How to Unbrick Sevcon controller

Doctorbass

100 GW
Joined
Apr 8, 2007
Messages
7,495
Location
Quebec, Canada East
Hello guys

I have a great info to share with you regarding how to recover a bricked Sevcon controller that accidently you sometime brick when attempt to upload a new firmware or have problem with teh right baud rate and IXXAT and red light etc..

It is called using the backdoor methode :wink:

follow the instruction of the image i uploaded called HOW TO UNBRICK SEVCON and use the following

The command line you need to copy and paste is the exact one below as described in the document:

can send "0x7FA 0x48 0x65 0x79 0x73 0x6c 0x69 0x70"




tag:

Sevcon unbrick Brick problem bootloader backdoor ixxat dld firmware
 

Attachments

  • How to unbrick sevcon.jpg
    How to unbrick sevcon.jpg
    243.3 KB · Views: 5,877
There is a lot of good documentation about the sevcon gen4's on the Heinzmann website, thanks for sharing this. Have you used this method? I have a 10.5kw PMS120W that is fitted with an analog sin/cos encoder that I hope to drive with a gen4, let's hope I don't brick it!
 
kiwifiat said:
There is a lot of good documentation about the sevcon gen4's on the Heinzmann website, thanks for sharing this. Have you used this method? I have a 10.5kw PMS120W that is fitted with an analog sin/cos encoder that I hope to drive with a gen4, let's hope I don't brick it!


What is important is to NOT turn the controller OFF while it is in bootloader.

I have sucessfully used this method a year ago, however i still have one of my size 4 that remain bricked as the IXXAT can't comunicate with it at any baud rate.. it flash red or remain red Solid and sevcon flash one long and two short when power up.
I had bad electrical contact on the positive and moved the wiring a bit while in bootloader witch have briefly cut power to the controller while programming it :roll:

A note to mysef: Always check all connections and battery state before ANY programming ALSO on a Sevcon!

Doc
 
kiwifiat said:
There is a lot of good documentation about the sevcon gen4's on the Heinzmann website, thanks for sharing this. Have you used this method? I have a 10.5kw PMS120W that is fitted with an analog sin/cos encoder that I hope to drive with a gen4, let's hope I don't brick it!


What is important is to NOT turn the controller OFF while it is in bootloader.

I have sucessfully used this method a year ago, however i still have one of my size 4 that remain bricked as the IXXAT can't comunicate with it at any baud rate.. it flash red or remain red Solid and sevcon flash one long and two short when power up.
I had bad electrical contact on the positive and moved the wiring a bit while in bootloader witch have briefly cut power to the controller while programming it :roll:

A note to mysef: Always check all connections and battery state before ANY programming ALSO on a Sevcon!

Doc
 
Does that come from he "Bootloader" application note from Sevcon ?
Where could I download it ?

There seems to be a bunch of secret files regarding Sevcon drives, which I would like to read. So far this is the secret list:

"Vehicle Setup and Configuration" application note
"Using SCwiz" application note
"256K Host Processor" application note
"Bootloader" application note
"DVT" application note
"Autoconfig setup" application note
"PDO fundamentals" application note
"Driver Demand Pipeline" application note
"Tuning the Speed Control Loop" application note

Does anyone know where to download any of them ? Are they all stored inside Heinzmann site ?

Regards.
 
making a post here so i can find it if needed.

slightly less relevant: i tried several sevon powerd scooters now and they all have this very annoying "hunting" at the speed limit that is set. the current also goes up and down a lot and never seems to settle at a normal level. its quite uncomfortable and pretty hard on the batteries as well.

does anyone have a clue what can be changed to stop this behaviour?
 
bernext said:
Does that come from he "Bootloader" application note from Sevcon ?
Where could I download it ?

There seems to be a bunch of secret files regarding Sevcon drives, which I would like to read. So far this is the secret list:

"Vehicle Setup and Configuration" application note
"Using SCwiz" application note
"256K Host Processor" application note
"Bootloader" application note
"DVT" application note
"Autoconfig setup" application note
"PDO fundamentals" application note
"Driver Demand Pipeline" application note
"Tuning the Speed Control Loop" application note

Does anyone know where to download any of them ? Are they all stored inside Heinzmann site ?

