EV car conversion hardware

[SciroccoEV]

Well, the only bad side is they won't prevent electric arc at higher voltage when disconnect, but it need some malfunction to happen in invertor while under load.

A "Malfunction" is exactly when you need those ratings!

[konstantin8818]

A "Malfunction" is exactly when you need those ratings!

And that is why I also got HV line kill switch=) And fuse rated at 400A. Just in case.

[xp677]

I just noticed that we haven't mentioned the Pierburg CWA series water pumps. These are variable speed (PWM) controlled electric water pumps, they come in many different power ratings and are fitted to most BMW cars. I'm using a CWA200 from a BMW 3 series.

They have a 4-wire connector, for +12V, PWM, feedback (over a proprietary protocol), GND. In that order, I believe.

Inside is a boost converter to (I believe) 36V, and a small 3 phase inverter to run a brushless motor. Construction is all aluminium, and it looks like a baby turbocharger, which is a plus.







38mm (I think?) ports for inlet and outlet. I cut these off and welded on some aluminium collars tapped to 3/4 BSP to take a "standard" hose barb fitting.



I paid £22 for each of these pumps on eBay. I bought one to tear apart (plan was to make my own inverter, before I realised they accepted basic PWM), and one to use.

[xp677]

For auxiliary cooling (to run a heater/heatercore on a separate cooling loop), I used the GS450h auxiliary water pump. This is not to be confused with the inverter cooling pump. These are smaller, lower output water pumps, which are not suitable for drivetrain cooling, but are adequate to run a cabin heater system. There are plenty of other options from BMW, mercedes, etc, and you shouldn't need to pay more than £15 for any of them.

No control on these, I built my own PWM circuit to control mine using a 30A FD47N MOSFET.

[Jack Bauer]

Yeah I'm using one in the E46 touring. The data pin is called BSD. Bit Stream Serial Data. It reports an incredible amount of data including pump rpm , water temp, run time etc etc. As far as i know they are not pwm controlled. The pin you identified as pwm is just an ignition +12v. Of course I could be wrong.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e91- ... mp/Xg8ayLq

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e90- ... g/CkZZ9efB

[xp677]

Great info, thanks Damien. I did test this pump on the bench with a PWM input, and got varying results with different duty cycles. However this may just be the result of me switching the enable line on and off, which the pump may not be designed for.

I'll see how it responds when there is a load on it. I do know that these are variable speed pumps, there is an external controller which is available to control the speed of these pumps and read the feedback:

https://www.tecomotive.com/en/products/tinycwa.html

[arber333]

2. Ampera/Volt with CAN

It supposed to run on SW CAN bus with wake up signal and some parallel msgs. I wasnt able to start it up with normal CAN transciever so i will be trying the SW CAN transciever when i have mnore time. JB if you succeed before me please document your method so we can follow. It is not so obvious as at first glance.

[ybpvin]

Good time!
We are developing an electric car based on the Nisan Vannete body. More details here


There was a problem starting the charger. Perhaps someone managed to start the charging unit?

[bennyr]

Do you have a source for the coupler at 11:22 in the first video?

[xp677]

2. Ampera/Volt with CAN

It supposed to run on SW CAN bus with wake up signal and some parallel msgs. I wasnt able to start it up with normal CAN transciever so i will be trying the SW CAN transciever when i have mnore time. JB if you succeed before me please document your method so we can follow. It is not so obvious as at first glance.

Yep, you'll need a SW CAN transceiver. I posted the schematic and code earlier in this thread, that should be all you need.

[ybpvin]

Do you have a source for the coupler at 11:22 in the first video?

This is my son 's project and I 'm helping a little bit ))

Detailed in the forum.
https://electroavtosam.com.ua/forums/vi ... 18&start=0

[arturk]

ISABELLENHÜTTE IVT-S CAN current and voltage sensors

This is the sensor Damien is integrating with Lexus GS450H VCU


Pretty robust and versatile device.
At $290 is somewhat expensive though.

I am still interested and I was curious if there is any interest in group buy for those sensors for US/Canada region.
I found US distributor where I can buy them at discounted price if I get 10+ units.
If there is enough interest I would be willing to organize "group buy" and distribute sensors for $200 plus shipping.

I am planning to buy exactly the same version Damien is showing in his video which is 1000A with 3 Aux inputs, this should be appropriate for most conversions. Picture above shows 500A but drawing shows 1000A unit (not trying to confuse anyone). The difference is 2 bolt terminals on 1000A vs 1 bolt on 500A.

Anyone interested please PM me. If there is enough PMs I will create separate thread to keep track on requests.

[Kevin Sharpe]

At $290 is somewhat expensive though.

Organise a group buy direct from ISA in Germany... at 12 pieces the pricing is *much* better than you're being quoted in distribution

[bulletbug]

motor input DC.jpeg (4.13 KiB) Viewed 185679 times

I'm trying to track down this cable to make a water tight seal into the Tesla SDU I'll be using in my '69 Beetle.

Turns out people think they are made of Gold or similarly expensive unobtainium.

