Nodge68
Well-Known Member
You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs Ali.
It looks complicated from a bystander's point of view, but dealing with one wire at a time is the way to get through the project.
Keep up the good work.
It looks complicated from a bystander's point of view, but dealing with one wire at a time is the way to get through the project.
Keep up the good work.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
So the goal for today is to get the coolant pump controller Arduino installed then the charger.
While the new VCU can theoretically send the required 2hz PWM that the coolant pump needs it is not simple and I have another reason to go with the Arduino, ie controlling overnight timed charging.
The pump needs to be running correctly before I try to charge the car to avoid damaging the charger.
I'll report back later with the progress.
While the new VCU can theoretically send the required 2hz PWM that the coolant pump needs it is not simple and I have another reason to go with the Arduino, ie controlling overnight timed charging.
The pump needs to be running correctly before I try to charge the car to avoid damaging the charger.
I'll report back later with the progress.
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Alibro
Well-Known Member
OK so a couple of days late but we have it charging again. 
ATM The coolant pump is going full tilt as I had an issue with the Arduino, and I can't schedule for overnight charging yet but that will be next.
I had to rewire some of the 12V components so they would come on when the Zombieverter called for charging and I had to change some parameters in the VCU itself but so far so good.
ATM The coolant pump is going full tilt as I had an issue with the Arduino, and I can't schedule for overnight charging yet but that will be next.
I had to rewire some of the 12V components so they would come on when the Zombieverter called for charging and I had to change some parameters in the VCU itself but so far so good.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
And today I had the first proper drive with the new brain installed and so far all good.
I still need to tidy up some 12V wiring like the heater controller, Chademo control and a few other things also tweak a few settings but it's driving as well as ever so very pleased.
I still need to tidy up some 12V wiring like the heater controller, Chademo control and a few other things also tweak a few settings but it's driving as well as ever so very pleased.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
I've been pushing ahead with the low voltage junction box trying to get the car ready for a road trip next Saturday and today I had the biggest step forward since enabling regen. 
DC fast (ish) charging at a Chademo charger.
Charging at 40 kW I gained more charge in under 13 minutes than would take have taken over two hours at home.
I'm hoping around 30 minutes on the way to Dublin and another 20 or 30 on the way back should be enough.
I'm so pleased to finally be able to drive bigger distances without having to worry about being stranded for hours at a slow charger.
DC fast (ish) charging at a Chademo charger.
Charging at 40 kW I gained more charge in under 13 minutes than would take have taken over two hours at home.
I'm hoping around 30 minutes on the way to Dublin and another 20 or 30 on the way back should be enough.
I'm so pleased to finally be able to drive bigger distances without having to worry about being stranded for hours at a slow charger.
Nodge68
Well-Known Member
Wow, amazing, Ali.I've been pushing ahead with the low voltage junction box trying to get the car ready for a road trip next Saturday and today I had the biggest step forward since enabling regen.
DC fast (ish) charging at a Chademo charger.
View attachment 347382View attachment 347381View attachment 347380
View attachment 347379
Charging at 40 kW I gained more charge in under 13 minutes than would take have taken over two hours at home.
I'm hoping around 30 minutes on the way to Dublin and another 20 or 30 on the way back should be enough.
I'm so pleased to finally be able to drive bigger distances without having to worry about being stranded for hours at a slow charger.
So now you just need to fashion some sort of charging door, and you're ready for a road trip to England!!
Alibro
Well-Known Member
You mean like a hole in the bonnet????
I don't expect to be fast charging too often so a length of wooden batten to hold the bonnet up will be fine.
I'll have a go at rotating the socket though as the current setup makes fitting the plug very awkward. I installed it that way because the heavy cables fitted well but also before yesterday I'd never seen a Chademo charger and didn't know how big the handle would be.
kernowsvenski
Well-Known Member
This is fantastic. Well done Sir! Nice shiny blue paintwork to boot too.I've been pushing ahead with the low voltage junction box trying to get the car ready for a road trip next Saturday and today I had the biggest step forward since enabling regen.
DC fast (ish) charging at a Chademo charger.
