[Driving] Leyland 255 Tractor - Nissan Leaf EM61

[RetroZero]

So you ditched the VAG charger set-up. You didn't get any further with it before pulling it all out?

[LRBen]

So you ditched the VAG charger set-up. You didn't get any further with it before pulling it all out?

No I didn't manage to get past basic charging. Didn't make much sense to carry on with it as the MG charger can do allot more in a smaller package and without the hassle of having to recode it.

[LRBen]

Hit a nice milestone in the battery refit this weekend. All the modules are in, with most of the HV cabling done to the point of being able to get the lid on. I still need to finish off the 12v wiring inside the box and the rest of the tractor, plus a little bit on the HV side.

[LRBen]

Battery is now all in along with all the 12v wiring. Next on the EV side is MG charger testing/hacking.

Also have some more restoration to do, threw a few body panels back on which all need a little bit of welding and some new window rubbers.

[Bratitude]

I love that a tractor has ccs. Need more build loogs on upgrading old equipment

*edited*

[Alibro]

Battery is now all in along with all the 12v wiring. Next on the EV side is MG charger testing/hacking.

Also have some more restoration to do, threw a few body panels back on which all need a little bit of welding and some new window rubbers.

PXL_20250405_154133489.MP.jpg

Looking amazing mate, well done.

[LRBen]

Got the toys out of the shed today to rearrange things. Tractor is now at the front of the shed ready to do some work.

I've been building on the MG charger reverse engineering by Damien and have the DC-DC running in a zombie module. I have also got it charging with some static messages, to the point where I actually need to go out and drain the battery so I can keep experimenting with the charging messages. Last things to work out on the charging is to get it to shut down quickly and also current ramping down.
On the V2L side I haven't had any luck so far, but I will keep trying.

Still a few bits of restoration to do as well but that list is getting smaller and smaller.

Going out tomorrow with the finger bar mower to cut down some nettles so I might try and get some drone footage of that.

On the paperwork side I sent that off to the DVLA last week and now have to book an inspection. I'm not all that worried about this one, like the quad bike it's agricultural so no worries about road tax. I want to keep building up some history with the DVLA so they hopefully play nice with the Land Rover.

[LRBen]

Short drone shot. It seems driving a tractor and a drone at the same time is quite difficult. No fancy auto follow on my drone.

[LRBen]

Finally done the first bit of actual hard work with the electric Leyland today. Had it on the hay rake rolling up for the baler. I was quite happy with the results. The power usage was really much lower than I was expecting. This isn't a small rake, a bit big for the tractor really given it will lift the front wheels off the ground allot when I'm trying to turn around at the end of each row. But max power draw I saw was about 11kW when I was going uphill, going down hill and hitting the rpm limit I would only pull around 4kW. The motor hardly noticed, in 31C ambient temperatures the motor maxed at 41C and inverter at around 36C.
So for being out for several hours I only used around 13kWh of power.

I didn't have it fully charged to start with, but we had to stop because of a flat tyre on the rake rather than needing to recharge. It's really very encouraging on what this tractor can usefully do. I will try and get it on a small square baler as I think the power requirements for those are also quite small. The big round baler is probably too much to ask as the PTO requirements for that are around 50kW, no question it will run it, but just not for a useful amount of time.

I also got it insured last week and the new logbook came back last month. So I would now call this complete on the paperwork side at least. Still need to put the bonnet on one of these days! I also bought an LED light bar and some rear work lights for winter work.

[bexander]

Very cool!

The big round baler is probably too much to ask as the PTO requirements for that are around 50kW, no question it will run it, but just not for a useful amount of time.

Would be very interesting to know how long the motor could sustain that amount of power...

[jrbe]

Sounds like the bailer needs it's own battery and maybe it's own leaf motor. 50kw is pretty massive, what's the run time look like for your needs? 50kw continuous or peak?

[LRBen]

Very cool!



Would be very interesting to know how long the motor could sustain that amount of power...

Might need a bigger radiator that's for sure!

[LRBen]

Sounds like the bailer needs it's own battery and maybe it's own leaf motor. 50kw is pretty massive, what's the run time look like for your needs? 50kw continuous or peak?

