AA80E 8-speed

A forum for discussing applications and implementations of the MegaShift transmission controller code for the GPIO from B&G. This can control up to 8-speeds and 6 shift solenoids (plus a 16x9 table for controlling a PWM line pressure valve). It has manual and fully automatic modes (16x9 load x speed table), with under and over rev-limit protection, and full data logging of all inputs and outputs (among many other abilities). A TransStim to test your completed board is also available.
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

Looks like I got it to work. Continuing onward.

Jim
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

Just a simple question today. Is the CPU a MC9S12C64MFA16 or a MC9S12C64MFA25?
I've not been able to find anything on the B&G page that tells.


Jim
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

The main problem I've had with this so far seems to be a matter of not getting either the correct, or a complete download of the files needed to load the project properly as near as I can tell. For instance, initially the project I tried to open did not have the ports_pins.h file, I have no idea why that was. But the V5xxx_Proj does. I have found the sources directory in the V5xxx_Proj to be much more extensive than that of the sources directory in the V5_diy_proj with at least 3 times as many files and I find that confusing. I don't know why that is.

Are there two very different versions of the v5201 code, one being diy and the other not?

I have managed to get projects to load now without errors by copying and moving files around and changing and adding paths but I don't really know what I'm doing there. It seems if I open a different project and try to cure the path errors it breaks other projects that I had gotten to work.

Should I just delete all the project files I have now and start over? If I do that, which download is going to be the easiest to work with? V5xxx seems the most complete but V5_diy was the one I was able to get to open without errors. Help?

Jim

btw, I was able to find PT6 and AD4 in the ports_pins.h file and also in the main.c file. Is that where the change needs to be made to switch them?
Bernard Fife
Posts: 1696
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:28 pm

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Bernard Fife »

Jim,

The processor is a MC9S12C64CFA running at 24Mhz.

Yes, the diy code and the 5.201 release code are different because of the conditional #ifdef's to reduce the size, but also because the the number of files has been reduced by combining a lot of files the were previously #included'd. If all the #ifdefs are commented out, the 5.201 and diy code should be the same.

You will have to decide how best to swap pins. You cant just 'reassign' pins, as the C code only deals with bytes (i.e. whole ports with 8 pins) at a time rather than individual pins (which are accessed by applying AND|OR conditions on the 8-bit port registers).
"Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

Thanks Lance, this is going to take me awhile. Right now I'm still trying to learn how to deal with the path designations. I know you said most of the errors on startup could be ignored and I can see why that would be the case but I'd like to feel at least a little competent in knowing what they mean, it seems this could be helpful at some point. So I'm trying to eliminate the path errors and not doing too badly I think for mostly flying blind as I'm down to 2 errors on the 5.201 project and have the diy starting clean (though on the copy of v5diy I'm still at 14 errors so clearly I'm missing the key). I know it's probably pointless and I'm sorry for going off on tangents. I'm sort of like that if you haven't figured it out by now. Probably why this build has taken so long. I've been trying to clear the errors by pointing the paths to the new directory structure in my "TestCW" file, so far with limited success. To clear the v5diy I had to copy and paste some files/folders, and/or point to locations outside the project directory which doesn't strike me as being as clean a method, but then again I'm still learning this.

Jim
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

I seem to recall reading something about pin designations where they were all the same, or alternating in/out and something else. I'll have to go back and look at that again. Plus look at how they are arranged here in the MShift in regards to my proposed changes. Should have a comment or question after I've done that.

Jim
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

Making progress slowly, but I now have two versions of the software and two copies in a "test" folder, all 4 of which now open error free. Probably something I could have gotten by without doing but I'm a little paranoid about making mistakes and wanted to start without the IDE telling me I was already screwing up.

Maybe, or at least I do hope, I might be able to start with the more serious business of decreasing the assembled file size. To that end I suspect I should try to compile the two test programs first to make sure I can do that. Probably I will get a file size error, but hopefully nothing else. Then I hope I can start looking for things to comment out. I'll try a couple of those, recompile, rinse and repeat. After I get the first one small enough to eliminate the expected file size error I expect to try it to see if I can get it to load in the GPIO. Then do the other one. Then make copies. Then maybe remove the surplus comments and test again. And if it loads, make copies again. After all of that I can go looking for the pins I need to swap and the output pulse I need to create.

This is gonna take awhile.

Jim
johnjohn00
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:20 pm

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by johnjohn00 »

I'm following this as well.
I'm working for a prominent tuner shop in Western Canada.

There is a great deal of work with Toyota transmissions in my immediate future.

thank you all for your massive efforts here.

-John
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

Thank you John. It is gratifying to find anyone who is considering the use of this transmission, as I often feel like the Lone Ranger here. I know there has been some use in Europe and Africa but it doesn't seem to have caught on here. My hopes that someone (anyone?) who knew what they were doing would sort out the programming seems to have been misplaced and I'm not at all sure that I am up to the task. Give me a mechanical assembly to sort out, custom hard parts to make, and I'm in my own little heaven with that, but 1's and zeros? More like H3LL.

I do know that there are two existing aftermarket controllers for it. One costs about 5-6 grand and the other uses two microsquirt controllers linked by CAN bus to do the job. I'm not sure how good either one is, but if I was starting over I think I would at least consider the dual microsquirt approach. Costs a lot more than the GPIO but at least it reportedly works. Can't say that for this one, at least not yet. I have no idea what it costs to get that one, whether you have to buy it as a completed unit, can buy the mS units separately, or if the program to run them comes with a big price tag. If it's left up to me to sort this one out, I regrettably can offer no reassurances that it will ever get done either, as that would be patently unfair to anyone coming down the path. To be completely honest I don't know what the F*** I'm doing. But I will continue to try.

Jim
Jim Blackwood
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:52 am

Re: AA80E 8-speed

Post by Jim Blackwood »

Here is GM's entry into the field:

http://www.chevrolet.com/performance/tr ... e-lt4.html

It costs $5K but that includes the controller and harness. I have that much in the AA80E so far and it doesn't work yet. If spring comes around and it still doesn't work I will look at my finances and very likely throw in the towel, order this one from GM and be done with it. Anyone who wants to carry on will then be welcome to buy what I have for a fair price. The transmission has 20K miles on it, I paid a couple grand for it. It is the genuine article out of the Lexus IS-F, not the lesser unit from the sedans.

I want to thank everyone here for all their help, most particularly Lance. I'm just not a programmer, never have been and never will be. I've tried. Seriously, doggedly, and persistently and it just isn't me. I do still think very honestly that this will work. I lack the ability to do it. A man has to know his limitations. It was a speculative investment, and it didn't pay off. It'll soon be time to cut my losses, and to be honest I can hardly wait. I really do want to drive the car and I'm not spending the next summer without it.

Jim
Post Reply