[DRIVING] BMW Touring + phev motor & inverter

[Ev8]

^^^ yes this, my bms is permanently live, just make sure I pull the bms fuse before going on holiday

[Bigpie]

My delta is pretty large at the moment. 121mV. Most cells are around 3.87, I've got 1 full module of around 3.93V and 1 module in my second pack where the first 7 cells around 3.81 and the rest at 3.87. The delta at around 50% SoC drops to around 40mV.

[FFMan]

Just spending a little time refining the dash and charging etc. A few screen shots from my Arduino+nextion.

[FFMan]

So first official run today to work, now fully taxed insured etc.

42 mile round trip - top up (free) at work and all good. Only thing that didn't work was the radio !

Log file attached for anyone that is interested on outward leg of some 18 miles. Most columns are sensible but a few are WIP.

Charging regime of 90% charge then top up 1 hour before leaving works well.

All in all a right result - very happy with the outcome

Thank you to all who helped me get this far, couldn't have done it without your support.

My params are posted in the database for any similar setups.

[Bigpie]

Awesome work. Get a another battery and charge only at work if it's free

[FFMan]

Awesome work. Get a another battery and charge only at work if it's free

For sure. Scouting for another battery already and hoping work will proceed with plans for 'proper' chargers at their usual pace i.e. glacially

[streber]

I'm very interested in the battery box you've built. Do you have any more photos/designs you could share? Right now I've got the battery taking up the whole back of the car and hoping to swap for a BMW pack that will fit in the engine bay.

[FFMan]

I'm very interested in the battery box you've built. Do you have any more photos/designs you could share? Right now I've got the battery taking up the whole back of the car and hoping to swap for a BMW pack that will fit in the engine bay.

i'll grab some pictures of the rear install this weekend as i have some more work to do n on that, but suffice to say, in the rear i have 2 x BMW 60v packs in the wheel well and 4 more above, which raise the boot floor 35mm.

I'll take some pictures of the front shortly as i have to have it all out to change the wiring and contactor setup for the 2nd pack install. But to say i have a 'ply' would platform just above the front ARB using the ARB mounts. On thet platform is 2 x 60v packs and the phev charger. Above that on a ply platform secured to the ledge formed by the monocoque are 4 x 60v packs, and over that on stilts is a light platform with the contactors and (at the moment) my arduino. Weather proofing at the moment is provide by a still but flexible plastic liner going round the front and 2 sides of the pack and ensures any water drains outside the pack area. The E46 drip tray the pollen filter sits in has the drain apertures extended to drain water below the motor.

when i say 'ply' i mean a type of laminated ply that is used in caravan construction. It is very strong, light and moisture resistant, and best of all doesn't conduct electricity. I get that it might be frowned upon, as i have seen some lovely metal work battery boxes but i think it is adequate and all batteries are within the crash structure, not underneath or outside any strong points.

I'll add some pictures over the next few days.

[streber]

Thanks for the description. Looking forward to the pics.

My whole battery is on a thick sheet of plywood in the back of my touring, so nothing wrong with some carpentry

https://ev46.halfast.com/2021/01/10/battery-coolant/

[FFMan]

The rear install just awaiting hv cable to run to front.

[FFMan]

So the second pack got wired in, including BMS. I then charged each pack so they were within 10mv of each other and paralelled them together, and they've been like that for a week. With the new contactor box there is a only 12v drain when the charger is plugged in or i'm driving.

Have not range tested yet but feels like 60-70 miles from the now 21kwh pack. When i have time i will fully charge and do a long drive and get the numbers off the shunt. At the moment the SOC is guessed from the cell voltage after charging. There is much less voltage sag with the two packs as one would expect.

This weekend the cabin heater goes in

[Bigpie]

Awesome work. My second pack made a huge difference. Would love 40 kWh in project 2.

Outlander heater?

[FFMan]

Awesome work. My second pack made a huge difference. Would love 40 kWh in project 2.

Outlander heater?

Yep outlander heater and small pump with small expansion bottle.

Have programmed in a preheat mode so i can warm the car (which saves the battery when it's plugged in), but that requires i cut into the heater fan wires so i can run that in charge mode regardless of setting in the cabin, so that'll be next weekends job most likely. It's easy access from the bonnet on an e46.

