Freelander 1 Freelander EV

Nodge68 said:

Watched it Ali. Was very interesting, and glad it's working for you. I was going to ask about the BMS, but I assume you'll be doing a video on that at some point.
I'm curious as to how long the battery will take to charge, at the rate the charger will charge at?

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The BMS was working in a previous video but only briefly. I was able to connect LeafSpy to it and could see all the cell voltages which is really cool. It would be great to use the BMS to control the charging but we'll see. Still taking baby steps.
The battery is around 38kWh so at 2.1kw I'm assuming a full charge from empty to 100% would take 18 hours give or take.
I will rarely be charging from empty or to full tho so hoping for 8 to 10 hours each time but really hoping to keep the charging as much from Solar as possible.
A powerwall is on the cards eventually using the spare VW cells.

Alibro said:

I will rarely be charging from empty or to full tho so hoping for 8 to 10 hours each time but really hoping to keep the charging as much from Solar as possible

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If you are only charging at 2 kW, then charging solar only is a real possibility.

Alibro said:

A powerwall is on the cards eventually using the spare VW cells

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I'll be interested in that too Ali, when your EV is done.

Alibro said:

Cool, thanks mate. They came very quickly so I was able to do the work over the weekend.
Yeah the charger was only on for a few minutes so no harm done. I'll not be using it again until I get the coolant flowing, I've already got the Leaf rad fitted so will go with that but will probably seal off the airflow to some extent.
Did you manage to get Arber333 software working, did you send the commands manually or did you do it yourself?
Did you get the charger to stop automatically?
Any advice regarding the HV junction box and automating the charge starting when the J1772 plug pushed in?
Any advice always welcome. Not always followed but always welcome.

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I have it running on my own VCU that I designed around a Teensy 3.6. It runs my contactors, dashboard dials, and sends the right signals to the open inverter control board to run the inverter. It also sends the canbus code for the charger when it senses that the charge port is connected.
I haven't tried Arbers code for tapering the charge current just yet. At the moment it gets the max cell voltage level from the BMS via canbus. then when that hits a set number it stops sending the canbus message to the charger. It's a bit crude bit it will do for now.

I have the charger connected to the battery positive side and then to the battery negative contactor. I believe the charger can connect straight to the battery with no need for contactors. But I have it going through one contactor at least because I don't want to connect it by hand, just in case I am wrong! So far it's been fine on the bench like that.

My VCU is setup so that it comes on with ignition or when I plug in the charge socket, when it switches on it checks for the proximity pin signal and acts accordingly. Either precharging and going through inverter startup or going through the charger control code.

Hope that all makes sense. Feel free to ask more.

Wonk said:

I have it running on my own VCU that I designed around a Teensy 3.6. It runs my contactors, dashboard dials, and sends the right signals to the open inverter control board to run the inverter. It also sends the canbus code for the charger when it senses that the charge port is connected.
I haven't tried Arbers code for tapering the charge current just yet. At the moment it gets the max cell voltage level from the BMS via canbus. then when that hits a set number it stops sending the canbus message to the charger. It's a bit crude bit it will do for now.

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I've always been rubbish at programming and at 56 I'm not getting any better. So if I can make things work using relays and relay timers I will.
As you can see from the video it is easy to adjust the time difference between the precharge on, main Pos on and precharge off just using two small cheap modules.

Wonk said:

I have the charger connected to the battery positive side and then to the battery negative contactor. I believe the charger can connect straight to the battery with no need for contactors. But I have it going through one contactor at least because I don't want to connect it by hand, just in case I am wrong! So far it's been fine on the bench like that.

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I intend to keep the charger on the cold side of the contactors but haven't yet decided if I'm going to use a third contactor to turn on the charger or not.
To be honest I've moved on to getting the batteries installed so I can get the car road legal and will worry about those details later. If I can automate the charging on and off without having the ignition on I will.

Wonk said:

My VCU is setup so that it comes on with ignition or when I plug in the charge socket, when it switches on it checks for the proximity pin signal and acts accordingly. Either precharging and going through inverter startup or going through the charger control code.

Hope that all makes sense. Feel free to ask more.

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I'll probably come back with more questions in a few months when I get back to the charger again so watch this space.

So there's been a minor change.
I've cut up my original frame.



So the Inverter has been moved over around 6cm, the charger turned around 90 deg and the passenger side upper portion removed.
It has been annoying me for some time that I was wasting too much space under the bonnet and I'm desperate to find a home for more battery modules so I think I've now made space for six large modules, this time in a simple square box and the HV connector box can sit on top of the lid.

It is giving me more work now at the front of the car rejigging everything but hopefully will make a big difference taking 6 more modules out of the rear and can't hurt the weight distribution either.

Jayridium said:

Just asking for my friend the tratter driver, but will the battery pack power the hair drier?

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Just seen this, 2 years late.
In answer to the question, yes it would, giving about 40 hours of hair drying, which is enough.

Alibro said:

It is giving me more work now at the front of the car rejigging everything but hopefully will make a big difference taking 6 more modules out of the rear and can't hurt the weight distribution either.

