Hyperion connection

[Fulliautomatix]

Ok, so I had a rare positive moment and decided to get the 1420iNET3 charger going and charge/test my torch batteries...Get it going on USB then install BT, simple no?
So, installed everything, updated firmware to 5.5 but no stable connection - the 'charger detected' text keeps going orange and (mostly) the memory set does not complete loading.
I have;
Silabs driver: 6.5
Hyperion software: 2011-12-14

Ant ideas why I do not get a rock solid USB connection?

Sometimes the memory set loads and I tried to find settings for the battery I want to charge -
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/l92.pdf
The closest I could see was nicad @ 1.2V?
The battery is 1.5V nom and currently at 1.8V out of the box - are the voltages entirely dictated by battery type choice?

[Burgerman]

You are just using USB? And no connection?

When this happens its usually a power supply problem. Test by running hyperion from battery.

With BT problems it might be a number of things.
Eg Range or interference from other 2.4ghz stuff is common. Move close and test. After that:

You may not have got a good BT module on the PC. There are good/bad and different standards... I had one of those tiny button ones, and it wouldnt work preoperly. I bought a different one, and it works great. Looks the same... So how to know?

And you must disable the extra com port in device manager.
And enable all the right tick boxes in the BT setup.
Etc.

Once it works its really reliable. Never need to change a thing. But its not exactly plug and play. And if your power supply is noisy, making USB issues, then this fixes it too.

[Burgerman]

Tell USB and hub to never sleep, in device manager.

But likely it will work with a battery and fail on a power supply if the NEG on PC is moving relative to NEG on power supply. With some supplies you need to tie the earth to the ground, so PC and Supply are both the same potential.

If it STILL wont play then an older silabs driver like 6.1 (I have) may fix it.

[Seajays]

BM,might be my problem too. Checked Hyperion site can't find these drivers.

[Burgerman]

Silabs drivers are not hyperion stuff but come from Silicon Laboritories. They are used for the PCs USB to Serial driver. I can send or post the 6.1 drivers but you shouldnt need them. They are only used for USB connection, not BT connection anyway.

[Fulliautomatix]

If it STILL wont play then an older silabs driver like 6.1 (I have) may fix it.

I'd like to try this first. Can you provide a link to it please?

[Burgerman]

Will post them when out of bed. You need to uninstall 6.5 from inside device manager,and tell it to delete drivers.

Then install 6.1. Windows is stupid and will likely try to reinstall 6.5 again... So you need to check what it did, and stop it looking online for newest one etc. Look for version number inside device manager/properties afterwards.

It will be here: www.wheelchairdriver.com/silabs.zip

[Fulliautomatix]

Not Found

The requested URL /silabs.zip was not found on this server.

[Burgerman]

Now!

[Fulliautomatix]

Thanks. Better and a bit usable but still not good.
So I should try connecting the 24V- at the power supply to protective earth?
One of the case screws? Or pull it apart?

[Burgerman]

Make sure your power supply NEG is connected to the mains earth.

Some power supplies are floating, but not as well as you may think. And theres a lot of electrical noise. Causes issues... A battery usually works perfectly, no noise.

Or just do the BT thing. That doesent care about any of this stuff. It just works... At least it does after the initial fight to set it up. But once you get this right once, its easy. I have done a few for freinds and every one took about 20 mins including fitting the board. All working great.

[Burgerman]

Talking of hyperion...
This is my 13 cell pack, been sat for 8 weeks, just now on charge. Unfinished. Its is/was stored with 25Ah taken out. So 13 curves here. Spikes are because the charger charges for 50 secs, then waits 10. And repeat...


Each bunch of cells discharges at a different rate when left unattended. So when re-charged they all "look" to be balanced, nice tight group of curves, up until the end... As each group becomes charged its voltage rockets up! Some are "done" before the others. The Hyperion throttles back, to stop the high cells going any higher, and takes power out of the high ones with its balance circuits. The power (charge) control in coordination with the balance circuits, means safe charging, with no overcharge on any cells. This is why a dumb charger, built in BMS etc doesent work well... And why lithiums get a bad name. And why I dont use on board BMS, or a monoblock solution.

[Burgerman]

close

[Burgerman]

Charge, discharge every 3 or 4 days, no problem. All cells end together. This is why self discharge rates of groups of cells is important.

[Burgerman]

After 2 HOURS balancing/charging all cells are within 2, 1/1000ths of a volt... See "cell gap".

And ready to go.

Note yellow box volts per cell (group) and 46.8v charged voltage. Eventually it will read 3.600v per cell Given enough time. Its even fun to watch it do it. I am a nerd... So 10 cells is 36.00v. My 13 cells (groups) are 3.600v x 13 = 46.8v. These headways are SUPPOSED to be charged to 3.65v per cell, so 47.45v. But the last bit shortens life so why bother?

