1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Tell us about the project you do with the open inverter
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sewliothewise
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1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by sewliothewise »

Hi all,

A year ago, I bought a 1971 Honda N600 with the intention of full restoration with the original ICE. Six months ago (and one engine rebuild later), I stumbled across the openinverter forum and had an immediate change of heart.
IMG_0172.jpg
The components list:
  • Prius Gen3 Inverter
  • Chevy volt/Ampera battery (Gen1) - using the original BMS
  • Chevy volt/Ampera charger (Gen1)
  • Nissan Leaf EM61 Motor
  • OpenInverter V1c board (purchased from Damien -- thanks for the awesome work, man)
  • Custom board design (jlcpcb fabricated) for CAN battery management, charging, and peripheral control
  • Raspberry pi touch screen for BMS display/updating settings/heads up display
Progress so far:
  • Motor tuned and running with FOC firmware
  • Requesting cell voltages over CAN from Volt BMS (still need to handle balancing)
  • Touch screen displaying BMS voltages
  • Custom control boards fabricated for fan/pump control, charger CAN control, and BMS CAN



The resources on this forum were immensely helpful in getting setup and running -- thanks to Damien, Johannes, and everyone else who have shared their progress here. All code and schematics will be on my github. Most of the videos end up on an instagram highlight.
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Jack Bauer
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Re: 1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by Jack Bauer »

Is that a cat?
I'm going to need a hacksaw
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sewliothewise
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Re: 1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by sewliothewise »

Ha yes -- he can't turn a wrench, but he's nice to have around.
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Re: 1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by Speedy »

Loving the Honda Logo on everything :D

Just curious why is the Honda bike Logo and not the Honda H which is the car company logo?
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sewliothewise
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Re: 1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by sewliothewise »

Partly that the N600 was the first Honda non-motorcycle sold in the States, partly that the original ICE was basically a motorcycle engine itself, partly because I just like the Honda motorcycles logo better. Just felt right.
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sewliothewise
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Re: 1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by sewliothewise »

April 2022 update:
IMG_1303.jpg
  • Picked a color and got some paint on the hood and doors
  • New subframe welded up -- paint going on this week
  • Leaf EM61 going in this week
  • Blanking plate for Prius Gen3 (Had some DB25 connectors lying around -- CADed out printed). Thanks to bobby_come_lately for the base model
  • Leaf EM61 Blanking plate (3phase cable glands out CADed and printed)
Attachments
IMG_1501 (2).JPG
EM61-cover_2022-Apr-08_03-49-12AM-000_CustomizedView16470093003.png
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IMG_1611.JPG
IMG_1608.JPG
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sewliothewise
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Re: 1971 Honda N600 / Leaf Motor / Prius Inverter

Post by sewliothewise »

A little more progress made:
IMG_1679.jpg
  • Body painted
  • Nissan Leaf EM61 motor mounted
  • Prius Gen3 inverter mounted
  • DC-DC working from inverter (resistor swap)
IMG_1731.JPG
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