Nissan Leaf Motor - Regenerative Brake Lights - How to

I wire up a brake light to activate from the Leaf Motor when performing regenerative braking.
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This setup is using the Thunderstruck Vehicle Control Unit.
Details on it at: www.thunderstruck-ev.com/dilithium-vcu.html
I used just a typical automotive relay for this project.
Automotive Relays: amzn.to/2JfbHmB
Microcontroller Relays: amzn.to/33fk5Kk
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LED Tail/Brake Lights: amzn.to/3q46or4
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[@whatthefunction9140]

That vcu is golden!

[@PaulBarwick]

You make it interesting and understandable even for those of us without a lot of technical knowledge. I am learning a lot about my store bought EV (Chevy Bolt) from watching your channel. As a one pedal driver I was wondering how those brake lights worked. Keep 'em coming, please.

[@bodenraylan5903]

I guess it is pretty off topic but do anyone know of a good website to stream new series online ?

[@johnathannicholas6009]

@Boden Raylan Flixportal :P

[@bodenraylan5903]

@Johnathan Nicholas Thanks, I signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :D I appreciate it !

[@johnathannicholas6009]

@Boden Raylan No problem :D

[@wvcruffler123]

Thanks for the great series on the Leaf motor. I’m planning to EV my 1975 Triumph Spitfire that I bought sans-drivetrain. The bench testing and assembly makes so much sense to me. Appreciate you putting it up.

[@diyhell8712]

It's the answer to a question of never even considered! But glad I know the answer, and another top video!

[@whatthefunction9140]

I give thanks for your videos!

[@timw1971]

Very good video. Nicely explained. Liked getting a taste of the configuration terminal.

[@williamsmorales2482]

Buenas siempre enseñando con tus vídeos,de mi parte agradecido,lo que e aprendido ,

[@invujerry]

I’m a pretty big neon enthusiast and came across that car in 09. It made a pretty big splash on the message boards.

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

It was a cool project to help lend a hand on.

[@oplkfdhgk]

thank you. this was very helpful. i thought about doing this with Arduino and like accelerometer but that didn't seem like the best idea. this one seems much better. 🙂

[@DStageGarage]

Nice videos. I was looking into possibility of using this motor for about two years now and gladly I found out about this VCU from your videos. I actually do have knowledge and skills to make it myself but at the same time this knowledge tells me I would spend a lot of time on CAN bus decoding and probably I would have to have a working Leaf to start with ;-) It might not be super cheap for me but I would still call it fair priced (for you folks in US it's probably considered cheap hehe). I can only comment you are simplifying things a bit here and there but I guess it's more comprehensive for general audience heh. What I can add here is that it's VERY common to have control via microcontroller's GPIO or ICs in general done on the ground side. Historically it comes from the fact that it was easier (and still is) to manufacture NPN transistors than PNP and they still get better parameters these days. There are also other benefits of doing it this way. In such configuration your LED, relay or whatever load you have can actually be powered from a higher voltage than the control logic. For example here the microcontroller is probably powered with 3.3 or 5V and it can switch 12V relay without problems and you could even put there a 24V relay and it would still work without issues as long as you have common ground for both power supplies. Doing it with switching from the positive side is much trickier.

[@flavortown3781]

Leaf can communications are entirely decoded and understood

[@DStageGarage]

@@flavortown3781 well, they certainly wern't back when I was searching for it ;-) Any hints?

[@funfactstvc3812]

Nice content mate 👍 Well done

[@stanislavjaracz]

Ben, can the Thunderstruck controller be used in Leaf as a replacement of the OEM unit? I would like to have the regen programmed differently.

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

I think that you COULD use the VCU in a stock Leaf, but you would have to disconnect a number of other things in the car for it to work properly. At that point, I'm sure you would be getting all sorts of other errors. The VCU is NOT a drop-in replacement for any single original part in a Leaf. It's just a device to allow you to use a Leaf motor and inverter in a different vehicle. While it might be possible to use this in a Leaf just for tweaking Regenerative Braking, I have a feeling it would be a LOT of effort to make it happen.

[@SirTragain]

They update the controller software after you debug it for them; looks like they are also a subscriber.

[@experimentslk5291]

Hello sir. I am Rajitha from Sri Lanka. What is the recommended motor controller for leaf motor,if i am powering with chinese motor controller ....voltage and power ? Ex : 72v 7kW

[@antiLeixo]

Hey Benjamin, I have a small question, if we are going forward with some speed and I press the reverse switch it will engage it? or ignore? Imagine that you are going in the middle of the highway and some one by accident presses the reverse button, what happen? I possible to only engage if the speed of the motor is zero? Thanks in advance :)

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

There's actually a couple of ways you can set this up with the hardware, but rest assured that none of them suddenly snap the motor the opposite direction. For the most part, flipping the switch will either engage the regenerative braking or simply go into neutral. See page 22 of the Thunderstruck VCU manual for details. www.thunderstruck-ev.com/images/companies/1/DD_VCUv3.1R3.pdf?1605898763828

[@kern-sladeengineering1325]

Great 👍

[@danbamull881]

Where are you located or do you have a recommendation to help me readjust my break system and charging. I live in NC RALEIGH, DURHAM atea.