View attachment 347382View attachment 347381View attachment 347380
View attachment 347379
Charging at 40 kW I gained more charge in under 13 minutes than would take have taken over two hours at home.
I'm hoping around 30 minutes on the way to Dublin and another 20 or 30 on the way back should be enough.
I'm so pleased to finally be able to drive bigger distances without having to worry about being stranded for hours at a slow charger.
Nodge68
Well-Known Member
No, I was thinking more like making part of the radiator grille open to access the plug, like a Kia E Nero or Hyundai Kona electric.You mean like a hole in the bonnet????
I don't expect to be fast charging too often so a length of wooden batten to hold the bonnet up will be fine.
I'll have a go at rotating the socket though as the current setup makes fitting the plug very awkward. I installed it that way because the heavy cables fitted well but also before yesterday I'd never seen a Chademo charger and didn't know how big the handle would be.
But if you're happy to open the bonnet, then that's OK too.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
LOL, I was just kidding.No, I was thinking more like making part of the radiator grille open to access the plug, like a Kia E Nero or Hyundai Kona electric.
But if you're happy to open the bonnet, then that's OK too.
The socket has really heavy cables and a connector that meant I could plug it straight into the HV junction box without needing to touch them. It made the installation easier and safer but they were kinda short, however I'll not be using it very often so OK with the compromise.
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Alibro
Well-Known Member
After several weeks working on the car I managed I managed to get Chademo charging working well enough make the journey to the TOG Hackerspace in Dublin. This was for an annual get together of DIY EV Builders. My daughter Rachel surprised me the day before by offering to accompany me.
I wasn't working on Friday so spent the entire day sorting out a few last minute minor niggles and a major one that I only discovered after plugging in a BMS that was kindly sent me by Damien Maguire. My previous BMS had expired (or been murdered) just a few weeks ago but I usually saw a maximum cell discrepancy of 30 to 40mV however on Friday I found 2 cells were almost 200mV low. After many hours trickle charging them with a DC power supply I got them back to 80mV low which I figured was good enough for now. I don't understand why they were so low but maybe it is related to getting Regen and fast charging working. Or maybe the old BMS was faulty for a while, who knows, I'll have another go at bringing them into line today.
So we set off at mid day for the two hour (in a normal car) 100 mile journey hoping to arrive between 2:30 and 3 for the 3pm start. I had planned to stop at Castlebellingham services which is about half way for a top up charge as it is close enough to abort and return home should DC charging not work.
Charging enroute using the patented Alibro 1001 bonnet/hood support
This was when I learned that Chademo chargers can be a little ........ mmmmm ....... iffy.
I tried the charger in the South bound service station nothing happened. Bare in mind this is only the second Chademo charger I have ever used and I had been working on the car the day before so it took a bit of faffing to confirm the issue was probably the charger.
This was now make or break time and we drove to the North bound services for a second attempt which thankfully worked. If it hadn't we probably would have gone home.
So with a mostly full tank we headed on to Dublin arriving at 3:45 and had a great time there meeting up with all the guys. A huge thanks to Marc for organising the event and all the guys in Dublin TOG for their friendly warm welcome.
Had I been on my own I would have stayed for the home made wood burning oven Pizza that was on offer but Rachel had promised to take me out for dinner to the Snailbox restaurant so very much torn, we made our farewells at 7pm and left.
We had a lovely meal at the Snailbox and headed for home, if you're ever in the area give it a try.
The journey home could probably have been done with one charging stop but I was being cautious and went for two. I figured we could do a short stop in Dublin to get us to Castlbellingham (which we now confirmed was working) where another short stop would get us home.
The plan was good but the chargers not so much, the first one in Dublin didn't work so after more faffing around we moved to a second beside it which worked well. My car is charging at 40kW so we stayed there for around 30 minutes leaving the battery approx 3/4 full and left. This was not enough to get home but plenty to reach Castlebellingham to use the services and recharge the battery at a known working charger.
So the charger in Castlebellingham was working right? Wrong! When I plugged it in a message appeared on the screen saying There is a fault!!!!!
