[DRIVING] Opel Omega B2 + GS450H (the "EVOmega")

Tell us about the project you do with the open inverter
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

How do you like the look of very expensive? The not very expensive option is to the left.
20220717_153218.jpg

I have to house the HV junction box at the original 12V battery location. As the 12V battery isn't really a service item and I didn't want to run super thick 12V cables to the rear, I placed it underneath the front battery box, next to the cabin heater. These are both mounted now to my satisfaction, and, as I type this, the steel parts are getting accustomed to their new coat of paint.
20220717_234634.jpg
20220717_230007.jpg
20220718_001323.jpg

Upgraded my hoist a bit to make sure I don't drop very expensive
20220717_204727.jpg
evMacGyver
Posts: 108
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:44 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by evMacGyver »

I like your battery box, looks much lighter than steel one that I build, which also took ages to build. What size and type of aluminum bar you are using?
arber333
Posts: 3241
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:37 pm
Location: Slovenia
Has thanked: 74 times
Been thanked: 223 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by arber333 »

Interesting. Any specific reason you built it from segmented alu fins instead of bending from full alu sheet?
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Those are 20x80 profiles. I use them because they match the module side profile quite usefully, and I need those sides to be extra rigid because the box has to be 2mm thick at the ends due to space constraints. Also I have had time constraints when designing it, and I wasn't sure if I could find a place to bend sheet metal. Well, as you can see I did find one, but that was after I made the design. This design could have been made caveman style if I had to.
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Work dumb, not hard. I was getting a headache from thinking about installing the charger to the rear, so I... installed it to the front. By the blessing of some kind of Automotive Jebus it fit there just fine. I also managed to do a lot of plumbing and wiring. I spent too much time tidying up harnesses though - that could be done much, much later.

So... today started with this:
20220718_101745.jpg
And ended with this:
20220719_011057.jpg
At the front there were originally three fans, two pushers and one puller. I installed one of the pusher fans in its original location and zip tied a small radiator in front of it, to cool the electronics. I'm still waiting for a second radiator into which I'll route the battery loop. It should fit in front of that same fan.

Mounting the GS450H oil pump controller took way too much time, and the bracket I did that with happened to be stainless steel so I even destroyed a 10mm drill bit in the process. I'd prefer having a rusty bracket in exchange for my drill bit.

I also installed the power steering pump with its return line and electrical connections. Works ok. See it? It's already installed in the photo! :mrgreen: Some day I need to come back to the physical mounting but I'm not expecting it to fall off so it's fine for now.

This thing is getting even more ridiculous - I have the motor, the inverter, a 3kW AC charger, the original 12V battery, a cabin heater, a power steering pump and one of the original radiator fans and all at the front. In addition to the 47kWh front battery pack and a HV junction box with Chademo (TBD). I think my secret sauce is that this pretty much has the serviceability of a Bentley. The serviceability is amazing as long as you hoist out the 250kg battery first.
Pete9008
Posts: 1801
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2022 1:57 pm
Has thanked: 102 times
Been thanked: 347 times

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by Pete9008 »

Amazing rate of progress here, looking great too!
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Installed HV stuff in the small space on top of the front battery box. The expensive alu profiles show an added benefit here, as I happened to have some of the appropriate cage nuts to go with them. How many? Only 1 left now. I'm that efficient. Also crimped two internal 50mm2 wires but didn't install yet.
20220719_105425.jpg
20220719_113750.jpg
Then I quickly modified the original Tesla harness into something I can use and wired up the BMS to see if everything worked. Had to modify the code a bit to get it going. Then noticed one of the modules looked like it had a broken sense wire, inspected it, and found two detached wires on the bottom (as they always are).
20220719_182939.jpg
20220719_184623.jpg
20220719_184844.jpg
Bring the big guns!
20220719_190141.jpg
Works for me. Literally. I've driven more than 60 000 km with a similar fix so far in the Previa. This does require trickery, though. That's an aluminium plate with some kind of coating.
20220719_190902.jpg
While I'm waiting for some high power connectors (the cheapest I could find), let's see what's on the other side...

More work of course!
20220719_210811.jpg
That's my plumbing chair and the end result for today. 4 done, 5 to go tomorrow, 4 more to go Some Time Later. It's not fun to install these kind of thick fuel hoses directly into the male connectors pretending they are hose nipples as the hoses Just Don't Want To Go, but it's possible with enough heat, trickery and brute force. Notice the unsystematic use of hose clamps? I'm leaving it like that. :mrgreen:
20220720_012458.jpg
20220720_012525.jpg
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

I was wondering how I'm going to get air out of the cooling loop, so I grabbed some Tesla hose connectors and... just went on with that idea. I had the space for these available and they were easier to reuse than trying to get the hoses on the non-nipples.

