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Orion BMS CAN bus Troubleshooting

9K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  JimE 
#1 · (Edited)
---SOLVED--- Thanks for all the help

Hi everyone,

I have an Orion BMS revision E and I'm having trouble connecting the BMS over CAN bus. I have the CANADAPTER that's supplied with the BMS from Ewert Energy. I've contacted Ewert Energy about my problem, but I figured I'd post to the forums and see if anyone has any experience with these BMS units.

I'm attempting to connect to the BMS via the CAN1 connection using the CANADAPTER with the latest version of the OrionBMS utility. I have the CAN bus connection wired correctly with a 120 Ohm termination resistor.

My issue is that while I can power on the BMS and see CANADAPTER show up in devices and printers window, whenever I try to connect to the BMS, the BMS utility doesn't list any COM ports as being available to connect to. Additionally, I have tried to use the CANADAPTER Diagnostics utility to find the CANADAPTER, the diagnostic utility does not recognize the CANADAPTER either. I also have the Ewert Energy thermistor expansion module for this BMS, and I have the same problem when I try to connect via module's configuration utility.

I have checked the CANbus connections and pin outs several times and found no faults. The weird thing is that I have been able to connect and configure to the BMS using this CANADAPTER before, but after taking the unit out of storage for 3-4 months I am know unable to connect to any of my devices.
Is possible that my CANADAPTER was damaged?

The attached pictures show the message I receive when I try to connect using the BMS utility, CANADAPTER Diagnostic utility

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks advance,

-Axon
 

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#2 ·
You need to get your laptop talking to the Orion, and you need the candapter to do that. If you have previously been able to connect your laptop to the Orion with your wiring, but can't connect now, it is possible that the driver for the candapter is not working right. I would download another driver, and get that right until you have established proper communication between the Orion and your laptop. Once you get that straight, you should be able to view your canbus data. Ewert is very responsive, but I can probably get you through a lot of this while you are waiting. I have installed a lot of Orions, so I can probably help you out in the mean time.



 
#3 ·
Hi evmetro,

I have downloaded & installed the latest drivers from Ewert Energy.
To the best of my knowledge my CAN bus wiring appear to be correct.
Should I install the drivers again do you think?
Also, does the fact that the adapter doesn't show up as COM port indicate that the issue is stemming form the CANADAPTER drivers? In other words if I had a bad CAN bus wiring, would I still be able to see the CANADAPTER show up as a COM port?

Thanks for the help,

-Axon
 
#4 ·
If I remember right, you need to see the green light on the candapter when the Orion is communicating with your lap top. I have had problems with the driver before, even after re downloading it. I am not really good with computers, so I have taken hours to figure out how to uncompress a zip file and make my lap top actually use the driver. I have one laptop that works great, so I have it dedicated to all of my Orion equipped EVs. I am not sure what a COM port is, my candapter plugs into my laptop via a USB port. When I plug it in, I can hear my laptop make a little ding sound when the candapter and driver are working right.



 
#5 · (Edited)
I manually re-downloaded and installed the drivers last night. Everything appear to be working well so far. I haven't had any luck yet using the provided .exe file to install the drivers on any other laptops. I think I'm going stick to doing a manual install using the .zip file.

If you don't mind my asking, do you install Orion equipment for work or do you have a DIY experience with them. I'm just asking because I have some experience with Ewert Energy equipment but I don't know a lot about the company or where their equipment is used. I'm curious to learn more about what they do.

Thanks again for the help.
 
#6 ·
I only have experience with the Orion, as far as Ewert goes. You have selected a fantastic piece of equipment that most EV folks don't really understand. Most people think of it simply as a device that top balances your lithium, and they still associate it with the earlier "BMS" units. What you have is a very advanced EV management system.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Hi Axon
Was this sorted ok?
I have some experience using CANbus coms/problems with IXXAT kit and diesel engine ECUs:

Configure port on PC/laptop - I will need to remind myself on what I did, but think it was port settings under control panel on windows pc. Bits per second changed?
Correct USB port needs using from then on, so have you tried every USB port on your machine?
Baud rate settings - 125 kbps often the case in my experience.
Canbus wiring - 120 Ohm resistor at each end , so I used to check by measuring 60 Ohms across CAN High and CAN Low.
Cables are shielded - worth checking the shielding is ok.

Interested in this in particular as I am looking to buy an Orion BMS system. Hope its sorted anyway.

Tim
 
#9 ·
Hoping someone is still around on this this thread. I'm having BIG problems getting my Win10 based computer to even recocognize that the CANAdapter exists.

I'm wondering about terminations of the shielded CANBus lines, but at 60ohms Hi>lo, that looks correct.
 
#10 ·
Solved - or at least making progress. Swapped out my Win10 machine for an old XP had on hand. CANAdapter S/W seems to run ok on the XP.

Got continuous diagnostic "elevation required" when trying to load the driver, but it loaded correctly on the XP. More research required;)
 
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