Renegade Techworks 3000gt ECS Controller Firmware Upgrade Program

[duke3k]

To all you Renegade Techworks 3000gt ECS Controller Owners out there:

First of all thanks for your business and having spent your hard earned cash to buy a Techworks controller.

I have a current version of firmware v1.12 - that after 4 years of continually improving the software - I'm really pleased to say is pretty solid with some big improvements over the earlier versions.

I will gladly upgrade your existing unit to v1.12 , so here are your options to get the upgrade.

Option (1) You ship me your unit (you pay shipping to me) - I upgrade it to v1.12 - I will inspect and test it and I ship it back to you (I pay return shipping). As a benefit of shipping it back in to me for service. You get your warranty clock reset - 6 months full warrant.


Option (2) Tell me you want to upgrade your firmware yourself. I will ship you a new AtMEL328p microcontroller w/ v1.12 already burned in and you will open your original controller - pull the old chip and replace it with the new chip. Not terribly difficult procedure - the biggest challenge here is carefully removing the epoxy that I use to lock the chips into place. No extended warranty in this case. No need to ship the old chip back and No cost to get you the upgraded chip. The cost is all on me.

Option (3) - for you Arduino geeks - is I can stage the updated source code to the V1.12 firmeware & build libraries and the description of the hardware usb-ftdi cable you will need to make (about $20 worth of hardware) an you can update the controller yourself.


I'd really like to get you updated - so take advantage of this. If you have any questions or would like to arrange for an update - Please contact me at support@renegadetechworks.com

fyi - Anybody who purchased a Techworks controller after August 2015 already has v1.12.


cheers
Duke3k


.

[J-Groove]

Wow, that is a cool set up.

[duke3k]

Someone asked what the latest firmware does different - here's a summary:

Most of the changes are in the area of improved diagnostics & reliability and some were added in previous versions of firmware but not perfected until this version - Here's a summary list of the changes the V1.12 firmware now does:

(1) Now if the controller detects a fault in one of the struts - it will allow you to try again on that strut the next time you change modes. Earlier versions of the firmware would "lock out" a bad strut and you would have to cycle the power on the car/controller to be able to try a strut again.

(2) Broken wiring detection: I added this algorithm several versions of firmware back but have finally perfected it with V1.12. a really common problem is the strut cap wiring harness wires can break but not completely causing an intermittent connection. The controller can now detect this failure mode and display a different type of error code (alternating blinking lights or YELLOW LED fault lights ) instead of solid blinking (RED LED Fault lights) to tell which strut is bad.

NOTE: - This algorithm can protect the power drivers on the controller from overheat conditions. I had one controller fail because of this type of wiring harness failure. The intermittent broken wire contact from the sensor feeds causes a false reading from the struts and ended up continually causing the controller to keep trying to set the strut to correct mode.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this failure mode can also cause the OEM controllers to fail catastrophically also - I've seen several Mitsu controllers where the control chips are literally burned thru.

(3) Added Support for two types of RGB LEDs - Big Ones (WS2801s) or Small ones (WS2812's).

(4) added some software filtering to ignore or debounce the false voltage readings from the internal switches inside the struts when they first start to move based on a new command request.


duke3k.

p.s. I will be posting the complete source code to v1.12 up on the techworks website and on Github here in the next few weeks - just need to get the time to do it.