FFS!!!
A quick look at the Electroverse App (as Zapmap doesn't seem to show some Chademo chargers) and we headed off into Dundalk where there are a few Chademos. Once again the first we tried didn't work but the second did and after another 20 minutes or so we left for home arriving at 20 past midnight.
The total distance was 125 miles, so 23 more than it should have been, partly because of the restaurant stop, partly because of the scheduled charging stop in Dublin but mostly because we had to backtrack twice to find working chargers.
Charging time was around 60 to 70 minutes but we lost another hour because of faulty chargers.
So after our big day out I have a few thoughts.
I take my hat off to anyone who drives a Nissan Leaf, I had scheduled 3 charging stops and the first charger failed to work every time.
The car was brilliant, never missed a beat so I am really pleased with it.
When I first set out to convert the car I made several mistakes but the one thing I got right was the battery capacity. It may have caused a few headaches fitting so many modules but having a 100 mile/160km range makes the car viable for daily use and now I have DC charging it is also viable (with caveats) for road trips.
I wasn't working on Friday so spent the entire day sorting out a few last minute minor niggles and a major one that I only discovered after plugging in a BMS that was kindly sent me by Damien Maguire. My previous BMS had expired (or been murdered) just a few weeks ago but I usually saw a maximum cell discrepancy of 30 to 40mV however on Friday I found 2 cells were almost 200mV low. After many hours trickle charging them with a DC power supply I got them back to 80mV low which I figured was good enough for now. I don't understand why they were so low but maybe it is related to getting Regen and fast charging working. Or maybe the old BMS was faulty for a while, who knows, I'll have another go at bringing them into line today.
So we set off at mid day for the two hour (in a normal car) 100 mile journey hoping to arrive between 2:30 and 3 for the 3pm start. I had planned to stop at Castlebellingham services which is about half way for a top up charge as it is close enough to abort and return home should DC charging not work.
Charging enroute using the patented Alibro 1001 bonnet/hood support
This was when I learned that Chademo chargers can be a little ........ mmmmm ....... iffy.
I tried the charger in the South bound service station nothing happened. Bare in mind this is only the second Chademo charger I have ever used and I had been working on the car the day before so it took a bit of faffing to confirm the issue was probably the charger.
This was now make or break time and we drove to the North bound services for a second attempt which thankfully worked. If it hadn't we probably would have gone home.
So with a mostly full tank we headed on to Dublin arriving at 3:45 and had a great time there meeting up with all the guys. A huge thanks to Marc for organising the event and all the guys in Dublin TOG for their friendly warm welcome.
Had I been on my own I would have stayed for the home made wood burning oven Pizza that was on offer but Rachel had promised to take me out for dinner to the Snailbox restaurant so very much torn, we made our farewells at 7pm and left.
We had a lovely meal at the Snailbox and headed for home, if you're ever in the area give it a try.
The journey home could probably have been done with one charging stop but I was being cautious and went for two. I figured we could do a short stop in Dublin to get us to Castlbellingham (which we now confirmed was working) where another short stop would get us home.
The plan was good but the chargers not so much, the first one in Dublin didn't work so after more faffing around we moved to a second beside it which worked well. My car is charging at 40kW so we stayed there for around 30 minutes leaving the battery approx 3/4 full and left. This was not enough to get home but plenty to reach Castlebellingham to use the services and recharge the battery at a known working charger.
So the charger in Castlebellingham was working right? Wrong! When I plugged it in a message appeared on the screen saying There is a fault!!!!!
A quick look at the Electroverse App (as Zapmap doesn't seem to show some Chademo chargers) and we headed off into Dundalk where there are a few Chademos. Once again the first we tried didn't work but the second did and after another 20 minutes or so we left for home arriving at 20 past midnight.
The total distance was 125 miles, so 23 more than it should have been, partly because of the restaurant stop, partly because of the scheduled charging stop in Dublin but mostly because we had to backtrack twice to find working chargers.
Charging time was around 60 to 70 minutes but we lost another hour because of faulty chargers.
So after our big day out I have a few thoughts.