[@danutztihu5802]

Hi Ben ! thanks for your videos! You said in a previous video that 'because the bridge rectifier only converts ac to dc , the motor can not perform regenerative braking when powered this way" have u connected the motor to batteries this time? what voltage/ type ?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Hello Danutz! YES, I have connected this to batteries and have the regenerative brakes working properly. Here is the video about connecting it to batteries: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZCch3qJqJ2las0 I used Nissan Leaf cell modules I had in my electric motorcycle, plus a few more to get to the voltage needed. Looks like 156V or so is the bare minimum. Of course, you want higher than that to take care of voltage sag when under load.

[@AndyFromm]

The tractor getting brake lights?

[@backwoodsbungalow9674]

It is not easy to connect PTO to the Leaf motor. Ben has a large DC motor that might be easier to use in the tractor. Hence the Leaf motor might get used in a future car conversion. ✌

[@AndyFromm]

@@backwoodsbungalow9674 i know, I've seen all his videos...

[@HenkBronkhorst-c8c]

what do you generate in 15 seconds?driving 60 kmh i think 0,0000

[@chriswf]

Hey Ben, if you're using regen, and you have your maximum voltage set for regen.... Does the regen braking force stop and you go back to free coasting? haha.

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Generally, in an electric vehicle, with the battery pack FULL, regenerative braking does NOT work. Since there's no place to put the energy, kinetic energy is NOT converted to electrical energy, so there's no braking. I HAVE done that going downhill in the mountains in an older Prius. In that case, the engine kicks in and starts "engine braking". It would be a pretty unusual situation for a modern electric car to be in, but certainly could happen.

[@chriswf]

@@BenjaminNelsonX very good info. I better be careful with that then lol. Also thanks for your videos. They're very helpful. I didn't even know of Thunder struck until I watched these.

[@mnotlyon]

What happens if you've got cruise control set, and you go down a steep hill? Will the brake lights come on even though you're not changing speeds?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

The Thunderstruck VCU does NOT have Cruise Control on it. But... If you were going down a steep hill, and had your foot steady on the accelerator, and the controller was sensing that there was over 150 NM of negative torque (regenerative braking) then YES, it would turn on the brake lights. It's not based on speed, it's based on torque.

[@christopherbrand5360]

If the hill is steep enough that you need that much negative torque, you would have to use the brakes in an ICE car to maintain the same speed (or downshift to engine brake). This is a situation where brake lights would be normal and not unsafe.

[@rsdracing71]

Hi I admire your works,can vcu thunderstruck will work on toyota prius motor?if a run and use just only the electric motor?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Not designed to work with a Prius. From Thunderstruck's web page: "It has been designed to work with the Gen1, Gen2 (2013-2016) Nissan Leaf or UQM PowerPhase® HD System Controller, or Coda UQM motors." www.thunderstruck-ev.com/dilithium-vcu.html

[@backwoodsbungalow9674]

Damien McGuire's KZbin channel has videos where he experiments with Prius and Lexus motors for affordable EV conversions. He buys a complete hybrid motor and transmission cheap from a junkyard. He has figured out how to use the hybrid drivetrain without the gas engine. ✌

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Yep. Damien is a pretty smart guy!

[@independenthqusa4170]

Cool stuff Ben .i have been seeing leaf's 50k miles . 2014 for about 6k. What ya think.

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Sounds like a good car to just buy and drive.

[@independenthqusa4170]

@@BenjaminNelsonX yeah thats what I'm thinking but do i need to pay attention to the battery pack size for range.

[@williamburnett5805]

@@independenthqusa4170 I have a 14’ with 90K miles and 4 bars of battery degradation. Still get about 60 miles range!

[@granthaney2570]

be in geneses world record worlds fastest electric tractor

[@egn83b]

When are you gonna drop this in road legal vehicle in the future?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

I was originally taking a look at the possibility of using a Leaf motor in a farm tractor. I wanted to look through it and see how it would all work before doing that. At this point, there are a few negatives (relatively high pack voltage, etc.) which might mean a DC motor may be a better fit.

[@fabbrodiroma8270]

were i can buy a vcu ? thanks in Advance

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Link is in the video description.

[@williamsmorales2482]

También tengo una pregunta sobre un motor Mercedes 200d w115 ,capas puedes darme una mano

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Hello! Sorry, I no longer have the Mercedes and am really NOT an expert on them. I'm afraid I will not be much help!

[@olegdraiv777]

Нифига не понял)))