[DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
- celeron55
- Posts: 800
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
- Location: Finland
- Has thanked: 37 times
- Been thanked: 131 times
- Contact:
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
I've been documenting Previa stuff as Youtube videos lately. I try to make about 15 minute videos where I cram about 1-2 days of work, so the boringness level should be well under control. I'll post more as I progress, so subscribe there if you'd like to see them.
I talk in Finnish, but not very much, and I haven't bothered adding subtitles as the work I'm doing is fairly self explanatory. Feel free to ask in the comments if something makes no sense!
I find this is the way to make videos that's laid back enough for me that I actually can find the time to make them. Please let me know whether it seems worth it or not, and whether I should post future videos in this thread also.
I talk in Finnish, but not very much, and I haven't bothered adding subtitles as the work I'm doing is fairly self explanatory. Feel free to ask in the comments if something makes no sense!
I find this is the way to make videos that's laid back enough for me that I actually can find the time to make them. Please let me know whether it seems worth it or not, and whether I should post future videos in this thread also.
-
- Posts: 936
- Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:40 pm
- Has thanked: 343 times
- Been thanked: 204 times
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
I can't believe I've been sleeping on this thread.
There's almost zero van conversions out there, and you're putting 100,000km on yours already.
Your bodywork makes me feel good about my bodywork.
"Perfect is the enemy of done"
The exact amount of "how much work should I put into this?" is somewhere way before the "Well I don't have time so I won't bother". If this is the amount that is on the comfortable side of that line, then that's definitely worth it.
Comparatively, I have something like 90 hours of video footage of my Opel GT conversion, and about 10 minutes total I've posted, and the 10 minutes I've posted is the same quality as what you've done here, point a camera and who cares, because it's the thing I can actually get done. The 90 hours of footage I want to make into perfect videos... is collecting dust on my hard drive sectors. As is video of my EV motorbike, as is video of my EV recumbant bicycle, as is my video of 20 other projects and it's why I haven't uploaded to my Youtube channel in 10 years.
Whatever you want to share is better than whatever you don't get around to sharing.
...
Earlier you said you gave up on LIM charging. Is that a thing that doesn't work anymore? I thought that was still the meta for fast charging.
There's almost zero van conversions out there, and you're putting 100,000km on yours already.
Your bodywork makes me feel good about my bodywork.
Your videos are as good as your bodywork, and look like they took just about as much effort.I find this is the way to make videos that's laid back enough for me that I actually can find the time to make them. Please let me know whether it seems worth it or not
"Perfect is the enemy of done"
The exact amount of "how much work should I put into this?" is somewhere way before the "Well I don't have time so I won't bother". If this is the amount that is on the comfortable side of that line, then that's definitely worth it.
Comparatively, I have something like 90 hours of video footage of my Opel GT conversion, and about 10 minutes total I've posted, and the 10 minutes I've posted is the same quality as what you've done here, point a camera and who cares, because it's the thing I can actually get done. The 90 hours of footage I want to make into perfect videos... is collecting dust on my hard drive sectors. As is video of my EV motorbike, as is video of my EV recumbant bicycle, as is my video of 20 other projects and it's why I haven't uploaded to my Youtube channel in 10 years.
Whatever you want to share is better than whatever you don't get around to sharing.
...
Earlier you said you gave up on LIM charging. Is that a thing that doesn't work anymore? I thought that was still the meta for fast charging.
- celeron55
- Posts: 800
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
- Location: Finland
- Has thanked: 37 times
- Been thanked: 131 times
- Contact:
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
The current meta for CCS is definitely uhi22's foccci+clara. That's what's going into this and what I already have on the Omega. What's installed on this at the moment under the hood is Linux system running uhi22's pyPLC, with a half assed charging port and contactor install. I'll remove that once the new side port becomes functional.Earlier you said you gave up on LIM charging. Is that a thing that doesn't work anymore? I thought that was still the meta for fast charging.
-
- Posts: 582
- Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2023 1:30 pm
- Location: Uk
- Has thanked: 292 times
- Been thanked: 79 times
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
I'm potentially abandoning my EV van project for something slightly smaller and the previa is a consideration. I've already got a lexus GS450H transmission and battery setup... Would you recommend this minivan? Ideally I will still be able to use it as a small campervan so the previa might be a bit small unless I can get my 50kWh pack into it somehow underneath. I'd look for a red option as I don't need 4wd.
- celeron55
- Posts: 800
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
- Location: Finland
- Has thanked: 37 times
- Been thanked: 131 times
- Contact:
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
Well, it's an old design and the large German parts seller (brands like Autodoc) have already dropped it. The newer 2000s Previa is built on the front wheel drive Camry platform and is a whole different thing, not necessarily bad but definitely not something to put the GS450H gearbox into. As long as you're ok with windling down parts availability, I think it's as good as the early 90s vehicles get.Jacobsmess wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 3:56 pm I'm potentially abandoning my EV van project for something slightly smaller and the previa is a consideration. I've already got a lexus GS450H transmission and battery setup... Would you recommend this minivan? Ideally I will still be able to use it as a small campervan so the previa might be a bit small unless I can get my 50kWh pack into it somehow underneath. I'd look for a red option as I don't need 4wd.
Independent suspension and ABS make it a very controllable thing even in slippery winter conditions or if you like to go fast on dirt roads. There's also plenty of ground clearance. The bad thing I suppose is there's quite a lot of highway road noise, but that's the 90s showing, and you can of course add soundproofing.
The safety aspect is whatever you want to think of it. Crashing any early 90s vehicle is not exactly a good idea so for heavy commute use I'd pick something more modern. Risk of crash obviously increases with distance driven. Of course the early 90s is way better than anything even earlier than that. They at least did actual crash testing and designed cars for it, just not to the extent they do today.
