Eltek-Valere charger firmware and bootloader

[Myles Twete]

I am very interested to learn if anyone has access to the Eltek-Valere charger bootloader and the firmware for the 2011 THINK Eltek-Valere charger (241121.000).  Eltek no longer makes OR EVEN SUPPORTS these chargers and there is no replacement.  However, there many 241121.030 chargers out there for sale, mostly used and possibly new from China.  These appear to be the same as the 241121.000 charger in the 2011 THINK as the ".000" number was quickly replaced by ".030" for the high voltage IP20 version of this family of chargers.  And so, IF someone out there has access to the firmware image(s) for the THINK version of these chargers, we could update the ".030" chargers with it and maybe it will replace our older .000 versions.  THINK specifically changed the CAN Addresses for these chargers to 352 (command) followed by 353 and 354h (Status) and 355h (Errors). And while there are CAN commands to OFFSET the CAN base address, these messages would not be in the proper order for THINK.  So we need a firmware update.  ELTEK will not help us.  Tusen takk!  Myles Twete: matwete at comcast dot net

[Warlock]

There was a FWLoader program and some files for this, but I don't remember anymore. If i remember correctly there was 3 files which was flashed to the unit, and you could switch between two different firmware versions for the communication...

[Myles Twete]

Yes---this is what is needed!  I hope someone reads this who can find the files!  Tusen takk!

[Zuikkis]

If anything else fails, it should be possible to do a device that sits on the CAN bus and translates the messages.

[Myles Twete]

Sure, but some challenges:
1) IF the charger is inside the PCU, so the device would need to be inside the PCU
2) the Eltek default message base is 02FFh and the CAN messages from the MLEC (300h - 306h) will conflict with the messages from the charger.
3) Changing the charger base address to be 0351h would work for the PCU-Charger message (0352h), however the Status and Error messages from the charger would be swizzled...would need to offset to some other bank of addresses, pick those up, translate them and then send back on CAN the correctly formatted messages from 0x353 thru 0x355.
4) Format of the messages themselves also has to change to include the Charger Number "1" (or 2 or 3 if more chargers).
5) Plus, the PCU responds to any newly connected charger and gives it one of those Charger Number labels.

It might be that we need to look at chargers being external going forward.  And given that, a CAN translator makes a lot of sense.  Also could add other company's chargers instead...

[Zuikkis]

Yeah.. for example Tesla charger CAN messages are quite well known:

https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/tesla-10kw-open-source-charger-controller.187345/

And those are quite easily available from ebay etc.

[worry]

Hi,
I really don't know much of what you are discussing, but searched through my files. This showed up. Could it be what you are looking for?
I believe I received these from the Swiss guys this summer.

[Warlock]

 

Oh nice find!

I've searched through my files as well, and did not find this, so you probably got a tad more files form the Swiss guys than us. Please share

[Myles Twete]

Yes---thanks to our Swiss friends!  Not sure it will work, but it is a start...and might make it worthwhile to buy a .030 charger to test.  Please share the files Worry.  matwete at comcast dot net

[worry]

Ok, Myles and Warlock.
I will send the the files to you, so you can check if they are of any use.

[Warlock]

WOW!!

Not that was some goodie-bag of a file!
Not only does it contain (early?) versions of the firmware and loader Myles was looking for, but also several Gen2 experimental firmware for the PCU (for instance one that bypasses the immobilizer (due to lack of time to implement it it seems))

Quoting the old mail attatched to the charger files:

Jeg har vedlagt software til primær- og sekundærside uten bootloader.

Husk at du ikke kan oppdatere ladere med eldre software med disse versjonene siden de krever en endring i bootloader.

Jeg har også vedlagt en firmware loader som kan brukes for å oppdatere moduler med sw >= v0.5.

De 10-20 laderne som har blitt levert/leveres kjører software v0.5 på både primær- og sekundærside. Disse software-versjonene inneholder ingen sikkerhet med tanke på opplasting av software. Dette må komme senere i form av en oppdatering av charger software + firmware loader.

Translated:

I have attached software for primary and secondary side without bootloader.

Remember that you cannot update chargers with older software with these versions as they require a change in the bootloader.

I have also attached a firmware loader that can be used to update modules with sw >= v0.5.

The 10-20 chargers that have been delivered run software v0.5 on both the primary and secondary side. These software versions contain no security in terms of uploading software. This must come later in the form of an update of the charger software + firmware loader.

So be careful when upgrading (or rather downgrade) the .030 with these files, one might end up bricking the charger!
But it is well worth a try! If we can swap in .030 chargers for broken ones it would be amazing.
Long live the Think!

