openinverter forum

My second ever EV conversion was performed on a 2001 BMW E39 5 series back in 2013. Originally powered by a DC Forklift motor and homemade controller based on the Paul Holmes logic board it covered 82000 miles. Sadly, late last year the brushes finally wore down and this prompted me to think about an upgrade.

The DC system, controls, motor, charger etc were removed and replaced by an AC induction motor of dubious origin originally used in ill fated "professionally converted" Peugeot vehicles by a no defunct company. My main reason for choosing this motor was the fact that, if the name plate can be belived, it only needs 130v rms to reach full power. This was important as my battery pack in the E39 is only 192v rather than the much higher voltages typically seen by AC systems. A custom logic board using Heubner tech drives the power stage of an equally horrible Enova inverter from, you guessed it, another defunct "professional" ev conversion company:)

Some videos of the AC conversion :











A recent modification involves linking the clutch switch (no physical clutch is used in this build) to a relay to provide a start signal to the inverter so it can be restarted quickly in the event of an overcurrent trip.

In the first video you say you did around 80k miles with the original conversion as your daily driver.
That's really impressive but do you mind if I ask what range you had from a charge?
I'm still trying to figure out what I can expect as a realistic range for an EV conversion of a BMW as it is exactly what I would like to do.
Am I right in thinking 60 CA180FI cells at 180Ah each gives around 34.5kWh?

111miles was the longest journey but that was running on fumes. Practical was 80-90 miles.

Updates on this project soon.

Alibro wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 7:22 pm
Am I right in thinking 60 CA180FI cells at 180Ah each gives around 34.5kWh?

sounds correct:

https://power-calculation.com/battery-s ... ulator.php

Work has started on stripping out the old motor / inverter and drivetrain. As can be seen from the pictures the enova inverter went pop. This is despite using it's own driver board. Pure junk. As is the ansaldo motor that was more interested in making heat than torque. Can't wait to have the siemens and prius inverter in their place:)

Work has started on stripping out the old motor / inverter and drivetrain. As can be seen from the pictures the enova inverter went pop. This is despite using it's own driver board. Pure junk.

Out with the old drivetrain , adapter plate ready to mate the Siemens motor to the new 530d gearbox and snagged a deal on a new battery for the Yacht :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2017-BMW-740 ... 4244520233

Some serious stuff there. You make it look so simple, and then you check out that junction box to see there is more than meets the eye

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:10 pm Out with the old drivetrain , adapter plate ready to mate the Siemens motor to the new 530d gearbox and snagged a deal on a new battery for the Yacht :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2017-BMW-740 ... 4244520233

Battery looks like to be those lg Chem modules?
Very nice.

Just arrived:)

Siemens motor and 530d gearbox installed.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:46 pm Just arrived:)

How much was the shipping on that?

Is it much bigger than the normal 5 series petrol tank?

total inc shipping 950 euros. It would fit the E39 fuel tank space but I would need to do some serious metalwork to make mountings. For now it's just going in the boot:) Once the car is driving I might pick up another and do the fuel tank thing in Dave's workshop on the lift.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:44 pm total inc shipping 950 euros. It would fit the E39 fuel tank space but I would need to do some serious metalwork to make mountings. For now it's just going in the boot:) Once the car is driving I might pick up another and do the fuel tank thing in Dave's workshop on the lift.

That's fab, great to see the supply of parts making their way onto the second hand market.

First look inside the new battery.

Give it some 12V power and capture that canbus Damien.

Then I can compare it to the I3 and see if any changes are needed.

I'm on it:)

Got a chance to dig into the battery today. Connected up 12v, ground and can to the external connector as well as bypassing the hvil pins. On startup draws about 260mA for 10 seconds then drops to zero. I guess its expecting a terminal 15 over CAN to wake up. Tried some of my captures but no response. Given the age gap between my cars and the G11 it must be like trying to hack the pentagon with a Commodore 64. No can transmission on the external bus. Stripped back the loom tape on the cables going to the bms controller. The blue plug has ten wires :

2x brown with black strip grounds
2x red with white strip 5v supply to slaves (NOT 12V!)
2x blue fault lines
2x yellow with red strip CAN High
2x yellow with brown strip CAN Low

CAN runs at 500kbps.

Attached two captures. One while supply 12v via the external connector to the bms controller and the other while supplying 5v into the red/white wires on the bms internal connector.

Do your stuff Tom:)

Looks really close, however no real clue how the package the remaining 4 voltages.

But if you have a teensy 3.2 with can transceiver or a SimpBMs on hand give the BMW I3 code a go.

No luck with the i3 code so far.

How are you testing it?

The bmw modules need to be powered down, when the get powered on they go through a sequence requested by the BMS master to do checks before reporting anything.

So start up sequence needs to be, power on (5V) can bus from the master.

However might be the stupid checksums vary from I3 to PHEV which would be a pain as that was the most work to figure out.

Making progress on the E39. Modified the mounting frame to take the Prius inverter. Trial fitting looks good so far.