Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

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Hi Guys,
Been a while since I posted any updates to this project. I live in Kenya, so shipping parts in isn't easy especially during this Covid period.
Thought I update on parts I have received for this conversion:

1. Fully electric steering rack from a Honda Civic 2005

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2. Tesla Gen 2 11KW charger
3. Tesla DC DC converter 2KW
4. Electric iBooster Brake from a Honda Civic 2018

20201231_141734.jpg


5. Tesla small drive unit hack inverter control boards printed at JLCPCB courtesy of work done by D. Maguire and J. Huebner
20201231_142437.jpg


Got a few other bits and pieces that will be used but not much can move until I get the batteries and drive unit, ETA end of May so I will update when those turn up or if any new developments happen.
 
Hi Guys!!!!
It has been a while since I updated here but in this part of the world, things move a tad bit slower.

After waiting for almost 9months, I finally got my Tesla Small rear-drive unit about a month ago.

20210901_164257.jpg


I went straight in and started the inverter controller board swap to the OpenSoure inverter board design.
I will be honest, if getting the Tesla board off and custom board on requires precision. Lots of it.
These two current sensors are the most sensitive components I have ever worked with!

20210927_165843.jpg


The old board removed and custom board installed.

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Inverter put together and motor buttoned up.
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20210903_111053.jpg
 
Everything checks out from the motor 12V tests but I will not be able to do any high power tests until I build the battery pack.

I am using 8 48V 44Ah LG Chem modules for an initial 16KWh as a proof of concept as I figured not to invest heavily in batteries considering the price drop happening on used packs.

20210903_090918.jpg
 
It's a shame that these two electric builds are on different continents. A Top Gear style series of challenges for the two machines when complete would be great.

Looking good @tensa4
 
Hi Guys,
It's been over a year since I posted on this thread.
I have had to wait for over a year for Mouser to stock specific chips I needed to build the Battery management circuit boards using an open-source design hence the long delay on this project.
This has been resolved so figured I share updates on this project.

1. I received the BMS printed boards from JLC PCB in China based on the open-source BMS architecture by Zeva, the Australian master of EV conversion components. The company closed in September 2021 and made all its designs open-source. In October 2021, the following boards were made:
a) EVBMS: This will act as the brains of the system, a replacement for the ECU, and will tie all the EV parts together over CAN.
20211112_164222.jpg


b) 24BMS: This is a 24S BMS board that will handle 24 cells in series. I only needed 4 of these so I made extras for resiliency.

20211112_163411.jpg


c) EVMonitor: This acts as the display and input for the system. I get to see and set all parameters for the system here.

20211112_164044.jpg


d) Current Sensor: This monitors the real-time current draw to be able to drive the tachometer and inform the EVBMS of how the battery is being used.

20211112_163606.jpg
 
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So after 1 year of waiting, in June 2022, Mouser finally delivered the missing chips required to complete the boards.

20220512_154719.jpg


Spent the better part of last month completing the soldering of the PCBs and programming them.

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The programming was the trickiest bit as I had to learn a bit about using AVR chips but succeeded in the end.

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I got all the boards programmed and have run a couple of tests to make sure they function as required.

Next, I started on the battery tray

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Then I test-fitted half of the battery pack,

20220626_170148.jpg


All clearances checked out with all the pack tests mounted. With both halves in, it leaves enough space for a custom water cooling block that touches both sides of the cooling plates.

20220627_141700.jpg
 
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Next I connected some of the battery packs to the BMS boards and tested if the monitoring was working as intended.

20220711_174439.jpg


Everything works as intended, so am now working to build the battery cooling plate before I move to connect all the batteries for a high voltage test run.
 
I also took some time to complete swapping the Tesla GEN 2 charger board and confirm the parameters for the same. The replacement control board was made off the open-source design by Damien Maguire and the guys over at OpenInverter

20220607_132046.jpg


20220607_134037.jpg


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Next will be the high voltage tests once I finish putting the battery together.

I am really trying to really push to complete the project considering the delay I have had to deal with due to the Mouser chips/parts shortage.
 
It's really great to see you back at this. :D
The work you're doing here is amazing, way, I mostly understand what you are doing but I couldn't do the soldering and would be terrified of damaging the Tesla gear so well done mate. ;)
Just wondering tho have you confirmed the Inverter will run at 230V and continue to work when the cell voltages sag under load?
 
Alibro said:
It's really great to see you back at this. :D
The work you're doing here is amazing, way, I mostly understand what you are doing but I couldn't do the soldering and would be terrified of damaging the Tesla gear so well done mate. ;)
Just wondering tho have you confirmed the Inverter will run at 230V and continue to work when the cell voltages sag under load?
Click to expand...
Thank you @Alibro I am also learning as I go.
The 230V was just to test the BMS system, the full system voltage will be 380V which should be sufficient.
 
Hi Everyone, it has been 4 months since I posted here but that is because I paused on the project to concentrate on work and some personal stuff.
I picked the project up a month ago and the following is a continuation of the progress on the build so far.
 
Hi guys, I can not seem to be able to update this thread as I get the error "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action" whenever I try to upload new photos of the project. Seems I am only allowed to post comments and replies only.
I reported a support ticket but have not got a response in two weeks.

Does anyone know who I can contact to get this resolved or do I just start another thread?
 
tensa4 said:
Hi guys, I can not seem to be able to update this thread as I get the error "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action" whenever I try to upload new photos of the project. Seems I am only allowed to post comments and replies only.
I reported a support ticket but have not got a response in two weeks.

Does anyone know who I can contact to get this resolved or do I just start another thread?
Click to expand...
You will just join the list if you can "add a ticket". Its a known problem that has been affecting everyone since a site update.

If you are using a PC to post, you can copy images and paste them into a post. If your images are stored/hosted on the internet, you can use a link to them - depending on where you store them.
 
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