OK, back on the train again.
I've got the CA3 Prelim7 firmware available for download here:
http://www.ebikes.ca/downloads/CA3_Prelim7_NoEeprom.hex
This firmware has no eeprom parameters defined in it, so you can reflash your existing CA with the above code and all of your settings, calibrations, and stats will be preserved unchanged. I've got at least 85% of the bug fixes and minor feature enhancements implemented which were on the agenda to say it's the final 3.00 release.
Most of the changes you won't really notice since they are special cases, but there are 3 that are of some note:
1) Implementation of a temporary Aux Display readout
When you have an Auxilliary input enabled for limiting, then whenever the Aux voltage changes more than a small amount it shows this on the screen so you know what the new limit setting is at. Then after a few moments it goes back to showing whatever screen you were just on. This makes it a lot more clear where things are at, especially if you have a proper potentiometer knob which doesn't have an accurate indicator dial.
2) Re-enabling of Quadrature Mode
At one point in the development the I disabled quadrature detection because I assumed it was part of the problem causing occasional PAS assist cutouts. However, it meant that with a quadrature style PAS sensor (like the THUN, TDCM, or the CA3 compatible KingMeter pickups and 12 pole magnet rings) then there were a few locations where you could rock the pedals back and forth ever slightly and the CA wouldn't be able to distinguish that from actual pedalling, and in some cases it could cause a brief burst of power in PAS mode when your feet are dangling and not turning the cranks.
With the quadrature signal detection enabled (renamed to the 2-wire option), then no amount of shaking the pedals anywhere can cause a false PAS reading and this glitch is fully removed.
3) Better Throttle Fault Detection
The CA3 now treats it as a throttle fault condition if it sees the throttle higher than the MinThrottle when first turned on, or if exiting a setup menu. This is cleared the moment the throttle is brought down below the MinThrottle value. Similarly, if the throttle ever exceeds the Throttle Fault voltage, then it will only be cleared when the voltage is brought down to the MinThrottle again, wheras before once it fell below the FaultVoltage it would engage again. And finally, if the fault throttle is set
lower than the max throttle, then the max throttle voltage detection is ignored. So this means that people using a potentiometer throttle that goes all the way to 5V don't have to worry about it causing a throttle fault error right when they hit the full throttle. Also, in the diagnostics screen, the actual input voltage flashes when it is in a throttle fault condition so that you can see what's going on, in addition to the throttle bar on the main screen flashing too.
View attachment 2
4) Throttle Noise Immunity
One of the main unexpected sources of troubleshooting has been people setting their throttle input minimum voltage very close to the actual voltage when the throttle is off. In principle this would be fine to eliminate any dead zone in the throttle action, but in practice there was often enough electrical noise on the throttle signal when the bike was powered some signal glitches would bring level above the minimum voltage. If the ebike was being ridden in a PAS assist mode, then the CA would think momentarily that the user was pressing the throttle at a very slight level, resulting in the PAS assist cutting out (since it's now in throttle control mode) and then having to ramp up from zero again. This has been totally fixed in the current firmware so that small throttle noise events won't cause a PAS cutout. I still recommend having the minimum throttle input at least 0.1V higher than the actual throttle off voltage just to have some margin, but if you do push it tight (even within 0.02V) it doesn't seem to affect the PAS operation anymore.
If it's possible for beta users to flash this latest firmware and possibly find any new bugs or glitches it could have introduced that'd be great, i've done more than a few trips around the block with it but haven't explored all the edge cases. I'm going to be tackling the last two remaining things (occasional power surge on releasing ebrakes, and software immunity against speedometer sensor glitches) in the next couple days and could integrate any other small fixes too.