I thought 1 of the benefits of EV over ICE is that its simple...

You wire your batteries to an inverter, the inverter to the motor, add in a charger somewhere and your sorted.

From your description above and the pictures - it sounds and looks anything but.

It looks to be a hugely complex piece of electrical engineering. Any electrical engineer fixing this sort of stuff will make an F2 electrical engineer look like a rookie, and we all know how difficult it is for them to fix an F2.

You've worked miracles to get all that kit working together.
An electric motor is more simple than an petrol or diesel engine but it still needs careful management and I'm not very methodical. The part I'm doing is not as complicated as it looks as in theory like you say it's just a big heavy ebike with four wheels but I'm making a pigs ear of it. Screwing cheap Chinese timer relay modules to an alloy plate using metal pillars was not one of my smarter moves. :oops:
 
I just confirmed 100% that 0x618: B2 is evap temperature and not oil temperature.
I fitted a TD4 cluster to my 1.8 and connected pin 20 of C0230 to an evap sensor and I can see the number changing when I do that.
Unfortunately 0x618:B2 is only active on a TD4 cluster. On a petrol cluster it doesn't work :-(
 
I just confirmed 100% that 0x618: B2 is evap temperature and not oil temperature.
I fitted a TD4 cluster to my 1.8 and connected pin 20 of C0230 to an evap sensor and I can see the number changing when I do that.
Unfortunately 0x618:B2 is only active on a TD4 cluster. On a petrol cluster it doesn't work :-(
Good work. I'll update page one to show this.
 
Guys if you think the stuff I'm doing is complicated I suggest you watch the diagnostics this guy does.



I recently came across his channel and am blown away by the stuff he does.
 
I name this guy 'Honest Ali'. Seriously, how many of us would post the warts and all for everyone to see ?? BUT it means that we all learn and can support where we can.

So thank you. Honesty, clear pictures, videos and descriptions are the best way to learn.

Glad to hear no injuries and now back on track. Thanks for sharing the experience.
 
I name this guy 'Honest Ali'. Seriously, how many of us would post the warts and all for everyone to see ?? BUT it means that we all learn and can support where we can.

So thank you. Honesty, clear pictures, videos and descriptions are the best way to learn.

Glad to hear no injuries and now back on track. Thanks for sharing the experience.
This means a lot mate, thank you. :)
The way I see it is there is no point in trying to hide the issues and try to make it appear easy. The problems I've had to overcome make any successes all the sweeter. ;)

So after spending a suitable amount of time huffing (I slept on it) I got back to work yesterday, tidied up a few more cables before testing, then after plugging in the safety disconnect turned it on and thankfully everything seems to be OK.
The Inverter seems happy and spins the motor whether I turn the key slowly or quickly which didn't always happen.

I lost count how many times I changed my mind about the startup sequence and how to connect it up but this is how it the HV junction box looks now.
I'm trying to achieve reliable safe startup by making it as unlikely as I can for the positive contactor to close before precharge is complete. Also I have the power for the relay module going through the anti-tamper switches in the HV connectors so that should someone do something silly like something silly like unplugging a HV connector with the power on it should kill power to all contactors. As well as all of this the power to the rear contactors in the boot goes through the inertia switch so in the case of an accident it should activate and kill the HV.
I think the current setup achieves this but I may have to replace the four way relay module with a 6 way one when I try to automate charging. Atm I need to turn the car on for it to charge and have no way to prevent it driving which is not ideal.

IMG_20231015_151451214.jpg


The plastic support is the old ECU lid cut down to fit so there is plenty of room under it. The modules are held down with small self tapper screws
 
Hi there, how's it going? I'm starting to gather information for my next conversion project. I've already converted a 2002 Mini R50 with a Nissan Leaf motor and a Rover P5 with a Netgain Hyper 9. Now, I'm working on a Freelander 1 with a Tesla Drive Unit, but I'm considering doing it like Bill Bayer, placing the motor between the drive shafts and changing the reduction to 3.54:1. Any help will be much appreciated. Congratulations on your conversion!
 
Hi there, how's it going? I'm starting to gather information for my next conversion project. I've already converted a 2002 Mini R50 with a Nissan Leaf motor and a Rover P5 with a Netgain Hyper 9. Now, I'm working on a Freelander 1 with a Tesla Drive Unit, but I'm considering doing it like Bill Bayer, placing the motor between the drive shafts and changing the reduction to 3.54:1. Any help will be much appreciated. Congratulations on your conversion!
Sounds exiting, please keep us updated.
 
