Microcontroller Logger

[yblaser]

Hi Guys/Gals!

I've had an idea floating around in my head the last few days. I've been thinking about using a microcontroller like the Arduino wired into the Rav4 EV to monitor various parameters and then upload them to an FTP server via WiFi. I was thinking of having several thermocouples or thermistors to monitor temps of various components or cooling lines although I haven't even looked into what is accessible or how I would attach the appropriate temperature monitoring device. Other things that would be of interest would be voltage and current flows (with current transformers), but again I haven't really put any thought into this especially with the three phase power and the capability of the analog ins of these microcontrollers. I think someone else here might have mentioned this but when plugged in even having a voltage and current monitor for charging with LCD display would be helpful. The thought was that with a WiFi connection it could check for your home WiFi signal every time the car was turned off and then upload the logged data.

Anyway, I have fairly limited experience with this type of programming or assembling prototype electronics but it is something I think I could do given enough time (which I don't have a whole lot of unfortunately), but I thought it would be good to start a discussion on what are the types of things we would want to monitor and how we would do it. I'm sure there are a lot of people on this board who have more direct experience with these type of things than myself and would like to get other's input on what is possible.

 

[Ampster]

Tony was working on something that would read the signals from one of the OBD ports. There is a similar device (Gidometer) that has been developed for the Nissan Leaf.

I have a device which allows me to see amphours, realtime amps and volts for my VW conversion. The problem is it needs to hook up to the highvoltage cables and I am concerned about voiding my warranty if I mess with a high voltage connection on the RAV. As you would expect, I have no warranty issues with the VW since I did the conversion myself. LOL

 

[occ]

The MNL guys have developed an awesome app for android using ELM327 Bluetooth dongle to get CAN info and display it on a smartphone with bluetooth. I have it working and can display all kinds of cool info:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=12098

If we can get some collaboration on this we can do the same for the rav4ev, and get prob elicit some help from the MNL forum. What we really need is to see what the rav4ev CAN bus can do (pun intended) and interpret the data from it. After that it's just a matter of android programming.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Tony was working on something that would read the signals from one of the OBD ports. There is a similar device (Gidometer) that has been developed for the Nissan Leaf.

I'm kind of waiting for these guys to get done with this project so that they can direct their attention to the Rav4.

Here's what we did previously:

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=619#p619

 

[yblaser]

Thanks, I was aware of Tony's work trying to decode the data on the bus, but hadn't heard anything in a while so wasn't sure if it was still ongoing. Glad to see it is!

Anyway, I was just interested in playing around with one of these microcontrollers and looking for some somewhat useful application. I was more interested in something that monitors temperatures than SOC, so I know how hot things are getting when my car is sitting parked and when the TMS turns on (during charging and operation).

 

[TonyWilliams]

Thanks, I was aware of Tony's work trying to decode the data on the bus, but hadn't heard anything in a while so wasn't sure if it was still ongoing. Glad to see it is!

Anyway, I was just interested in playing around with one of these microcontrollers and looking for some somewhat useful application. I was more interested in something that monitors temperatures than SOC, so I know how hot things are getting when my car is sitting parked and when the TMS turns on (during charging and operation).

The EV-CAN bus will have all that. The guys are banging it out of the park on the LEAF CAN bus data:

 

[Ampster]

Wow, I would be up for something like that.