It’s taken a bit of preparation time, which is essential rather than diving in to find something we’ve done is not quite right – both Nathan and I have been guilty in the past of making stuff only to discover a better way of doing it….
In this video we re-assess engine bay mounting – most of the battery racks are welded up now and we discuss battery management, the most efficient use of space in the engine bay as well as the AC motor we received that will drive the air-con/power steering. Also an older previously unused segment stripped in about removing weight, as this is crucial in gaining mileage.
There is mention of power cabling which we will try to get through some of the sub-frame rather than running under the vehicle or lumping under the carpet (as the power cable sits inside a plastic flex conduit roughly an inch diameter), so long as it’s legal which we’ll check with someone who knows (guessing it’s something like 600mm distance between u-clamp affixing).
The Zivan will sit in trunk/hatch area to the left near the charging ‘fuel’ port – not sure about tire placement yet, but it looks like we’ll keep our back seat which is a good thing (and did you know that there is an under-seat sub-frame area roughly two inches high? Hmmm… possibilities….).
As for the battery tank at rear, we’re looking at ducting hot air from it using PC fans and ‘exhaust’ steel piping. It’d be nice to get them through the side vent follies on the pillars, but this would mean a lot of work (they’d probably be part-exposed in the interior, angled down rather like roll-cage bars).
Overall I would have loved to have progressed a bit more than we have but there have been circumstances beyond our control and parts supplies have been an issue all the way along – which in a sense is a good thing so we don’t rush into too-obvious solutions that would otherwise cost in time/energy to undo (in a circumlocutory sort-of way ;-) ).
I’d like to thank Christina and Linda for their camera work during the making of these videos – without them I’d be stuffed for making videos about this car.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Very good article, well written and very thought out.
Hello,
We’ve been doing a hybrid electric fuel cell vehicle project. We have been experiencing alot of signal noise for the BMS system. In other words, when the system is charging or discharging, the output signal to monitor the voltage is too noisy to read. Do you guys have any advice or had any problems like this for your BMS?
Thanks,
Steve
Hi, haven’t experienced any noise issues. The comms cables between each cell are short and well shielded. You may have to trace noise using a cro. I am not well-versed on hybrid vehicles but some other grounding issue may be the cause – i.e. ensure charger is well grounded and not situated near alternators/motors, nor cabling near it. Some control chips are more prone to noise than others. I use Atmel Tiny13s on my modules which are reasonably robust. Maybe in your BMS module circuit some capacitors may help to suppress noise on sensitive voltage/current measuring pinouts. Hope this helps, Carmel