dreifels, the company founded by the three people responsible for creating the vehicle in 1986 have recently moved from sissach to gelterkinden, switzerland.

their new hq (see above rendered picture, since i forgot to take a picture myself) is, obviously, an extremely energy efficient building. they combine many interesting technologies plus an avangarde-style bus-based management system which even controls which kind of music can be heard in any given room.

anyway, i wasn’t there for sustainable architecture 😉

during the last few years, founders peter, ralph and christian have been very open towards my requests / questions / challenges / crazy ideas.

today, our task is to debug some code regarding a sms-module which does not work for some users, review and amend some code regarding the output TWIKE controllers send to the outside world whilst running. i am currently planning to implement a prototype release 2 functionality version of TWIKE-hardware capable to interface with a server via the internet. furthermore, we will be copying about 12 months worth of TW560 log data. this will serve as a base for my server/smartphone visualization concepts which – over time – will be provided by the TWIKE in real-time.

TW560 without TW560 on peter's desk
TW560 without TW560 on peter’s desk

we get started sometime after 1000. peter and i pour over the code and change some parameters and extend the code. it is very interesting to see the source code and being able to influence what is going on. this reminds me of the long-gone period when my family had a semi-prototype 100% ev renault kangoo (serial number 158!) 2004 and i was able, thanks to my fluent french, to tell the engineer at renault’s r&d what needed to be changed in the controller software there! i miss those days.

TW560 without TW560 on peter's desk
TW560 without TW560 on peter’s desk

peter and i go further and create some additional code to accomodate my needs.

snippet of code from TW560's micro controller
snippet of code from TW560’s micro controller

we change some parameters and some traditional displays and test on the official TWIKE testbed.
every re-run requires the controller to be re-flashed.

some of the states i will be monitoring
some of the states i will be monitoring

TW560’s micro-controller piggyback pcb is removed from the vehicle and is plugged into a virtual environment.

TW560's micro controller board without logging SD, ready to be flashed
TW560’s micro controller board without logging SD, ready to be flashed
strange to see TW560 living on another display!
strange to see TW560 living on another display!

we work all morning and afternoon and are able to finish all tasks late afternoon.

i’m ready for following input from the controller…

24.05.2013 15:27:50 x x Start 0003 DFC_Log_TW3.04
 24.05.2013 15:27:50 d Start -> CodeEingeben 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
 24.05.2013 15:28:46 tw 383.8 383.7 383.8 -0.06 -0.09 -0.04 384.6 384.6 384.7 -0.08 -0.11
 24.05.2013 15:28:51 d CodeEingeben -> CodeOk 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
 24.05.2013 15:28:51 tw 383.7 383.7 383.8 -0.06 -0.09 -0.04 384.6 384.6 384.6 -0.08 -0.08 
 24.05.2013 15:28:51 d CodeOk -> Fahren 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e EEPROM-Variablen:
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 000 Start-Screen 2 . 0
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 001 Sprache 4 . 0
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 002 Menu 5 . 2
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 003 Software 3.0400000 . 3.0400000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 004 Low_Batt_Off 1 [0/1] 1
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 005 Service-Prgm 10 . 0
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 006 Umrichter_SW 530 . 530
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 007 Ah-Ladestand 0.0000000 Ah -0.2000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 008 kWh-Ladestand -0.0027696 kWh 0.0000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 009 ext._Baudrate 2400 . 57600
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 010 Nutzkapazität 6.4500000 kWh 3.5000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 011 Ah-Korrektur 95.0000000 % 95.0000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 012 Wh-Korrektur 97.3000000 % 85.0000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 013 Ah_vor_Ladung 0.1000000 Ah 0.1000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 014 Lade-MaxSpg 435 V 410
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 015 Lade-StartSpg 320 V 320
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 016 Batterie_Typ 1 . 0
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 017 Fahr-MinSpg 260 V 280
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 018 MinSpg 260 V 260
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 019 SMS_PIN 4332 . 0
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 020 U-Lade-Spg. 430 V 430
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 021 VRef_unten 330 V 300
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 022 VRef_oben 395 V 370
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 023 Innenwiderst. 0.6000000 Ohm 1.0000000
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 024 Netzstrom_1 5 A 5
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 025 Netzstrom_2 8 A 8
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 026 Netzstrom_3 16 A 16
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 027 [Netz_dV_max] 20 V 20
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 028 Netz-MinSpg 85 V 85
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 029 Max_Bal_Zeit 30 Min 30
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 030 Balkenanzeige 2 . 2
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 031 [Max_Ladezeit] 12 h 12
 24.05.2013 15:29:00 e 032 U-Offset_1 0.0000000 . 0.0000000
peter, creator of TW560's software at the TWIKE simulator
peter, creator of TW560’s software at the TWIKE simulator
new lifeo3 packs, ready for packaging
new lifeo3 packs, ready for packaging
TWIKE test-bed plus simulator
TWIKE test-bed plus simulator

thank you, again, dreifels, for spending such amounts of time on one of your customers!

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