DPF REGEN LIGHT

[Rusty2009]

I never get a regen light come on. One way to no is put your cars trip computer into instantaneous fuel consumption.on tick over it should be 0.2 if you find when u come to a round about or junction it is displaying 0.4 you no your car is trying to regen,never turn off engine if 0.4 is displaying, last time I done that the next time I started my car it went into limp mode and had zero power.keep revs 2k or over until your revs drop.

But installing the Led gives an instant warning which if your driving is great as you can't check the fuel consumption

[Jerry]

My experience: when I put the foot of the throttle pedal the instant consumption should drop to 0 mpg. If not then I switch the trip computer to section ECO and under top consumers the rear defroster is listed but on the dash board ther's no light at the rear defroster button. When the rear defroster disappear from the list the DPF regeneration cycle is finished.

[Rusty2009]

Some models don't have the eco menu on the dash


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[tucpal]

and it is not so good just to have top consumers on all the time just incase it does it

[Jerry]

I agree with you both.
The LED seems to be a good idea.

[Hummelshøj]

This is how mine looks when it is doing a regen.




This is how mine looks when it is finished doing a regen.

[Jerry]

Happyblue module, right?
:-)

[Hummelshøj]

Yep..

[Nuko-san]

Is it normal to get the "backscreen defrost" for the first 5 miles of almost every journey? I'm waiting for my happyblue to see in more detail what is it actually doing but still that's pants as I've got around 6 miles to the nearest motorway to rag it a tat.

[Rusty2009]

Is it normal to get the "backscreen defrost" for the first 5 miles of almost every journey? I'm waiting for my happyblue to see in more detail what is it actually doing but still that's pants as I've got around 6 miles to the nearest motorway to rag it a tat.

If it comes from start it's not doing a regen, if you rev above 2k revs it will turn off.

[Big Dave2]

Is it normal to get the "backscreen defrost" for the first 5 miles of almost every journey? I'm waiting for my happyblue to see in more detail what is it actually doing but still that's pants as I've got around 6 miles to the nearest motorway to rag it a tat.

Look in the settings menu (accessible via the stereo buttons) and see if you've got the rear screen to automatically come on.

[Nuko-san]

Is it normal to get the "backscreen defrost" for the first 5 miles of almost every journey? I'm waiting for my happyblue to see in more detail what is it actually doing but still that's pants as I've got around 6 miles to the nearest motorway to rag it a tat.

It does finish whatever it's doing after that distance, I've done it a few times - it does stay on when I rev it up to around 2200 rpm, going above that will turn it off but then when the revs go back to the range (idle - <2200) it's back on. It's silly to do that every time - sit in the driveway for 5-10 min and rev it, should have gone for the pertol 

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Is it normal to get the "backscreen defrost" for the first 5 miles of almost every journey? I'm waiting for my happyblue to see in more detail what is it actually doing but still that's pants as I've got around 6 miles to the nearest motorway to rag it a tat.

Look in the settings menu (accessible via the stereo buttons) and see if you've got the rear screen to automatically come on.

??? it's not the rear screen heating that's on mate

[Jerry]

@Big Dave2 is right.
In the Settings menu under Climate and air quality -> Auto rear demist you can choose on or off

Page 134
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/Va...02014).pdf

[Nuko-san]

@Big Dave2 is right.
In the Settings menu under Climate and air quality -> Auto rear demist you can choose on or off

Page 134
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/Va...02014).pdf

Fair enough - will have a look at that, don't recall seeing it before, I do apologize Big D. :-)

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No option like that, just checked

[sotoskon]

I have disable the "Auto rear demist" option and i realize that this comes on for a couple of minutes when the outside temperature is over 18-19 degrees and not below.It's a good function but i think that the operation is a bit opposite of that would be.I think that the thought of opel is to avoid the moisture of breath to the rear screen which happens when we enter to the car with low temperatures or rainy outside conditions but the whole function seems to have bugs.

