New Blade Electron owner

Post up a thread for your EV. Progress pics, description and assorted alliteration
antiscab
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New Blade Electron owner

Post by antiscab »

Hi Guys,

I appear to have been on a electric car collecting spree of late

Greg from Queensland was kind and generous enough to give me a Blade electron - thankyou Greg

It has a couple of gremlins I'm trying to chase down, but am a bit short on detailed info on the Blade cars

This particular one has the TM4 motor and controller

Does anyone happen to have any info on Blade Electrons that they're willing to share?
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
antiscab
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New Blade Electron owner

Post by antiscab »

I found a manual here:
Electron Manual
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
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jonescg
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New Blade Electron owner

Post by jonescg »

You have it in Perth Matt? I'm going to be up for the WA branch AGM in August. It would be great if you brought it along to the meeting (assuming you sort the gremlins).
AEVA National President, returning WA branch chair.
antiscab
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Post by antiscab »

I sure do

at present it is un-registered (it was easier to bring it across that way)
There's a bit of a vibration when driving in second gear that I need to look into before I can think about taking it over the pits.

I've only driven it around the block, but another issue that I have yet to replicate is power drops to a quarter intermittently. I'm thinking dodgy pot box, but hard to diagnose when you can't observe the problem
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
jeff ev
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New Blade Electron owner

Post by jeff ev »

I have an early Blade Electron , the drop in power in mine is as a result of low battery pack voltage ,when it gets below 179v it will drop the power significantly (which allows the voltage to go up and gives full power which drops the voltage ect.ect.) Cheers Jeff . [Someone else has a Blade EV in the aeva, eastern states]
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Bryce
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Post by Bryce »

I have the electrical drawings for the Mark 5: pm me your email & I'll send them.
Cheers
Bryce
Current EV drive: 2019 Kona electric, 2010 iMiEV
Also in family: 2019 Renault Zoe
Past drives: 2011 Blade Getz, 2011 Leaf, 2001 Citroen Berlingo conversion
Past Conversions: DC Berlingo, AC Berlingo, AC Sprinter
antiscab
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Post by antiscab »

ooo, yes please

I have a Mark 6, there may be some similarities between the two models
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
antiscab
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New Blade Electron owner

Post by antiscab »

Update, after some panel removal, I have identified the bms as an Orion unit. Cell count appears to be 100 cells, however, the whole battery is mounted underneath the car, imiev style. I have yet to be able to identify what cell size or construction it is.

Range appears to be down to 45km, with actual capacity around 7kwh

Does anyone have an Orion bms? If so, do you have the usb can cable?
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
antiscab
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Post by antiscab »

Update:

The vibration has progressively become worse, and now the car is dead :(

interestingly, the motor no longer spins even when the gearbox is in neutral.

I haven't had a chance to pull it apart to inspect the mechanicals of it - pictures to follow when I do.

Does anyone else here have a motor/controller manufactured by TM4?
I'm in need of diagnostic tools (so I can see what the controller is reporting)

Further inspection reveals the use of a Tritium EV Driver Controls module.

Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
antiscab
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Post by antiscab »

Update, I have started opening up the dead electron to see what can be salvaged.
The battery has turned out to be 108 series 20 parallel 26650 lfp cells of unknown origin. They're marked as 10.25wh

I'll need to do a capacity test. I had plans on pulling out the battery, repackaging and using it as a second battery in my other electron. Not so sure on that now, until I see how this giant spot welded and glued together thing comes apart.

Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
antiscab
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New Blade Electron owner

Post by antiscab »

ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage
Last edited by antiscab on Sat, 17 Jun 2017, 15:53, edited 1 time in total.
Matt
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2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
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2007 Vectrix - 50k km
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Re: New Blade Electron owner

Post by Tango »

Bryce wrote: Tue, 05 Jul 2016, 00:11 I have the electrical drawings for the Mark 5: pm me your email & I'll send them.
Cheers
Bryce
Hello Bryce,
The forum wont let me pm you henc my post
I have just got what i think is a MK4 or MK5 Blade and was hope you could send me the electrical diagram as it has some issues
plus do you know what the fully charged total voltage of the main batterys should be. Im getting 180 volts at rest and 190vafter 20secs of charge but the charger cct drops out withing 20-30 seconds.

Cheers Tim
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Post by Tango »

Bryce wrote: Tue, 05 Jul 2016, 00:11 I have the electrical drawings for the Mark 5: pm me your email & I'll send them.
Cheers
Bryce
Hi Bryce,
Sorry I just worked out it is a MK6 blade as it has the TM4 motor up front.
Blade Electron MK6 Prototype owner
antiscab
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Re: New Blade Electron owner

Post by antiscab »

The tm4 has a hard lower voltage limit of 200v.

How are you measuring 180v? The nominal system voltage should be 320v or 100 lifepo4 cells.

Does yours have the cylindrical cells like in my car?
Matt
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2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
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Post by Tango »

OK I just realized I was only checking the batteries in the boot which after I got the charger going have come up to 201Volts unloaded and stable at 195volts with the ignition on and head lights on.

I measured 325Volts at the input to the SPV-1600 power supply and 14.2volts on it output.

Could relay do with a block diagram or circuit for this MK6 if anyone has one.
Blade Electron MK6 Prototype owner
antiscab
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Post by antiscab »

Pm me your email address and I'll send you what I have.

Also highly recommend buying a USB can cable for the Orion bms. You have to contact ewert systems to get them to send you one out by itself.

