1971 GMCe Lexus GS450H BMW 530e Tesla Model S Electruck

[Gregski]

Alright, I've waited forever to do this so today we are going to do some unofficial RANGE TESTS, meaning I still have not fully charged this 9.1 kW (killer whale) battery pack to 100% capacity which the specs claim to be 398 vultures, maybe some day I will comprehend how to charge a 351 volt battery back to 398 volts, to me it's like pouring 6 gallons worth of water into a 5 gallon bucket [but then again a "12 volt" car battery can read 13.5 volts so what do I know]

[RetroZero]

Think of nominal battery voltage - 351v, as being the in-between of max and min operation voltages

[Gregski]

Think of nominal battery voltage - 351v, as being the in-between of max and min operation voltages

luv that explanation, makes sense to this brain, thank you

[Gregski]

so got some numbers for you all after the first attempt at a Range Test, I say first attempt cause I did do some dumb things like try to get it up to 75 miles an hour for no reason on streets not freeways

so I ran out of juice after only 20.5 miles, but before you take that to the bank, we were NOT fully charged to begin with (maybe only up to 370 volts I forget, and fully charged is 398) and I only have one of the two battery packs that I own installed at the minute

never let a good hole go to waste !

[Gregski]

People Just Don't Drive That Much No More

not sure where I read this and I should find the link for you, regardless please see if you agree or disagree because I find this interesting and so may you

prior to the C word that closed the world down for 2 years the "average" American drove only an average of 40 miles per day, again stressing the word "average" here as I am fully aware many folks live in rural areas and have to drive 40 miles one way just to get to Piggly Wiggly's yes it's a thang

post the pan dem ic the "average" American now only drives about 21 miles per day, think about it, as you pick up yet another AMAZON package off your front porch, and now with every thing from batteries to a deodorant stick being behind glass doors at Target who want's to go physically shopping at a brick and mortar any more? The convenience is gone!


Average Miles Driven Per Year: Why It Is Important

Kelley Blue Book.jpg (15.59 KiB) Viewed 842846 times

[Gregski]

WHERE WILL I BE DRIVING IN THIS ELECTRIC TRUCK ?


so enough about you and more about me, I live in the capital of California (trust me not bragging, it is NOT a car friendly State by no means, think regulations up the wazoo) but I want to walk through a real world driving range destination example matrix table thingie

sorted from furthereset to closerest, and I will be updating this as I run my chores in the Electruck (TM)

DISTANCE	DESTINATION	DESCRIPTION
15.0	Best Mates Domicile	and this is mostly freeway driving
13.0	Mamas House	go over there to replace the batteries in her TV remote
8.3	KAISER	doctor
7.4	Costco	cheap pizza aint gonna eat itself
7.0	Airport	flights
4.1	Golden1 Credit Union	like a bank but staffed by actual humans
3.8	O'Reilly	truck parts
3.5	Home Depot	maintenance and repairs
2.8	Target	toilet paper & paper towels source
2.7	Optometrist	one visit per year
2.7	Olive Garden (Restaurant)	Zuppa Toscana
2.6	Dentist	two visits per year
2.4	UPS	AMAZON returns mostly
2.3	Taqueria (Restaurant)	Taco Tuesdays
2.1	NAPA	truck parts
1.8	Raley's	grocery store
1.8	AutoZone	truck parts
1.8	KOHL's	AMAZON returns mostly
1.7	Chang's (Restaurant)	Chinese food
1.7	Post Office	shipping & stamps
1.6	Jack's Urban Eats (Restaurant)	one of few restaurants all family members like
1.4	Track 7 Brewery	BEER & Food Trucks
0.7	CVS	toilet paper & paper towels source, if I don't feel like driving all the way to Target
0.6	ACE Hardware	maintenance and repairs, if I don't feel like driving all the way to Home Depot

GREEN means Dusty and I have been there already !

[arber333]

WHERE WILL I BE DRIVING IN THIS ELECTRIC TRUCK

You add 100% to resolve range anxiety or if you remember you forgot something on your way... and sill wont be more than 20mil...
You better make this truck lightning fast.

[Gregski]

just an Electric Truck doing Electric Truck Things, jaETdETT:

Grocery Store: 1.8 miles away

[Gregski]

Range Test #2 - just over 30 miles

this time I charged up to 389 volts, still not even 90% but we nearly hit the coveted 3.5 miles per killer watt, so this was all city streets and residential, no freeway driving, but no babying it either, and no hyeprmiling or any of that Prius jazz, ha ha

interesting observation, seems like the volts drop very steadily as you drive until they hit 300, then you best get home right quick cause from 300 down to 270 and kaput goes by in a blink of an eye seems like

[marcexec]

There's very little capacity at those low voltages:

source
I would avoid discharge below 3.30V/cell, it gets you very little benefit for a lot more wear / reduced cycles, same on the top above 4.10V.

[Gregski]

attempted a little silliness today to see if we could pipe out the data to the Nextion display actually using a couple non implemented connector pins

a little hack-a-thon on pins #9 and #10 of the A Connector

[Gregski]

then it was time to link the RX / TX pins from the WiFi UEXT 10 pin connector to those on the A Connector

and we can still plug in the little red rascal if we want to

[Gregski]

then I decided to thin out MY own harness, lol I'm a simple man and over the last two years I learned that repurposing pins on this VCU aint that easy, for instance I wanted a second PWM pin, no dice, I wanted I2C, no dice, plus I have a 1971 pickup so less means more

it aint there yet, but it's getting there, I still keep having reservations about shortening all the wires, so I just keep looping them still, but eventually I will cut them down to size, except for the synchronous serial bus ones them I will leave alone

[Gregski]

just visited a charging station for funsies, you should have seen the face of the guy charging next to me as I pulled up with this beater, unfortunately J1772 standard charging is not implemented on Dusty just yet

Distance: 2.8 miles away from my house

[arber333]

just visited a charging station for funsies, you should have seen the face of the guy charging next to me as I pulled up with this beater, unfortunately J1772 standard charging is not implemented on Dusty just yet

Hah! What is priceless is some Tesla driver walks up to me charging on L2 EVSE and demands from me to move. Of course then i tell them this is an EV. You should see the face... "Oh really....?" My next question with an innocent face is: "Dont you have tesla charging station nearby...?"

[Gregski]

jaETdETT

TARGET: 2.8 miles away


man, she needs a new bed bad, but that's a project for next year, the greg is pooped!

[Gregski]

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS:

So while attempting to charge my BMW 530e battery pack to 393 volts aka 90% I have noticed a small discrepancy when it comes to voltage readings:

BMW S-Box	Multimeter @ S-Box	Chevy Volt Charger
391.6	392.2	394.5

Note: the voltage setpoint on the charger is actually set to 395 volts

[PatrcioEV-ATX]

I think that's somewhat normal. I've noted the Orion BMS tells my charger to charge to a slightly lower voltage than what I've set the parameters to.

[tom91]

Is this at resting or is there still some current flowing? Current across any connection will cause a voltage drop.

[Gregski]

I think that's somewhat normal. I've noted the Orion BMS tells my charger to charge to a slightly lower voltage than what I've set the parameters to.

thanks, always appreciate your feedback

[Gregski]

Is this at resting or is there still some current flowing? Current across any connection will cause a voltage drop.

that is a brilliant point/question, allow me to paint the picture as there are three modes or three conditions if you will

1. Charge Mode - I am calling this charge mode as in physical hardware connections, this does not mean the charger is actually charging the battery when I take this reading, basically the first gen Chevy Volt onboard battery charger is hard wired to the battery side of the contactors in the BMW 530e Safety Box, and when I take the charger reading it is sent from the charger via the VCU running Damien's charger code, but the charger is disabled

2. Drive Mode - in this mode the BMW Safety box automagically pre charges and then fully supplies power to the Inverter which is obviously powered on [the light bulb is starting to flicker] the reading comes from the Safety Box via the VCU also running Damien's S-box code

3. Off Mode - everything is powered off, and I simply take a reading with my multimeter at the Safety Box battery side of the contactors

[RetroZero]

Are you saying that the charger is hard wired directly to the battery high voltage before the relays (as in it's part of the battery)? If so, your voltage from charger would be higher, as it's basically taking measurements at your positive and negative poles. Voltage drops will occur further on depending on cabling and component connection.
I would advise on adding HV relays between charger and battery...or charger after HV relays.
Like the black beauty at changing station

[Gregski]

and now this: EV Conversion Advice from the Guy Who Has NO Business Giving EV Conversion Advice!

Advice #17: Give yourself permission to fail! Let me explain. You are taking on a monumental task that it took a team of automotive engineers to design and implement, or actually in some cases maybe even a greater task because your vehicle never rolled off the factory floor as electric. So it's ok if you don't get it right on the first or second or even the 7th time, but if you fail 10 times or more than quit, go do something else, jk, lol

agree or disagree ?

[RetroZero]

As long as we keep each other safe and lookout for the greater good (public), and buy the Mrs some nice clothes from time to time, take kids to movies, and change those brakes for a close family member, there's no cutting off limits for failure. You're driving to the local grocer!!! I'm not allowed out of my driveway. Keep failing, we're all learning along the way.

[arber333]

And for gods sake observe the no. 1 rule: DO NOT CONVERT THE RUST BUCKET!

Heh, seriously, do select the car that is visually appealing to you as you will look at it immobile for a long time .