I've already got a more powerful Inverter and motor on it's way that's an expensive christmas present I've bought myself
Looks like everyone else is getting coal
Z3 EV Conversion
- Thread starter Andybpowell
- Start date
Looks like everyone else is getting coal
Well after my little disaster at the end of november I'm getting back on track even with the miserable weather
The final tally of the damage was
2 contactors, 1 teensy 4 controller and the inverter the motor tested ok but I wasn't willing to risk a new inverter to find out so I replaced that as well
also had to pay extra for the low voltage loom as it's differant to the old one the new one is more powerful 130Kw as opposed to 80Kw of the old one
including delivery that little lot cost £1000.
With the old 80Kw inverter I had an aftermarket control board I'd fitted into it which allowed me to tune it to make more power and was easy to control the new one is stock leaf but has the power output I was aiming for as standard but it is more difficult to control as it is expecting standard nissan leaf Canbus control messages I now have the motor spinning admitedly still sat on my garage floor luckily most of the hard work decoding the Can messages was already done by other people (celeron55, Damien Maguire, Johannes Hübner, and special thanks to Björn )
This is the new inverter and motor even though it's more powerful it's also slightly lighter than the old one.
View: https://youtu.be/E5k5S2zuYq0
The final tally of the damage was
2 contactors, 1 teensy 4 controller and the inverter the motor tested ok but I wasn't willing to risk a new inverter to find out so I replaced that as well
also had to pay extra for the low voltage loom as it's differant to the old one the new one is more powerful 130Kw as opposed to 80Kw of the old one
including delivery that little lot cost £1000.
With the old 80Kw inverter I had an aftermarket control board I'd fitted into it which allowed me to tune it to make more power and was easy to control the new one is stock leaf but has the power output I was aiming for as standard but it is more difficult to control as it is expecting standard nissan leaf Canbus control messages I now have the motor spinning admitedly still sat on my garage floor luckily most of the hard work decoding the Can messages was already done by other people (celeron55, Damien Maguire, Johannes Hübner, and special thanks to Björn )
This is the new inverter and motor even though it's more powerful it's also slightly lighter than the old one.
I removed my old motor and inverter yesterday and as the weather is miserable today I stripped down the inverter this is one of the three IGBT's they are all in a similar state as was the main board
they are basically high power transistors that switch the DC to create 3 phase's from a single phase to drive the motor
(this is a simplified explanation for the purposes of this post.) so yes I did a proper job
The Z3 is looking a little sad but now the old motor and inverter are out I can get on with fixing it
they are basically high power transistors that switch the DC to create 3 phase's from a single phase to drive the motor
(this is a simplified explanation for the purposes of this post.) so yes I did a proper job
The Z3 is looking a little sad but now the old motor and inverter are out I can get on with fixing it
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The weather, well it's British weather wet, cold and windy so that I can get on with the car I've bought one of these it was a pig to put up on my own and I've bolted it to the floor so hopefully it will stand up to the wind
So hopefully now I can get on with putting the new motor in, well once I've completely redone the battery box mounts and a few other things that I wish I'd done differently.
I've already started on this list reinforcing the motor mounts and raising the motor up by 3mm.
I know 3mm doesn't sound much but it's the difference between the motor just touching the cross member when you go over a hard bump or not which can be the difference between a good conversion or not well in my opinion anyway if it stays up overnight I'll be able to actually get on tomorrow well once me and the dog have got our haircut (not at the same place)
So hopefully now I can get on with putting the new motor in, well once I've completely redone the battery box mounts and a few other things that I wish I'd done differently.
I've already started on this list reinforcing the motor mounts and raising the motor up by 3mm.