[umognog]

Has anyone tried running BOTH the mirror and the switch signal through an XOR made out of transistors & resistors to make this function a little better?

Basically, if you switch on the rear/mirror heaters manually, both the switch & the mirror lines will be live, resulting in the XOR returning false and NOT lighting the regen LED.

If the regen switches on the rear/mirror heaters by itself, the XOR will return true and those lovely electrons will light up the regen LED?

Ordered some 2N2222A anyway and will give this a bash, worst case scenario I've wasted a pound and some time.

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[Rusty2009]

No I hadn't even of thought of something like that, plus it's out of my area.

I would be very interested though as it sounds a great idea.

[rlievens]

Great thinking Umognog!
Please let us know what you come up with

[umognog]

If it succeeds I'll look into a how-2 + potential pre-made plug in project boxes for the lazy/out of their depth folks (appreciate doing these kind of things is not for everyone.) Premade boxes however may be difficult depending on how I can tap into the manual button push.

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[rlievens]

You got me thinking about it and I think I found a flaw in the plan.

Correct me if i'm wrong but the way I see it:
You can make it work so that the DPF light won't come on if you use your heaters.
But you can't make it so that the DPF light will come on when you use your heaters AND the DPF starts to regen at the same time.
So that will be a setback.

What you described can be done with a simple 12v relay I think. Hardest part will be getting the wire from the heater button to the Led and relay

I drew a simple diagram of how I see it:


I'm not that great with electronics so maybe you do know a way to get it to work both ways?
But I don't think you can because you can't know if the DPF is regenerating while the heaters are on because you use the same signal. If DPF regen starts when heaters are on nothing changes on the wire to the heaters. The heaters are on and stay on when DPF regen kicks in.

EDIT: oh and then there's the auto demist function which wont turn on the heater button either which might give a false positive anyway.

[umognog]

You are right, if you are already using the heater & the dpf regen starts, the xor = false would apply.

It is the biggest issue of software controlled services: it's a single common wire to heat the mirrors, it's software telling it to switch on and off. Without being able to directly interface the software via a supported API for example, it's not possible to know for sure.

That said, if you follow the current how to, manual de-mist + regen you wouldn't know anyway as both have the light on regardless.

At least this would switch the light off when you are pushing the button, removing 50% of the false reading options you have.

As to connecting, this may be where it's a do it if you dare, taking a sink off of the switch led and running it with small hookup wire. It may not be pretty.

Lastly, might try to read some info with an OBD2 BT scanner and an ATMega 328p with a BT module. This is more technical & more expensive and a further iteration on improving it.

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[Rusty2009]

Yes the issue could be all the commands are done via canbus as there is only the one wire on the heater panel which does every button.

You may find you'll have to try and intercept them signals & see what is going on. Sure @zzattack could explain that.

[umognog]

That's my thoughts @Rusty2009

Depending on the communication method (really hoping its something simple like serial) it could be as easy as a £1 microcontroller and some python to read it & control the LED but this gets way more complicated than a simple XOR to stop it going on when the human pushes the button, which I could tap into the button LED for the NPN

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[umognog]

Ok, I went down a rabbit hole.

I now have a canbus shield ordered and will be making a logger. Pretty sure from what I have found out it will be running on MS-CAN.

Once I isolate the logs for the data needed, should be able to make a plug and play box that simply connects to the centre console as a plug-through system. The final product can run off a simplified MCP2515 and atmega 328, keeping costs lower.

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[zzattack]

I dunno if it can be found on the mid speed, I planned to sniff on the hs but I got quite the backlog of stuff I want to do.
The gmlan bible doesn't have a CAN id for it either so no joy there.
What resource hinted that you would be able to find anything on the MS lan?
Also, how do you plan on toggling DPF regeneration while logging?

