OpenCARWINGS remote refresh/climate not working, but manual Information Centre connection works — UK 2015 Leaf Tekna

[chrissensei1-cell]

Hi all,

I’m trying to diagnose an OpenCARWINGS issue on my UK 2015 Nissan Leaf Tekna. Manual OpenCARWINGS / Information Centre connectivity works from the head unit, but remote refresh / app commands are not completing.

Now to be clear they were working yesterday and now they just arent lol.
I have refreshed the head unit and checked settings. The head unit will connect to open carwings by using the touch screen. it verifies the username and password and will download info from open carwings.
I can see the activity on hologram so that side is working.
It like the head unit doesnt see the request from the sms to send the info back to the server. So I tried pulling fuse F34 and tried again still the same.
It's odd because yesterday it worked now open car wings can only see the data if I trigger it from a manual press on the head unit.
the error message I get is
Command 'Read configuration' timed out after 5 minutes

Vehicle / setup details

• Car: UK 2015 Nissan Leaf Tekna
• VIN: SJNFAAZE0U60xxxxx
• TCU version from navi: 3NM0000642
• TCU version from TCU: --
• Navi ID: 105602013xxx
• TCU ID: 201399063xxx
• SIM ICCID: 8944501511210xxxxx
• Hologram Device ID: 493xxxx
• Hologram SIM card ID: 307xxxx
• Network: Vodafone UK / 2G

The full VIN / SIM / TCU / Navi IDs match between the head unit, Hologram and OpenCARWINGS; I have partially redacted them here.

What works

Manual connection from the head unit works.

If I go into the CARWINGS / Information Centre menu in the car, it connects successfully to OpenCARWINGS. The OpenCARWINGS website updates the Last Connection time and shows the correct vehicle details.

The OpenCARWINGS website shows the correct VIN, odometer, Navi ID, TCU ID and SIM ID after a manual head-unit connection.

The head unit also shows the correct local vehicle IDs, including Unit ID / Navi ID, TCU ID, SIM ID and VIN.

So the car, SIM and OpenCARWINGS account appear to be correctly paired.

VFlash / APN / server settings

I compared my vflash_12300215_00013201.bin file against another known-good file. The important settings match and appear correct:

• Profile: Hologram
• PPP dial string: 99**N#
• APN: hologram
• Username: zero
• Password: emission
• Server URL: http://biz.viaaq.eu/WARCondelivbas/it-m_gw10/

So I do not think this is a simple bad APN or wrong server URL issue.

What does not work

Remote refresh / app command does not complete.

When I send a refresh from OpenCARWINGS, Hologram shows the wake SMS being sent and delivered:

• SMS body: NISSAN_EVIT_TELEMATICS_CENTER
• To SIM: my Hologram SIM
• Device: my Leaf device
• Status: SMS delivered

I also tested sending the same SMS manually through the Hologram API from a Python script. Hologram accepted it and delivered it successfully.

Example result:

• NISSAN_EVIT_TELEMATICS_CENTER sent
• SMS delivered

However, after the SMS is delivered, I do not see a Vodafone UK / 2G data session starting in Hologram, and the OpenCARWINGS Last Connection time does not update from the remote attempt.

So the current pattern is:

• Manual head-unit Information Centre connection: works
• OpenCARWINGS sends wake SMS: works
• Hologram delivers SMS: works
• Manual Hologram API wake SMS also delivers: works
• Remote wake followed by data / PDP session: does not appear to happen
• Remote refresh / climate command: does not complete

F34 reset tried

I pulled/reset F34, which I believe powers the TCU / AV / audio / Bluetooth side.

After the F34 reset:

• Manual Information Centre connection still works
• Remote/app command still does not work

So the fuse reset did not solve the remote wake / command issue.

OpenCARWINGS TCU Configuration page

One thing that looks suspicious is that the OpenCARWINGS TCU Configuration page shows everything as N/A:

• PPP Dial Code: N/A
• APN: N/A
• PPP Username: N/A
• PPP Password: N/A
• DNS1: N/A
• DNS2: N/A
• Server URL: N/A
• Proxy URL: N/A
• Connection Type: N/A
• Last Updated: blank

This is odd because the VFlash file has the correct APN/server settings, and manual Information Centre connection works.

My current theory

It seems like the basic connectivity is good, but the remote command path is not working.

In other words, manual connection works because the car/head unit/TCU is already awake and initiates the connection itself.