Alternatively, you can use Android app torque and a obd Bluetooth adapter to read values. Some extra wiring needed to do this
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
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Bryce
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Re: New Blade Electron owner

Post by Bryce »

Tango wrote: Sat, 24 Mar 2018, 14:12
Bryce wrote: Tue, 05 Jul 2016, 00:11 I have the electrical drawings for the Mark 5: pm me your email & I'll send them.
Cheers
Bryce
Hi Bryce,
Sorry I just worked out it is a MK6 blade as it has the TM4 motor up front.
Hi Tim - you should be able to PM me - will look into why not!
With all those different parts - suspect the Mk5 diagrams would be of no use at all.
NB: There is a Mk6 possibly for sale here in Vic with a TM4. I can forward you the details. (There was another one - but I noticed the other day that the business with it in front has closed).

Cheers
Bryce
Current EV drive: 2019 Kona electric, 2010 iMiEV
Also in family: 2019 Renault Zoe
Past drives: 2011 Blade Getz, 2011 Leaf, 2001 Citroen Berlingo conversion
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Post by Tango »

Hi Matt,
Re my MK6 proto type restoration.

I have come along way on my own since getting the TM4 documentation and BMS CAN adapter but have made blunder on the battery pack which I replace 7 dead cell groups and reinstalled all were in the boot fortunately.
After reinstalling the repaired battery I wrongly assumed charging the entire battery would fully charge the new one in the system. Alas when I fully discharged the battery the news voltage fell too low to recover so I have just wasted two weeks wort of work and the batterys.

Just wondering how you are getting on with your car and if you know where I can get some better price cells to fix my mistake?

Cheers Tim

This is the car I have - the first MK6, previously it was a MK5 and Ross Blade converted it to a MK6 in the factory so its not as neat as yours in the boot area.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Completed pack
Image
Blade Electron MK6 Prototype owner
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Post by mjcrow »

Hi Tim,
That is a such a bummer, all that work....
My Mk6 is proving to be a difficult beast as well, it does seem sometimes 2 steps forward and one step back.
I don't know what you paid for the cells you used, and I don't know what capacity the original batteries in your pack still hold, but the 26650 cells I have used with good success (not in my blade but in various other projects) are the A123 cells. You can buy the 2.5Ah cells from their official seller here http://a123batteries.com/anr26650-lithi ... 26650m1-b/, for what you need, enough for 7 x 19 cell packs it would cost approx US$1031 plus shipping and GST.
Regards
Michael
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Post by coulomb »

mjcrow wrote: Sun, 12 Aug 2018, 20:33 That is a such a bummer, all that work....
Yes, eye watering! :(

I'm glad you're not giving up, and I wish you much improved luck with the next battery repair. At least, things should go quicker the second time around.
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Post by Tango »

mjcrow wrote: Sun, 12 Aug 2018, 20:33 Hi Tim,
That is a such a bummer, all that work....
My Mk6 is proving to be a difficult beast as well, it does seem sometimes 2 steps forward and one step back.
I don't know what you paid for the cells you used, and I don't know what capacity the original batteries in your pack still hold, but the 26650 cells I have used with good success (not in my blade but in various other projects) are the A123 cells. You can buy the 2.5Ah cells from their official seller here http://a123batteries.com/anr26650-lithi ... 26650m1-b/, for what you need, enough for 7 x 19 cell packs it would cost approx US$1031 plus shipping and GST.
Regards
Michael
Hi Micheal,
I paid $900AU including shipping from Alibaba but I have a bout 25 cells that I didn't use. I don have the funds at the moment to order more but there are some other areas that need attention like the MCU CAN unit up the front is faulty. this unit tells the VMU unit forward and reverse status and accelerator pot position I think.

What I desperately need is any form of electrical drawings for the MK6 even a MK5 electrical diagram might shed some light on this area. I have most of the TM4 manuals from the internet
but If anyone can help with Blade MK6 block diagram or electrical diagrams i would be most grateful.


Cheers Tim
Blade Electron MK6 Prototype owner
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Post by mjcrow »

Hi Tim,
I can't help out much with wiring diagrams, I would find them pretty helpful too. Most of the issues I am fighting in mine seem to centre around the connections to the tritium controller which acts as a "middle man" between the VCU/MCU and the BMS. It's in the stainless steel box attached to the end of the inverter. My tritium controller isn't getting a good connection with the canbus signals, so one of the jobs on my to do list is to redo "all" the connections in this box to hopefully give me more reliability. Do you have the blade version of the Tritium controller pdf with the pinouts and general info? If not I can send you one. Also I have one coolant pump that has failed completely and locked up and the second coolant pump sounds terrible so I will be replacing both of these, you might want to check yours as Matt put me on to this issue when he had a problem with his (although i think his problem was with the pump relay).
Regards
Michael
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Post by Tango »

Hi Micheal
The pumps run just fine on my car. The Tritium controller looks to be now dead on mine and Tritium are next to useless to talk to. They keep dicking me around and respond to emails with 3-4 weeks delay.
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Post by mjcrow »

Hi Tim,
Have you checked all the soldered connections that go on the back of the plug mounted to the side of the box? Soldered joints in an automotive application are always a problem, they should have used crimped connections. When was the last time you saw an OEM with soldered connections? There's a reason for that (although I know some people still swear by soldering in automotive applications and I'm not trying to start a crimping vs soldering flame war). There is a really good page here http://rolanday.net/how-to-crimp/#Introduction on crimping and crimping tools if you are interested. I would start there if your Tritium doesn't seem right.
Regards
Michael
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Post by Tango »

the Tritium controller is definitely the blown up as it has power to the 12v and 3.2v regulator ICs on the board but it no longer lights the CAN activity led and the fault led use to flash.
Although the soldering is rough it all checks out ok. The best connections are crimped with minimal solder under crimp as long as you dont melt plastic.
Blade Electron MK6 Prototype owner
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