AHA nexcruise User manual

USER MANUAL
Version 0.1 - 09 Jan 2022

Welcome to the Aha family!
Dear fellow EVian,
Congratulations for your Aha NexCruise! We are excited to share the delight and
freedom this system is going to bring to your driving experience!
The Aha NexCruise was born out of our own dire need to solve several pain points
with the entire experience of owning an EV. It brings a wealth of features which
empower you to very precisely manage the energy consumption of your EV, so you
can drive with full peace of mind even on uncharted roads. As a plug-and-play
system, you can install it in a fully reversible way without any modification in your
car.
Once again, we welcome you to our family, and look forward to creating more Aha
Moments together!
Yours truly, on behalf of the entire team,
HEAD, product experience.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome to the Aha family! 2
Introduction 5
Know your NexCruise 5
The main unit 5
Dial with Base plate 6
LED display module 6
Cables 7
In-car ports and connectors 7
Accelerator pedal port 7
Car’s VCU connector 8
Extension cable 8
Pedal cable 9
Data & Power cable 9
Bypass cable 10
Spares 11
Duracell 2032 battery 11
Double sided tape 11
Steps to install 11
Pre-install activities 12
Installing the NexCruise 12
Wiring diagram 13
Post-install checklist before use 14
Using the NexCruise 14
Cruising 14
Adjusting cruise speed 15
Overtaking feature 15
Resuming Cruise 15
Coast mode 16
Eco and Deep eco modes 16
Speed Limit 17
Performing OTA update 18
What you should know 18
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Pre-OTA checklist 18
Preparing for OTA 18
The LED panel 20
LED panel states 20
Version display 20
OTA upgrade 20
Running 20
Error 21
Critical error 21
Technical specifications 21
Physical specifications 21
Support 22
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Introduction
We have designed the system so that you don’t need this manual to operate it, but
for the sake of a ready reference, we hope you will find this work useful.
Here is where you can find live help:
- Join the community-created group on telegram at t.me/ahaNexCruise
- Watch video content on the channel youtube.com/aakashece
Know your NexCruise
Inside the box, you will find the following components comparison of your NexCruise
system:
The main unit
This is the main NexCruise unit, which does all the smart work.
It has four ports, which are denoted as NC-OBD, NC-PEDAL, NC-LED and NC-VCU. The
location of all these ports are shown below:
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Dial with Base plate
The dial is used to control the various functions of the NexCruise system.
LED display module
This module shows the status of various functionalities, and state of the system. It
has a four pin connector, which we’ll call the LED-4P connector in the rest of this
manual.
It has five full-colour indicator lights, which, alongwith their most common functions
are shown below:
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Cables
Let’s now identify and name various cables, and the connectors.
In-car ports and connectors
Not a part of NexCruise, but let’s first name and identify a couple of items in the car
for the scope of this manual, to understand things better.
Accelerator pedal port
This is a 6-pin Male port on top of your car’s accelerator pedal. Let’s call it the
A-PEDAL port.
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Car’s VCU connector
This is a 6-pin female connector, a part of the wiring harness of your car, which
connects the accelerator pedal to the VCU of your car, and looks like the picture
shown below. For the sake of simplicity, we will call it the “CAR-VCU“ connector.
Now let’s talk about the cables that come with your NexCruise system, which
connect it to the rest of your car.
Extension cable
This cable connects the main unit to the CAR-VCU connector. Technically, it just
extends the CAR-VCU connector to a more convenient location, so we call it the
extension cable. Its two end connectors are a 6-pin male and a 6-pin female
connector. Let’s call them EXT-6P-M and EXT-6P-F connectors for future reference,
identified as follows:
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Pedal cable
This cable connects the accelerator pedal to the NexCruise. It has two connectors,
6-pin female and 2x3 pin female. We’ll identify them as PEDAL-6P and PEDAL-2*3P
connectors:
Data & Power cable
This system connects the NexCruise to the OBD port. 12V power from the Aux
battery of the car, needed to power the NexCruise, is also supplied by this cable.
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It has two connectors, OBD male and D-SUB female. Their identification and names
going forward are:
Bypass cable
This cable will be useful to bypass the main NexCruise unit, and connect the
accelerator pedal directly to the car (so it becomes the way it was without NexCruise,
electrically).
It has two connectors, 6 pin male and 2x3 pin male. Their identification and names
are shown below:
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Spares
Some spares that you will need during the ownership of your NexCruise:
Duracell 2032 battery
The dial needs a 2032 button-cell to function. We’ve included a spare one (along
with one inside the dial) for your convenience. Please use only good-quality cells for
the dial, to get a good service life.
