I am putting a Leaf motor and gearbox into the rear end of a 1987 Porsche 924S. At least, that's the plan.
I already have a 2015 EM57 Motor, the Leaf inverter (2015 or 2014 I think) and the corresponding Nissan charger. I'm looking to get a bench setup going. But one issue is that I don't have a battery pack selected/purchased yet. Given that the leaf motor needs high voltages, my options are bit more limited on what batteries I can fit in the vehicle. So here are a few questions I'm hoping people can help me with.
Any other suggestions on how to select the battery pack to buy and the VCU/controller to use would be greatly appreciated.
I already have a 2015 EM57 Motor, the Leaf inverter (2015 or 2014 I think) and the corresponding Nissan charger. I'm looking to get a bench setup going. But one issue is that I don't have a battery pack selected/purchased yet. Given that the leaf motor needs high voltages, my options are bit more limited on what batteries I can fit in the vehicle. So here are a few questions I'm hoping people can help me with.
- Question about nomenclature - when people say "controller", are they referring to the inverter in the leaf stack? I guess in my mind the "controller" would be the brains determining the signals/speed to drive the motor at - like the Thunderstruck EV VCU provides. But in other forums when people talk about "controllers" people suggest using the Leaf inverter with the leaf motor when they are talking about "controllers". Anyhow, just trying to wrap my head around what people call these various components to avoid miscommunication. Perhaps there is a controller built into the leaf inverter they are referring to?
- I'm having trouble deciding between the Thunderstruck EV VCU, Resolve EV "controller", or the OpenInverter stuff. I don't know much about all 3 of them, but I've seen folks suggest that if you use the Resolve EV controller then you can use the Leaf battery pack and Leaf BMS as is. So I'm wondering if I need to decide on what batteries and BMS I will use first before I invest in one of those three.
- Since I'm having trouble finding a relatively recent Leaf battery pack, I'm thinking about cobbling something together to create the high voltages that it needs (up to 400V). I'm thinking about getting some 80V lawnmower batteries and wiring either 3 or 4 of them in series just to use in a benchtop test where I would be putting very little load on the motor to just test things out. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on using this to create the high DC voltage I need to run the Leaf inverter. I saw the video with the guy using the rectifier across a 240VAC line but I don't like that approach.
Any other suggestions on how to select the battery pack to buy and the VCU/controller to use would be greatly appreciated.