Remote commands fail because the car receives the wake SMS but does not appear to start the expected data / PDP session afterward.

Questions

1. Is it normal for manual Information Centre connection to work while remote refresh / climate does not?
2. Is it normal for the OpenCARWINGS TCU Configuration page to show all N/A even when manual connection works?
3. Does a UK 2015 Leaf Tekna with TCU version from navi 3NM0000642 need the TCU configuration read/written via OBD before remote refresh / climate will work?
4. Could this be an OpenCARWINGS server / command-queue issue rather than a car / TCU issue?
5. Is there any way to re-read or re-write the TCU configuration without the Android TCU Configurator app?
6. Has anyone seen the pattern where SMS wake is delivered but no 2G data/PDP session follows?

Any guidance would be appreciated. I’m trying to avoid buying more hardware, as the system was working previously and manual connectivity still works.

[developerfromjokela]

Hi.

Which smartphone do you have? Depending on the vendor there can be different text encoding methods which mess up the EVIT sms.

[developerfromjokela]

I used the memory card flash method to update the head unit. So what I can get is from the head unit I can connect to the information centre which then I can see on the open carwings. It’s shows location and last charge. However if I try the send a message from the open carwings app or the website to the car that fails. The message is sent I can see in the hologram website but it’s like the car head unit either doesn’t receive or recognise it. By the way thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

It's great you updated the head unit settings, but to get the AC and other stuff working, you need to update settings of the TCU (modem).

Head unit has its own settings as I said earlier and functions separately from the TCU which controls AC, charging and battery status.

Use the tcu configurator app in the releases. You'll need a bluetooth obd adapter, same ones that work with leafspy.

[chrissensei1-cell]

So maybe do I still need to use a Bluetooth dongle… I think that’s what you mean. Sorry I’m a newbie.

[developerfromjokela]

So maybe do I still need to use a Bluetooth dongle… I think that’s what you mean. Sorry I’m a newbie.

Yes :)

You'll need to write new apn name (hologram).

[chrissensei1-cell]

Ah got it thanks. I mistakenly thought that flashing the head unit would put all the settings needed into it. Cheers.

[chrissensei1-cell]

I just wanted to say thanks. I bought an old android phone. I bought the ICar Pro 3.0 which enabled me to scan and write to the TCU. Initially it still wouldn’t connect then I found it was down to this being incorrectly inputted by me. nissan-eu-dcm-biz.viaaq.eu Once that was corrected everything came alive. Thank you guys.

[thecivvie]

Is there an iOS version of the tcu configurator ?

[developerfromjokela]

Not that I’m aware of. I think that means I’ll have to buy an android phone…I literally have one away last week. Always the case. Unless you know a different method. I have a mac windows pc and some raspberry pis.. also iPhones.

Also to note, any Android device will work :) it doesn't need to strictly be a mobile phone

You could run android on your pi :)

[chrissensei1-cell]

Thanks. I’ve bought an old android phone fo £15. Fingers crossed lol

[thecivvie]

Let me know how you get on. Still trying to get mine to setup

[developerfromjokela]

Let me know how you get on. Still trying to get mine to setup

There's no BLE support that is working atm, no timeline on it yet. Contributions are always welcome, I just don't have any OBD-II adapters with BLE to test with.

[thecivvie]

ping me your address and I will send one from Amazon

[developerfromjokela]

Is there an iOS version of the tcu configurator ?

No unfortunately. You could also do the programming with a mac or linux, and I guess with windows too. Using ddt4all

[thecivvie]

Ah ok, is there a wifi or usb obd2 that you would recommend to change this setting. I could not get ddt4all to work on my Mac silicon

[thecivvie]

Is there a version where it worked or is it still work in progress. Or should I find a usb one that may work?

[chrissensei1-cell]

Did you get this sorted. I found the LE link works with leafspy but not with open carwings in my case.

[thecivvie]

Not yet but I have seen what you said. I guess a second dongle is handy to have :)

[chrissensei1-cell]

3 I have now! Fudge. Anyway the phone I used cost £15 on eBay. The iCar Pro from Amazon there are a few. The 3.0 version works for me. They all kinda look the same but I found a verified comment saying that particular one worked and sure enough. The phone was Huawei Y6 2018(ATU-L11) 16GB/2GB (Blue) (faulty/Unlocked)(9842/3). Bad battery but I only need it for this. Android version 8. Hope that helps.