3D printed spacers to block the modules from sliding on the rails are also visible, and some adhesive sealant. The side plate is going on, with HV connectors. Those are Amphenol's cheapest 350A offering at the time of browsing Mouser, or something like that. I even managed to get them keyed, but didn't manage to find matching colors. Also, no HVIL. Might 3D print something later.
20220721_211652.jpg
20220721_212715.jpg
20220721_214708.jpg
Turn the box around, and we have the scary side. Installing the module interconnects in this box is NOT enjoyable at all. There's very conductive very sharp alu profile very close to everything, the terminals are stacked on top of each other, the plumbing on the other end of the modules prevents pulling the modules forward much at all. Basically you just try to maintain focus and hope you'll die some other day for some other reason. And add lots of electrical tape on your spanner. And work with only one hand wherever possible.
20220722_004714.jpg
Ready to provide some juice. 3.98V/cell.
20220722_010109.jpg
Add some insulating fiber sheet (the Tesla variety) on the aluminium side plate, Add the spacers, add the adhesive sealant, screw on the side plate. Also seen are the final cables from the module terminals prepared with orange tape and a protective sleeve where there are sharp corners.
20220722_011719.jpg
20220722_012526.jpg
20220722_014915.jpg
Speedy
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:15 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by Speedy »

Quality work!!

Proper engineering.
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

I hoisted the battery in and managed to make the car driveable again. This is a yet another temporary set-up but it's nice to have it on the road for proper testing and tweaking.

The 100kg pack behind the rear axle should balance the stance a bit. But the rear has to be high so that it can be loaded with the amount of cargo that the Omega is capable of carrying.
20220722_171744.jpg
20220722_172455sc.jpg
20220722_174245sc.jpg
User avatar
johu
Site Admin
Posts: 5683
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:52 pm
Location: Kassel/Germany
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 960 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by johu »

Today 22nd of July, first post 6th of June. That is 46 days. And you're basically done. I reckon quickest conversion without a bolt-on kit so far.

Certainly your contactors are more accessible than mine.

Where will the DC charge port be tied in?
Support R/D and forum on Patreon: https://patreon.com/openinverter - Subscribe on odysee: https://odysee.com/@openinverter:9
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Chademo will be at the front. I'll probably need to modify the grill in some way and put it there.

Saying this is done is funny. I still have 26 to-do items on my list before Chademo.

EDIT: Here's a summary of the current state of things:
- Half of the front battery mounting bolt holes don't match the threaded hole position, so I can't mount it properly,
- there's no way to charge the battery without key on and I don't have a second key to lock the doors with when the only key is in use already for the charging,
- and no Chademo of course.
- Many things haven't been mounted, like the vacuum pump, tye HVJB, the VCU, the BMS box, the fuse and relay boxes, and there are still more boxes to come and some of the existing ones will probably have to be moved around also requiring wiring work.
- The shifter linkage needs an extra support to be designed and made so that it doesn't flop around underneath the car.
- Nothing has been done for the rear battery pack,
- the HVJB doesn't have fuses for the heater or charger, and
- the heater isn't even connected, no HV, no signals,
- the front battery pack doesn't have a proper cover, and there isn't even a design for how to get the signal cables out of there in a watertight and serviceable manner.
- The battery coolant hoses go nowhere (I need both cooling and heating),
- I haven't even received the radiator for the batteries.
- There's no indication of anything happening whatsoever in the dash or anywhere else that you would look in. You don't know if the car is in gear, or if it's charging, or if there's a problem. None of the dash, shifter LEDs or anything in the cabin has CAN so it all needs wires run sonewhere and connected to something that has the required outputs.
- TC light is on. The ABS unit lights that up as it wants to hear CAN from the original ECU and TCU.
- There's no cruise control,
- the propshaft adapter still isn't in perfect balance (not sure if it will pass inspection like this),
- there's no air conditioning and I'm not sure where the room for that even is anymore,
- the coolant pump for the cabin heater has the wrong connector plugged into it and it isn't waterproof so corrosion problems will occur.

Fixing many of these is required for the modified vehicle inspection. Personally I would call it done only when it passes that.
evMacGyver
Posts: 108
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:44 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by evMacGyver »

Conversion took me over a year, but yeah, I was lazy. Inspection passed and using as daily driven, still _everything_ is not done. Like cruise, AC or even radiator yet.

I truly hope some day in the future you'll look into buck/boost of gs450h inverter. Would be super to use it for 3ph charging. I got spare inverter and perhaps during winter I'll look into that..
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Double decker HVJB and a quick aero mod.

