvmsDev - Open Vehicles

Car firmware: 1.2.5
by Mark Webb-Johnson 12 May '12

12 May '12

I've committed to github car firmware v1.2.5. Changes since v1.2.2 include: Support multiple vehicle configurations - TeslaRoadster and VoltAmpera New LED indication scheme, and net driver tidy-ups Auto-support Tesla Roadster v1.5 cars Issue #38 - Prevent user from locking car if car is ON Issue #39 - Alert (SMS/PUSH) if trunk is opened while in valet mode Please don't get too excited - this doesn't support Volt/Ampera yet - we're just laying the ground work for that support, as some European developers are about to start work on it. I don't think this release will make it to end-users in its current form. I'm still working on some features to go in, including: Drive logging Charge logging Timed (delayed) charging mode commands Timed charging status feedback Complete-charging-by charging mode Cooldown Moving digital speedo out of experimental and make it available in production units Items [1], [2] and [3] are relatively easy and what I'm working on now. Item [4] is tricky because we haven't found the status update message on the bus yet. Still looking. Item [5] needs the algorithm and lookup table. Item [6] is easy to do, but needs the thresholds defined (what battery temperature to cooldown from, what battery temperature to stop cooldown at, and what current/voltage to use for cooldown). Item [7] seems reasonable now, given the number of cars now using the digital speedo feature and the complete lack of issues seen with it. I notice there was some discussion on the TMC forum about homelink control. That would be pretty easy to do, but we don't have homelink modules here in Hong Kong, and I don't have the can bus codes. They are probably easy to find on ID#102. If someone with a usb-can and a homelink adaptor wants to get the codes, I'm very willing to put them in. It certainly is a cool feature. So, I'm not sure what will make it into what release, when. This v1.2.5 release is definitely developers-only, and intended to check stability of the modem driver revisions and usability of the new LED feedback scheme. It is fully backwards-compatible with v1.2.2, and you can upgrade/downgrade firmware as you need. It is in my car now, and seems to be ok. I would be grateful if developers with some time could try it out and let me have feedback on overall stability and usability of the new LED indication scheme. I've got a little youtube video demonstrating this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdsB8qK6beY The new LED indication scheme is as follows: When first powered on, the red led stays on, and the green led blinks the version of firmware in the module (e.g.; 1, 2, 5). After that, it enters normal mode. In normal mode, the green led is used to indicate the state, and the red led is used to indicate the last error. If the modem needs to be reset, both red and green leds are turned on for the couple of seconds it takes to reset the modem. The following states are defined: // LED MODES #define NET_LED_WAKEUP 10 // Attempting to wake up the modem #define NET_LED_INITSIM1 9 // Checking SIM card insertion status #define NET_LED_INITSIM2 8 // Checking SIM card PIN status #define NET_LED_INITSIM3 7 // Initialising modem #define NET_LED_COPS 6 // COPS initialisation #define NET_LED_NETINIT 5 // GPRS NET initialisation #define NET_LED_NETAPNOK 4 // GPRS APN is OK, final init #define NET_LED_NETCALL 3 // GPRS Network call #define NET_LED_READY 2 // READY state #define NET_LED_READYGPRS 1 // READY GPRS state The normal behavior is it will start at 10 green blinks and count down to 2 (GSM only) or 1 (GPRS). If GPRS lock is lost, but GSM is still up, the green will blink 1. The followed error codes are defined: // LED ERRORS #define NET_LED_ERRLOSTSIG 1 // Lost signal #define NET_LED_ERRMODEM 2 // Problem communicating with modem #define NET_LED_ERRSIM1 3 // SIM is not inserted/detected #define NET_LED_ERRSIM2 4 // PIN lock on the SIM #define NET_LED_ERRCOPS 6 // COPS GSM lock could not be obtained #define NET_LED_ERRGPRSRETRY 7 // Error (maybe temp) during GPRS init #define NET_LED_ERRGPRSFAIL 8 // GPRS NET INIT failed The error code is cleared (red led turned off) once everything is ok. Regards, Mark.

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OVMS Not Responding
by Tom Saxton 12 May '12

12 May '12

Our Roadster has been parked for 9 days (since 4/26). When I open the OVMS iPhone app, I see on the Battery screen a flashing antenna in the upper right with a red ball at the top and red text below that says "43 hours". In the upper left it says "P 8 days". When I finished the most recent drive, the SOC was 88%, 168 ideal. This morning when I looked at the car it read 83% and 158 ideal. Then I started a charge. The OVMS app shows 84% and 160 ideal, so it's probably a couple of days old. I get no response when sending an SMS message. So I figured the OVMS box had lost contact, and needed to reboot, but just for fun, I logged into AT&T to see when it stopped sending data. It hasn't! It's been sending data every day for the past month, including 5 burts today from 1KB to 19 KB. The most recent activity I saw was when it forwarded a spam text to me on 4/29. Any thoughts on what's going on, or anything I should do before I reboot it? Tom

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Flashing Lights
by Mark Webb-Johnson 10 May '12