Can someone confirm for me that if I were to remove the input "jacks" on the motor case that I will find a simpler lug posts inside that I can attach battery leads to?

If that's the case, I'll be making a 3d printed adapter that will fit around my battery lead wire at the entry hole and provide bolt holes with brass inserts so the adapter can be bolted into the existing holes.

If anyone has a "David you're doing it wrong...you're going to blow up an elementary school" type of comment. Please insert below.

Once completed I'll share photos and files if anyone wants them.

[Kevin Sharpe]

Turns out people think they are made of Gold or similarly expensive unobtainium.

I've paid ~100 USD in the past which I thought was reasonable given the hassle of trying to create a waterproof alternative. The connectors are Rosenberger HPK series and I'll add details to the Wiki in the next few days

https://openinverter.org/wiki/Main_Page#OEM_Parts

[Sloth]

What are other chargers besides tesla, volvo v60, volt / ampera that can be used for conversion? I found Kia soul charger in good price, but i can't find any useful information about CAN steering

--edit--
I'm collecting parts for junction box. I need to calculate the precharge resistor, but can't find any information about Lexus inverter capacitor capacity. Is it better to use two smaller resistors in series? I'm going to use two volts batteries in parallel.

[bulletbug]

What is the wire gauge/mm used on the Tesla Small Drive Unit? I'm using a single Volt battery pack. Longest wire run is about 2.2-2.5 meters or 8 feet.

[johnspark]

i would like to find these from a cheaper supplier for my second conversion though. Or use something completely different.

Tesla Model 3 HV connector assemblies can be purchased at low cost if you hunt around (look for damaged charge port listings). They're TE HC-STACK series and information is sparse. The Model 3 rapid charge connector is the HC-STAK 35 rated for 400A continuous at 85°C and the motor connector is the HC-STAK 25 rated for 275A continuous at 85°C.

01-HC-Stak_TE CONNECTIVITY.jpgScreenshot 2019-11-24 at 07.31.27.png

Thank you Kevin, they look great. Sorry for not replying earlier, missed the bell (notifications symbol) .

[johnspark]

I put a 40A version of these chinese power supplies in a plastic box along with 1000uFcapacitor and use it instead of a 12 volt battery for testing. Was flawless for running TRW (Holden/) Opel Astra power steering pump.

[arber333]

I got something home that seems to be usefull and heavy as well. While it is unused it sits quietly in a corner, but if i use it it starts to rumble with 120Hz.

This is Variac or autotransformer. This particular unit is 3phase 10kW model. If i feed it 3phase 400Vac it will make from 90Vac to 450Vac.
Conversion is made by transformer core. To vary the voltage i can move secondary transformer core out of primary by a knob on the outside.
So i decided to make 3phase rectifier of an old army ammo can. First i got 3 phase bridge. A nicely shaped cooling fins and one 100uF film capacitor rated to 900Vdc. I added a 50A forward diode so i cant connect the whole thing wrong.
Once i connected it and tested everything it became clear alu fins will heat up. So i got one 230Vac cooling fan over the fins.

I do have to be near the thing when it charges since it doesnt have any voltage control. I simply set it to battery voltage with some overhead so the desired current flows and then over time current slowly diminishes as voltage equalises.
In the face of my car full charge i need to reset voltage at least 3 times to get to 400Vdc desired battery voltage.

I am sure i could make a simple DC voltage detector to cutoff the main AC contactor. But for now it works as excellent home charger backup.

[SciroccoEV]

From a year 2000 edition of "Electrifying Times" magazine;

[ZooKeeper]

post deleted

[arber333]

HM... Some posts reminded me of a thing i made for testing basically any Johannes board, be it Rev1, 2 or the newest edition.

I took a block of good straight wood. I screwed on a wide alu angle so i had somewhere to put my switches. Underneath the angle i sorted all the wires.
DC contactor, precharge relay, warning LEDs and large resistor i fixed to wooden support.

I made a harness from 20 wire signal cable and i used numbered wires for every line.
I used standard 16 pin crimped sealed connector from aliexpress
This way whatever inverter i use i will have the same setup and interchangeable connectors on all.

I can thus test all inputs as well as most of the outputs with this. It lets me connect directly to inverter and 400Vdc battery, or 60Vdc battery if i choose it.
I think it was well worth investing some switches, DC contactor, relay, Prius pedal some wire and large 150R resistor.

[RetroZero]

Looks good and helps with testing.

[johu]

I use the pressure/vacuum sensor with part number 036906051G to control the vacuum pump in both my conversions.

Its supply voltage is 5V and it outputs an analog voltage proportional to the pressure, i.e. the more vacuum, the lower the voltage. The voltage can either be used with a voltage divider and a heavy low pass filter (1 Hz) to control an NPN transistor (that controls a relay) or with an ADC. I have tried both and it works well. It is important to have some hysteresis otherwise the pump tends to switch on and off around your desired vacuum.

The given part number is just for the sensor, try to get the whole assembly as depicted. It also contains a kickback valve.
The part number for the matching connector should be 1J0973724 is 1J0973704.