I hate these IP55 boxes but it was all I could get for now and they're a good size. I'll add lots of sealant to make them waterproof.

I also spent lots of time trying to figure out the original cooling fan circuits. Didn't go quite as planned but in the end I managed to wire it up and now my software is able to turn on the fan whenever I want it todo so. Except that it doesn't work with the ignition key off, I think. Well, that's for the future.

20220724_162404.jpg
20220724_220910.jpg
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Hung a big bunch of cables and hoses to the bottom (what an absolute pain) and continued building a temporary rear battery pack. Later, the spare wheel well will be extended and this same pack will be lowered into it. Also, meanwhile working on the signal harnesses.

I really want this driving in a day or two. Any bets? Chademo this week? This is madness, I'm supposed to be on vacation. :mrgreen:

20220726_151927.jpg
20220726_162528.jpg
20220726_204334.jpg
20220726_140228.jpg
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Connected the temporary rear pack electrically and made it structurally reasonable.

Weighed the car. With me inside (60kg), it's 1100kg front, 860kg rear. The maximum allowed front axle mass is 1080kg. I think I went too far with the front pack. Might have to move one or two more modules to the rear to get this inspected. Without passengers the front mass is 1070kg, so I could try my luck I guess.

Tested the outlander OBC on a public charging station. Works fine.

Plumbed the battery system at the front to a pump, heat exchanger and the header tank. The pump is a temporary brushed one that was in the Omega originally. I don't expect it to last for more than some hundreds of hours. I ordered a Bosch PCE pump and will be installing it to the battery loop.

I also plumbed the rear pack.

Bleeding the air from this battery system was a PITA as the pump is underpowered and the air has to be let out right next to the bare metal cells at high voltages. This isn't smart at all, I need to add some sort of bleed hoses with hose caps that extend outside the HV enclosure. Anyway, it seems to be bled now. The only way I will know is when I implement Chademo and see if all the modules get cooled or not.

20220727_130107.jpg
20220727_143027.jpg
20220727_193434.jpg
20220727_220228.jpg
20220727_225549.jpg
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

It was Chademo Day today. I didn't get a good photo of the final setup with all the 12V stuff wired, but the first photo shows the work well in progress, HV already connected.
20220728_135710.jpg
I got the Leaf Chademo port, the same one I already use in the Previa, so I could just take the Chademo controller from the Previa and plug & pray. I wasn't confident in what the first controller showed on my test set-up (based on those measurements I have no idea how it can work on a charger... have to test on the Previa to see whether I broke it or whether it's just weird), so I switched to another one I had made which plugs into the same connectors.
20220728_135958.jpg
Then it was a matter of making this connector, with pins GND, CAN H, CAN L, Contactor output (open drain) and +12V power (looping the CAN cables back and forth to maintain correct bus topology) and fishing it into the necessary locations.
20220728_152203.jpg
The Chademo code needed some porting and upgrading, which I did. Having a codebase that I have written myself and know very well is critical in getting this to work essentially within a single day.

I also finalized charging while the ignition key is off. This works so that the system stays partly powered up for a while after the car is shut down, and if charging starts, the BMS continues powering the system. The BMS reads the ignition key signal, and powers the rest of the system via a relay. The BMS is internally switched on from a shutdown mode by the ignition key signal. I had to further modify the board-that-i-"borrowed"-from-work-which-is-now-the-BMS to support all this. It has too many hardwired shutdowns of outputs that I had to disable in the case that I want to power those outputs when the ignition key signal is off.
20220728_222334.jpg
I went to test Chademo on a Tritium Veefil charger and it worked on first try. Nice! No photos, was busy saving diagnostic logs. You've all seen one of those charging a DIY EV anyway. :mrgreen:

Access to the Chademo port is based on opening the hood for now. But there's some opportunity here to make it otherwise once I have the time after some weeks.

The shock absorber bearings are making a miserable noise when turning. Both of them. They must have been making it when I bought this car but you couldn't hear them over the ICE. Goes on the list of things with which it might not pass inspection.

The final setup is reasonably clean. Also taped up the BMS cover using black duct tape.

20220728_224406sc.jpg
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Did Outlander heater wiring, ISA shunt wiring, and here are the charging photos I didn't have last time.

I took off for the road trip and the problems I've had so far are:
- The rear pack communication is very flaky, it works ok once it gets going but initialization almost never works.
- My BMS doesn't like the amount of traffic on the bus now. I need to work on the code to eat messages at a faster rate or spread the modules on more buses. The VCU has an extra bus also. Meanwhile I disabled and disconnected the heater to get the traffic on working level.
- Something related to gear selection and mg2 speed limits bugged out on the VCU effectively disabling reverse and I fixed it by declaring some variables volatile. Yay for obscure embedded C++ problems. While debugging that, I noticed the shifter connector on the transmissiom seemed to be corroded. I need to fill it with grease when I have the time and the grease.

