Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Do you own or use a EV. Then this is a good place to discuss things.
doopercoupe
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby doopercoupe » Tue Sep 22, 2015 7:56 pm

I've had Citroens before, indeed I still have a XM Classic. When I take it to Classic Car shows a steady trickle of people will wander over and wax lyrical about the quirky french and their innovation. Recently I purchased a 2002 Berlingo as a donor vehicle to replace a rear axle on a 2008. When the truck delivered it I could see that the underneath is in mint condition. The trade auction info claimed it had done 2400 miles but they have no real proof. However, looking over the van there is a couple of battle scars that appear to be a result of something dropped on the front wing and deep scratches on the bonnet. The cab is very clean and the rear is spotless. The clock showed 70% so I set off in silence, after 10 metres the tyre noise disappeared too so it was a push back to the workshop to put the charger on. While it was charging I had a better look round and under the bonnet, within minutes a small crowd had gathered. "Never the like had been seen" has been the type of comment. A steady stream of interested people continues. The condition of this Berlingo has saved it from donation so I'm thinking this is good, my modest outlay could be a good investment.
2 hours later with curiosity getting the better of me I unplugged and zoomed off, 3 miles later power loss and limp back. Overnight charge and full of excited anticipation. Jumped in turned the key got the clunk into drive..... nothing from the go pedal! Batteries Kaput Motor packed up from lack of use was the concensus from the interested onlookers. Time to do some research then. £8000 for batteries, motor "who knows" Oh well I could still use the back axle. No said Paul a garage owner in one of the other units, there has to be an explaination why was it running yesterday and not today and batteries and electric motors rarely fail suddenly. So I learnt how to reset the auxhilary battery and away we went again. What a bargain this little van is! (fickle or what?)
Drove for another 15 minutes and the Range Rover was awakened to pull this heap of French junk back... again. Jack and spanners to dismember the rear axle at the ready. No echoed Paul let me have some time with this madame. Meanwhile ebay produced a diagnostic tool to accompany Paul's sophisticated kit. After some lateral thinking and Paul's methodical patient investigation "Voila" he disconnects the Battery Temperature Sensor plug and Sparky comes to life again, and does everything she is supposed to do 50+mph 30mph backwards whizzed around for 30 minutes with 60% left and the charging light came on like an emerald twinkling on the dash "Magnifique". The search for a battery temperature sensor is on and wifey is eyeing Sparky for allotment duties.
Special mention to Paul of Trust Automotive, Burntwood, Staffs. If you have a problem with your Lecky, petrol or diesel power, he's the man to fix it.
To be continued.

User avatar
timpootle
Posts: 1362
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:13 pm
Location: Chorlton-cum-Hardy, UK

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby timpootle » Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:12 am

Glad to hear you got it going, and with a simple fix too. Welcome!
Tim Crumpton

Grumpy-b
Posts: 991
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:06 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby Grumpy-b » Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:57 pm

I can do you an exchange of the battery temp sensor, but you have to remove the top battery and extract the sensor from the side of the front passenger side cell. I dont think I have a spare ready for use, and I have had them when people have not sent the old unit to me. PM me and I will give you further details , or email me at sales@ev-support.co.uk

doopercoupe
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby doopercoupe » Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:45 pm

Hi, the temperature sensor has been removed, a lot harder than first expected. Contacted Farnell Tech support and they couldn't supply an original sensor but recommended an alternative at £52 so one was ordered unfortunately they don't stock them in UK so a massive £28 was added for shipping! In the meantime I put the original in the freezer as punishment for fooling me that the batteries/motor was kaput. The sensor has arrived and looks nothing like the original, that fitted into one of the designed pockets with 2 wires spliced into a standard PSA plug, this one uses one of the negative lugs and has a connector similar to a telephone with 4 wires, so while we are determining which wires to use I've paroled the original from the freezer and plugged it in, beforehand the Evlite diagnosis showed the battery temperature as 71 degrees which the ECU decided not to let the car drive or charge, when the sensor was disconnected the ECU defaulted to 35 degrees allowing drive and charging, now with the sensor plugged back in but not attached to a battery it started at 35 and rose to 48 degrees. I still don't understand why it reads up tp 48 degrees as this doesn't relate to the air temperature at the time. So Sparky is not so evil after all, but continues to be mischievous. A new set of tyres has revealed a new top speed of 55 mph with 90% energy producing 40 miles. Next up will be a maintenance charge when we are confident with a sensor, hopefully this may allow a 100% charge.
ps how do I add images to these posts?

