Project Ginsu - G8 Sunroof Controller Add-on

[LDM]

Your disclaimer should go without saying but after reading through that thread on the other site I can understand why you added it. I can also understand why you were hesitant to post details of what you were up to until now. Good luck with the project, this should be a neat add-on if it all works out.

[Seattle09GT]

Interested and subscribed - always been a peeve about the G8.

[Eidolon]

Your disclaimer should go without saying but after reading through that thread on the other site I can understand why you added it. I can also understand why you were hesitant to post details of what you were up to until now. Good luck with the project, this should be a neat add-on if it all works out.

Bingo, and it's why I won't be posting about this project at all at G8Board. I prefer to keep the thread here, under the readership and moderation of this site. I'll update this thread with progress on occasion, though, so you guys know it's not dead in the water.

[jonnynadeau]

Bingo, and it's why I won't be posting about this project at all at G8Board. I prefer to keep the thread here, under the readership and moderation of this site. I'll update this thread with progress on occasion, though, so you guys know it's not dead in the water.

Thanks, it's greatly appreciated.

If you need a beta tester for COLD environments (lol) I'm your man...I'm totally kidding but I'm in for one of these, for sure.


iPhone, Tapatalk, enough said!

[Seattle09GT]

If you need a beta tester for wet environments...heh!

[Eidolon]

Sorry guys, beta testers will be local only, as it will make it easier to meet up with them to get them a software update, should they need it (and I expect they will a few times as they discover cases I didn't anticipate).

Been chipping away at this off and on over the last couple days. One of the things that makes embedded development hard is that you have to consider all cases. And since the chip I'm using "ticks" millions of times a second, everything that happens is in slow motion relative to the code I'm writing. I had an issue where turning off the "ignition" could be read incorrectly as an "off and on", so that took a bit of working around. It's called a glitch, and it's a reality of this kind of work, that you have to double-check everything you think is happening to make sure you're not picking up electrical noise. I also attached an LCD to give myself some more debug ability on Monday night:



Finished product won't have an LCD. There's no need, and there'd be no clean way to mount it.

Things left to handle:

• When the user turns the car on, the ignition signal drops while the key is turned to "start". The sunroof module cannot see this as an "off and on" for purposes of the auto-open and auto-close. What it should do instead is see the ignition turn off, start counting down, and cancel the countdown-to-close if the ignition comes back on.
• But let's say the user turned off the car because they arrived at their destination, and they want the roof to close. Then they remember that they left a window down and have to turn the key back on. If the roof is already moving, we don't want to cancel it. Instead, we'll let the roof close all the way and the module will remain on and at the ready for as long as they key is still on. If the user decides to leave the car on, they'll have to re-open the roof manually. If the user turns the key off and heads on in, it will auto-open when they return.
• If the user cancels the auto-open, drives around, and then turns the car off, the module needs to make sure it doesn't try to auto-reopen the next time the user gets in the car and starts it up since the auto-open was previously cancelled.

I also still need to code up the menu and make sure the simple open and close work for the 2008/2009 model year. It's all the little things that add up.

[screaminChick-n]

My suggestion is to look how the 2008 module operates and try to get the 2009/2009.5 retrofit working to that spec. and then start adding additional futures. I have not tested the sunroof in my car but I have seen sunroofs and windows where if while being closed the module sences something in the way (increased power load ) the system stops and retracts to the full open position. Maybe an idea for your panic mode.

Again thanks for taking a stab at this.

[Eidolon]

My suggestion is to look how the 2008 module operates and try to get the 2009/2009.5 retrofit working to that spec. and then start adding additional futures.

I've actually got the basics working pretty cleanly as far as I can tell. The stuff I'm working on right now, though, aren't so much features as handling what the car sends to the module. It's all the little clean-up that's necessary to properly interpret what the car is doing.

I have not tested the sunroof in my car but I have seen sunroofs and windows where if while being closed the module sences something in the way (increased power load ) the system stops and retracts to the full open position. Maybe an idea for your panic mode.

Hmm. I like the auto-full-open idea for the panic. The trick is that I don't know exactly where the roof will be, but I'd think it'd be safe to say that if it's closing - whether from the "Vent" position or the "Open" position - then it should open fully back to the position from which it's closing. I'll see what I can do here. Thanks for the idea!

Again thanks for taking a stab at this.

Welcome!

[Eidolon]

A little more work on this last night. I think I may be able to offer a pause feature to 2008 sunroof owners whose sunroof controls don't have a pause feature. When you tap the button, it'll just kill power to the module.

[Eidolon]

Another update. Measured the voltage provided by the car for the ignition line. The stock sunroof module is provided with a Battery positive supply line and with a Ignition supply line. The former powers the module and motor, while the latter acts as an electronic switch. I was worried that maybe the ignition line was regulated, in which case I might have to look at additional circuitry. Thankfully, I don't. It's just a straight connection to the Battery Positive line, but with a switch in the way. Nice and simple.

Also looking into power regulation circuitry. I need to hook this thing up to the car sooner rather than later to make sure it all works, and the voltage regulator on the Arduino itself is insufficient since it won't handle more than 12 Volts.