DIY EV Part 9 - Driving the motor from the Leaf Inverter

[@patrickbrady447]

Thanks for sharing your project here. I am an Irishman [ like yourself] watching this from Perth Australia.

[@jhonkhan8153]

Extremely happy 😊 for you ❤

[@alibro7512]

Thank you but this was two years ago and part 9 of currently 35 episodes. I haven't finished the project yet (probably never will) but have driven the car a few times. The first drive was even better. 😊

[@vwbradyboy]

nice progress, Ali! keep up the documentation as I will be following in your footsteps shortly :P

[@InvokePerformance]

very good work sir!!!!! i just purchased an EM61 and EM57 and will soon be tuning them!!

[@alibro7512]

Please share when you do. I'd love to see what can be done with them.

[@InvokePerformance]

@@alibro7512 I’m putting the EM61 In a custom electric off-road buggy build

[@Scampi6000]

Well done! Keep it lit. You can change the the name of the VCU web interface by adding /admin after the IP address which brings you to the setup screen

[@alibro7512]

Thanks Fiachra. Your channel was a real inspiration for me.

[@senakabandara4367]

Thanks again

[@Popeyes66]

Keep up the good work Ali. Can't wait for your ELandrover to spin up some dust .

[@alibro7512]

Thanks, me neither. :)

[@FirstLast-tx3yj]

@@alibro7512 does it allow u to make more than 80kw??

[@alibro7512]

@@FirstLast-tx3yj With this setup no as I am using the standard Nissan Leaf Inverter which is limited to 80kW. If I changed the inverter the motor is easily capable of handling 200kW or more. One step at a time though. ;)

[@pierrec1590]

Your precharge resistors do not have to be taken out of the circuit, it is sufficient to bypass them with the direct HV wire.

[@alibro7512]

Thanks for your comment. While this is true there are other reasons for disconnecting it after the main positive contactor closes. If you watch my newer video's you'll see that I had an issue (self inflicted) that caused the precharge resistor to go bang.

[@usedevvlogchargeheads798]

Attempt 1 I was on tender hooks, glad you didnt blow the crap out of yourself. 👍

[@jaredkomoroski]

Is there a regen mode that can be toggled to add an artificial load?

[@alibro7512]

I don't think so. Not yet anyway.

[@NSUScooter]

Just seeing this. Why is it so difficult to control the throttle? Why does it need computer software when a basic Amatrol can control the voltage output with the twist of a knob?

[@alibro7512]

Probably the current. This setup can handle over 200A so with 400V we're talking about 85kW

[@woodynani4394]

Great job!

[@fredflintstone1428]

I'm just re-watching this video and at 12' 10'', your multimeter reads 33V, then half a second later 200V. Is this the action of the six 5ohm (30ohm) resistors clamping down the in-rush of voltage?

[@alibro7512]

Well spotted. I guess it must be. It's an old multimeter and pretty slow to respond so I wouldn't take too much from it

[@edenhardcastle2260]

theres a guy, brat industries i think, whom makes couplers for the leaf motor out of 4140 steel, pretty cheap from what i remember

[@alibro7512]

Hi Thanks for letting me know. I'm aware of this coupler as the guy is on the open inverter forum. I decided to go with a home made coupler for a few reasons. It might prove a mistake but we'll see.

[@johnnodge4327]

Good update Ali. I'm glad you're using the TD4 throttle pedal. That's the route I'd have taken myself. It's interesting that just adding a small load to the motor. makes the motor slow down off throttle. There can't be much load spinning a few gears in the transmission. Do you think the additional 36 Volts has anything to do with it?

[@alibro7512]

Thanks mate, it made no sense messing about with the Leaf throttle when I really wanted to keep the Freelander throttle. It took about 5 minutes to remove from the car. I don't think the extra voltage changed much as it still spun up out of control after adding the 3 extra batteries. I think this transmission only just managed to pull the motor back as it was very slow to stop. Fiachra Cooke had the same issue and bolting on his Audi gearbox had the same effect.

[@fredflintstone1428]

I'm watching this with a view to building a solar boat. This might sound a daft question, but can the motor spin in reverse? I'm presuming it can to effect 'reverse' on the car. After pricing up motors and batteries, it might make more sense to buy a second-hand Nissan Leaf. Even if the battery is at 10 or 11 instead of 12, there's probably plenty of life left in it. What are the specs of charging a Leaf's battery and the specs of the motor? Thanks Al

[@alibro7512]

Hi Fred Yes you can reverse the direction of any three phase motor by reversing two of the phases. I believe it can also be done with the software in the VCU I'm using (from EVBMW) but I plan to use the reverse gear in my gearbox. I'm not sure what you mean by specs of charging the batteries but the motor I have is I believe 80kW or around 105hp in the Leaf however with a different controller could easily handle over 150kW or 200hp.

[@fredflintstone1428]

@@alibro7512 Thanks.....definitely needs more research by me but worth considering.