I know 3mm doesn't sound much but it's the difference between the motor just touching the cross member when you go over a hard bump or not which can be the difference between a good conversion or not well in my opinion anyway if it stays up overnight I'll be able to actually get on tomorrow well once me and the dog have got our haircut (not at the same place)
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This is still moving forward it's just all of the work that I'm doing which is effectively starting from scratch is very time consuming and once it's all in no one but me will be able to tell it's any different but since I'm doing this for me that's all that matters so bear with me and hopefully I'll have a proper update soon
since I had the engine bay pretty much empty while I was re-doing the battery pack and engine mounts I also repainted the front chassis rails
it was definitely worth the time to do all of these jobs while I had the motor and battery out as the modified battery mount makes access much easier and the chassis rails look much better even if nobody else ever sees them I also made a new power steering and water pump bracket, the motor, inverter, charger and front battery pack are back in just some wiring left to do
it was definitely worth the time to do all of these jobs while I had the motor and battery out as the modified battery mount makes access much easier and the chassis rails look much better even if nobody else ever sees them I also made a new power steering and water pump bracket, the motor, inverter, charger and front battery pack are back in just some wiring left to do
All of the powertrain changes tweaks and upgrades are now done but the car is still sitting on the quickjack because as much as the standard suspension setup was shot I absolutely despise the Coil-overs I replaced it with I went with the Coil-overs because I wasn't sure that I would get the weight balance right but I'm pretty much convinced it's ok so I now have standard shocks and springs on order and also paid a visit to my local BMW dealer to get new upper and lower spring pads and cups this is definitely becoming a restoration as much as an electric conversion well you can't take it with you
You'll be able to sell the Coilovers on though I guess Andy?
Tony.
Tony.
Yea to someone with a younger spine than me
I get that Andy.
Tony.
Tony.
Getting there just waiting for the springs and new bump stops and dustcovers already have new top mounts in fact after this the only thing I could do with replacing are the anti roll bar bushes
hopefully I can get the Coilovers off soon and passed on to one of the younger members without an old arthritic spine
hopefully I can get the Coilovers off soon and passed on to one of the younger members without an old arthritic spine
All the rest of my suspension arrived and I took lots of pictures of the rest of the suspension and fitting it all and then ran over my phone with my crawler it was just an old phone I use for taking pictures just the onboard memory so lost the lot so this is all I have
on the bright side the suspension is all fitted and I've done some road testing all seems ok, the back is a bit high as the car is missing a fuel tank, fuel and a big heavy chunk of backbox from the rear which is about 65 Kg also I don't have a spare wheel not sure what that weighed I've put a couple of bags if cement in the back for now but hopefully I will soon be able to get on with fitting the batteries in the back which should come in at about 75 to 80Kg
so this is all I haveon the bright side the suspension is all fitted and I've done some road testing all seems ok, the back is a bit high as the car is missing a fuel tank, fuel and a big heavy chunk of backbox from the rear which is about 65 Kg also I don't have a spare wheel not sure what that weighed I've put a couple of bags if cement in the back for now but hopefully I will soon be able to get on with fitting the batteries in the back which should come in at about 75 to 80Kg
I've had a nice delivery today which may require some explanation for the record I'm trying to explain not talk down to anyone everyone's level of knowledge and understanding varies in different areas my wife's an accountant and I just nod and smile and make the right noises when she's telling me stuff about her work (if she reads this I'm dead)
so these are my new batteries
and these are my old batteries
Yes they do look very similar but these modules come in several different versions 1.5kWh 16s, 2kWh 16s and 2kWh 2p8s
If you've been following this thread you may remember that I had a problem with one of my 2 battery packs which turned out to be a problem with 2 cells in just one of the 6 modules as it's not a good idea to replace just one module in a pack I had several options
No cost option go down to 5 modules per pack which would reduce the pack capacity from 18.20 kWh to 15.15 kWh as they were 1.5kWh 16s modules