Regards.

Try a search with "Heinzmann login" on this and other EV related sites , I think you will find what you are looking for. Have you asked ElectricMotorSport for a copy of the original DCF that was on the controller you purchased from them? Seems that the first step would be to restore the original DCF if you think you screwed things up by changing settings with DVT. Surely ElectricMotorSport would provide you with all relevant documentation for the Sevcon controller you purchased from them.
 
HI kiwifiat,

This might be a dumb question, but is everyone allowed to register at the Heinzmann site ?
I filled up the registration form, but, somehow the Heinzmann people have not contacted me.

So, I guess, only dealers might be allow to get an account there ?
A username of "software" with its password, was posted on 2015, but it's no longer valid anymore.

Regards.
 
bernext said:
HI kiwifiat,

This might be a dumb question, but is everyone allowed to register at the Heinzmann site ?
I filled up the registration form, but, somehow the Heinzmann people have not contacted me.

So, I guess, only dealers might be allow to get an account there ?
A username of "software" with its password, was posted on 2015, but it's no longer valid anymore.

Regards.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Have you asked ElectricMotorSport for a copy of the original DCF that was on the controller you purchased from them?
 
Hello everyone,
I have a bricked GEN4 and try to follow the instruction here posted.
But I dont understand how to do it exactly:

What I done: I copy ....can send "0x7FA 0x48 0x65 0x79 0x73 0x6c 0x69 0x70".... into the DVT command input field, switch on the GEN4 and connect to the IXXAT. Then send the command.
But nothing happen! I can not get into bootloader mode. Did I understand something wrong?

Greetings, Michael
 
buddhafragt said:
What I done: I copy ....can send "0x7FA 0x48 0x65 0x79 0x73 0x6c 0x69 0x70".... into the DVT command input field, switch on the GEN4 and connect to the IXXAT.

The instructions say Reconnect the sub_D to the ixxat and then switch on, you did the opposite and for a number of reasons that is likely to fail.

The instructions also say to issue "load_dld 1" and this will work if and only if your bricked sevcon is set to CAN node ID 1. You can check to confirm what node id your controller is set to by looking at the [DeviceComissioning] section of the DCF file and take a note of the "NodeID=" line, while you are at it check the "Baudrate=" line in the same section and make sure you have the correct CAN speed set in DVT. The other thing to watch out for is that your CAN bus is properly terminated, if it is the impedance between CANH and CANL lines will be 60 ohms. Good luck.
 
Hi All,

I have a problem with my Sevcon Gen4 Size 6, yes Green Brick.
So far I've followed the steps from this forum, with a baudrate of 250kbit/s which can be entered in backdoor mode, then on IXXAT the CAN indicator light is solid red which means Bus Off. However, when entering the Bootloader mode step (bts 1), the Command Window appears "Error putting node 1 into preop". I have followed the procedure and I think it is correct.

Do you know what's wrong with my steps?

Can anyone help me and explain to me how to solve my controller problem?

I am very grateful if you can help me to unbrick my controller. And I hope no one else has this kind of problem.

Thank You.

Regards,

Yora Erlangga
 
I've had this happen before when this controller came along. Then I can solve this problem in the same way on this forum, but I have to try many times to get into backdoor mode until finally I can upload .dld. And it worked, after that I saved this Controller because I focused on mechanical work on cars.
And this happens again when the controller is installed in the car and I want to update the .dld of the software package I bought. However, when the upload process is always an error. Then I forgot how I got into the Green Brick. And I tried again the steps according to this forum, and my steps stopped until I entered Backdoor mode only, when I entered Bootloader mode it always appeared "Error putting node 1 into preop" in Command Window. And no CAN communication occurs, the controller LED is also still solid Green. Maybe I missed a step or something.

I'm almost frustrated with this problem. Can anyone help me solve this problem ?

Thank You.

Regards,

Yora Erlangga
 

Attachments

  • Capture.JPG
    Capture.JPG
    177.5 KB · Views: 1,878
Back
Top