Got cruise control implemented by porting some code from the Previa. The car drives super nice once I get it going.

Consumption looks to be around 165Wh/km at mixed 80km/h and 100km/h driving.

Not sure about the pack SoH yet.

20220729_163923.jpg
20220730_152111.jpg
20220731_184429.jpg
20220731_203016.jpg
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

1000km road trip in 2 months from engine removal: done! :mrgreen:

It seems with these BMS and CAN issues every day I'm closer to having to call the tow truck...

I'm 600km from home now. Wish me luck.

20220805_124023.jpg
20220805_130125.jpg
User avatar
Bigpie
Posts: 1585
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:11 pm
Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Has thanked: 74 times
Been thanked: 299 times

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by Bigpie »

That's crazy :D
VW Beetle 2003
Outlander front generator
Prius Gen 3 inverter (EVBMW logic board)
Outlander charger
3x Golf GTE batteries
Chademo Charging
Outlander water heater
User avatar
johu
Site Admin
Posts: 5683
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:52 pm
Location: Kassel/Germany
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 960 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by johu »

But you said you weren't done :D

Is it risky in Finland to drive around with the car not yet approved?
Support R/D and forum on Patreon: https://patreon.com/openinverter - Subscribe on odysee: https://odysee.com/@openinverter:9
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Well, I have legit plates on it. I don't know how much I'd be fined if the authorities were to find out what's under the hood. It basically can pass inspection almost as-is (with a quick trip to the hardware store and a few extra pages of documentation) so I don't think it's a big deal.
User avatar
celeron55
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 110 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by celeron55 »

Got home last night. Total 1889km on the trip.

The next to-dos in the project will be:
- Final rear battery box including enlarging the spare wheel well. Possibly with 5 modules instead of 4, moving 1 from the front to the rear to create more reasonable weight distribution, or alternatively I'll move the 12V battery and the AC charger to the rear. Will have to decide.
- The CANbus is a mess. If I connect the heater to the bus, the thing becomes practically undriveable. So, I need to figure that out.
- Initialization of communication to the rear battery modules doesn't really work. I need to supply 5V from a power bank to the BMS before turning the key. Then it works every time. Why? No idea. But I'll need to figure that out. I might add an auxiliary BMS to the rear and connect that via CANbus
- The propshaft adapter is still shaky at sub 15km/h speeds and the inspector might not like that at all. I need to shim it more precisely to get rid of it trying to swim like a fish.
- Some fast chargers don't detect the car at all. I have no idea why. I follow the standard very precisely so I blame the chargers. However that means I got too close to being stranded on the road trip which wasn't fun. Maybe I'll just order a CCS connector and skip right to that? We'll see.
- Probably something else that I forget

Here's a happy photo of the last charging stop on the trip. That's an ABB charger. Those things always work. In the background is a row of Kempower CCS units. The ABB charger has probably been raised up like that because of snow in the winter.

20220807_211603_small.jpg
arber333
Posts: 3241
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:37 pm
Location: Slovenia
Has thanked: 74 times
Been thanked: 223 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by arber333 »

celeron55 wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:56 am Got home last night. Total 1889km on the trip.
....
- The CANbus is a mess. If I connect the heater to the bus, the thing becomes practically undriveable. So, I need to figure that out.
Congratulations! That was really fast proof of concept :).

Did you check if there are any IDs being used which heater reports out...
I found out that CAN bus can sometimes fault out because of too long wires out from the main bus.
Or once i made a mistake and looped one line to one side and one to the other side. They were all of the same length and system couldnt decide which one was the last one in line :). It helped when i shorten wires on one side and put terminator resistor on the other.
User avatar
johu
Site Admin
Posts: 5683
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:52 pm
Location: Kassel/Germany
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 960 times
Contact:

Re: Opel Omega B2 + GS450H

Post by johu »

celeron55 wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:56 am - Some fast chargers don't detect the car at all. I have no idea why. I follow the standard very precisely so I blame the chargers. However that means I got too close to being stranded on the road trip which wasn't fun. Maybe I'll just order a CCS connector and skip right to that? We'll see.
Did those detect an other car? Are you pulling proximity to 12V with some resistor?
Not quite sure how this "detection" works anyway. But as soon as you plug in the screen says "Connection ok". Haven't found anything in the standard but may have not read it very thoroughly.
Support R/D and forum on Patreon: https://patreon.com/openinverter - Subscribe on odysee: https://odysee.com/@openinverter:9
Post Reply