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FYI my charger/supply died recently, probably since it was running for days at a time in the garage for development ;-)
I went "pro" and picked up the Schumacher INC100 "flashing power supply". Up to 100amps! I use it in "flashing mode" when doing development, in this mode you set the desired voltage and the unit supplies whatever is needed to maintain it. I use 13.8V as the target.
Since there is a display of the amps draw I can get an idea of how much power is needed. When I first start flashing mode, draw does start up to 40amps at the highest I have seen it. Then settles down below 20 amps. There can be times when more is needed, try steering the wheel, electric PS draws a lot of power! But typical of the car just sitting in Active mode, doing the type of stuff that OrBit does, power requirement is rarely more than 20amps on my 2019 S60 T6.
Just thought that was an interesting data point.
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12-05-2023, 07:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-08-2023, 01:41 PM by STWAGguy.)
I was going to buy a charger, but the battery power drain is so minimal with the new programed power mode selection that I don’t see that it’s necessarily needed for quick updates. I’m connecting under only the door-open power level and with a full battery charge. Under those conditions I’m losing no more than a few % of charge by the time I disconnect.
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12-09-2023, 05:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2023, 05:24 AM by Power6.)
Yeah, a power supply is not strictly required. While technically it's not the charge level concern, but the current draw effect on voltage that is the risk, a power supply keeps it constant and ensures there are no voltage drops during a flash. If you are a professional mechanic, don't take that risk with a customer car. As an owner...just up to what risk you personally are OK with. I've never had a report from a customer yet of a problem. One fellow did flash a config to the car at 5% battery and the car went dead during programming...he charged the battery for a bit and flashed the config again and everything was fine.
For me I need it for OrBit development, if not for that I'd probably just flash on the battery.
One side benefit i do like is since my battery is frequently supported and charged up on the power supply, it appears like it's going to last a long time. Normally these cars are hard on the battery and seem to require changing them out every few years.
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12-09-2023, 11:29 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2023, 07:58 PM by STWAGguy.)
Ah, that makes sense - I hadn’t considered the voltage drop-off. My car has the integrated 48V starter generator as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Volvo downgraded the 12V battery a bit.
I’ve also seen that the state of charge drops off rather quickly if driving around on EV power alone for a few days.
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A perhaps stupid question on the topic.
Isn't it possible to simply leave the car running instead of using a charger for most operations such as changing the car configuration (so no firmware flashing or similar)?
With my Mercedes, I have been able to do all coding stuff and also long ECU flashing routines (which can last up to 1 hour) simply with the engine running instead of with the ignition on and a charger connected...
