Using SST with Gen4 Systems

Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Requirements ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Activating your copy of the SST program ............................................................................................... 2
Running SST ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Programming new firmware .................................................................................................................. 4
Programming new settings .................................................................................................................... 6
Saving a vehicle trace ............................................................................................................................. 7

Introduction

The SST software can be installed on a PC to allow engineers and service technicians access to
programming controller software and settings as well as to monitoring status of a Sevcon Gen4
motor controller. This document assumes that the SST software is already installed on the user’s PC
and covers the SST basic functionality.

Requirements

- IXXAT Model - 1.01.0281.12001 (w/galvanic isolation) USB to CAN adapter, Sevcon part #
661/30132.
- Computer media with SST software, provided by Sevcon.

Activating your copy of the SST program

Start the SST program from its shortcut . When first running the program an activation
window will be presented to the user. Copy the provided activation code and paste it into an email
to a Sevcon representative and a license file will be created and emailed to the user trying to
activate the SST program. The license file can only be used on that specific PC and will not need to
be selected again.

Running SST
Start SST. The screen will appear as shown below. Should the baud rate selected correspond to the
baud rate set in the Gen4 controller, you will not see this message and CAN traffic will already
appear in the upper left window of the SST program.

Select “OK” and cycle through the available baud rates until CAN traffic starts appearing in the upper
left section of the SST program (in pink). Once CAN messages appear, click the “Detect Nodes”
button in the “Controller Configuration Commands” section of the SST program window.

Other color messages may appear as well. To limit some of these messages, deselect the “Sync” and
“Unknown” packets from the “CAN” window in the main menu of the SST program.

At this point, the user should be presented with the following screen:

When prompted to create an EDS file, click “OK” to allow the program to do so. Progress in creating
the EDS file can be observed in the lower section of the SST program window. Allow it to finish this
process before proceeding further.

Once the EDS (Electronic Data Sheet) file is successfully created, restart the SST program.

NOTE: Once the EDS file was created, it will not need to be created again unless the software in
the Gen4 controller changes.

Programming new firmware

The SST software allows the user to program new firmware into a Gen4 controller. The following
steps must be followed in order:
1. Enter Preoperational state

Recycle power to the controller.
2. Verify that the controller is now in Preoperational state

The controller should now report that it is in Preoperational state. This button also allows the user
to check for any other active faults the Gen4 controller is currently experiencing.
3. Enter bootloader mode

Following this command, CAN traffic should stop in the upper left window of SST and the controller’s
LED should flicker and then turn off.
4. Initiate firmware programming and select the appropriate firmware file to be programmed

The interface will prompt the user to browse to and select the desired firmware file that is to be
programmed into the Gen4 controller (provide correct firmware file location as necessary here).
Once the process has began, the SST Information window will display a progress bar (sequence of
dots) to inform the user of its status. Wait until an “OK” appears at the end. See screen capture
below.

5. Exit bootloader mode

NOTE: Should anything happen during programming (computer power goes OFF, computer freezes,
cables get disconnected, controller power goes OFF, etc.) DO NOT exit bootloader; simply recycle
power on the controller (while fixing everything else that might have gone wrong) and go back to
step number 4 to re-attempt to program the controller!!!

If programming was successful, CAN traffic should return in the SST upper left window and the
controller’s LED should resume blinking.

6. Recycle power on the Gen4 controller

7. Verify that the correct firmware version was programmed into the Gen4 controller

Programming new settings

1. Ensure that controller is in Preoperational state (see steps 1 and 2 in the Programming new
firmware section above).
2. Initiate settings programming and select the appropriate settings file to be programmed

The interface will prompt the user to browse to and select the desired settings file (provide correct
settings file location as necessary here) that is to be programmed into the Gen4 controller. Once the
file is selected a progress bar will indicate that the settings are being programmed into the Gen4
controller. Wait for the process to complete. Depending on what settings file was programmed into
the controller, some errors may be present (NOTE: should these be errors related to new objects
being out of range, they will need to be resolved before the Gen4 controller can become
operational, but this should not occur unless the wrong settings file was provided).

3. Recycle power on the Gen4 controller

The Gen4 controller is now in Preoperational state.

4. Enter Operational state

Controller should now be ready for operation.

Saving a vehicle trace

A vehicle performance log file can be saved in order to assist Sevcon engineers in understanding the
causes of any unexpected vehicle behavior related to the motor controller performance.

To save a log file click the icon at the top of the SST program window and the following window
should open to allow the user to save a performance trace. NOTE: the parameters available for
recording, will not necessarily be the same always (they depend on the settings in the Gen4
controller).

To save a trace the user can first assign a trace name (this step is not mandatory, as log.csv is also a
valid name) in the “Filename” section in the bottom right side of the vehicle interface window (make
sure to preserve the .csv extension). Once a file name is assigned, the user can save multiple traces
with that name as a time stamp is also automatically added to the file name.

To now collect a trace, click icon to reset the trace (failure to do so will cause the new trace
information to be appended to the previously saved trace, making the vieweing of the file more

difficult), click icon to start the trace, drive the system in a manner that reproduces the scenario

needed to be captured for future analysis and then click icon to stop recording and save the
trace. Once the trace is saved, it can be found in the C:\SST\common\veh_if_log folder (assuming
that the SST program was installed in the default directory location). The resulting trace will be a file
with the .csv extension, which can now be sent to the relevant personnel for further analysis of the
system’s behavior.