I take my hat off to anyone who drives a Nissan Leaf, I had scheduled 3 charging stops and the first charger failed to work every time.
The car was brilliant, never missed a beat so I am really pleased with it.
When I first set out to convert the car I made several mistakes but the one thing I got right was the battery capacity. It may have caused a few headaches fitting so many modules but having a 100 mile/160km range makes the car viable for daily use and now I have DC charging it is also viable (with caveats) for road trips.
After several weeks working on the car I managed I managed to get Chademo charging working well enough make the journey to the TOG Hackerspace in Dublin. This was for an annual get together of DIY EV Builders. My daughter Rachel surprised me the day before by offering to accompany me.
I wasn't working on Friday so spent the entire day sorting out a few last minute minor niggles and a major one that I only discovered after plugging in a BMS that was kindly sent me by Damien Maguire. My previous BMS had expired (or been murdered) just a few weeks ago but I usually saw a maximum cell discrepancy of 30 to 40mV however on Friday I found 2 cells were almost 200mV low. After many hours trickle charging them with a DC power supply I got them back to 80mV low which I figured was good enough for now. I don't understand why they were so low but maybe it is related to getting Regen and fast charging working. Or maybe the old BMS was faulty for a while, who knows, I'll have another go at bringing them into line today.
So we set off at mid day for the two hour (in a normal car) 100 mile journey hoping to arrive between 2:30 and 3 for the 3pm start. I had planned to stop at Castlebellingham services which is about half way for a top up charge as it is close enough to abort and return home should DC charging not work.
Charging enroute using the patented Alibro 1001 bonnet/hood support
View attachment 347834
This was when I learned that Chademo chargers can be a little ........ mmmmm ....... iffy.
I tried the charger in the South bound service station nothing happened. Bare in mind this is only the second Chademo charger I have ever used and I had been working on the car the day before so it took a bit of faffing to confirm the issue was probably the charger.
This was now make or break time and we drove to the North bound services for a second attempt which thankfully worked. If it hadn't we probably would have gone home.
So with a mostly full tank we headed on to Dublin arriving at 3:45 and had a great time there meeting up with all the guys. A huge thanks to Marc for organising the event and all the guys in Dublin TOG for their friendly warm welcome.
Had I been on my own I would have stayed for the home made wood burning oven Pizza that was on offer but Rachel had promised to take me out for dinner to the Snailbox restaurant so very much torn, we made our farewells at 7pm and left.
We had a lovely meal at the Snailbox and headed for home, if you're ever in the area give it a try.
The journey home could probably have been done with one charging stop but I was being cautious and went for two. I figured we could do a short stop in Dublin to get us to Castlbellingham (which we now confirmed was working) where another short stop would get us home.
The plan was good but the chargers not so much, the first one in Dublin didn't work so after more faffing around we moved to a second beside it which worked well. My car is charging at 40kW so we stayed there for around 30 minutes leaving the battery approx 3/4 full and left. This was not enough to get home but plenty to reach Castlebellingham to use the services and recharge the battery at a known working charger.
So the charger in Castlebellingham was working right? Wrong! When I plugged it in a message appeared on the screen saying There is a fault!!!!!FFS!!!
A quick look at the Electroverse App (as Zapmap doesn't seem to show some Chademo chargers) and we headed off into Dundalk where there are a few Chademos. Once again the first we tried didn't work but the second did and after another 20 minutes or so we left for home arriving at 20 past midnight.
The total distance was 125 miles, so 23 more than it should have been, partly because of the restaurant stop, partly because of the scheduled charging stop in Dublin but mostly because we had to backtrack twice to find working chargers.
Charging time was around 60 to 70 minutes but we lost another hour because of faulty chargers.
So after our big day out I have a few thoughts.
I take my hat off to anyone who drives a Nissan Leaf, I had scheduled 3 charging stops and the first charger failed to work every time.
The car was brilliant, never missed a beat so I am really pleased with it.
When I first set out to convert the car I made several mistakes but the one thing I got right was the battery capacity. It may have caused a few headaches fitting so many modules but having a 100 mile/160km range makes the car viable for daily use and now I have DC charging it is also viable (with caveats) for road trips.
