openinverter forum

Hey, yes. Very similar to mine. When I connected it to the gearbox, the resistance of the box brought it back down. It's just that there is no regen settings in there yet so it doesn't act like a e-pedal but I hear James is looking into that

Brilliant mate, thanks for replying.
I don't have a coupler yet or the engine out of the car so can't connect to Freelanders gearbox but dug out the Leaf gearbox and although it has very little drag it was just enough to pull the motor back.
So now the next stage begins, stripping the diseasil out of the freelander.
Good to hear the code is still being updated.

Cookie, did you ever get to the bottom of the Kilovac contactor issue?

I also bought the same kilovacs from that ebay source. I am using different hardware and software to you but what I found is that I quite underestimated the activation current of these contactors. I'd get the negative contactor drop out when the positive contactor came in and so on. I put the scope on it and found these things draw in the order of 5 amps on activation before the economiser kicks. So I applied an external slave relay instead of a PCB relay with very under sized tracks, to drive them and so far - no problem, though I haven't done many tests yet.

Just as a thought but if you want to get an idea of what’s going on with the current you could try replacing the 12v battery with a bench power supply

Yes, A bench power supply is a good idea. Good ones are so expensive.

mackoffgrid wrote: ↑Sun Nov 08, 2020 7:15 am Yes, A bench power supply is a good idea. Good ones are so expensive.

Doesn't need to be a "good" one. A perfectly serviceable one (i.e. 0-30V 0-10A) can be found online for under $100.

jason_arnold wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:45 am Doesn't need to be a "good" one. A perfectly serviceable one (i.e. 0-30V 0-10A) can be found online for under $100.

Indeed.

In my case :
However - saving up to convert my aging Owon DSO for a Rigol 1054. I can only but drool when Damien uses the Keysight scopes.

So I live by my wits and use old car batteries and or cheap chinese smps.

Just going back to your original question, I’ve been using a 250v pack with a Prius HVJB (tiny contactors). Will be using the full 400v leaf pack from next week with a leaf HVJB and also testing out the same Kilovacs for comparrison so will be able to let you know how it performs

mackoffgrid wrote: ↑Sat Nov 07, 2020 6:55 am Cookie, did you ever get to the bottom of the Kilovac contactor issue?

Hey! Sorry, been busy getting back to work. Wasn't ignoring!
It turned out, after EXTENSIVE testing that the Kilovacs seems to be not the cause of my turmoil. It all seemed to come down to noise appearing on the aux USB wires from the Leaf VCU and weeks later, once I had tracked down the issue, the problem with misfiring contactors disappeared. Everytime I go out now and turn the car on, the contactors close just as they should. I still ahve two now in reserve, just in case.

Well done, I bet you smile every time you turn that car on

Ah for sure. I jumped in the car yesterday after 3 weeks of not touching it (If you can believe ) and it clicked into action with not an issue. So happy with the extra work I put in. Just bench testing the new brake boost set up I have before taking things apart again.

Do you run at 196v as your final design voltage? Or just for testing? I'm curious if I build my own pack, do I need to do the whole 400v to push my MG Midget around town at less than 60mph. Would be helpful to run lower voltage for weight, too.

james@N52E01 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 27, 2020 7:43 pm I’m running it comfortably at 196v. The pack sags to 190v under load but the VCU seems quite happy. According to the original 8dromeda info, the Inverter needs to receive a minimum of 140v within 10s of startup, but they changed the info to 180v since then. Not tested the voltage that low.

That ebike controller works great!

No that’s just for testing. As soon as the inverter detects a voltage below 190v for more than a few seconds it seems to shut off so you’d want to run at a voltage that operates under load above that voltage. As a rough rule of thumb the cells I’m using are each at 3.0v with 0% SOC (Nissan normally keep them above this voltage to extend their life), under load they sag to around 2.5v so to avoid carrying around unusable charge my final battery needs a minimum of 190 / 2.5 = 76 cells (38 leaf modules). Building a pack below that number of cells would mean that part of the SOC for each cell would not be usable. Of course other cells and chemistries will have different discharge properties

Hey Guys, I purchased a VCU board from Damien and I am starting to gather the connectors and get the wiring sorted out for a 2011 Leaf motor. I have the motor wiring harness and I am trying to figure out the best place to tap into it for the VCU and what connectors from the harness I will need. Does anyone know what all these connectors go to? Unfortunately, I was not the one who removed my motor and parts from the Leaf vehicle.
Thank you!