option 2 buy a new pack of six 1.5 kWh 16s modules at £1000-£1500 and keep my original planned capacity 18.2 kWh
option 3 buy a new pack of six 2.0 kWh 16s modules at £1500 + and increase my capacity to 20.2 kWh
option 4 buy 2 new packs of 6 six 2.0 kWh 16s modules at £3000+ and increase my capacity to 24 kWh
The other issue I had was fitting six modules in the back was extremely difficult but running 2 packs in parallel they had to be the same number of modules and this is where option 5 comes in
option 5 I was offered eleven 2.0 kWh 2p8s modules giving me 22.0kWh these were only slightly more expensive Than a pack of six 2kWh 16s modules and unlike the 16s modules which had to be run in equal numbers in the front and rear packs because these are 2p8s modules the whole lot is run in series and so can be run with 6 in the front and 5 in the back which makes things much easier where space is an issue in the back
also the maximum pack voltage will be slightly lower at about 369v compared to the current 398v this will make no difference the issue with using this option is it doesn't come with BMS slave units so I have to use my existing ones from my current 16s modules this is good and bad, good because I only need 6 slave units as the the modules effectively only have 8 cells as they are connected in parallel in pairs then 8 in series where as the 16s modules have 16 cells connected in series so would require twice as many slave units the down side is that I have to make adapter boards so that I can connect two 2p8s modules to 1 slave unit
Here's a little picture I pilfered off the internet that probably explains the 2p8s and 16s better than me the top one is 16s the bottom one is 2p8s
as you can probably guess I went with option 5 which is now stacked up on my garage floor
so these are my new batteries
and these are my old batteries
Yes they do look very similar but these modules come in several different versions 1.5kWh 16s, 2kWh 16s and 2kWh 2p8s
If you've been following this thread you may remember that I had a problem with one of my 2 battery packs which turned out to be a problem with 2 cells in just one of the 6 modules as it's not a good idea to replace just one module in a pack I had several options
No cost option go down to 5 modules per pack which would reduce the pack capacity from 18.20 kWh to 15.15 kWh as they were 1.5kWh 16s modules
option 2 buy a new pack of six 1.5 kWh 16s modules at £1000-£1500 and keep my original planned capacity 18.2 kWh
option 3 buy a new pack of six 2.0 kWh 16s modules at £1500 + and increase my capacity to 20.2 kWh
option 4 buy 2 new packs of 6 six 2.0 kWh 16s modules at £3000+ and increase my capacity to 24 kWh
The other issue I had was fitting six modules in the back was extremely difficult but running 2 packs in parallel they had to be the same number of modules and this is where option 5 comes in
option 5 I was offered eleven 2.0 kWh 2p8s modules giving me 22.0kWh these were only slightly more expensive Than a pack of six 2kWh 16s modules and unlike the 16s modules which had to be run in equal numbers in the front and rear packs because these are 2p8s modules the whole lot is run in series and so can be run with 6 in the front and 5 in the back which makes things much easier where space is an issue in the back
also the maximum pack voltage will be slightly lower at about 369v compared to the current 398v this will make no difference the issue with using this option is it doesn't come with BMS slave units so I have to use my existing ones from my current 16s modules this is good and bad, good because I only need 6 slave units as the the modules effectively only have 8 cells as they are connected in parallel in pairs then 8 in series where as the 16s modules have 16 cells connected in series so would require twice as many slave units the down side is that I have to make adapter boards so that I can connect two 2p8s modules to 1 slave unit
Here's a little picture I pilfered off the internet that probably explains the 2p8s and 16s better than me the top one is 16s the bottom one is 2p8s
as you can probably guess I went with option 5 which is now stacked up on my garage floor
I have been helped out with one of the issues of my new battery pack, a very helpful gentleman by the name of Artur Kustusch who has used the BMS slave units from the 16s modules with the same 2p8s modules I have, has allowed me to use the excellent adapter boards he designed for his own Jaguar XJR EV Conversion of which he did an excellent job in my opinion
Jaguar XJR EV Conversion
Artur sent me all of the files I needed to have the boards made it was then just a case of uploading the files to my preferred PCB manufacturer JLCPCB in China with a few additional details and obviously paying them and within a week they arrived unbelievable service and here they are I just need to solder some connectors on.