[umognog]

You give me much too credit good person

The rear demist switch should be on the MS - I am led to understand the entire centre console is. This was to trap user-initiated demist as my original intended way to not switch on the led

Little bit more thought after a few tins of monster and yes, if I want to try catching the regen I will probably find that on the HS, however I suspect it is communicating with the LS and/or the MS through the CIM/radio unit.

I actually ordered a triple pack, might data log them all and the plan is to simply drive around with the standard regen LED mod, capture the time and disconnect the loggers once it goes off.

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[zzattack]

That's not a bad plan but it'll be pretty tedious. If you haven't looked at either bus so far, it might be a bit overwhelming. There's a ton of messages being passed around. Don't expect to find what you're looking for without some rigorous filtering set up. On the HS bus the traffic volume is too high to simply log over serial. Longer periods of logging would require an sd card.

I'll see if I can force a DPF regen over MDI. If so, it'll be much easier to track precisely which messages are relevant.

Apparently the happyblue module can show this, so we can also look at the firmware on this device but my guess is this'll be even more tedious.

[umognog]

Had already thought to log to SD card. I'm a data developer for a living, have a number of tools at my disposal to help deal with the output

||Sent based on the twin scientific principles of star maths and wishy thinking.||

[daveloz12]

Well thanks for all the help just done mine this morning....

I placed the led on the removable top cover found this easier.

[umognog]

I was just talking about the regen yesterday: typical to cover over 1000 miles on the motorway across a couple of days, to then get a regen during a short journey!

Life has been quite upside down for me recently, need to get back on the one-wire data logging and start analysing it.

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[Multiskilled]

Just to echo above post. After doing a long drive at motorway speeds yesterday, car decided to do a regen when I picked the wife up and was 2 minutes away from home during rush hour.

Just had to drop wife off and try and keep the revs above 2,000 in stop start traffic, nye on impossible. The dpf light went off just as I got to a section of nsl Road.

Does anyone know how you can tell if a regen is successful especially if you can't get the revs above 2,000 consistently.

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[Rusty2009]

Mine does them round town too, If I'm stuck and can't move I'll sit there holding the revs up.

Once the light goes out it safe to say it's completed its regen, it may however want to do another in a shorter space of time.

[Multiskilled]

Thanks for info, and sods law it did another today. Similar situation, sat outside a child's nursery waiting for my daughter at the vets next door. Going on a long run tomorrow, what's the chance of it not doing one then?

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[umognog]

Absolutely guaranteed, until you get back, then it will do one.

I was hit with one on my way to work recently, the full "do not pass go, do not collect 200" jobby.

On the plus side, I knew where there traffic jam jar was sitting for on the way back.

Think they would accept a regen as an excuse for not stopping?

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[Multiskilled]

Well as expected no regen today, tomorrow is all short journeys around town. Fingers crossed.

They would probably do you for having a faulty exhaust with the smell it gives off and smoke.

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[Rusty2009]

You think the J's smoke bad it's nothing compared to the wife's Mokka that chucks out and even with the windows shut you can smell it covers the whole road in smoke.

I've found with both cars tho I can get them to regen earlier at times 2nd gear and hard acceleration (Doesn't work all time) I always do this when I'm going down the spur road.

[Big Dave2]

I don't think I've ever seen my 2.0 CDTi bellow out smoke during a regen. I've seen other cars do it, but even with cars behind me with their headlights on, I still see no smoke come out, even when I hoof it.

[umognog]

Got to agree, touching wood I've not had that.

Sure, the smell, but not smoke.

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[Rusty2009]

I never notice smoke until I fitted the bi-turbo exhaust now I see the smoke but it's not massive unlike the Mokka.

I'm sure people think that thing is going to catch fire, but on a plus side the leave loads of room behind lol.

[Multiskilled]

I was stationery at the time and the wife had opened the hatchback to get something out. So that may have made the smoke more noticeable. She definitely noticed the smell.

