Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Pre-release v1.3.0RC1 firmware

Today I pushed up a new revision to the firmware, called V1.3.0 RC1   This time I am doing things a little different mostly because there are more people out there who are interested and able to do some testing.  So rather then directly releasing this version after I have completed my testing, I am doing a pre-release.

The other reason for this pre-release is there has been a few changes in the code, specifically around improving how twin engines cooperate:  balancing, and hand-offs when switching running on only one and then the other.   To be honest I have limited ability to test such a situation - being a single engine setup...

Those interested in doing some early validation testing please go to the source code at: 
    https://github.com/AlternatorRegulator/alt-Source

There is no pre-compiled version of this, but if someone is truly interested I can assembly a test package and make it available for the windows BAT file update utility.

If you do find issues or have comments, please open a comment or issue on Github.



Later the Reference Guide will be updated, until then here are two notable changes:
  • Revised AST;  AltState encoding numbers
  • Addition of new advanced high-reliability capability:  required Sensors.
 and here are clipping from the edits:




AltState:              Current state of the Alternator, per the following table:
1.2.x and below
1.3.x and above

0,1
0,1,4
– Alternator Off
2, 3
2,3
- Alternator FAULTED (See Fault Code)
4
10
- Alternator in delay mode while engine warms up
5
11,15
- Ramping towards BULK mode.
6,7
12,20
- In BULK mode
8
21
- In ACCEPTANCE mode
9
22
- In OVER CHARGE mode
10
30
- In FLOAT mode
11
31
- In FORCED_FLOAT mode (via Feature_in pin and CPE = #8)
12
36
- In OFF (Post Float) mode
13
38
- In EQUALIZE mode
14
39
- In CVCC mode (only available in system under direction of CAN master)



 ===================================




$SCA:    <reserved>, < Alt Target Temp >, <Alt Derate (norm) >,<Alt Derate (small) >,<Alt Derate (half) >, <PBF>, <Alt Amp Cap >, <System Watt Cap. >, <Amp Shunt Ratio>, <Shunt Reversed?>,<Idle RPMs>,<Warmup Delay>,<RequiredSensors>
 


 
Required Sensors:  <WHOLE NUMBER ( 0 à  255 ) >    Many capabilities depend on the presence of sensors.  Battery compensation requires the presence of a battery temperature sensor; Alternator Temperature regulation requires the presence of an alternator temperature sensor.  If one or more of these sensors are not installed, or fail during operation, results could be less then desired.  As a precaution against this, Required Sensors allows the identification of critical sensors, and if any of them are missing or fail the regulator will take action to reduce demands placed on the system.
Required Sensors allows the identification of critical sensors.  It is a number created by summing up the value associated with each potential critical sensor.  For example: if you wished to indicate the Alternator and Battery temperature sensors are critical, you would enter 3  (1+2).   The value of 0 disables critical Required Sensor checks and the regulator will utilize other existing fall-back modes.
Sensor
Value
Default Action of missing sensor
Alternator Temperature Sensor
1
Enable Half-Power mode
Battery Temperature Sensor
2
Force to FLOAT mode
Current Shunt
4
FAULT regulator  (See note**)



Engine Temperature Sensor
8
Go into Falf Power Mode, stop Watermaker
EGT Temperature Sensor
16
Go into Half Power mode, Stop Watermaker, Full throttle.
Sea-water(cooling) Temperature Sensor
32
Fault if missing
Watermaker PSI (pre / post) Sensors
64
Disable Watermaker



Force FAULT override
128
Overrides ‘Default’ action and forces regulator into FAULT mode.
Table 6 - Required Sensor Encoding

If at any time one of the Required Sensors are identified as failed or missing the LED will flash its normal patterns, but in RED. In addition if the Feature_out port is configured to drive a dash-lamp (compile time default mode) it will turn on the lamp full time indicating a fault. 
The VSR Alternator Regulator may also be configured to cause a non-recoverable FAULT condition, overriding the default actions listed in Table 6  by adding 128 to the summed number.  In the prior example of Bat and Alt sensors being critical, sending 131 instead of 3 will cause the regulator to FAULT if either is noted as missing or fails.
Note**   It is difficult to determine if an Amp Shunt has failed vs. if are truly reading 0A of current.  Because of this, the VSR Alternator Regulator will delay check for the presence of a working Current Shunt until after Bulk has been completed.  If at any time during BULK a current of greater than 5A was noted it will be flagged as the shunt is present and working.  Once this determination is made no additional checks will be made – as a valid operation condition for the regulator is a true 0A of current (example, when actively regulating current to 0A in FLOAT mode).
(Available with Firmware 1.3.0 and above)