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I'm pleased you're able to re-jig things a bit Ali.
You'll find that you'll always be coming up with different ideas of how to improve the installation. It's all part of the development process.
Ideally you should aim for a 45% front 55% rear weight distribution, which from memory is pretty close to the 1.8 FL1 balance. Obviously you're EV will have put on a few pounds over a 1.8 FL1, but if the distribution remains similar, the handling characteristics will be similar too.
I actually prefer the way the FL1 handles over my FL2. The FL1 is much more predictable at the limit of grip, and feedback from the tyres is far better than the FL2.
The FL2 isn't nearly as communicative as to what is going on under the tyres, so although it does actually corner faster than the FL1, it doesn't feel like I know what the tyres are doing, until the DSC light lets me know that it's losing grip.

Nodge68 said:

I'm pleased you're able to re-jig things a bit Ali.
You'll find that you'll always be coming up with different ideas of how to improve the installation. It's all part of the development process.
Ideally you should aim for a 45% front 55% rear weight distribution, which from memory is pretty close to the 1.8 FL1 balance. Obviously you're EV will have put on a few pounds over a 1.8 FL1, but if the distribution remains similar, the handling characteristics will be similar too.
I actually prefer the way the FL1 handles over my FL2. The FL1 is much more predictable at the limit of grip, and feedback from the tyres is far better than the FL2.
The FL2 isn't nearly as communicative as to what is going on under the tyres, so although it does actually corner faster than the FL1, it doesn't feel like I know what the tyres are doing, until the DSC light lets me know that it's losing grip.

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I've always loved the way FL1's handle so did not want 350kg of batteries in the boot.
I have a cunning plan to confirm corner weights so watch this space.

or hire a set for a couple of days ? Depends how much your "cunning plan" is gonna cost !!

or something like this

Pete

pwood999 said:

or hire a set for a couple of days ? Depends how much your "cunning plan" is gonna cost !!

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40 quid!



I've already bought the scales for a tenner each.

What weight rating are those £10 scales? Can you post a link to them? If they are bathroom scales like the dude in the video used, you're almost certainly going to need more than four as you're looking at >400kg per corner, which would most likely simly crush a typical bathroom scale.

Can it be driven / towed to a nearby scrapyard? (Or somewhere with a weighbridge)? Usually, for a small donation to the tea fund, they'll weigh something for you. If you want front and rear axle weights separately, just roll the front axle on to the bridge and leave the rear axle off it (and remember not to stand on the bridge whilst the reading is being taken - don't ask me how I know that)! In the past, I've done front axle, complete vehicle and rear axle, to give myself a bit of confidence that the two axles add up to something near the total.

The problem with multiple sets of bathroom scales, is overloading one or more of them while you actually put the car on them and knocking them out of calibration.

Jayridium said:

What weight rating are those £10 scales? Can you post a link to them? If they are bathroom scales like the dude in the video used, you're almost certainly going to need more than four as you're looking at >400kg per corner, which would most likely simly crush a typical bathroom scale.

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They are 180kg scales so 4 together would be 720kg capacity, hopefully that should be sufficient. I might even get away with 3 but bought 4 to be sure.
I'll have to measure each corner in turn and make sure the other three corners are raised by the same amount.

A'ight, you're making one scale rather than a set of them. Got it.

Avocet1 said:

Can it be driven / towed to a nearby scrapyard? (Or somewhere with a weighbridge)? Usually, for a small donation to the tea fund, they'll weigh something for you. If you want front and rear axle weights separately, just roll the front axle on to the bridge and leave the rear axle off it (and remember not to stand on the bridge whilst the reading is being taken - don't ask me how I know that)! In the past, I've done front axle, complete vehicle and rear axle, to give myself a bit of confidence that the two axles add up to something near the total.

The problem with multiple sets of bathroom scales, is overloading one or more of them while you actually put the car on them and knocking them out of calibration.

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I had considered this but couldn't be bothered to be honest so bought the scales.
I'll report back after testing it.

Jayridium said:

A'ight, you're making one scale rather than a set of them. Got it.

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The guy in the video got away with three in the rear corner but I will probably need four. I already have suitable timber.

Alibro said:

I had considered this but couldn't be bothered to be honest so bought the scales.
I'll report back after testing it.

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I look forward to the video Ali.

@Alibro Just got an email through with Halfords Trade Card special offers for EV tools,rated for 1,000v angry pixie insulation, screenshot below:



Let me know if there's anything there that you want me to order on your behalf?

Jayridium said:

@Alibro Just got an email through with Halfords Trade Card special offers for EV tools,rated for 1,000v angry pixie insulation, screenshot below:

View attachment 270329

Let me know if there's anything there that you want me to order on your behalf?

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Wow, that's interesting. I guess it's becoming more and more common for mechanics and therefore DIY mechanics to need high voltage tools.
As it happens I think I already have all the HV tools I need as I've been gathering them up and my mate has a Halfords card so I think I'm OK but thanks you so much for the offer.

Alibro said:

Wow, that's interesting. I guess it's becoming more and more common for mechanics and therefore DIY mechanics to need high voltage tools.
As it happens I think I already have all the HV tools I need as I've been gathering them up and my mate has a Halfords card so I think I'm OK but thanks you so much for the offer.

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Glad you've got the HV toola already, so you're safe as can be, as I do genuinely worry about you messing about with a system with so many angry pixies in it... I am however disappointed to hear that I won't see any videos presented by you wearing this hair do: