Outlander VCU - Rear inverter, Charger and BMS

[aot93]

Thanks for the sheets. all the info seems to be there.
They are using extended frames so that requires a bit of extra work.
It's a fair bit of work for a single conversion, is there interest from others?

[bigdaveakers]

Guess who just got back to the project! Looking at getting my newly purchased outlander battery up and running but a lack of teensy 3.2 may be an issue!

Hoping I can figure a way to charge the battery relatively safely without the full simpbms implementation?

[Ctwidle]

I’m in the process of stripping a 2014 outlander that was an insurance write off. It didn’t come with a charge cable and I can’t access the battery pack for at least a week till I can get someone to come and degassing the AC as it flows through the pack. I have no info on its condition and am wondering if there is a simple way to charge the individual modules when I get them out. As a none programmer I am intending to use an EVS-VCU but don’t want to order one before I know if the pack is going to be useable.
Chris

[m.art.y]

I’m in the process of stripping a 2014 outlander that was an insurance write off. It didn’t come with a charge cable and I can’t access the battery pack for at least a week till I can get someone to come and degassing the AC as it flows through the pack. I have no info on its condition and am wondering if there is a simple way to charge the individual modules when I get them out. As a none programmer I am intending to use an EVS-VCU but don’t want to order one before I know if the pack is going to be useable.
Chris

Yes you can charge individual modules very easily, you just need an adjustable dc voltage supply, the higher the voltage the supply can do the more cells/cell groups you can charge at once. You will just have to keep an eye on the voltages of cells as you are charging. But I have done it many times before I got my main charger working.

[marcexec]

I’m in the process of stripping a 2014 outlander that was an insurance write off. It didn’t come with a charge cable and I can’t access the battery pack for at least a week till I can get someone to come and degassing the AC as it flows through the pack. I have no info on its condition and am wondering if there is a simple way to charge the individual modules when I get them out. As a none programmer I am intending to use an EVS-VCU but don’t want to order one before I know if the pack is going to be useable.
Chris

If it's a module like this once you have access to the terminals you can charge them with and adjustable and current limited power supply to say 60-64V (in this case) to test. If you don't have one yet, I have had good experience with Meanwell LED power supplies.
Definitely monitor it, though.

[bigdaveakers]

Well, I stripped down the Outlander battery had a think where I could put it. Seems that my little Smart Roadster has the perfect place for it!

[aot93]

Looks made for it!

[bigdaveakers]

I will need to get creative with the end connections. I have some spare busbars from a second pack that may help me. On the right hand end I will try and put the 350A fuse and service plug. The left hand end I will need to mount the main contactor and power cables.

I am reusing some of the old busbars to create the short jumpers between modules as I have reduced the gaps to allow it to fit snugly.

The weight may be a little high up and mess with the handling, but I am not overly concerned about this

There is also space under the bonnet where I reckon I can get another entire pack with some creative thinking.

[bigdaveakers]

Does anyone know what size cable the Outlander uses? Is it 50mm, 70mm, or something else??

[Ctwidle]

I’m currently harvesting parts from a 2014 Outlander. I’m not conversant with cable sizing practices and it’s hard to measure as the conductors near the crimps are no longer round but here goes:
The main battery/inverter conductors are roughly 8.5mm in one direction and 6.5 in the other and the crimps have the number 38 stamped on them.
The phase connections are smaller with no exposed conductor and the crimps are stamped “22 WT 60A”
I haven’t opened the battery pack yet but I’m happy to make more measurements if required.

[bigdaveakers]

Look what just arrived.......Now just hope the Teensy that I ordered materialises and that it is not a piece of paper that says Teensy 3.2 on it!

[bigdaveakers]

Also spent some time at the weekend fault finding the VCU that I previously had working. The mini360 converter seems to have an issue that wasn't resolved when replacing it. Killed the optos and darlington arrays. Most annoying!!

[aot93]

Ouch, at least those are low cost and easy to replace!
Those mini 360 seem to have very variable quality, you get good ones and bad.
I set mine up on the bench with a small load, and soak test for a bit.

[bigdaveakers]

Ouch, at least those are low cost and easy to replace!
Those mini 360 seem to have very variable quality, you get good ones and bad.
I set mine up on the bench with a small load, and soak test for a bit.

Yeah, I replaced it twice and showed the same problem. Dropped to 2.5V at the input and no output. Connected one directly to a 12v supply and in to the output and it worked fine. Put it on the board and no joy. It made very little sense to me as the input connects to the same 12v supply I was using directly. Need to check the board and the wires. Or just bypass it with direct 5v to the Teensy

Pretty sure I will figure it out.

[bigdaveakers]

Back in business, dodgy ground, but now we are all good. Just waiting on a replacement opto

[bigdaveakers]

Some progress on the bench.

Wiring to the Charger is done and I am getting CAN data on the BMS bus, just need the BMS making now.

Have an odd issue with the VCU CAN misreporting HV (in red).

And YES, it is that cold in the garage!!

[aot93]

Have you made any torque request to the inverter?

HV is only reported correctly before a torque request is made, so it's useful more for pre-charge.

[bigdaveakers]

Have you made any torque request to the inverter?

HV is only reported correctly before a torque request is made, so it's useful more for pre-charge.

Aha, yes I had my first test with the battery in the system. So I had a little blip of the throttle

I have to say, you have done a fantastic job with all of this!

[aot93]

Happy to hear its working out for you!

Ive got some updates to push out soon, I'm in the process of adding in chademo and a few other bits, just not got much time at the moment and it's just too bloody cold in the garage!

[bigdaveakers]

Nothing to see here

[bigdaveakers]

Well it only bloomin' works - sort of!

For some reason I have 11 modules registering, I am assuming that this is because I have left the connection to the termination resistor in CMU7. Should I remove it?

This is what I get in the debug.....and YES it is still that cold in the garage!

[aot93]

Do you have anything else on the can bus, I know for instance the ground fault detector will show up as a cell. ?

[bigdaveakers]

Do you have anything else on the can bus, I know for instance the ground fault detector will show up as a cell. ?

The current sensor is plugged in......I stripped everything else out

[bigdaveakers]

OK,so I removed the current sensor......no change. I snipped the wires for the termination resistor......no change.

Then I disconnected the dcdc converter......

Down to 10 cells and a Ready status

However getting a !!! Series Cells Fault !!! which I will need to dig in to the code for.

[bigdaveakers]

Last one for the night, promise!

Poking in the code it seems like the settings are for 12 cells in series

Code: Select all

  settings.Scells = 12;            //Cells in series

Via the menu I changed this to 80 and the !!! Series Cells Fault !!! has gone away!

Now, just need to figure out what is the deal with the phantom 11th module when the DCDC is plugged in to the CAN bus