Hey.
If it's one of the original VCU's then it is really really simple. Ignore all the wiring above and concentrate on the harness coming out of the inverter. Can H and L, perm 12v, switched 12v and gnd. Think i added some of my schematics in here somewhere too. All is explained in Damien's video from the very beginning:

Follow this and James and my work on this thread and you can't go wrong. Let us know if you need any more detail after a good search of the thread. Lots of info on my videos too

As Cookie said read this thread then go to his project thread (Audi 80E) where he has posted some brilliant photos that will really help.

Thanks guys for the helpful info. I have read through Cookie's Audi thread, and the info there as well as the wiring schematic is helpful. The Leaf VCU documentation and Front End thread seen here is good too: viewtopic.php?t=643

I still think knowing what those plugs go to from the inverter harness is useful as I am deciding on what Leaf parts I will reuse. I was thinking about reusing the DC/DC.

Also, my conversion will use the reduction gearbox. Does anyone know what state the parking pawl is in at rest? As in, will I need to get it working to be able to spin the gearbox? Has anyone been able to use it as an emergency break?

Have you seen this series of videos? There may be some useful info for you.

Does the inverter limit the motor Forward/backward motion when asked to spin up via CAN bus? Or is it originally limited from the original Nissan VCU?

Thinking of copying some Porsche build here on forums and installing it backwards...

Found it and lost it on YouTube comments, but leaf inverter limit reverse rpm to somewhere around 3500rpm.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:01 pm So good news is we can now command positive and negative torque and regen the motor in both directions.

Does this still work with evbmw can boards?
There is comments about only negative torque in the code and i read somewhere that gen1 would only go in reverse.

E: just watched grey goose going both ways on 2nd gear on YouTube for 2nd time, - feeling like a moron.

JaniK wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:01 pm So good news is we can now command positive and negative torque and regen the motor in both directions.

Does this still work with evbmw can boards?
There is comments about only negative torque in the code and i read somewhere that gen1 would only go in reverse.

E: just watched grey goose going both ways on 2nd gear on YouTube for 2nd time, - feeling like a moron.

Awe JaniK, don't beat yourself up. The amount of face palm's that took place during my build, I'm surprised I wasn't asked if I was getting slapped about
I actually completely forgot about the 3,500rpm limit in reverse. How is Performance EV Shane doing it with his Gen 2? Does he have it running the 'right' way?

Cookie6000 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:51 pm

JaniK wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:01 pm So good news is we can now command positive and negative torque and regen the motor in both directions.

Does this still work with evbmw can boards?
There is comments about only negative torque in the code and i read somewhere that gen1 would only go in reverse.

E: just watched grey goose going both ways on 2nd gear on YouTube for 2nd time, - feeling like a moron.

Awe JaniK, don't beat yourself up. The amount of face palm's that took place during my build, I'm surprised I wasn't asked if I was getting slapped about
I actually completely forgot about the 3,500rpm limit in reverse. How is Performance EV Shane doing it with his Gen 2? Does he have it running the 'right' way?

Thanks for that

Shane has motor backwards, so he drives Forward in reverse.
But he has gen2 with Hüebner board that replaces original nissan control board in the inverter. So he can drive full speed both ways.
- I think.

LED1 is flashing at me!

There are no 32pin connectors or housings this summer,
So I ghetto modded VCU in a old "TV on demand" box and used random connectors that I had laying around. Yours, - Cheap S.

JaniK wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 7:06 pm LED1 is flashing at me!

There are no 32pin connectors or housings this summer,
So I ghetto modded VCU in a old "TV on demand" box and used random connectors that I had laying around.
16210190032482519117506721305350.jpg

Yours, - Cheap S.

Run what you brung.
Have you been able to test it yet?

Alibro wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 10:19 pm

JaniK wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 7:06 pm LED1 is flashing at me!

There are no 32pin connectors or housings this summer,
So I ghetto modded VCU in a old "TV on demand" box and used random connectors that I had laying around.
16210190032482519117506721305350.jpg

Yours, - Cheap S.

Run what you brung.
Have you been able to test it yet?

I just calibrated throttle last night, showing values between 0-100 in serial monitor now. (pedal sensor CH1 was broken, I thought I messed up something and spent like half an hour until opened the pedal and I realised what is going on, a rub/wear out. CH2 is working great.)

Next "night shift" I will tackle the inverter-VCU wiring.

Need to find time to wire up some HV later to inverter.