Grumpy-b
Posts: 991
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:06 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby Grumpy-b » Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:04 pm

Thats because you have the wrong part. Its not a standard component, and I purchased a number of obsolete parts from the US a few years ago so that I could make the replacements. Yours for £30 exchange. Standard plug, and standard fitment.
WIth high temp readings the controller will still shutdown. You get the eco light come on and the charge ceases, as does the drive.

doopercoupe
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby doopercoupe » Sat Nov 07, 2015 8:14 pm

Sparky Update.
All good with the repaired temperature sensor and a maintenance charge scheduled for this weekend. I took it for a ten minute drive and tried to reverse and there was a metallic scraping sound came from the front end and a puff of grey/blue smoke. When it is in Drive it feels like it wants to go back and the same in Reverse but doesn't actually move under its own power.
We checked the brushes and they are all in good order and no carbon dust build up. We then opened up the control unit to find some scorch marks on and under the white box which has the Sagem name on it there is also some melting of the green covering on a small area in the bottom left hand corner of the circuit board.
First question; Is the guy who used to repair these units still available? Second question; Do I send the whole unit including ECU? Third question; What would have caused this to happen and how to prevent it happening again?
I look forward to your words of wisdom.
Tel; 07721429675 or Email citds@hotmail.co.uk

willfromsussex
Posts: 93
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2015 3:45 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby willfromsussex » Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:02 am

HOw are you getting on with this , I have two of these vans now. How many owners on here now?

doopercoupe
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby doopercoupe » Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:25 pm

Circuit board burnt out so it is with an electronic Wizard at the moment, so she's an evil mistress at the moment.

doopercoupe
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby doopercoupe » Sun Oct 09, 2016 8:12 pm

Electronic wizard returned the mother board and it was installed into the control unit, everything appeared to be in order but no clunk when the key was turned. Plugged the charging cable in and the indicators flashed on accompanied by the green charging light. As we were working in my friends garage we unplugged it and pushed it down to my unit where I plugged in again..... nothing. If anyone has any useful idea's I'll be most grateful.

doopercoupe
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Re: Is it a Supercar?... No it's a van....Or evil mistress

Postby doopercoupe » Sun Jun 10, 2018 6:44 am

Here's an update on the evil mistress "Sparky". I had a disagreement with the landlord about my collection of vehicles at my unit so had to sell off several vehicles including "Sparky" Electrique Berlingo. Turns out the landlord had another agenda so I moved to a bigger and better unit.
However, I missed the challenge of "Sparky" so "Sparky 2" has arrived with its Frenchness intact. Charging cable missing but previous owner wired 3 pin straight into charger, the insertion of the said plug produced flashing indicators, battery cooling system noise, green flashing light on the dashboard. The following day 90% showing, turn the key, got that satisfying clunk and off I went, 10 metres down the drive a double clonk from the drive-train and stopped, had a 30 second think and tried again "Voila" down the drive turn around and back to the unit, stopped again within 2 metres of the unit. No amount of thinking or psychotic well wishing restarted her. Pulled the industrial battery plug and disconnected the auxiliary battery to let the ECU gather some of my Karma. I put another Aux battery on and again she moved off tentatively all of 1 metre this time.
So my fellow EV compatriots any suggestions? The listing on the trade auction stated that it was not "holding charge".


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