BTW took the car to a local show last week, it got tons of interest, steady stream of people (i like to think of them as fans and an offer of a tour round electrogenic who do bespoke and drop in ev kits and are really local to us. Maybe some work experience for my son also. You just never know where these things lead. It's spurred me on to tidy up the wiring into a proper loom etc so it looks good under there.

[Bigpie]

Think I've spoke to them before. Julian?

[FFMan]

Think I've spoke to them before. Julian?

we met with Louis and Hulio and the marketing lady Vic

[Bigpie]

Actually, it was a different company altogether. You up for doing an EV conversion chat with bobby_come_lately about your project btw?

[FFMan]

Actually, it was a different company altogether. You up for doing an EV conversion chat with bobby_come_lately about your project btw?

we got a factory tour booked for monday - they insisted i bought the ev I did note they use the same power steering pump as i used from the touran (I think).

Yep happy to talk to bobby any time.

[chentron]

dear, nice work. your nextion display is amazing .
what logic board are you using in the inverter ? Is it a openinverter "standard" like this ?
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Main_Boar ... er_Summary

[FFMan]

dear, nice work. your nextion display is amazing .
what logic board are you using in the inverter ? Is it a openinverter "standard" like this ?
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Main_Boar ... er_Summary

Nextion is great and not hard to use with Arduino.

The logic board is a Toyota drop in from https://www.evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-w ... ted-boards used with a Prius inverter. It's openinverter but a toyota footprint.

[FFMan]

Calibration run this morning, charged to 4.05 on highest cell and ran down to about 3.25 dynamic covering 65miles and 180400 amp/seconds. The mileage is useful but its the amp/seconds value that i use for calibration.

Pretty pleased with that from 21kwh

[rstevens81]

Does look very promising any idea how much you car weighs in at?
Definitely a real useable range assuming fast charges every 50 miles or so, plus you can probably squeeze another 5% by pushing them to 4.1v/cell.
edit: DOH!! just saw why you charged to only 4.05v on the other thread very strange.

[FFMan]

i could charge to 4.1 but i don't intend to charge the car away from home, its built for local trips, me to work, kids to school, ferrying kids round town which is about 90% of our journeys.

I wouldn't generally contemplate a journey that requires public charging, because it charges very slowly and at public electricity prices its way more than running a petrol car, which we still have a few of. It's a local car for local trips

[FFMan]

About time i updated this post.

After about 1000 miles of happy driving for reasons that still aren't clear the car went into a gradual decline. First of all it would trip once every few mornings as i reversed out of its parking space,. Once going it was always ok, but the trips increased frequency and started taking more resets to get going until it got to the point where it wasn't reliable enough to use, and further testing got it to a point where it wouldn't turn at all. Shame was i'd got rid of the volvo as the electric car was being used daily, so i had to use the Transit Jumbo camper van as my daily. Not ideal, cold in winter and too tall for some car parks.

The saga is the subject of 'morning trips' post, suffice to say i spent over 6 full days troubleshooting everything, swapped the inverter, swapped the gearbox thinking it was a mechanical issue, checked the wiring, bypassed the contactors, tried another V1c board (but that was inconclusive as i think it had another fault) until i get to the point i think it must be the v1c board. Mine had a troubled start in life due to covid, my bad smt soldering, component swaps and some corrosion.

Eventually the only next step was a new v1c board, but not cheap, not quick and felt risky, so opted to go down the OEM route with Outlander inverter home built zombie controller (as the rest of the car was all working (dash, ABS etc)).

The unit has been bench tested and is in the process of being fitted. Hopefully tomorrow i'll get to test it. Mounting the OEM inverter is a little more challenging due to the shape but perfectly doable.

Will update shortly and change my sig to reflect the build all being well.

[FFMan]

Just a quick update now EV is back in regular use.

Full OEM combo is definitely smoother and probably 20% quicker than when coupled with Prius inverter. No surprise really, i suspect the Prius option could have got there with further tuning. Also, driver can plant the throttle without fear of trips which is a bonus.

[FFMan]

So for some reason whilst i was working on the regen ramping in the code the dcec stopped working and we limped home on 9v.

In trouble-shooting that decided to finally start the 'big rewire' and take out my prototype loom and arduino and put in the new PCB and enclosed wiring. So that is this weekends task. Hopefully the DCDC will come back to life along the way.