[Driving] Leyland 255 Tractor - Nissan Leaf EM61

[RetroZero]

So you ditched the VAG charger set-up. You didn't get any further with it before pulling it all out?

[LRBen]

So you ditched the VAG charger set-up. You didn't get any further with it before pulling it all out?

No I didn't manage to get past basic charging. Didn't make much sense to carry on with it as the MG charger can do allot more in a smaller package and without the hassle of having to recode it.

[LRBen]

Hit a nice milestone in the battery refit this weekend. All the modules are in, with most of the HV cabling done to the point of being able to get the lid on. I still need to finish off the 12v wiring inside the box and the rest of the tractor, plus a little bit on the HV side.

[LRBen]

Battery is now all in along with all the 12v wiring. Next on the EV side is MG charger testing/hacking.

Also have some more restoration to do, threw a few body panels back on which all need a little bit of welding and some new window rubbers.

[Bratitude]

I love that a tractor has ccs. Need more build loogs on upgrading old equipment

*edited*

[Alibro]

Battery is now all in along with all the 12v wiring. Next on the EV side is MG charger testing/hacking.

Also have some more restoration to do, threw a few body panels back on which all need a little bit of welding and some new window rubbers.

PXL_20250405_154133489.MP.jpg

Looking amazing mate, well done.

[LRBen]

Got the toys out of the shed today to rearrange things. Tractor is now at the front of the shed ready to do some work.

I've been building on the MG charger reverse engineering by Damien and have the DC-DC running in a zombie module. I have also got it charging with some static messages, to the point where I actually need to go out and drain the battery so I can keep experimenting with the charging messages. Last things to work out on the charging is to get it to shut down quickly and also current ramping down.
On the V2L side I haven't had any luck so far, but I will keep trying.

Still a few bits of restoration to do as well but that list is getting smaller and smaller.

Going out tomorrow with the finger bar mower to cut down some nettles so I might try and get some drone footage of that.

On the paperwork side I sent that off to the DVLA last week and now have to book an inspection. I'm not all that worried about this one, like the quad bike it's agricultural so no worries about road tax. I want to keep building up some history with the DVLA so they hopefully play nice with the Land Rover.

[LRBen]

Short drone shot. It seems driving a tractor and a drone at the same time is quite difficult. No fancy auto follow on my drone.

[LRBen]

Finally done the first bit of actual hard work with the electric Leyland today. Had it on the hay rake rolling up for the baler. I was quite happy with the results. The power usage was really much lower than I was expecting. This isn't a small rake, a bit big for the tractor really given it will lift the front wheels off the ground allot when I'm trying to turn around at the end of each row. But max power draw I saw was about 11kW when I was going uphill, going down hill and hitting the rpm limit I would only pull around 4kW. The motor hardly noticed, in 31C ambient temperatures the motor maxed at 41C and inverter at around 36C.
So for being out for several hours I only used around 13kWh of power.

I didn't have it fully charged to start with, but we had to stop because of a flat tyre on the rake rather than needing to recharge. It's really very encouraging on what this tractor can usefully do. I will try and get it on a small square baler as I think the power requirements for those are also quite small. The big round baler is probably too much to ask as the PTO requirements for that are around 50kW, no question it will run it, but just not for a useful amount of time.

I also got it insured last week and the new logbook came back last month. So I would now call this complete on the paperwork side at least. Still need to put the bonnet on one of these days! I also bought an LED light bar and some rear work lights for winter work.