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[redfoxy]

   

[umognog]

It happened AGAIN.

Literally, 5 hours (and the only journey) before I drove for 900 miles, I got "do not stop driving".


Grrrrr.

I'm hoping in about 8 weeks I'll be able to start working on monitoring the cars communications and see if it's the kind of thing that can be force triggered with a little mod.

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[Rusty2009]

It happened AGAIN.

Literally, 5 hours (and the only journey) before I drove for 900 miles, I got "do not stop driving".


Grrrrr.

I'm hoping in about 8 weeks I'll be able to start working on monitoring the cars communications and see if it's the kind of thing that can be force triggered with a little mod.

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It sounds to me more that your failing to do complete regens hence the message, this message is basically your last chance to clear the DPF.

[umognog]

Yeah it was a case of that. It had been a couple of weeks of short journeys, just couldn't believe that that message had to pop up right before such a large journey.

On the plus side, I actually did that on 75ltr of fuel! Very happy with the performance.

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[Rocky33]

Hi everyone, i had dpf warning came on last night ,''DPF Full continue driving'',I must admit these must be due to short journeys i recently had due to relocation to a country side and thus lower speed limits on the roads,It has been 1 year since i saw that message last time and since then took precautionary measures like installing led light ,using additive on a regular basis,changing oil 6 to 8 months and using only GM original dexos 2 oil.
I also tried not to fail any regens, sometimes had to take the car back out again from driveway for it to complete regeneration
after all this and being careful with the dpf system, yesterday the light came on and i was surprised to see as i thought i was completing all regens . etc. Could this mean regens are not effective on lower gears due to speed limits on country side roads(irish roads) or the life of the dpf is coming to an end,its 2014 1.7cdti with 77000 miles on it.I tried blasting it on a 100 km/hr road(in Ireland) but every time i reach there regeneration finishes so basically i am using 2nd and 3rd gear mostly and 2500 to 3000 rpm,regeneration time is same as before so i think there is no indication its failing.
If it happens again then i might be thinking to change the car , its a shame because i like this car very much .

[Rusty2009]

I wouldn't say it's coming to the end of its life.

It could the sign of a sensor starting to fail (if it's doing more regens in quite a short period of time).

[umognog]

I wouldn't say it's coming to the end of its life.

It could the sign of a sensor starting to fail (if it's doing more regens in quite a short period of time).

Now this is interesting.

Mines seems to be doing a lot of regens now, and I've been looking at services to try and force a "deeper clean".

Is sensor replacement a diy-able job do you know? <<Also heads off to Google>>

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[Rusty2009]

I wouldn't say it's coming to the end of its life.

It could the sign of a sensor starting to fail (if it's doing more regens in quite a short period of time).

Now this is interesting.

Mines seems to be doing a lot of regens now, and I've been looking at services to try and force a "deeper clean".

Is sensor replacement a diy-able job do you know? <<Also heads off to Google>>

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Sensor replacement needs a forced regen afterwards which needs GDS (Vauxcom may do it but I having MDI & GDS2 access I would rather use that).

It's what I noticed loads of dpfs in quick concession and then bang LIMP mode faulty DPF sensor.
I think Eden's fitted about 4 sensors in 2yrs the last one seems to be holding up really well so weather I do believe there was a faulty batch going round.

[umognog]

What I have particularly noticed is the start/stop rarely kicking in the last few weeks, often a sign of a dog regen.

I need to do an oil change too, it's a bit overdue as a result of a stripped sump bolt :s

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[Rocky33]

I wouldn't say it's coming to the end of its life.

It could the sign of a sensor starting to fail (if it's doing more regens in quite a short period of time).

I see,i will keep that in mind , mine regens between every 50 to 150 km for short journeys and upto 600km on motorway or long journeys. I am using deisel additive on a regular basis archoil AR6200, it did help with the car responsiveness and overall throttle level  but not sure if it is helping with dpf cleaning .