Hi there, how's it going? I'm starting to gather information for my next conversion project. I've already converted a 2002 Mini R50 with a Nissan Leaf motor and a Rover P5 with a Netgain Hyper 9. Now, I'm working on a Freelander 1 with a Tesla Drive Unit, but I'm considering doing it like Bill Bayer, placing the motor between the drive shafts and changing the reduction to 3.54:1. Any help will be much appreciated. Congratulations on your conversion!
Sounds interesting. Using the Tesla drive unit as a sort of powered centre diff is a nice way to achieve AWD, while retaining the Freelander running gear. It has worked well on an LR Defender.
There are 2 issues I can see however. Where will you house the drive unit?, and how long will the IRD last driving the front wheels via the output to the rear, which is a known week point on these anyway.

Be interesting to see it done.
Start a thread on it and keep us updated.
 
Well, this is one of the main points of concern. The original idea is to use the system that Bill Bayer uses or the one used for Defenders, placing a Small Drive Unit in the center with the two shafts going to the front and rear diffs. This would eliminate the VCU, although, as you mentioned, I'm not sure if the IRD would withstand it. I still have to think it through thoroughly and don't want to rush into it.
I think it's a good topic for discussion, and I'm open to opinions. I don't want to turn it into a 2WD, but I also I wouldn't like to keep the weak points like the VCU or even the IRD.
 
D
Well, this is one of the main points of concern. The original idea is to use the system that Bill Bayer uses or the one used for Defenders, placing a Small Drive Unit in the center with the two shafts going to the front and rear diffs. This would eliminate the VCU, although, as you mentioned, I'm not sure if the IRD would withstand it. I still have to think it through thoroughly and don't want to rush into it.
I think it's a good topic for discussion, and I'm open to opinions. I don't want to turn it into a 2WD, but I also I wouldn't like to keep the weak points like the VCU or even the IRD.
I agree it is interesting - you should start a thread to discuss it.

Keep this thread (basically) on Ali's build.
 
D

I agree it is interesting - you should start a thread to discuss it.

Keep this thread (basically) on Ali's build.
Already done. ;)
 
IT NEVER ENDS!!

Apparently the one way brake boost vacuum valves in Freelanders are too feeble to cope with the vac pressure from an Audi electric vac pump. :oops:

I had the car working great and was thinking about putting the lights and bumper back in but figured I should test everything for a while first. The vac boost had been working fine with the electric pump cutting in when the brake was pressed as expected, then it started cutting in every 20 or 30 seconds, then every 5 or 10 seconds. 😭
Getting to the vac pump required draining the coolant (only put in a few days ago) removing the inverter and the front subframe, then twisting like a contortionist.
Once I got to it I took apart all the pipework, applied silicon sealant and replaced a few possibly dodgy parts before reconnecting everything and testing. It was OK for a bit then the same issue so I swapped the valve for the one from the 2nd Freelander and tried again. It only lasted a few minutes before doing the same. 😔
So I've ordered a replacement and will see how it goes but maybe I need a bit less vacuum than I have dialled in atm, the brakes did feel very sharp.
 
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IT NEVER ENDS!!

Getting to the vac pump required draining the coolant (only put in a few days ago) removing the inverter and the front subframe, then twisting like a contortionist.
These bloody car designers, never think about the poor bloke who's got to maintain it :rolleyes:
 
What a PITA Ali.
I can't see why the NRV would fail, and if it is then maybe there's too much vacuum for the booster diaphragm too? Is the vac level adjustable?, as you only need about 18 in/Hg or 60 kPa of vacuum for the boost to operate with high efficiency. Anything more is pretty much wasted and will cause early failure of the booster itself.
 
What a PITA Ali.
I can't see why the NRV would fail, and if it is then maybe there's too much vacuum for the booster diaphragm too? Is the vac level adjustable?, as you only need about 18 in/Hg or 60 kPa of vacuum for the boost to operate with high efficiency. Anything more is pretty much wasted and will cause early failure of the booster itself.
Yes it is adjustable through the software on the Arduino but if I have just trashed both valves I'll need an alternative.
Good point on the vac booster diaphram. I'll hold on to the the spare booster from the other car in case of future problems but will dial back the vac.
I ordered a couple of these https://ebay.us/PXbzCF but they'll be a few days coming.

