Freelander 1 Freelander EV

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
Alibro said:
This is the main reason for getting an Android Head Unit.

View attachment 303869

If you look carefully you can see the latest achievement. :D
I managed to get the Pack Voltage showing in the VCU web page with just a tiny change to the sketch.
I still haven't managed to get the shunt working so no current or power but at least now I know the state of charge. ;)
Click to expand...
Looking good Ali. I keep losing your thread on my alerts!

Seeing this is quite apt. As I've been wondering if Android head units can run something like the Torque app and talk to a bluetooth/wifi ODB dongle. Do you know if that's possible? Would mean the head unit can be used to display live data and show/clear fault codes.
 
Worth a new thread I think. I hate the fact that some android is not compatible with other android and that stuff. Getting there. Aim is DAB plus satnav plus Torque and obvs phone calls.
 
GrumpyGel said:
Looking good Ali. I keep losing your thread on my alerts!

Seeing this is quite apt. As I've been wondering if Android head units can run something like the Torque app and talk to a bluetooth/wifi ODB dongle. Do you know if that's possible? Would mean the head unit can be used to display live data and show/clear fault codes.
Click to expand...
That's a very good question GG.
As far as I'm aware EVs aren't required to have OBD2 ports, although most do have the port. However I do know that just because an EV might have a port is fitted, it's not necessary for the manufacturer to provide On Board Diagnostic Protocol II (OBD2) diagnostics, although I suspect some do.

I don't know if Ali's VCU has OBD2 port outputs, which Ali would need to connect to the factory port, as the ECM is no longer in the vehicle. The Ipack on the FL1 is the diagnostics hub, so I'm thinking data from modules like the Ipack and ABS should be visible on full system scanner, but the OBD2 data from the ECM would be missing, which could mean no road speed data, or other general information would be available. It would be interesting to see what is available on the OBD2 port though.
 
Nodge68 said:
That's a very good question GG.
As far as I'm aware EVs aren't required to have OBD2 ports, although most do have the port. However I do know that just because an EV might have a port is fitted, it's not necessary for the manufacturer to provide On Board Diagnostic Protocol II (OBD2) diagnostics, although I suspect some do.

I don't know if Ali's VCU has OBD2 port outputs, which Ali would need to connect to the factory port, as the ECM is no longer in the vehicle. The Ipack on the FL1 is the diagnostics hub, so I'm thinking data from modules like the Ipack and ABS should be visible on full system scanner, but the OBD2 data from the ECM would be missing, which could mean no road speed data, or other general information would be available. It would be interesting to see what is available on the OBD2 port though.
Click to expand...
TBH It was a purely selfish request for info! It wasn't even for me Freelander as its not compliant. It was for the vans at work.
 
GrumpyGel said:
TBH It was a purely selfish request for info! It wasn't even for me Freelander as its not compliant. It was for the vans at work.
Click to expand...
Yes, Bluetooth OBD2 dongles can bought cheaply on Amazon, which a suitable phone running a vehicle diagnostic app can connect. You can then see various engine parameters, temperatures, and lots of other live data.
I keep a BT dongle in my car, and another in the vehicle diagnostic equipment drawer of my roller cabinet. I use Torque Pro, but Torque lite is free and will tell you want you need to do, if data logging over a test drive isn't needed.
 
GrumpyGel said:
Looking good Ali. I keep losing your thread on my alerts!

Seeing this is quite apt. As I've been wondering if Android head units can run something like the Torque app and talk to a bluetooth/wifi ODB dongle. Do you know if that's possible? Would mean the head unit can be used to display live data and show/clear fault codes.
Click to expand...

The new alerts setup for the forum is very poor. I have the same issue.
Yes an Android head unit can be used for any software designed for Android but the head unit needs to be a reasonably decent one as some cheaper units are rubbish.

The Nissan Leaf has an OBD2 port but to conect to it and use Leaf Spy you need a good quality adaptor.
This is the one I used to connect to the Leaf BMS to read cell voltages.
It's more expensive than most but I guess you get what you pay for.
I haven't even tried the OBD2 port in the Freelander TBH so that's something I need to play with. For now my VCU has the CAN wires directly connected to the IPack and the data on the Android head unit is from a WiFi adaptor which I still haven't figured out yet.
Only been at it for two days. 😲 😟
 
Last edited:
So good news and bad news today.
I took the car for a drive without any real destination in mind but it seemed to be going well so I decided to try a range test. The battery was charged a few days ago and I stopped the charging at 402V. As expected it dropped back so by this morning it was 396V. I have no way to set a constant voltage variable current so this will always happen.
Anyway I drove to a town approx 35 miles from home and back, then did another 9 miles before parking up for lunch so had 79 miles on the clock but the voltage was still around 345V. I was driving between 55 and 60mph most of the time.
This afternoon I drove another 19 miles to pick up my mum and when we got home the voltage was still at 336V after doing 98 miles.
I was watching the voltage the whole time and it looks like initially it gets just over 1 mile per volt then levels out to 1.5 ish miles per volt.
If we call 400V 100% SOC and 310V 0% SOC then in theory I still have over 25 miles or a max range of over 120 miles without really trying.
With a 38kWh pack it works out over 3 miles per kWh which I think is pretty good for DIY conversion in a not particularly aerodynamic car.

