Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Dedicated to the conversion sold by the now defunct Electric Car Company

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mattcarr
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby mattcarr » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:04 pm

controller
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inside the black box !!!!
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DSC_0150.jpg
The curtis controller.
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mattcarr
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby mattcarr » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:09 pm

Okay, the heater was not connected up. The positive lead was wrapped in tape outside the black box and I noticed that one of the wires from the thermastat was not connected. After lots of tracing and using my multimeter I connected up the thermastat wire to the 2 pole solenoid - in this picture just behind the big black battery cable that enters the box from the right is the 2 pole solenoid. The red power wire was not connected to the output from this solenoid. Once it was all connected up it worked !!!!!!!!

So for less than 2 hours of my time I have realised that the unit was not connected up in the first place. Poor workman ship I think - or a lazy person who just couldn't be bothered to connect it up when they were working on the car??

Matt
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ChrisB
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby ChrisB » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:12 pm

Some good pics there 8)

I'd start with seeing if the heater has a supply to it first when you press the "go" button :?

Interesting to see what appears to be a domestic Drayton stat cobbled on the side of it :? I have to wonder how suitable it is for "exterior" use :|

Looks like a fairly standard Zivan charger along with the DC/DC unit, the curtis is a more modern version of what I'm use to seeing.

ChrisB
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby ChrisB » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:14 pm

mattcarr wrote:Okay, the heater was not connected up. The positive lead was wrapped in tape outside the black box and I noticed that one of the wires from the thermastat was not connected. After lots of tracing and using my multimeter I connected up the thermastat wire to the 2 pole solenoid - in this picture just behind the big black battery cable that enters the box from the right is the 2 pole solenoid. The red power wire was not connected to the output from this solenoid. Once it was all connected up it worked !!!!!!!!

So for less than 2 hours of my time I have realised that the unit was not connected up in the first place. Poor workman ship I think - or a lazy person who just couldn't be bothered to connect it up when they were working on the car??

Matt


Ah you posted at the same time as me :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well thats a result then, bit bizzare it was disconnected, cant beleive it wasnt connected from new ???

I wonder if theres an issue with you stopping it from working ..............i.e not being able to turn it off, or it randomly turing its self on ??

Worth thinking about

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

mattcarr
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby mattcarr » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:49 pm

Chris, I checked the soledoid and it was definitly turning the unit on and off. I was also able to see the voltage sag on the meter when it was being turned and off again. The car was at 87.7 volts and it dropped by .5 volts when the heater was switched on. After it running for several minutes the air coming out of the vents got nice and warm.

So all in all I am pleased it was a fairly simple fix, but I will keep an eye on it to make sure nothing bad happens !!!!

Matt

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ChrisB
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby ChrisB » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:56 pm

mattcarr wrote:Chris, I checked the soledoid and it was definitly turning the unit on and off. I was also able to see the voltage sag on the meter when it was being turned and off again. The car was at 87.7 volts and it dropped by .5 volts when the heater was switched on. After it running for several minutes the air coming out of the vents got nice and warm.

So all in all I am pleased it was a fairly simple fix, but I will keep an eye on it to make sure nothing bad happens !!!!

Matt


I like easy fixes, bet your well chuffed, also you got to have a dig about in the car.

Thanks for the pics they make for interesting viewing as I coulcnt really take apart the one I borrowed :lol: :lol:

ChrisB
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mattcarr
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby mattcarr » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:09 am

I did quite a few miles in the car yesterday and decided to run the car right down to see how it performed. When the gauge gets to 25% remaining it limits the car to 30 mph - even when going down hill it forces regen to keep at 30mph. I ran around the side roads near home and got it down to 15% remaining - this is when it limits the top speed to 15 mph !!!!!. Luckily I was vear near home. The car was soon back on charge. I decided to keep an eye the % charge every hour to see at what rate it gets charged. I dutifully went out every hour to see that it was climbing at about 10% per hour. So this ties in with the rating stamped on the charger - 18 amps at 96 volts. So it would seem that I have got a 1.7kw charger that takes around 10 hours to fully charge an empty battery pack. This is very different to what ECCPLC state on their website - 6 hours charge time from empty. The previous owner told me he had to have the charger changed at some point at his own expense so it looks like they put in a slower one.

I am thinking of changing out the charger or installing a secondary one. Is it fairly easy to have 2 chargers running in parallel?

Matt

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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby ChrisB » Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:03 am

I found similar charging times when I had mine for a while viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2721

Not sure about how easy it would be to add an extra charger as I dont know how its tied in to the BMS :?

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

mattcarr
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby mattcarr » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:00 pm

I know the charger must be linked in to the BMS as I had disconnected the BMS portion from the black box and plugged in the car to see what happened - nothing, it did not go in to charge mode. Once the BMS was plugged back in it started charging again, so it looks like the charger needs the ok from the BMS before it starts to charge.

Also, after re-reading your review I noticed that my car has got a spare wheel in the boot. The charger is fitted in the bottom of the black box at the front of the car. I wonder is I could get a second charger hooked up and use it only when I need a real boost in charging. I feel that 1.7kw is a bit too low for my liking.

mattcarr
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Re: Citroen C1 VTR EV'ie

Postby mattcarr » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:05 pm

I can't believe that we have done 1000 miles in the C1 Ev'ie already this month. The car is used for nearly all our journeys now and still gives us big grins everytime we go out in it.


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