I am assuming it will be fairly continuous power for a baler. To be fair that big round baler is too big for my tractor pre-conversion anyway. I'll try it with a baler more suitable to the size and original age.
A quick bit of googling suggests I'll only need 25kW to run a small square baler. That seems reasonable power wise, I'll see if I can get a go on one this season.

[jrbe]

I am assuming it will be fairly continuous power for a baler. To be fair that big round baler is too big for my tractor pre-conversion anyway. I'll try it with a baler more suitable to the size and original age.
A quick bit of googling suggests I'll only need 25kW to run a small square baler. That seems reasonable power wise, I'll see if I can get a go on one this season.

Is the PTO geared down 2.75:1? This could mean 18kw at the leaf motor, I think... Or are they considering that already? Or does the bailer ratio the PTO speed back up? There may be a way to gear down the motor more to bring motor speed up and power requirements down. Leaf motor can spin way faster than a diesel. But this may also be too much for your transmission.

[LRBen]

Is the PTO geared down 2.75:1? This could mean 18kw at the leaf motor, I think... Or are they considering that already? Or does the bailer ratio the PTO speed back up? There may be a way to gear down the motor more to bring motor speed up and power requirements down. Leaf motor can spin way faster than a diesel. But this may also be too much for your transmission.

Power is power, gearing it up and down changes the speed and torque but doesn't change the required power. 25kW continuous should be fine for the leaf motor anyway so that's not too much of a problem.

[marcexec]

Congrats Ben, one can hear the EV grin between the lines
As it's an iconic project, I'd like to show your overview video

at Dublin Maker (viewtopic.php?p=82115) if that's OK? Even better if you had slides by any chance.

[LRBen]

Congrats Ben, one can hear the EV grin between the lines
As it's an iconic project, I'd like to show your overview video

at Dublin Maker (viewtopic.php?p=82115) if that's OK? Even better if you had slides by any chance.

Go for it. That video is a bit outdated, I really need to do an update on it. I'll PM you a link to my album with tons of newer photos as well.

[LRBen]

Haven't managed to do any baling yet so far with the tractor. But I did use it last weekend to bring a field of square bales in, around 6-7 trips back and forth. Energy usage is so small it could do this for a couple days on a single charge.
The torque is great though, just leave it in top gear and it goes anywhere even with a full load on the back.

This weeked I brought it down to my house in preparation for the Mid-Somerset show. About 10 miles which it did just fine. On the way I took the oportunity to test a CCS charger. I wasn't sure quite how it would go as I didn't have time to log into FOCCCI and check any settings. My setup isn't quite right right so my SoC isn't that accurate currently. However to my surprise it click in and started to CCS charge first time! I didn't stay for long as the battery was still quite high.

Rather annoyingly I didn't take any photos from the show today, but here's one from a smaller show I dropped into last weekend in-between getting the bales in.

With a good bit of road use I have decided that I will be removing the flywheel and clutch arrangement over winter. It isn't mounted 100% centred so it is limiting my rpm more than it should. This doesn't make any difference in the field but on the road it does make it a tiny bit too slow. I never use the drive train clutch anyway and I have found that I don't really need the PTO clutch either. Since I can spin the motor down instantly it's not like having to turn an engine off to engage PTO drive or change gears.
With the flywheel removed I know the gearbox can take allot more RPM than standard as it's used stock in tractor pulling builds well over this sort of power.

[LRBen]

I picked up a small mower a couple weeks ago. There is about 25 acres coming up for rent so I'm planning to take that on and see how a bit of hay making goes next year. The plan is to do it all via electric power, mowing, tedding, rowing, baling.

Now the tractor is back in the workshop for the next series of improvements following doing some actual work this year. First thing is to get the flywheel and clutch out and replace it all with a direct drive interface. The tricky bit will be connecting up the PTO shaft as well. I expect I will keep some parts of the assembly but just without the very heavy flywheel or clutch parts. This will also remove all the pedals from the left side of the cab.

Also planned this time is a rewiring of the fusebox since it all has to come out anyway. I have a full idea of what is required now so I'll get some nice modular fuses boxes and get it all neat and tidy. It was a little messy to be taking to shows this year so can't really have that next year!

Once that's done I'll get a chance to do a bit more with the MG charger, still to get V2L working but I'm sure we will get there. I also have a BMS board coming for the module MAX chipsets. So we will get to test Tom's code on an almost full pack.