[Fulliautomatix]

Or just do the BT thing. That doesent care about any of this stuff. It just works... At least it does after the initial fight to set it up. But once you get this right once, its easy. I have done a few for freinds and every one took about 20 mins including fitting the board. All working great.

I did...now I really stuffed!
The BT device pairs, can be connected - and stays connected for 2 mins before dropping out.
The Hyperion software hangs and displays 'Splash' in the task bar and nothing else - has to be shut down by killing the process. <-- It did this before when started in Auto mode but since the 'BT' shortcut was used it doesn't start in manual mode either.
Removing and reloading everything doesn't help.

[Burgerman]

Delete all BT devices. And all BT serial ports in device manager.

Add again as new device - no serial/code - the bottom option.

In device manager disable the 2nd usb serial port. Dont remove it!
Restart charger, and windows and start the program, and windows will ask for a password or device id. Use 1234
Now shut down program, and restart.

Make sure everything is ticked in BT connection properties. If you do all that correctly it will work. I have done lots now for other people. All on windows 7, but others should be the samel

Once you get it correct it will not hang and will always find the charger.

[Seajays]

Did - no serial/code and other instructions, it did not asks for password and I still can't get this going.

[Burgerman]

If you bring your PCs here I can have it working in about 10 mins each.

Dunno what you are doing wrong really, its pretty simple to set up.

What are you using for a BT dongle/card on your PC? In my case my laptop has it built in. And both my PCs just have a plug in USB "button". Although the first two I had didnt connect or work. Got two more on ebay for 99p each. They work fine.

Set up PC so the Bluetooth connection is in the taskbar on the right. In control panel I think. Then click settings, and tick every box.

Then double click the icon in the bar and delete everything it shows. Then choose ADD DEVICE...
Dont enter a password.
Go to DEVICE MANAGER. it will show 2 ports found. Disable the highest port number by right clicking and choosing disable.

Open hyperion program with the modified shortcut, and windows will bring up a box asking for 1234 (or whatever yours is). If you have the shortcut correct and you have a new port.

Add this, and it should be found, and show the charger in the hyperion program.

It cant not do, its all digital. If it works for me and many others, it must work for you too?

If its seen, as a usb-serial port but wont talk to the charger then swap snd/rcv around.

[Burgerman]

Added, if you start the program with no shortcut BT added (as it was before you changed it) and with the USB lead connected, and the board unplugged from the charger, everything goes back to normal.

You cant use USB with the board connected to the charger

[Seajays]

LOl, would cost me at least 2k to bring it to you. I use a BT dongle, will try another and also switch the wires, but the BT module is the same as yours. If I select the middle option, use pairing code it will ask for the 1234 code and pair up. It also added 3 com ports, 6,10,11.

[Seajays]

Switched BT Dongle, Disabled 11, 6 , all boxes checked, Hyperion asked for password , closed Hyperion, Reopen Hyperion, No work . I give up.

[Burgerman]

LOl, would cost me at least 2k to bring it to you. I use a BT dongle, will try another and also switch the wires, but the BT module is the same as yours. If I select the middle option, use pairing code it will ask for the 1234 code and pair up. It also added 3 com ports, 6,10,11.

bt a network. It doesent want pairing with windows, but with the hyperion program. Remove all, reinstall and dont give it a number. It wont ask until the hyperion talks to its program. For that to happen it needs to see the port. What do you see when you look in "manual com port selection" in "file" in the program? You SHOULD see this: (I have TWO chargers on at the moment.)

[Burgerman]

I have com 11 and 13 DISABLED in device manager.

This means I have 4 ports. 2 disabled. Not deleted...

[Burgerman]

See here. 11 and 13 disabled...

[Burgerman]

And in bt devices TWO chargers see here:

And in properties, the port each uses.

[Burgerman]

And in bluetooth settings, tick these!

[Burgerman]

And then restart CHARGER. And PC. And then the program... And look for a pop up box in the bottom right of the screen asking for a number!!!

That HAS to work, if your short cut is correct.

[Burgerman]

>>> Switched BT Dongle, Disabled 11, 6 , all boxes checked, Hyperion asked for password , closed Hyperion, Reopen Hyperion, No work . I give up.

Out of range?

If it asked fior password it HAS connected. Choose file/reinitialise charger?

[Seajays]

It did asked for password. Com 6 Disabled, Com 13 Disabled, Com 10 enabled. All boxes checked. linvor Com 10, Hyperion Manual port Com 10 not checked. Check, Close Hyperion, Open Hyperion , Manual port 10 still checked, no work.