For a camper van it's not a problem to put the battery inside, like mine does, as you can still put a bed on top. I may have not posted photos but I have built a temporary structure that puts a bed frame with storage beneath in there, replacing the rear seats, that I used on the road trip last year. As long as you don't aim to spend much time in it other than sleeping and driving two people, it's a reasonable size. If you want to have a kitchen inside, it'll house only one person.
Mine having the middle row seating removed is not simply a space constraint - it's also a weight constraint. With the batteries in the car, there's only payload rating left for about 6 passengers, so I opted for 5. It's a light vehicle for its size. The papers say it weighs 1680 unloaded, but in reality these weigh about 1750kg. The maximum allowed weight is 2450kg if I recall correctly and this one weighs about 1950kg now with the batteries.
And my battery box is super lightweight compared to anything you might be able to come up with under the floor, so you will fare worse.
The rear axle is rated for 1380kg or something like that while the stock weight distribution of the thing is almost even, so for a camper van you could shift the battery pack more on top of the rear axle. But the stock springs don't like that, they're very squishy and the rear will sag and hit the bump stops. You'll have to beef them up a bit for such a constant high loading.
-
- Posts: 582
- Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2023 1:30 pm
- Location: Uk
- Has thanked: 292 times
- Been thanked: 79 times
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
Thanks that's really informative.
Really I need something that will carry 4 people and also be a camper for at least 2 with a little sitting space so perhaps something larger is required.
Really I need something that will carry 4 people and also be a camper for at least 2 with a little sitting space so perhaps something larger is required.
- uhi22
- Posts: 922
- Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 3:20 pm
- Location: Ingolstadt/Germany
- Has thanked: 133 times
- Been thanked: 527 times
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
Thanks for sharing the videos, nice to see how Foccci is integrated into a vehicle, never seen this before.
I'd propose to bring the serial debug line also out of the Foccci housing, and add a serial to USB in the box, and let an USB cable just fly around, just in case some logging is needed.
I'd propose to bring the serial debug line also out of the Foccci housing, and add a serial to USB in the box, and let an USB cable just fly around, just in case some logging is needed.
Github: http://github.com/uhi22 --- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/uhi22
- celeron55
- Posts: 800
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
- Location: Finland
- Has thanked: 37 times
- Been thanked: 131 times
- Contact:
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
More videos. I decided to install foccci inside the contactor box. Really no other way of making it serviceable in this situation.
I still have a video upcoming of wiring the box to the car, and then a video about roughly configuring foccci for a first charging test. In the latter I tried to talk in English, I still haven't opened those in the editor to see whether it's understandable at all.
Already stumbled upon a situation where I had to power off foccci to restart the charging session. The charger stopped with a "temp sensor too high" error (seemed like a faulty sensor, power delivery didn't start yet) and foccci didn't understand that, just kept going with an imagined charging session while the charger had already stopped a long time ago. Had to manually open the lock also, button did nothing. But I don't have logs.
I think it would probably be best to have a button function, a very long press (like 20 seconds) that kills the charging session and opens the lock, no matter what's happening. Or I'll at least have to figure out how to do that over CAN.
I still have a video upcoming of wiring the box to the car, and then a video about roughly configuring foccci for a first charging test. In the latter I tried to talk in English, I still haven't opened those in the editor to see whether it's understandable at all.
Already stumbled upon a situation where I had to power off foccci to restart the charging session. The charger stopped with a "temp sensor too high" error (seemed like a faulty sensor, power delivery didn't start yet) and foccci didn't understand that, just kept going with an imagined charging session while the charger had already stopped a long time ago. Had to manually open the lock also, button did nothing. But I don't have logs.
I think it would probably be best to have a button function, a very long press (like 20 seconds) that kills the charging session and opens the lock, no matter what's happening. Or I'll at least have to figure out how to do that over CAN.
- uhi22
- Posts: 922
- Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 3:20 pm
- Location: Ingolstadt/Germany
- Has thanked: 133 times
- Been thanked: 527 times
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
If the charger does not like charging, the plan is that Foccci runs into timeout sooner or later, goes through the safe shutdown sequence and opens the connector lock. But, yeah, this is just the plan, obviously it does not cover all real-life use cases. In case you see it again, it would help to see either the log or at least what is the checkpoint number where it is stuck. The looong-button-cleanup is a good idea, but in parallel with this we will try to cover all use cases "the normal way". Happy testing
Github: http://github.com/uhi22 --- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/uhi22
- celeron55
- Posts: 800
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:04 pm
- Location: Finland
- Has thanked: 37 times
- Been thanked: 131 times
- Contact:
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
The first one is the "final-ish" electrical assembly video (in Finnish)
The second one is the Foccci/Clara configuration video (in English)
The second one is the Foccci/Clara configuration video (in English)
- uhi22
- Posts: 922
- Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 3:20 pm
- Location: Ingolstadt/Germany
- Has thanked: 133 times
- Been thanked: 527 times
Re: [DRIVING] 1992 Toyota Previa with Leaf stuff and lots of Tesla batteries
Great, congratulations.
Regarding the surprisingly red flashing LED while the AC charger was plugged in: This is the indication, that Foccci detected an CP PWM which indicates AC charging, but is missing the information from the AC OBC, so it says "something wrong". So everything perfect in your case.
Updated the blink-pattern description: https://github.com/uhi22/ccs32clara/blo ... k-patterns
Regarding the surprisingly red flashing LED while the AC charger was plugged in: This is the indication, that Foccci detected an CP PWM which indicates AC charging, but is missing the information from the AC OBC, so it says "something wrong". So everything perfect in your case.
Updated the blink-pattern description: https://github.com/uhi22/ccs32clara/blo ... k-patterns
Github: http://github.com/uhi22 --- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/uhi22