The bad news is that a few miles from home the brake boost stopped boosting. 😕
I'm hoping to it's just a blown fuse but will confirm tomorrow.

IMG_20231210_163031798.jpg
IMG_20231210_163026351.jpg
 
Last edited:
That's very good Ali. Ok you'll be taking a long time to drive across the country due to slow charging, but your efficiency isn't bad at all, considering the 0.39 Cd of the FL1 body.
I'd be very happy with that myself.
 
Some more good and bad news. 😯
The good news is after some rewiring the car is working again and it there was no harm done. It looks like passing the 12V pos through several connections caused a problem with stray voltages so I've tried to simplify things a bit and it seems to have helped a couple of issues.
The bad news is I didn't have the 20 or so miles in the battery I thought I had. o_O
I called with some friends to let them have a short drive but the car only got a further 4 or 5 miles before I noticed the voltage falling off a cliff and shortly after it died. 😭
Thankfully I had my laptop with me and was able to tweak a setting to let me limp back to their house. We plugged it in for a couple of hours to let me get home, but lessen learned I should never let the voltage fall below 335V and preferably not below 340V.
Also in the current temperatures I think the range should be counted as 100 miles max. To go any further safely would require driving a bit slower.
 
Alibro said:
Some more good and bad news. 😯
The good news is after some rewiring the car is working again and it there was no harm done. It looks like passing the 12V pos through several connections caused a problem with stray voltages so I've tried to simplify things a bit and it seems to have helped a couple of issues.
The bad news is I didn't have the 20 or so miles in the battery I thought I had. o_O
I called with some friends to let them have a short drive but the car only got a further 4 or 5 miles before I noticed the voltage falling off a cliff and shortly after it died. 😭
Thankfully I had my laptop with me and was able to tweak a setting to let me limp back to their house. We plugged it in for a couple of hours to let me get home, but lessen learned I should never let the voltage fall below 335V and preferably not below 340V.
Also in the current temperatures I think the range should be counted as 100 miles max. To go any further safely would require driving a bit slower.
Click to expand...
But you got some valuable information, so it was worth the inconvenience. Now you know how low you can take the voltage, and roughly how far you can go. ;)
 
Nodge68 said:
But you got some valuable information, so it was worth the inconvenience. Now you know how low you can take the voltage, and roughly how far you can go. ;)
Click to expand...
Yip, 100%.
When I got it back to my friends house and let it sit for a bit the battery was sitting at 306V which is 3.19V per cell so not disastrous, I was surprised it dropped so quickly from 335V but I guess that must be the tipping point of the curve, however I need to confirm one of the cells didn't drop lower than the rest. This means I need to get the BMS working to check them, if there is a difference then allowing the voltage to sag so low may have made things worse. I don't expect the BMS to fix any imbalance but it will let me know if there is one.
 
GrumpyGel said:
bit like running out of petrol and turning up at your friends with a petrol can... and staying for a cuppa and cake while it fills :D
Click to expand...
Although with electrical, a few miles is only a few pence of electricity. Petrol on the other hand is about £7 a gallon. ;)
 
andyfreelandy said:
Yes but with petrol needs you find out who your real friends are !!!
Click to expand...
While waiting for a few angry pixies to make their way back into my battery pack I had a look at installing their new HP printer.
OMG WHAT A B0LL0CKS OF A JOB!!! 😲 :mad:
I haven't had to install a printer for several years and had no clue things had gotten so bad.
The crazy thing is I had to give up on the laptop installation as we ended up going around in circles on one laptop and the other crashed but they were both able to print from their phones! 🤯 Albeit the print was so small on the page it was unreadable. 🤬
It seems all HP want is for you to install an app on your phone so they can take money out of your account every month for cartridges. They don't give a damn about the user experience.
Lessen learnt, I will never ever buy an HP printer.
 
I've been using Cannon printers for a good few years, and never had any issues until the latest one. It works and there are drivers available, but the application takes over 500MB, which is a big chunk out of an SSD HDD.

I guess it's called progress, but these applications are much larger than days of old.
 
Nodge68 said:
I've been using Cannon printers for a good few years, and never had any issues until the latest one. It works and there are drivers available, but the application takes over 500MB, which is a big chunk out of an SSD HDD.

I guess it's called progress, but these applications are much larger than days of old.
Click to expand...
The HP printer had a sticker over the USB port saying DO NOT USE. 🤯
They also have a PIN number on the printer so when you install the software you enter the PIN and tie the printer to your email address. My friends Dorothy and Gordon had spent hours trying to get it to work and apparently had used Dorothy's email address. I didn't know this so when I tried to install it on Gordon's laptop I entered his email address and the printer refused to connect because it was tied to Dorothy. Even when we eventually realised this we had no option to change it.
You couldn't make this cr@p up!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
[15564]-[#altbin@EFNet]-[FULL]-[8mm.DVDR.NTSC]-[032/103] - "8mm.r28" yEnc (18/79)
Replies
0
Views
3K
Mustypwnzj00
M
Back
Top