Double sided tape
You might find it useful to secure the NexCruise after installation. Or you might need
it to secure the LED strip at your favourite place inside the Car’s cabin. We’ve
included this in the package, so you don’t need to hunt for it in your local market.
Steps to install
For a video guide in Hindi for the installation instructions, follow this link:
https://youtu.be/ih_SLakEaYA
Detailed steps follow. The names of ports and connectors used here are as per the
last section “Know your NexCruise”:
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Out of the box, the NexCruise comes with three cables pre-installed, i.e. the EXT
cable, the PEDAL cable and the DP cable. Specifically, the following connections are
of the nexcruise main unit already made:
1. NC-OBD port is connected to the DP-DSUB connector of the DP cable.
2. NC-PEDAL port is connected to the PEDAL-2*3P connector of the PEDAL cable.
3. NC-VCU port is connected to the EXT-6P-F connector of the EXT cable.
With this readiness, proceed to perform the following:
Pre-install activities
1. Turn o your car
2. Pull the handbrake
3. Make sure the dashboard is powered o
4. Remove the car’s fuse-box cover plate to gain access to the under-dash area.
5. Disconnect the Accelerator pedal from its connector inside the car.
Installing the NexCruise
1. Connect EXT-6P-M to the CAR-VCU port.
2. Connect DP-OBD to the car’s OBD port.
3. Connect PEDAL-6P connector to the accelerator pedal’s A-PEDAL port.
4. Place the NexCruise main unit under the dash, at a convenient location.
5. Take o the protective paper of the LED strip, and paste it at this
recommended location.
6. Connect the LED-4P to the NC-LED port.
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Wiring diagram
CONNECTIONS BLOCK DIAGRAM
CONNECTION DETAILS
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Post-install checklist before use
1. Keep the handbrake engaged.
2. Turn on the car in IGN mode (without pressing the brake pedal).
3. Verify that the LED panel of NexCruise shows the STATE LED glowing in white
colour.
4. Verify that there is no limp mode, or any other unexpected indication signal or
alarm on the car dashboard. If there is anything unexpected at this stage, turn
o the system and contact us. Else, proceed to the next step.
5. Press the brake pedal and press the ignition button once again, so the car
shows READY on the dashboard.
6. Release the handbrake and check if you can drive the car normally. At this
stage, if the car isn’t responding to A-pedal, turn o the system and contact
us. Else, proceed to the next step.
7. Stop the car, pull the handbrake, and put it back to N. Now, press ECO, DEEP
ECO and SPEEDLIMIT buttons respectively, and verify that the respective
LEDs glow in corresponding colours, and turn o with dial button presses as
expected. Note that the COAST and CRUISE won’t work when the car is
stationary. If you see no response from the LED panel to your buttons activity,
contact us.
Using the NexCruise
If you’ve cleared the checks till this stage, congratulations! You are ready to enjoy the
next level of EV ownership experience that NexCruise brings! Drive the car down to a
relatively open road, and perform the following activities:
Cruising
While on the move, press the centre “CRUISE” button on the dial. The green CRUISE
LED will turn on, and the car will enter cruise mode. You can now lift your foot o the
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accelerator pedal, and sit back and enjoy the power of automatic cruising at your
favourite speed.
Adjusting cruise speed
While the car is in cruise mode, rotate the dial to adjust the speed of cruising to your
liking. Every step of clockwise rotation increases the speed by 1 kmph. Likewise,
anticlockwise rotation of the dial decreases the speed by 1 kmph step. We
recommend letting the car respond after rotating the dial, by coming and stabilizing
to the new speed, before you rotate the dial again. Once you get a hang of it, have it
your way!
To disengage cruise, apply brakes, or press the centre “CRUISE” button again. You
will notice the green LED turning o, and the car is back to manual.
Overtaking feature
If you press on the accelerator when cruising, the car will accelerate to higher
speeds, and the cruise won’t disengage. This is helpful on the highway when
overtaking the trac. Once you’ve done the overtaking, let go of the A-pedal and the
car will return to the cruising speed.
Resuming Cruise
This feature is useful when your cruise is interrupted by road conditions, and after
the conditions are clear, you want to revert to the previous cruising speed.
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For resuming your cruise, when the cruise is disengaged, long press on the CRUISE
button for 2 seconds. The cruise mode will engage and the car will accelerate to the
last cruising speed.
The energy mode (Eco/Deep Eco) will influence the acceleration and the final speed
the car achieves.
Pro features
All the features below are newer features, and will work only when you press the
magenta button on the dial once after the car starts. The corresponding magenta
LED on the panel will light up, indicating that the features are enabled. Please be
aware that these features haven’t been tested for a lot of miles yet, and may
sometimes behave in an unintended manner. This will be polished in future software
updates.