[worry]

Yes, wow! 

I don't know how and why these files could end up in Switzerland, and be unknown to most of us. But it seems like this is what we experience all the time. Bits and pieces of original software is spread around from different places and people.

[Myles Twete]

Takk saa mye, Espen!

After installing a required CAN-USB driver, the FWloader does come up.
Unfortunately, the GUI is very limited.  You can only WRITE a firmware image to the charger.  It writes either the Primary (PFC AC-to-DC front end) or Secondary (DC-to-DC back end) depending on which you select.  Since the .030 chargers appear to have 1.0/1.1 versions, while our THINK chargers have 1.0/1.0, I'd guess there is no need to change the Primary.  The GUI does not allow uploading an image from the charger, which would make things a lot less risky since we could read and save the v1.0/1.0 images from our chargers and could compare those to the v1.0/1.1 images of the .030 chargers.  And downloading an early v0.5 image into a charger could definitely brick it if we have no alternative images available.

One path at this point migh be to reach out to China and see if we can find which MFR or reseller there has images for these...maybe I'll offer to buy one thru Alibaba or AliExpress on condition that they also provide the firmware image files and FWloader as part of their support.  From that Eltek-Valere memo, we see the intent to update FWloader, so perhaps they have a version in China that has more capabilities.

From the Eltek-Valere Technical Specifications document for the ".020" version of the charger, we read that to do a firmware update, the Mains voltage must be present.  Also, this:

"The rectifier has two controller cards; a primary and secondary card.
The primary card hosts a Freescale MC56F8014 DSP that controls the PFC gates, monitors and controls the input
stage and communicates with the secondary controller via a serial-line communications interface (SCI).
The secondary card hosts a Freescale MC56F8037 DSP that controls the DCDC stage, monitors and controls the
output stage, communicates with the primary controller over SCI and with external devices on CAN. "

Thanks again Espen.

-Myles

[worry]

That's great Myles. You will figure out something. 

But, even if I understand little of this, I had to search. There's discussions about the Eltek charger and FWloader on diy electric car forums. Maybe others is working on the same issue?

Example: https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/eltek-charger-canbus-communication-through-bluetooth.167002/page-3

Espen

[Myles Twete]

Update: Thanks to Herman Chan, recently have reviewed a brief, undated THINK PPT entitled "Charger SW update for Level1 charging". Further it states: "SW content: This updated SW purpose is compensating for the peak AC currents overshoots that is the result of low SOC and 110V wall supply."  It includes embedded files (VCI driver, FWupate executable and a Secondary hex file labeled "404031.009 TBCM 360V 1.00a (ramp + alarms + powerlimit) Fwloader".  I suspect that this update did not make it into very many chargers (if any) here in the US and that most or all of the US cars remain vulnerable to these overshoots.  This is particularly bolstered by the fact that chargers continue to die here and that the only remedy that has been offered by service personnel since 2012 has been to replace the charger (no longer available), bypass AC fuses and outboard them.  I.E. the problem has not been addressed at all by the front-line service folks here despite THINK preparing and at least partially distributing a solution.  One hindrance is the need to use an IXXAT USB-to-CAN adapter, not a cheap item.

I have captured a number of PCAN traces during Level 1 and 2 charging and plotted them for my 2 THINK cars and with 3 different chargers.  I am looking for tell-tale charging behavior that indicates that embedded firmware has not been updated with v1.00a image.  With Level 2 charging, we do see current ramping after a several-amp step.  However, with Level 1 charging, there is no ramp---just a steep, sudden current step.  From what we understand, this current step is inversely related to the SOC%, so that at low SOC the current transient is enough to blow the AC fuses or damage components in the charger or both.  And that is what we have seen as a chronic problem in the US for the past 12 years.  So, I think the data I see with these chargers in Level 1 charging is indicative of chargers which did not get that v1.00a secondary update.  My intention then is to (1) use FWUpdate and an IXXAT adapter to update the secondary on my spare external charger, gather data and confirm the steep current step no longer exists.  Then (2) update each of my THINK cars, then (3) offer the update for a small service charge to all local Portland THINK drivers.

Along these lines, I ordered an IXXAT "Simply" CAN-USB adapter, but after receiving it I discovered that it does not used VCI drivers.  So, I don't think it will work with the FWLoader executable and don't want to try it.  I'm looking at VCI compliant ones but they are so expensive.  So if anyone has an IXXAT adapter they would either sell or lend to me, please let me know.