Brilliant!
I think most EV drivers will agree - range is a big deal when picking (or building!) a car.
Well done Ali
Edit - could you switch to CCS? You’d have a much greater charging option if so.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
The world has spent the last 100 odd years building up a petrol and diesel refuelling infrastructure so it will take a while for EV's chargers to catch up. It doesn't help that most of us charge at home most of the time so a constant demand in many places is just not there. Add to that I'm using a soon to be obsolete connector and it's no surprise I had issues.Brilliant!
I think most EV drivers will agree - range is a big deal when picking (or building!) a car.
Well done Ali
Edit - could you switch to CCS? You’d have a much greater charging option if so.
Yes I could switch to CCS but that will require expensive hardware so more money and more time, the reason I went for Chademo is I already had the socket and two contactors which along with the Zombieverter (which I was eventually going to buy anyway) is all that is needed to get Chademo working.
kernowsvenski
Well-Known Member
Impressive stuff. I occasionally have to design EV charging installations at work so I am quite interested in what installs are good (or not) and often chat to owners to find out their experiences. I'm told that some chargers can be a bit iffy. Our standard installs are Swarco eVOLVE AC (fast) and Raption DC (rapid) and as far as I'm aware they seem to be pretty reliable.
Just out of interest, how much does having lights on (or other electrical stuff) affect the range?
Just out of interest, how much does having lights on (or other electrical stuff) affect the range?
Alibro
Well-Known Member
The chargers on the road to Dublin were very old so no surprise they were not reliable. Chademo is a dying protocol so less effort is put into supporting it although there are still a large number of Nissan Leafs out there. There were a couple of CCS chargers and a dozen or so Tesla chargers beside me which I believe are the most reliable charger out there.
I don't think 12V electrics have much effect on range but lets do the maths.
The max range is around 100 miles or approx 3 miles per kWh. Driving therefore consumes approx 333Wh per mile and so to keep the numbers simple lets assume the 12V electrics are drawing 333W.
If that were true in one hour driving I would loose 1 mile of range.
If we assume the average speed is 40mph then I could theoretically drive for 2.5 hours so would loose 2.5 miles of total range.
In reality the 12V drain may be double that so I guess it would be fair to guesstimate 4 to 5 miles range is lost to 12V stuff.
Another way to do the maths is to say the car has 38kWh in the battery and a range of 100 miles which once again is 2.5 hours.
If the 12V electrics were drawing 500W that is 1.5kWh or approx 4%
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Nodge68
Well-Known Member
On our Ioniq, the things like lights, wipers, heated seats and whatever else comes off the 12 Volt supply basically uses nothing when compared to the energy used to actually move it down the road. The heating uses a decent amount of power, but even that is only a few % of what the traction motors uses.
As for charging reliability, I've had 1 Tesla supercharger not work, and 1 Gridserve charger refused to acknowledge the car was connected, otherwise I've no had an issue at all, although a vast majority of our charging is done at home at a stupidly cheap rate.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
Yeah I don't really think much about 12V stuff when watching my range.
I have a few more things to sort reliability wise and it would be nice to have a decent SOC meter as I currently just guestimate from the voltage. I took note of the MG SOC at various voltages and made a spreadsheet.
| 403 | 100 | |
| 393 | 90 | |
| 388 | 85 | |
| 363 | 60 | |
| 356 | 50 | |
| 350 | 40 | |
| 348 | 30 | |
| 346 | 23 | |
| 344 | 19 | |
| 342 | 14 | |
| 341 | 12 | |
| 340 | 10 | |
| 338 | 7 | |
| 336 | 5 |
I never charge to 403V and never let it get as low as 336V but I thought it useful to have the numbers to hand.
The right column is charge percentage but as my Freelander has a range of around 100 miles I just call them miles.
kernowsvenski
Well-Known Member
That's brilliant, especially knowing the vehicle build.
Alibro
Well-Known Member
I've been using a Freelander for this job since the sand pit was dug. Initially it was diesel but doing it with electric is much nicer.