[@alibro7512]

@@fredflintstone1428 I recently saw a photo of an outboard engine with a Gen 1 Nissan Leaf motor bolted into it so it can be done.

[@fredflintstone1428]

@@alibro7512 I've been watching lots of videos about the Leaf and thought about the following. I want to run a boat's propellor shaft from the Leaf's motor. If I bought a Leaf and stripped everything out of it (the battery, motor with inverter and gearbox) the ECU, the pump for coolant, the radiator, the 'gearstick' and the foot pedal (now altered to be a boat's throttle)........would I need to access any of the CAN bus settings or do any electrical modifications, since the components would still think they were inside a Nissan Leaf?

[@alibro7512]

I'm pretty sure this has been done with both cars and boats so should be possible. It would be a lot of work and probably heavy but I don't think you would need to to worry about CAN in that case.

[@adriancuesta1386]

You have schematic diagram for connector?

[@alibro7512]

Take a look through Fiachra's thread here openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=372&start=25 He has a few photos that should help. It is where I got most of the info I used to do this.

[@adriancuesta1386]

@@alibro7512 thank you...!!!

[@adriancuesta1386]

@@alibro7512 why dont uses the original ECU VCU?

[@alibro7512]

@@adriancuesta1386 That would mean installing the complete Leaf loom and all modules in the car to keep the original VCU happy. I didn't want to do that.

[@johnbullen8575]

I would like to do the same thing as what you are doing. Just one question... Will this do regenerative braking?

[@alibro7512]

Yes it should if I set it up correctly. If you're interested go over to openinverter.org. The options for drive trains and boards to control them are endless.

[@blackterminal]

What's the lowest voltage that inverter will work with?

[@alibro7512]

I believe it's around 200V but of course at that voltage the power would be greatly reduced.

[@blackterminal]

@@alibro7512 ok. I thought inverters worked by boosting voltage. I'm looking for a future inverter upgrade for a Chinese inverter i have as it has no Regen. My setup is 144v . The Prius C inverter runs off a 144v hybrid battery so would seem a option. Not sure if it could be made to work with this Chinese ac motor i have.

[@alibro7512]

@@blackterminal Have you seen Damiens videos? He does a lot of work with Prius Inverters.

[@thomasbradshaw9672]

Can you give me a list of parts? I would appreciate it much.

[@alibro7512]

Pop over to the Open Inverter Forum and do a bit of research. You need to know what car you're converting and what power and range you want. Then you need to decide how much you want to do yourself and how much you're willing to spend. There is no single shopping list that is correct for every build.

[@diymicha4905]

Hey there. I build a electric Golf 2 1989 a few years ago. Now my new project is about to start: Convert my T4 VW Bus. I'd like to use Leaf electrics for that project, to make it DC chargeable. I'm curious how you drive the Leafs inverter. To fast charge I need the 300 something volts system from the Leaf. My Golf had a 96V System which doesn't work on european CSS DC fast chargers.

[@diymicha4905]

My plan is to use double the battery pack of the Leaf in parallel to double the capacity. 😉

[@alibro7512]

I'm using this www.evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-webshop/nissan-built-and-tested-boards/leaf-inverter-controller-kit to control the inverter. Which Leaf motor/inverter will you be using?

[@johncampbell4498]

thanks for posting up your project. quick question about the VCU - Q.Is it a generic hardware board which is then custom programmed to teh Leaf? - Or it is actually hardware specific for the Leaf inverter? Thanks.

[@alibro7512]

Hi John, thanks for the question. The board was bought from Damien Maguire and was designed and manufactured to work with the Gen 1 Nissan Leaf inverter and motor. It works by reading the position of the throttle pedal then sending the appropriate CAN messages to the inverter but also reads the resolver info from the motor. It may work with other inverter/motor combo's but would need to be programmed to do so.

[@blackterminal]

@@alibro7512 i noticed on your laptop it said Lexus 450h . Board is primarily for that motor?

[@alibro7512]

@@blackterminal This board is designed to send CAN signals to the Gen1 Nissan Leaf inverter but the software has been used for other setups, I just need to change the title screen.

[@stuartmills2209]

brilliant work but is it not possible to use the Nissan VCU?

[@alibro7512]

Thank you Yes but it would need to be happy all nissan Leaf safety modules were connected and working. Some have done it this way but you end up with a mess of wiring to hide in the car.

[@stuartmills2209]

@@alibro7512 thank you, I love what you have done but I want to make a light weight car from scratch and am keen to know the downfalls of using the full Nissan set up. Do you know what the safety modules are that will need to be retained such as alarm, immobilizer, air bags, door shut, etc. I am guessing it gets complex but I would like to save the extra costs if possible?

[@alibro7512]

@@stuartmills2209 I'm no expert on the Nissan Leaf but if you search the Internet there is a guy who fitted the Leaf electrics into an old VW and another who fitted them into a boat. They're both on KZbin so may be able to answer your questions.