In the meantime months ago I had bought a Volvo vacuum switch which might do the job. It is self contained so doesn't need controlling but also can't be adjusted, nor do I have a connector for it but after lunch I'll give it a go.

What's the worst can happen? :oops:
 
Yes it is adjustable through the software on the Arduino but if I have just trashed both valves I'll need an alternative.
Good point on the vac booster diaphram. I'll hold on to the the spare booster from the other car in case of future problems but will dial back the vac.
I ordered a couple of these https://ebay.us/PXbzCF but they'll be a few days coming.

In the meantime months ago I had bought a Volvo vacuum switch which might do the job. It is self contained so doesn't need controlling but also can't be adjusted, nor do I have a connector for it but after lunch I'll give it a go.

What's the worst can happen? :oops:
If the vacuum switch is designed for braking systems, then it should be calibrated to function in the correct range. I'm a fan of keeping things simple, a switch being simpler than a software tweak. ;)
 
If the vacuum switch is designed for braking systems, then it should be calibrated to function in the correct range. I'm a fan of keeping things simple, a switch being simpler than a software tweak. ;)
I agree but I already have the other setup so will give it another try, also I don't have the correct connector for the switch and when testing it blew a five amp fuse so I'm uncertain about it.
Anyway after a quick blow job it looks like one of the valves is toast but the other seems to be OK so I'll go back to the software, tweak it a little and try again.
 
The code below is the software I'm using to control both the coolant pump and the vac pump. The threshold was originally set to 250 and this controls the vac level. This was the default level from the author. I tried changing it to 100 but the pump didn't turn off at all, so I turned on the serial port monitor and noticed with no vacuum it was showing around 750 so I changed it to 500 and this seemed to work well. Looks like the higher the number the lower the vac.

Now I need to reconfigure things so I can get at it again if necessary without stripping the car.

#define DEBUG 1 // comment this out to turn off serial comms once you've set the threshold & hysteresis #define SENSE_PIN A0 // connect to the output of the sensor - you also need to feed it 5V and gnd #define RELAY_PIN 10 // connect to the relay input. Check whether the relay is active high or low! #define HYSTERESIS 50 // stops the pump cycling on and off when close to threshold #define THRESHOLD 250 // Where does it turn on/off. Can't remember what my final number was but this is a good start void setup() { //Coolant pump controller setup // Set-up PWM on the Arduino UNO at 1Hz on Digital pin D9 pinMode(9, OUTPUT); // Set digital pin 9 (D9) to an output TCCR1A = _BV(COM1A1) | _BV(WGM11); // Enable the PWM output OC1A on digital pins 9 TCCR1B = _BV(WGM13) | _BV(WGM12) | _BV(CS12); // Set fast PWM and prescaler of 256 on timer 1 ICR1 = 31249; // Set the PWM frequency to 2Hz: 16MHz/(256 * 2Hz) - 1 = 31249 OCR1A = 14062; // Set the duty-cycle to approx 45%: 31249 / 45 = 14062 30 = 9374 //Vacuum pump controller Setup #ifdef DEBUG Serial.begin(9600); Serial.println("Debug Mode: Serial Comms Enabled"); Serial.print("Threshold: "); Serial.println(THRESHOLD); Serial.print("Hysteresis: "); Serial.println(HYSTERESIS); #endif pinMode(SENSE_PIN, INPUT); pinMode(RELAY_PIN, OUTPUT); #ifdef DEBUG Serial.println("Pump Priming"); #endif digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, LOW); delay(5000); digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, HIGH); } void loop() { int value = analogRead(SENSE_PIN); #ifdef DEBUG Serial.print("ANALOG READ: "); Serial.println(value); delay(100); #endif if (value > (THRESHOLD + HYSTERESIS)) { digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, LOW); #ifdef DEBUG Serial.println("RELAY ON"); #endif } else if ( value < THRESHOLD - HYSTERESIS) { digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, HIGH); #ifdef DEBUG Serial.println("RELAY OFF"); #endif } else { // do nothing } }
 

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