Coast mode
Coast mode is applicable for speeds 30kmph and above.
To engage coast mode, press the COAST button on the dial. The cyan coloured coast
indicator comes up on the LED strip when this is engaged.
Regenerative braking stops happening when coast mode is engaged.
Eco and Deep eco modes
To engage these modes, press the respective buttons on the dial.
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If you press the same (ECO/DEEP ECO) button repeatedly, it will keep toggling
(turning on/o) that mode.
If you press the other mode button, the system will take on the mode corresponding
to the new button (for example, if you press the ECO button when DEEP ECO is
already engaged, ECO mode will get engaged in the system).
ECO mode limits the energy consumption to 15% of the D-mode energy (approx one
point of the energy bar).
DEEP ECO mode limits the energy consumption to 15% of the D-mode energy
(approx one point of the energy bar).
Speed Limit
This feature is not available in the current software, and will be delivered via a future
software update.
Presently, the SPEED LIMIT button is repurposed to enable the pro features. This is
done because we want the user to be aware that the pro features are new and have
clocked relatively lesser miles in the field, and they might behave in an unintended
way. Even otherwise, there may be scenarios where a combination of pro features
can make the system work in a technically correct but unintuitive manner. So, to
avoid this potential scenario, we haven’t enabled these features by default. If you
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want to use them with responsibility, press the SPEED LIMIT button once, which will
make the magenta LED glow on the panel. Now you can use the pro features for the
duration of the current ride. Pressing the button again will have no eect.
Performing OTA update
This section elaborates how you can perform over-the-air software updates, which
we will keep releasing from time-to-time, to keep your NexCruise always updated
with the latest features and bug fixes.
What you should know
●The NexCruise fetches the latest image by connecting to a wifi network. You
can use your phone’s hotspot for this purpose.
●The wifi network’s SSID should be “nexcruise” and the password should be
“nexcruise123”. (all small, no spaces).
●The Internet should be accessible through the above Wifi network.
●OTA can be initiated only when the car is o, and no other operation can be
performed in the car till OTA completes.
●OTA takes 45 seconds to 3 minutes, depending upon the speed of the Internet
connection. Prior to starting OTA, please ensure it is not disturbed in the
process.
Pre-OTA checklist
The car must be o, and may not be operated for the duration of the update.
Preparing for OTA
1. Turn on your phone’s hotspot. Set the network name as “nexcruise” and
password as “nexcruise123”. The steps are going to be dierent for iPhone,
Android, and the OS versions. Google will help you figure out how to do that, if
needed.
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2. Sit inside the car, turn it o, and close the door.
3. Lock the car using the key FOB.
4. After a while, the LED indicators will show the software version, for example:
5. You will see a mix of white, yellow, green and blue LEDs. All five LEDs must be
glowing with one of the colours above. This colour pattern is unique to the
version of the software inside the NexCruise.
6. Make a note of this pattern, it will change after the upgrade to a new pattern,
which we will ask you to verify.
7. This version comes up when the car’s electric systems are activated but before
the car is manually powered on. If you don’t see this pattern (and maybe get a
single white LED glowing instead), let it turn o again, and then try doing
activities like press the brake, or unlock/lock the car again, or open/close the
door. Only thing - don’t power on the car by pressing the ignition button, the
version will never show up in that case.
8. When you see the version pattern, press the COAST button for 6 seconds.
CAUTION - do this long press of COAST only when you see the version pattern
on the LED display, and the hotspot is ready with the username/password as
required by NexCruise.
9. The LED panel will show a dancing rainbow pattern for the duration of the
upgrade.
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10. After some time (max 3 minutes) the LED panel will turn o. (If it doesn’t,
something is wrong. You will need to pull out the OBD cable to reset the
NexCruise and start over).
11. Now, bring up the version pattern again by performing the first step. Verify
that it is changed to the expected new version pattern.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully done the OTA upgrade. Now you can turn on
the car and start using it.
The LED panel
The LED panel helps you know the state of your NexCruise in a single glance.
LED panel states
Broadly, you will see the following states:
Version display
The version comes up when the car’s electric systems are activated but before the
car is manually powered on. This is identified by the fact that all LEDs are glowing
with a mix of colours from White, Yellow, Green and Blue. This colour pattern is
unique to the software version inside your NexCruise.
OTA upgrade
When the NexCruise is being upgraded over-the-air, the LED panel shows a dancing
rainbow pattern of LEDs.
Running
When the NexCruise is in normal running state, the LED panel shows the five LEDs as
per the labels, namely, State, cruise, coast, eco/deep eco and speed limit. The
respective LED shows the engaged status of that feature.
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