10 May '12

I've been getting frustrated lately trying to help users diagnose problems early-on in the GSM connection sequence. We've had problems with SIMs cards getting recognised (broken sim cards), with sim locks (PIN lock on), with general modem comms issues, and with lack of GSM signal - and all these show up as the same red flash, red solid, red flash, red-green-alternate indicators. Without getting out a USB-serial cable and laptop, it is real hard to diagnose. Talking this through with Bennett, and others, I think we can do better, and I suggest the following changes: Take the LED control out of the individual code files and have them controlled by a central module with its own timer. This module would be told at a high level what to do with the LED (eg; make the green led flash 7 times) and would make it so. Both LEDs off would indicate NO POWER. On startup, animate both LEDs for a short time to demonstrate that they both work. Change init code to (a) use AT to verify modem is connected, (b) check for SIM connected and readable, (c) check for SIM PIN lock, (d) initialize modem to our required settings, and (e) AT+COPS for cellular signal search. By splitting this up, to separate check states, we can individually alert on a failure at a particular state. In general, use the green LED to show status, and the red LED to show the last error (cleared whenever a state is successful). On startup, you would see the green led count up through each stage, and if it got stuck at a particular stage the blinks would tell you where it is. If there was an error at any stage, the red LED would indicate the error code. For blinking, I suggest just off for a second, then rapidly blink the code, then off for a second, then rapidly blink the code, etc. Once we reach a final GOOD state (either GSM with GPRS disabled, or GPRS connected to server), we would just turn both LEDs to a steady blinking pattern (perhaps on for a second, off for a second). As well as the obvious clarity to diagnostics that this brings, it would also be for general use to see at a glance if the module is working correctly and is connected to the server ok. What do people think? Regards, Mark.

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SIMs
by Mark Webb-Johnson 09 May '12

09 May '12

Has anyone had any experience with these: http://www.gosim.com/ Or others like them? That offer global data roaming for @US$1/MB, supposedly with no expiration date so long as you use the card. I know there is rounding involved, but that seems like a simple approach. Regards, Mark

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NL t-mobile apn
by Mark Webb-Johnson 09 May '12

09 May '12

Anyone know the correct apn, username and password for this? Begin forwarded message: > > Parameter command I used: > PARAMS K SMS,IP 64.111.70.40 http://pda.t-mobile.nl - - ... > Any idea what to check?

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PIN lock
by Mark Webb-Johnson 09 May '12

09 May '12

There's been some discussions on TMC about PIN lock for the App. What do people here think? Is it a useful thing to have? To prevent people from either accessing the app at all, from accessing anything except status, or from accessing just the control functions. Regards, Mark.

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Units, PIN
by Bennett Leeds 09 May '12

09 May '12

In the US, temps are Fahrenheit and tire pressure in PSI. I don't want a PIN lock on the app, so at least make it optional. If you're going to do a lock, just put it on the actions that potentially change the car (enable CAN Write, start charging, change charge settings, wakeup the car, etc.). We already have VDS PIN locks on the lock and valet mode. I'd suggest using the existing OVMS Module Password rather than create yet another Password/PIN for people to remember. - Bennett

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Celcius vs Fahrenheit, Kilometers vs Miles
by Mark Webb-Johnson 09 May '12

09 May '12

In the car module, and protocol, there is a setting for Miles vs Kilometers and all the distance based measurements (speed, ideal and estimated ranges) are sent from the module in those units. The protocol states that temperatures (pem, motor, battery, ambient and tpms) should be sent in celcius, and tpms pressures in PSI - and that is what is currently done. We don't currently convert these to user-suitable units in the iOS App. We leave them in celcius and psi. Doing the conversion in the App is certainly possible, but my question is how to control this and what to do? Options I see: Use the Miles/Kilometer value coming from the car. Use the iOS NSLocale system to read user preferences from the device itself, and convert _everything_ to that. Use the iOS NSLocale system to read user preferences from the device itself, and convert just temperatures/pressures to that. I've left out [4] "have individual settings in the app for each of temperatures, distance and pressure" as it is overly complicated. We could convert temperatures from celcius to fahrenheit (using Tf = (9/5)*Tc+32). We could convert pressures from PSI to kPa (using Pkpa = Ppsi * 6.895). For tire pressures, what is currently used in Europe? I still see PSI used here in Hong Kong, even thought we use Kilometers for distance, but do we need to convert this to something else? I notice the roadster still shows pressures in PSI even though the car is metric and shows kilometers. Is it OK to leave this in PSI? What do US cars show for ambient and tpms temperatures on the in-car VDS? Celcius / Fahrenheit? Regards, Mark.

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Revised OVMS Installation Manual for review
by Bennett Leeds 08 May '12

08 May '12

Hi all, With Mark's oversight and encouragement, I've taken a stab at reworking the OVMS Installation Manual to have a linear step by step flow, and to include some additional information. I'd appreciate it if you'd take some time to read it for content and accuracy, and make suggestions or corrections. We'll be replacing some of the photos of the old unit with the current units. thanks - Bennett

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PIC board white connector label
by Mark Webb-Johnson 08 May '12

08 May '12

It has been pointed out that the label "GND H L VCC" on the v1` PIC boards using the little white connector is incorrect. This wasn't a problem with the RJ11 version, but when we switched to little white connector, the factory mis-labelled this. The label is mirror-image inverted. Since we found out, we have been sticking little paper labels to cover the incorrect part of the board, but some early boards don't have this. The connections themselves, and cables we use, are fine it is just the label that is wrong. So, please take care when making up your own cables. Regards, Mark.

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