J2263 Coastdown Testing with VBOX 3i

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The SAE J2263 Coastdown Test is a test plugin for the VBOX Test Suite software.

The test itself gives you the ability to complete a coastdown test to the SAE J2263 specification. By using wind speed and direction inputs, the software will automatically apply the required equations to produce a road load force.

This guide will detail the requirements for the hardware and software setup of the test equipment from Racelogic, taking the mounting requirements outlined by the J2263 specification into consideration.

Equipment

Required Hardware

VBOX 3i data logger
VBOX Manager
VBOX MFD Touch (Optional)
Anemometer
(We recommend the RM Young 05103 Anemometer)
Windows PC

Required Software

Hardware Configuration

You can use any VBOX 3i unit for the J2263 testing. However, based on the VBOX 3i hardware version, there will be some differences in the software configuration. These differences are shown in the software setup further down on this page. You can find more information about the VBOX 3i compatibility here.

Before you can perform a J2263 Coastdown test, you must connect and configure the required hardware.

The following is a connection diagram of the basic equipment you will need for this test.

J2263 Coastdown - Hardware Connection Diagram_VB3i.png

J2263 Coastdown - Hardware Connection Diagram_VB3iADAS.png

Hardware connection diagram with VBOX 3i

Hardware connection diagram with VBOX 3i ADAS

Note: When you are performing a coastdown test, you do not need to run Kalman Filtering. If you are using an IMU, we recommend that you use the supplied RLCAB120 to connect it to the CAN port on the VBOX 3i unit or the RLCAN port on a VBOX 3i ADAS unit.

Connecting the Anemometer

You can connect the anemometer to the VBOX 3i unit by using the D-sub 25-pin adaptor in the VBOX 3i kit. You can then connect the D-sub 25-pin adaptor to the 25-pin connection on the front of the VBOX 3i unit.

You will need to wire the anemometer cable into the D-sub 25-pin adaptor using the following wiring diagram:

Mounting the Anemometer

When you have connected your hardware, you need to mount the anemometer on the vehicle. Traditionally, the anemometer is mounted out in front of the vehicle. It is your responsibility to physically mount the antenna as Racelogic does not provide a mounting solution for the anemometer.

The anemometer should be mounted facing in-line with the body of the vehicle. The RM Young anemometer has a 360-degree physical rotation. In practice, however, there is a dead spot between 0 and 5 degrees. Based on the SAE spec, if an anemometer has a dead spot in its measurement, you should mount it with the 0-position of the anemometer 90 or 180 degrees offset to the body line of the vehicle to avoid the dead spot during calibration.

Example of a vehicle with an anemometer mounted.

Software Configuration

When you have connected and mounted the hardware on the vehicle, you can begin your software setup of the VBOX 3i unit.

Connect the VBOX 3i unit to the PC.
(Connect the USB cable between the USB port on the VBOX unit and the USB port on the PC.)
Open VBOX Setup.
Connect VBOX Setup to your VBOX unit on the relevant COM port.
Open the Channels Menu / Channel Configuration Menu.
Select the Internal A/D channel tab/section.

VBOX 3i Firmware v2.8 and Earlier	VBOX 3i Firmware v3.0 and Later

Configure the anemometer channels with the scale and offset information provided below.

Note: If you are using a different anemometer (not the RM Young 05103), you must check the anemometer specifications to make sure that you use the correct scale and offset values.

Wind Speed

Configure this channel by clicking on the VB3i_AD1 channel name.
This will open the CAN Channel Properties for this channel.
Enter Wind_Speed in the Name field.
Enter mph in the Units field.
Set the Scale to 72.00000.
Make sure that the Offset is set to 0.00000.
Click OK to save the new channel settings.

Wind Direction

Configure this channel by clicking on the VB3i_AD2 channel name.
This will open the CAN Channel Properties for this channel.
Enter Wind_Direction in the Name field.
Enter volts in the Units field.
Set the Scale to 72.00000.
Make sure that the Offset is set to 0.00000.
Click OK to save the new channel settings.

Make sure that you select Log to memory card and Send over serial (if you are using v2.8). If you are running firmware version 3.0 or later, you do not need to check Log to memory card as all analogue channels are logged automatically. You can then either select Send over Serial in VBOX Setup or you can select the serial channels you would like to view directly in the VBOX Test Suite Software Application.
When you have entered the relevant settings click the Write to unit button to save the configuration to the VBOX 3i unit.

You are now ready to begin the coastdown testing.

Data Analysis

You can either run the coastdown test in the online mode in VBOX Test Suite and see the data in real-time or you can do the analysis offline in VBOX Test Suite

Online Mode

Open Test Suite.
Open the Home tab.
Click on the Online button.
Select the COM port your VBOX 3i is connected to.
You can verify the COM port your VBOX unit is using by checking Windows Device Manager.
Click on the Add Test button and select the Coastdown category and the SAE J2263 Test.
Enter the relevant test settings and run the test.

Offline Mode

An alternative to using online mode is to log all the required data to the compact flash card and do your data analysis in VBOX Test Suite in offline mode.