I need to get my Z MOT'd before I actually get on with the battery swap as it runs out next month just need to fit my new washer jets and align the headlights and charge the battery
Jaguar XJR EV Conversion
Artur sent me all of the files I needed to have the boards made it was then just a case of uploading the files to my preferred PCB manufacturer JLCPCB in China with a few additional details and obviously paying them and within a week they arrived unbelievable service and here they are I just need to solder some connectors on.
I need to get my Z MOT'd before I actually get on with the battery swap as it runs out next month just need to fit my new washer jets and align the headlights and charge the battery
Wow! Inspired and now also YouTube subscribed!
It's been a couple of busy weeks since my last update so where to start, much of my time has been spent getting the Z3 ready for the MOT
Headlight alignment, tidying up the wiring, fitting the plastic covers underneath the engine bay, fitting new washer jets and the biggest thing making it reliable.
The washer jets were a pain, I bought some from an online parts store and they were as good as useless bmw charge about £12 each twice as much as the first ones I bought but when you compare them side by side and the fact that they spray on the windscreen not over the roof definatly worth it
The reliability issue has been with me from the start and I now know why. When I first started sending data to and from the canbus on the Z3 I was using 3.3 volt transceivers (these basically convert the data to and from the controller into the right format for the physical canbus at least that's how I think of it.) most modern microcontrollers run at 3.3 volts but I discovered that the Z3 really didn't like those transceivers so I ordered new ones that used 3.3 volts to interface with the microcontroller and 5 volts on the canbus and what I've just discovered is that the supplier sent me the wrong ones so I was using 5 volts on the canbus and the microcontroller I'm suprised I didn't have more problems to be honest so anyway I ended up re-desinging and making a new control board (again) now it works first time every time.
Also I bought a spare instrument cluster to play with so that I could get as much functionality out of it as possible I haven't implimented it yet but I now have full functionality of the cluster all of the warning lights and gauges including the fuel gauge as a battery gauge but I can tell you it was a real pain in the arse.
And this is the first real test drive other than pulling it on and off my drive.
Headlight alignment, tidying up the wiring, fitting the plastic covers underneath the engine bay, fitting new washer jets and the biggest thing making it reliable.
The washer jets were a pain, I bought some from an online parts store and they were as good as useless bmw charge about £12 each twice as much as the first ones I bought but when you compare them side by side and the fact that they spray on the windscreen not over the roof definatly worth it
The reliability issue has been with me from the start and I now know why. When I first started sending data to and from the canbus on the Z3 I was using 3.3 volt transceivers (these basically convert the data to and from the controller into the right format for the physical canbus at least that's how I think of it.) most modern microcontrollers run at 3.3 volts but I discovered that the Z3 really didn't like those transceivers so I ordered new ones that used 3.3 volts to interface with the microcontroller and 5 volts on the canbus and what I've just discovered is that the supplier sent me the wrong ones so I was using 5 volts on the canbus and the microcontroller I'm suprised I didn't have more problems to be honest so anyway I ended up re-desinging and making a new control board (again) now it works first time every time.
Also I bought a spare instrument cluster to play with so that I could get as much functionality out of it as possible I haven't implimented it yet but I now have full functionality of the cluster all of the warning lights and gauges including the fuel gauge as a battery gauge but I can tell you it was a real pain in the arse.
And this is the first real test drive other than pulling it on and off my drive.
Wow! You must be chuffed with that Andy, after all your hard work. Great vid too. The smile on your face said it all. I'm loving this thread. Well done you 
I look forward to a longer run out Andy. Well done. Was the smile at the end releif or satisfaction?
Tony.
Tony.
I'll be honest, relief. When you do so much major work like that on a car there's always a small amount of concern that you forgot something vital
