HOW TO: Make the VSP (noisemaker) button default to off

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I'd like to get an opinion on what you all feel I should charge for my one hour of labor. Typically I charge 120 an hour, but I would like to give you guys a good deal. Let me know what you would all feel a fair price is for this. I'm not making money off parts, I'll show receipts. Just trying to be of help to anyone in need, but I'm also a busy man so I'd like this project to feel it was worth my time in R&D. My neighbor came to me as he is constantly coming home or leaving at late hours and was worried about waking the neighbors with his Leaf, which is how this project came about. I won't be offended by your answers, but keep in mind what the dealer charges an hour and give me an honest opinion here.

Cheers!
 
Msportronics said:
I'd like to get an opinion on what you all feel I should charge for my one hour of labor. Typically I charge 120 an hour, but I would like to give you guys a good deal. Let me know what you would all feel a fair price is for this. I'm not making money off parts, I'll show receipts. Just trying to be of help to anyone in need, but I'm also a busy man so I'd like this project to feel it was worth my time in R&D. My neighbor came to me as he is constantly coming home or leaving at late hours and was worried about waking the neighbors with his Leaf, which is how this project came about. I won't be offended by your answers, but keep in mind what the dealer charges an hour and give me an honest opinion here.

Cheers!

I personally would pay $125 shipped since you mentioned you wouldn't mind giving us a good deal. I don't want you to feel as thought you're getting taken advantaged of though. I try to put myself in your shoes and I know that I would feel comfortable with that price, if I was making these.
 
I ordered enough supplies for 25 kits. Some of the order came in today, the rest will be here tomorrow. There are only 17 switches in the US currently and I have ordered all 17. My parts guy is pulling some strings to get us all of them. Once we receive them, he will keep me posted on how long it will take Nissan to restock the US supply. I guess Nissan doesn't like when dealerships corner the market, so we had to break up the orders. Got the price down to 10.50 a switch and they are covering the freight to my place. We should have most if not all of the 17 switches within 5 business days. I'll update more as we progress.

Cheers

0329161417a.jpg
 
My guy at the dealership has 16 switches ready for us, with 6 more on the way. Nissan has already been trickling in new switches to the US (eight more currently in the US), so it seems as though these will not be the last of them. I have a total of 25 switches coming in and enough connectors and terminals for 25 kits currently. The switches should all be shipping on Friday, so we can finally move forward with this little project. If you would like to reserve a kit, just paypal me the cost of materials and we can do the rest when it is time to ship. PM me for more details.
 
While I love that EVs should be silent, as compared to idling ICEVs, as a pedestrian, I have experienced the unexpected silent hybrid backing out in a parking lot. That made me realize I'd rather keep the VSP on by default, but have the option to disable it when backing into my garage late at night.

I am a bit disappointed with the LEAF's backup bell, at least it is not an obnoxious bleeping like on delivery trucks (or worse, the cabin beeper that the Prius had, which was distracting and a hazard, in my opinion). The forward VSP sound is subtle enough to seem like it might be some gearing noise and the traction motor inverter. I only positively identified it as synthesized when I noticed the VSP sound continued for a half second even with the car stopped, then faded out. Creeping with the brake still pressed prevented the sound until a certain speed was attained.
 
Thank you very much for the [HOW TO: Make the VSP (noisemaker) button default to off] http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=3296!
It worked very fine for me an my Leaf 2014!

Only the colors of the VSP Pins have changed:
1 (black wire) - my leaf: black : ok
5: (green wire) - my leaf: light green.
11: (darker gray wire with red stripes or possibly gray with no stripes) - my leaf: light grey - ignition 12 V
13: (blue wire) - my leaf: light grey - steady 12 V

And if you burn your fuse during pimping (so did I :) then chhange the 10 A fuse (3rd in the middle, named [Meter1]) in the fuse box left beside your steering wheel.

