# Soliton Shiva problems... help? Last race of the year!



## palmer_md (Jul 22, 2011)

I'd contact Evnetics directly.



> For technical questions, including support on our products, please send an email to [email protected] describing the issue (and the code version if relevant). Depending on the nature of your issue you may be asked to provide your settings file, a log file and/or pictures of your installation.


http://www.evnetics.com/contact/

They might answer here, but probably faster and more reliable information to go to the source.


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## Zachary Vex (Jul 13, 2012)

I have Sebastien Bourgouis' direct phone number but he didn't answer today or reply to texts.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Since your problem is last minute and you may not be able to get Evnetics attention in time I want to suggest that what it is reporting might be caused by something seemingly unrelated. Check all your connections and make certain the 12V power is good. Check for a frame leak. Check the tach, throttle sensor, brake input and any other connections to make sure they don't have some odd voltage or signal on them that could be getting back into the CPU. I am guessing you have something connected to the ethernet port for logging. Disconnect that and see if it wakes up and operates correctly. Goofy voltages or signals on any of the I/O pins could do odd things. When you indicated it happened right after blowing out the motor I immediately thought of all the things that could happen with high pressure air. Top of the list was a frame leak which was probably what you were trying to prevent by blowing it out. 

I hope it turns out to be something simple!


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## palmer_md (Jul 22, 2011)

Any return email from the evnetics tech support email? Any luck getting the car up and running?

I hope you get to race this weekend and it turns out to be something simple.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

Yes we responded within minutes of receiving the first email from him last night.

The specific problem with Vex's Shiva is that during startup the firmware checks each of its ADC channels to make sure they are reporting a sane or expected value. In all of the Soliton series controllers, the value from the current sensor corresponding to 0A is offset from 0V to make it possible to detect a problem with the current sensor and/or related circuitry. In the case of the Shiva, the offset is approximately 0.46V, but the ADC in Vex's controller was reporting approx. 0.1V. The most likely cause is the bipolar power supply for the current sensor has failed, but that's just a guess and not one based upon prior experience.


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## Zachary Vex (Jul 13, 2012)

Thanks, Palmer. Evnetics did indeed reply to my email within minutes. I apologize for hastily posting here. My driver and I were about to haul our equipment hundreds of miles to the races, coming from opposite directions, and were at wit's end over this fatal error. Hopefully it is repaired in short order and we'll try our luck at the "track" in Fargo later in the month. I say "track" because it's very hard to set records in a sandbox. By comparison, Minnesota's Brainerd International Raceway is a superbly maintained track but after this weekend, which we missed, it's closed until next year.


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## Batterypoweredtoad (Feb 5, 2008)

Zachary, I love to hear more about your EV. We have a few members posting detailed information about Zilla powered builds, I'd love to see some Shiva equivalents.


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## Zachary Vex (Jul 13, 2012)

mid-70s Chevette body

80's home-built mild steel roll cage NHRA rated to 8.5s

2 Warp 11" motors built by George Hamstra, on one shaft

Helwig Carbon brushes and racing brush holders

2 Gear Vendors Under/Over drives [1:1/.78:1 each]

ZVEX pro auto shifter

9" Ford rear end geared to 3.25

30" by 12.5 Firestone tires

Battery built by John Metric of Lone Star, 102S6P LiPo. One million watts for a 
fraction of a second, 800kW for about 2s. 427V peak. 

Shiva controller by Sebastien and company.


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## Batterypoweredtoad (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks for the reply. That's an impressive batch of hardware. Any videos or pictures you can share?


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## Hollie Maea (Dec 9, 2009)

Zachary Vex said:


> Battery built by John Metric of Lone Star, 102S6P LiPo. One million watts for a
> fraction of a second, 800kW for about 2s. 427V peak.


Wow...what does it sag to when outputting 1 million Watts? And how much does the pack weigh?


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## Zachary Vex (Jul 13, 2012)

Assuming the 2700A limit is reached, I imagine it sags to about 370V. It weighs about 165 lbs, divided in 3 boxes sitting over the rear tires.


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## piotrsko (Dec 9, 2007)

How did events turn out? I HATE dangling panic threads that pop up then disappear.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

piotrsko said:


> How did events turn out? I HATE dangling panic threads that pop up then disappear.


We are waiting on the Shiva to arrive here for inspection/repair.


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## Zachary Vex (Jul 13, 2012)

FedEx indicates that the Shiva was delivered on Friday October 3rd around 11AM. I attempted twice to contact Evnetics during the day on Friday, with no reply other than "We're in a meeting." My team will need it back and working by Friday October 10th in order to race on the 11th and 12th. The last race days this year within reasonable driving distance of Minneapolis are in Fargo on the 11th and 12th, then the 18th and 19th.


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## palmer_md (Jul 22, 2011)

Meeting was to discuss how to fix your controller (haha just kidding). I'm confident you'll be racing next weekend. Enjoy this one.


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## rochesterricer (Jan 5, 2011)

Zachary Vex said:


> FedEx indicates that the Shiva was delivered on Friday October 3rd around 11AM. I attempted twice to contact Evnetics during the day on Friday, with no reply other than "We're in a meeting." My team will need it back and working by Friday October 10th in order to race on the 11th and 12th. The last race days this year within reasonable driving distance of Minneapolis are in Fargo on the 11th and 12th, then the 18th and 19th.


Are you in the Twin Cities area? I didn't know that were some fast EV drag racers here in MN. You guys need some publicity.


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