Freelander 1 Freelander EV

Alibro said:

Thanks mate, I was a little down hearted this week as I wasn't sure why it was cutting out. I guessed it was due to all the electronics and cables being jammed in small boxes but until tonight I wasn't sure.

I think a wee Jamisons to celibrate is in order after the red is finished.
It would be rude not too.

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Just don’t go playing with the wires after…

Anybody else sprayed their centre console satin black?



I was installing this anyway so I thought it would be wrong not to.



I can use the Android system to monitor the VCU.

Looks good!

I recently sprayed my ‘nudge bar’ with truck-bed black spray. Came out better than I expected. Did use a good etch undercoat first though…
So this very worn looking front;


Went to this;






Went to this;

Freddie17 said:

Looks good!

I recently sprayed my ‘nudge bar’ with truck-bed black spray. Came out better than I expected. Did use a good etch undercoat first though…
So this very worn looking front;
View attachment 303816

Went to this;

View attachment 303817




Went to this;

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Looks great.

Alibro said:

Anybody else sprayed their centre console satin black?

View attachment 303808

I was installing this anyway so I thought it would be wrong not to.

View attachment 303807

I can use the Android system to monitor the VCU.

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I must admit I quite like the contrasting silver/gold finish, although when it's damaged it doesn't look good. I'd like to see it in the vehicle to gain an opinion, but black is nice and neutral, so it should look ok.
You'll need to do the door handles to match now Ali.

Nodge68 said:

I must admit I quite like the contrasting silver/gold finish, although when it's damaged it doesn't look good. I'd like to see it in the vehicle to gain an opinion, but black is nice and neutral, so it should look ok.
You'll need to do the door handles to match now Ali.

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The door handles were painted a few weeks ago. They were badly worn and terrible looking.
As for the centre console I was never sure of the silver contrast but mine was scratched and tired looking so painting it when I already had it out of the car was a no brainer.
Next will be the dash surround.

Alibro said:

The door handles were painted a few weeks ago. They were badly worn and terrible looking.
As for the centre console I was never sure of the silver contrast but mine was scratched and tired looking so painting it when I already had it out of the car was a no brainer.
Next will be the dash surround.

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I changed the door pulls in my SE to the chrome versions from a discovery. It made the doors look much more premium compared to the scratched gold paint.

This is the main reason for getting an Android Head Unit.



If you look carefully you can see the latest achievement.
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.

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.
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...

Nice. It's coming on nicely Ali.

Nodge68 said:

Nice. It's coming on nicely Ali.

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It was a big step Nodge cause before this I had to have a laptop open and running with a lead to the VCU to tell me the Pack Voltage. It is critical to know this so that I can figure out what the remaining range would be and the laptop solution wasn't really practical while driving.
I still don't know for sure how far I can run the voltage down but I suspect around 300V - 310V which works out at just under 3.3V per cell. This is judging from my experience of eBikes.

Sadly the heater is still a work in progress.

Heater is WIP - in THIS weather?!!
Brrr!

Alibro said:

It was a big step Nodge cause before this I had to have a laptop open and running with a lead to the VCU to tell me the Pack Voltage. It is critical to know this so that I can figure out what the remaining range would be and the laptop solution wasn't really practical while driving.
I still don't know for sure how far I can run the voltage down but I suspect around 300V - 310V which works out at just under 3.3V per cell. This is judging from my experience of eBikes.

Sadly the heater is still a work in progress.

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3.7 V is nominal cell voltage for NMC, 4.2V being fully charged. I consider 3.2 V being discharged.

Freddie17 said:

Heater is WIP - in THIS weather?!!
Brrr!

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Thankfully I got heated seats, a thick coat, woolly hat and heated gloves.
The windscreen fogs up easily tho and I still have to figure out why the heated windscreen isn't working but in the meantime I have ordered one of these.

On a more exciting note, now I can see the Pack Voltage I decided to take the car a little further than before to test the range and at the same time drive it onto a weigh bridge.
In the last week or two since the last full charge I had driven 50 miles on small back roads around home while testing different changes, so the pack voltage had dropped from 400V to 352V. These were not easy miles as there was lots of start stop and hard acceleration involved.
As the weigh bridge is 15 miles from home I figured it would be a good test and hopefully well within my theoretical range of around 100 miles.

Here are the results
Before leaving



Gross weight with fatso and and some tools adding around 100kg



Rear axle



Miles since last charge after test



Voltage after test



To say that I am pleased with this is a big understatement. I was driving at between 50 and 60mph most of the time so I believe the realistic range to be at least 100 miles and probably more. I never saw the voltage drop below 335V even when accelerating so the individual cell voltage never dropped below 3.49V so this is well above what I believe to be the sensible minimum of 3.2V

Nodge68 said:

3.7 V is nominal cell voltage for NMC, 4.V being fully charged. I considered 3.2 V being discharged.

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You got there just before me Nodge.
I'm happy to charge to 4.15V

Alibro said:

You got there just before me Nodge.
I'm happy to charge to 4.15V

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It seems I missed the 2 after the decimal point, so the maximum useful voltage is 4.2 V, but I guess you figured that out already.

Your range is extremely good Ali, more than I was thinking it would be. I see it's up a couple of hundred kgs on standard, but not exclusively so. I can't remember the plated maximum axle loads, but at 1010 at the front, and 900 at the back with a driver and tools, you should be under those.

Those results are good… and remember that in the colder weather at present, you’ll be getting less battery performance…
In warmer weather I generally see a 10-15% increase in range averages.

Nodge68 said:

Your range is extremely good Ali, more than I was thinking it would be. I see it's up a couple of hundred kgs on standard, but not exclusively so. I can't remember the plated maximum axle loads, but at 1010 at the front, and 900 at the back with a driver and tools, you should be under those.

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Freddie17 said:

Those results are good… and remember that in the colder weather at present, you’ll be getting less battery performance…
In warmer weather I generally see a 10-15% increase in range averages.

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Agree 100% with you guys, right now I'm over the moon about the way it went today.
1800kg is not too bad I feel.
Don't forget though Freddie a lot of the loss is down to heating the cabin which I ain't doin'.
When I get the heater going it will draw up to 4kW so that would be a huge drain on the battery pack but I'll worry about that when I need to.

BTW I plan to drive another 20 miles tomorrow to pick up my mum without adding anything to the battery.

Wish me luck.

This is straight from Google so usual caveats apply.
From 1999 to 2001 (with the original 1994cc diesel) the unladen weight was 1480-1525kg, Gross Vehicle Weight was 2050kg, Max Rear Axle Load was 1120kg. From 2001 to 2003 (with the TD4 '1950'cc diesel) the unladen weight was 1540-1635kg, Gross Vehicle Weight was up 30kg to 2080kg, Max Rear Axle Load was still 1120kg.

Alibro said:

Agree 100% with you guys, right now I'm over the moon about the way it went today.
1800kg is not too bad I feel.
Don't forget though Freddie a lot of the loss is down to heating the cabin which I ain't doin'.
When I get the heater going it will draw up to 4kW so that would be a huge drain on the battery pack but I'll worry about that when I need to.

BTW I plan to drive another 20 miles tomorrow to pick up my mum without adding anything to the battery.

Wish me luck.

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I’m off out in a minute on a long run to Bedfordshire and back. I’ll let the trip settle in, then mark the difference in range estimations both with the heating and seats etc at full blast, then progressively down to nothing switched on.