:)
 
Just an FYI:

My cousin and his wife are both blind. They cannot hear EV's while they are moving. That's a big enough deal in and of itself, but disabling the backup beeping on your Leaf could have very dire consequences for both a blind person walking behind your vehicle, you the driver for having disabled the warning beep. Yep, it's a tiny bit annoying, but it allows blind people especially, but really anyone else walking behind a totally silent vehicle with no exhaust fumes to signify that it's running, that it's getting ready to back up.

For those of you doing this, it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
 
^^^ as much as many of us don't like the backup beeper, I really doubt many have actually disabled it :) I've basically gotten use to it and the only time it annoys me now is when I'm stopped in reverse(with foot on break) and am waiting for someone to get in the car, of course a simple solution would be to just put it in park.
I agree, disabling it could result in a lawsuit if someone got hurt or worse, which is why they probably did away with the simple off switch.
 
While it is possible to permanently disable VSP, I don't think anyone here is advocating that.

My hybrid doesn't have a sound effect generator, and there have been times I've had to toot the horn at sighted people ambling down the middle of a parking aisle, oblivious to the car creeping behind them. Something like a VSP would have been great to have instead of the blare of the horn. I also got into the habit of tapping the horn before backing out of a spot. Driving slowly through a residential neighborhood, it is always possible for a child (or even a smartphone-obsessed adult these days) to pop out into the street from in-between parked cars.

The 2011 US-spec LEAF came with a temporary override button to silence the VSP, say for not disturbing the neighbors when arriving home late at night. The switch was removed for 2012+ US market cars, likely in anticipation of US Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010. The compliance deadline had since been delayed from 2014 to 2018.

Good background info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds

VSP as it is now is an imperfect solution. It is sometimes too loud (late night) or not loud enough (busy parking lot). The backup bell is intermittent and hard to identify where or what it is coming from. The forward motion whoosh does not play during backing maneuvers. It would make more sense to have a backup sound emit from under the rear bumper. Some are unhappy that VSP doesn't have an "idling" sound. An improved VSP could continuously monitor the ambient environmental sounds and sculpt the frequencies and amplitudes as appropriate, sort of like auto-brightness on your phone.

The addition of driver-assistance technologies such as cameras and distance sensors, automatic braking, etc, should prove to be a valuable complement to things like VSP. Rear-view and all-around cameras are incredibly helpful already.

I'm patiently awaiting the day when all cars are much quieter. As a pedestrian, you almost need hearing protection at five- and seven-lane intersections with all the idling engines, let alone the exhaust fumes and heat.
 
Seriously -- a significant portion of the time cars are coasting or engines only under light load and you don't hear the engine at all. You hear the tire noise. Leafs have tire noise same as any other car. People are already surprised by idling cars in parking lot, which are essentially silent in an average daytime parking lot. The VSP doesn't even have an idle noise. It's largely pointless. As gshepherd points out, even the backup beeper is often too quiet to be heard, and other times ridiculously noisy. Yet somehow essentially silent ICE cars don't need backup beepers. There's a reason we have backup cameras now -- because we have to look behind us before backing up, as children or peds can be run over, regardless of whether there's a backup beeper. If we want to make up potential threats, the backup beeper could well potentially lead to more injuries as people are more callous about checking before they back up.
 
For what it's worth, I drive 95% of the time now with VSP off -- it's a habit to turn it off when backing out (I hate that dinger!) but 95% of my driving is also on the freeway -- when it's off, anyway. Any time I'm around pedestrians - in shopping center parking lots or downtown where pedestrian-vs-vehicle is all too commonplace, I almost subconsciously turn it back on.

My mod is much less elegant -- just a red pushbutton installed into a blank button plate with a hole drilled in it for mounting. I dubbed (and labeled) it the "STFU button". :lol: Behind the dash, it's a single wire running behind the panels to the VSP box, where I soldered it to the pin and passed it over the connection housing, since I had no idea where to get the connector. :( On the switch end, I have the second lead running to the frame nearby, a good ground connection.

Really makes me think that $120 mod option earlier is worth it - it looks perfectly stock, and functions as if it may as well be!
 
I did ours last week.
Opened the flap below the LHS fog light, dodged the Red Backs, pulled the speaker connector off. Fastened all back up.
LEAF sounds like other cars now. No grinding disk brake/worn diff noise now.
I figured that if I shocked someone by the car being on a road....
 
4wdthinking said:
I did ours last week.
Opened the flap below the LHS fog light, dodged the Red Backs, pulled the speaker connector off. Fastened all back up.
LEAF sounds like other cars now. No grinding disk brake/worn diff noise now.
I figured that if I shocked someone by the car being on a road....

Does disconnecting the speaker result in any warning lights etc?
 
I plugged my VSP box back in after 3 years as the lease is up. Forgot how annoying it all was.

Not only does unplugging it remove the backup beeper but I noticed when I plugged it back in, the "koto" chime started back up. Man I didn't miss that thing. Funny I wasn't aware they were related. Maybe there was some other coincidence.
 
Re hacking the VSP:
I want to change the VSP sound to something people would really notice, instead of the obnoxious and unidentifiable electronic whistley noise. I find that pedestrians don't pay any attention to the VSP at all. Many posters here seem to want a "Jetsons" noise, but that still falls into the category of ignorable, obnoxious electronic. Please, I want a sound that means something is coming, something unusual, so that even people with normal senses will look around for it. Therefore, please give me hoof-clops! Or even the coconuts from "The Holy Grail"!
 
HOW I made the VSP (noisemaker) center console button for 2012 or above (and a little detail on "default to on" on/off switch)

WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS DIY UNLESS YOU ARE A DEALER MECHANIC. This DIY explanation is incomplete and nonfunctional.

OVERVIEW
This is how I made a Vehicle Sound for Pedestrian (noisemaker) ON/OFF button for the center console-dashboard button using aftermarket parts...for the purpose of diagnosing my car. One member asked me to share how I did this, here. I will partially explain.

The idea behind a pedestrian sound ON/OFF switch isn't new but I have my own reasons to renew this thread. One day while driving in our 2013 Leaf I notice a brake grinding noise under 20 mph and thought it would be great to turn off the VSP sound whenever I wanted to check for any brake defects. A few owners have had experiences with a brake failure. For this reason, I had to have this button. It's a safety issue. 

PRESS THIS BUTTON TO TURN OFF PEDESTRIAN SOUND
The fat button on the center console, where the picture of the little car is. 
vspbutton.jpg


Update: I updated this button to a soft touch switch that acts and feels like an factory switch. I also converted a button such as when I press the charger schedule button, the VSP sound shuts off. The charger schedule button is unchanged and functional. I don't turn off the VSP sound when the car is in motion and any physical fixed object is nearby within 10-feet or pedestrians/bikes heading towards me within a 1/4 mile.

Secondly, I wanted a VSP button that is safe to operate, not a button hidden behind the steering wheel, like on the 2011 model. I also wanted to know whether it's off after a click of a button. On a busy, noisy parking lot I can't seem to hear the VSP effect. On a 2011 Leaf I can't seem to see the VSP light hidden behind the steering wheel. Typically, the VSP LED lights up when the VSP is off - and should easily be seen on the dash.

TUTORIAL STARTS HERE:

Parts needed: A mini cheery switch, cherry switch housing, wires and a steel wire.
Tools needed: A stubby Phillips screw driver

1. Install the cherry switch into the housing then wire and solder it all up. Tips: wrap the wires up in electrical cloth tape helps dampen noise. 

plugvspbutton.jpg

picture of the plug and play harness (shows 22AWG prototype wires but must at least be 18AWG wires)


2. Remove the glove box. See this well done video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHWT8VqnRGo
Tip about video: A box disconnect will shut off important charge related error warnings or other important sounds.

3. Pop the dash console. Start by grabbing the bottom of the dash panel then pull (out and up) as though you're opening a rusty treasure chest. There are no screws holding it back. It'll open just enough for your stubby screw driver. WARNING: Wear thick gloves. A sudden release could scrape or cut your hands. Disconnect the 12V battery before working near electrical wiring - beware that doing this may reset various digital information.

dashopen.jpg



4. Install the switch unit on the back side of the VSP indicator light unit. (Also see example pic at bottom of page.) Loosen both screws (left and right screws) of the VSP/air-bag indicator light unit but only remove only the left screw. Using the left screw, apply some thread locker on the threads (optional) then install the switch into its place. As you screw in, you'll here a click of a switch. Back off a turn or until you hear another click. You may have to adjust the right and loosen the left screw a bit to get the button to work. Pressing the button from the front to check for clicks as you go along.

vspbuttonscrewon.jpg



5. Route the wires behind the dash and into the glove box area.  When completed, you shouldn't see any protruding wires.

6. Behind the glove box is a connector. Plug the long 20mm pin into pin number (CENSORED.This info is left out intentionally.)


WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS DIY UNLESS YOU ARE A DEALER MECHANIC. Plug wrongly to any other slot could damage some things, which your car may resemble being taken over by a poltergeist, a burnt fuse, a burnt wire harness, cause a fire and/or a likely trip to the dealer. To prevent problems simply triple check the pin position and confirm that Nissan hasn't change the pin position. Confirm that the plug has 16 pins. Some after market switches have a resistor built-in to prevent some damage. TRIPLE CHECK! :mrgreen:


7. Bolt or screw the ground wire to the VSP box footing. (see image above).


8. Start then put the car in reverse. You'll hear a ping-ping sound. Push the VSP button (slightly to the left of where the picture of the little car is) and the sound should stop and the VSP LED light should come on. Push again and the sound continues and the VSP light turns off.


__________________________________________________________________________

vspbutton_assort.jpg


OTHER DETAILS:
The pin that plugs into the slot is crimped to a 1mm round stainless steel. I cut its tip to an angle (much like a hospital injection needle). This allows me to insert it into the terminal. The ground tab has a magnet attach to it. It easily attaches to any metal frame (ground.) Professional installer shouldn't use this magnet but instead should screw it to the VSP box (below the box.) 

Professional installers should use the Molex female connector pin that comes with it. It's a more reliable connection. I like the stainless steel better since I can unplug it at anytime. 

DEFAULT TO OFF: A "default to off" on/off switch is a switch that should be use to temporarily shut off the forward and back-up sound upon start-up. This is used primarily by mechanics, especially dealer mechanics. Pushing the center console button turns the sound back on, but defaults to off again after ignition shutdown. It operates the same way as shown by previous post by other forum members. But the working circuitry consist of only a diode. It installs nearly the same way as shown on this page but instead attaches inside the glove box. For lease vehicles there's no worry. Similar to this tutorial, the "default to off" switch won't show any hints that it's ever been installed once you unplug it.

DISCLAIMER: Deactivating the VSP is dangerous and shouldn't be attempted, other than allowing a dealer to use it to temporarily diagnose or troubleshoot your car. Death, injury or property damage may result from using this VSP on/off switch. Please remove this unit once you're done troubleshooting your car. Installing this device in your car may damage your car if the installer isn't aware about how the installation works. The proper way is to understand not to use combustible materials, always cover expose bare wires, always check the circuit board to read the pins carefully to make sure the pin accepts ground inputs and to always disconnect the 12V battery before doing work. Please read post Feb 28 how to disconnect battery. Your job is to check and confirm these rules are followed. And, most of all, avoid plugging it into the wrong pin slot. Only allow a professional installer to do the work for you, if you're unsure.
 
Awesome write up. Any details on Cherry switch and housing? Part number, what kind ( single throw?) And what pin to solder to on Cherry switch?
 
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