gen 2 Leaf PDM and Zombieverter

[peterdiffey]

Hi,
A quick intro
I am converting an Alvis TE21. The project is making good progress, I have a Leaf Gen 2 full stack including the control wiring and the HV loom. I have a Damian controller, I am using a Mazda MX5 gearbox, and have it mated via a Brat coupler. All good so far.
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Now its time to get the motor spinning, in the first instance I will go with a full wave rectifier to get 250v DC into the inverter. Keep it simple stupid.
I will use a couple of simple 10k pots to control the speed. I have studied the docs and drawings, and I see how to do all this, it looks easy to use a couple of light switches and some nice fat 100 ohm resistors to bring the inverter to life. I am not expecting any problems with this - famous last words.
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My big unknown is the PDM, can the Damian box send Can messages to control the PDM? ie will it generate Can code to switch the HV relays and also does it have the smarts to control 250v and Chademo charging?

Regards Pete

[Alibro]

I don't have a Zombieverter so can't answer your question but have you checked all the threads under the VCU section of the forum? There are dozens of threads about it and as the Nissan stack is common so I'd be surprised if it isn't mentioned there.

[peterdiffey]

Hi Ali
thanks for the response.
Yep there are lots of topics on the Leaf PDM, and lots of rabbit holes. I eventually found a usefull thread.
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I had already looked at the Zombieverter VCU Wiki, it says that it supports the PDM, but no further info.

Pete

[Jacobsmess]

Hi Ali
thanks for the response.
Yep there are lots of topics on the Leaf PDM, and lots of rabbit holes. I eventually found a usefull thread.
..
I had already looked at the Zombieverter VCU Wiki, it says that it supports the PDM, but no further info.

Pete

It might be helpful to summarise your findings here or on the wiki or both so that others with similar queries stand a better chance of finding the information. Thanks

[Alibro]

Hi Ali
thanks for the response.
Yep there are lots of topics on the Leaf PDM, and lots of rabbit holes. I eventually found a usefull thread.
..
I had already looked at the Zombieverter VCU Wiki, it says that it supports the PDM, but no further info.

Pete

I find the search option in most forums to be pretty poor so I end up spending hours going down similar rabbit holes.
Most of the information we need is here but the trick is finding it.
Please link to the thread that helped so others will be able to find it.

[peterdiffey]

yes good idea

A very good start on using a full Nissan Leaf stack can be found in the following thread

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2928

[m.art.y]

My big unknown is the PDM, can the Damian box send Can messages to control the PDM? ie will it generate Can code to switch the HV relays and also does it have the smarts to control 250v and Chademo charging?

Hi Pete, yes the Zombieverter will control the PDM. In the Zombie control interface you would have to select appropriate settings for the PDM, connect the two wires coming from the charge socket back to the Nissan Leaf wiring loom and upon inserting EVSE charging plug into the charging socket the PDM will start charging. However the PDM will only work with the latest firmware version and will NOT work with the previous one as there was a bug in it (it spins the motor just fine though so is good for testing). So you would have to upgrade to the latest release for the PDM to work. The DCDC converter in the PDM starts automatically with the Zombie.

[peterdiffey]

thanks M
I guess that would be the the 2.00A release from 7th May 2023, it's gradually becoming clear.
I am months off buying a battery, so I am concentrating on getting all the low cost bits sorted, I would hate to spend a lot of effort on designing around using a PDM and zombieverter then find I had a mismatch.