Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

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willfromsussex
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Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby willfromsussex » Mon Oct 19, 2015 12:47 am

Driving my electrique again today, I find myself looking at the eco gauge all the time i'm trying to coast along, to make sure I'm not accidentally regenerating on slight downhill roads mostly. I'm used to hypermiling in my fossil vehicles so I'm always coasting especially down hills.

Also i find my foot gets tired holding it at the exact mid point. And if i ever want to just lift off and give my foot a rest, the regen of course just comes in on full pelt.

I think the regen would be much better if it only started when you pressed the brake pedal. Not enough to make the brakes come on, but imagine if you had a potentiometer on the brake pedal that gave it more and more regen the further you pressed it, and eventually started operating the brakes if you needed more stopping power, surely that would be much more intuitive?

Has anyone else had the same thought and, if so , given any thought as to how it could be accomplished? I would think it is actually very complicated to do unfortunately, probably would need a custom controller or some way to reprogram it, and of course add the sensor to the brake pedal. Oh well, it was just a thought.

Are any other EVs built with regen on the brake pedal?

harry morris
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby harry morris » Mon Oct 19, 2015 12:22 pm

Very simple WILL, drive along as normal, any long downward slopes in roads slip it into neutral and coast as long as you like, leave it in neutral when you know your gunna stop keeps the discs nicely polished and gives a signal to those following that your stopping, regen braking is ok if no one is following you but I honestly can't see it of being any use other than slowing the vehicle down quite dramatically, as far as recharging the batteries is concerned I can't see it being any use, a couple of hundred yards of braking isn't going to make the slightest difference to the batteries and descending steep hills in regen is to be avoided as it causes more problems, use the brakes that's what there their for, so there we are stick it in neutral and coast, cheap as chips and no electrical nightmares,hope this helps, cheers HARRY.

willfromsussex
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby willfromsussex » Tue Oct 20, 2015 10:05 pm

I have been doing that actually.
Considering the motor is actually turning all the time on these things, they are surprisingly free rolling. They must have very good bearings and not much drag on the brushes etc.

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Flying John
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby Flying John » Thu Nov 12, 2015 5:48 pm

My advice is do NOT put it into neutral, this will cause very high voltage to appear across the armature under no load condition and when you do plonk it back into forward there will be a spike to quench. I lost my first Berlingo controller to doing this !

You will get used to the light right foot touch to just get it to almost coasting with no regen and no forward drive - just a bit of practice and a comfortable foot positionand you will beable totell without looking down at the gauge.

harry morris
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby harry morris » Thu Nov 12, 2015 6:10 pm

So for the last 5 years I have been doing it all wrong, never had any problems with the controller except for the time it boiled the 12 volt aux battery dry and wrecked it, no problem EVAN TUER repaired it ! these days we are sunk No one can repair our controllers. But I would never use the regen on a steep downgrade now that's asking for trouble.
Our good POLISH friend HIGHEND has a repairer who can do them but sending stuff to POLAND is a bit iffy to say the least. Cheers HARRY MORRIS.

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Flying John
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby Flying John » Thu Nov 12, 2015 6:50 pm

[quote] But I would never use the regen on a steep downgrade now that's asking for trouble[/quote]

But that is just what it is built to do Harry.

There is less current going back into the battery on a steep hill regen than on a brisk take off from the traffic lights.

I would recommend just driving it normally, no slipping into neutral downhill or anything else you wouldn't or shouldn't do in a regular ICE car. I got 45,000 miles out of my last van with a couple of brush changes and correct water topping up. When I sold it, it still had 30+miles range.

harry morris
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby harry morris » Thu Nov 12, 2015 7:54 pm

Well wear gunna have to differ on this one JOHN, as for an everyday ice vehicle the only people who would have kittens over slipping into neutral and doing a bit of economic coasting in neutral would be a driving examiner ( make proper use of gears ) if my memory from my driving instructor days serves me correctly, otherwise dragging an ice engine around in gear and basically driving it to a standstill makes no sense at all, in fact the old Rover 60 from the 1940s had a freewheeling device fitted so when you took your foot of the gas pedal the vehicles transmission would disengage and you coasted using those marvellous things called brakes to do what they are designed for bring you to a stop, cheers HARRY.

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Flying John
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby Flying John » Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm

O.k we will differ Harry.

But for anyone listening, I think it risks controller failure and will accelerate brush wear as there will be no plasma arc for the brushes to "ride" on they will be hard against the rotating comm, (because no field current). If you have ever taken a piece of sandpaper to a carbon brush you will know how easy they are to sand down.

Cheers

John

harry morris
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby harry morris » Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:08 pm

Well thanks for that JOHN, I must say I do exactly the same thing in our NISSAN LEAF and I know you've got one as well, have put one set of brushes in the BLINGO motor in 5 years and they were down to about a third of there normal size, all in all quite happy with the van you may recall calling it ANOTHER SHINY ONE on eBay hence I always to this day refer to it as my SHINY red van ha ha, after a balance charge she will still do 40 miles before the dreaded warning light appears, watered every 500 ah so for 2002 batteries am quite happy, and if the controller ever gives up she will go to our good friend HIGHEND, cheers JOHN.

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Flying John
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Re: Possible to move regen to the brake pedal?

Postby Flying John » Thu Nov 12, 2015 10:55 pm

Excellent HARRY - i had forgotten. I'm glad the SHINY one is doing good service. There doesnt seem to be as much interest in the Leaf on the BVS site, and the other Leaf forums seem to be for regular users rather than engineers or people interested in how they work - until they get a problem, of course.

Euan used to do controller repairs, but I guess he has moved on now. As a matter of interest do you select neutral in the leaf by flicking the lever to reverse? I have heard others who do it (mostly in USA). At least there are no brushes to wear out. I would still have some concerns though esp as they advise not to tow etc with the driven wheels on the ground.

Not sure what sort of voltages on the LEAF would be generated from the AC motor when it is being spun up by the road wheels with no drive from the controller, of course its permanently engaged in the drive train so there will be some slowing down of the car from frictional losses. My plan downhills is to get no drive or regen spots on the dial unless I know I am going to have too much energy at the next stop, then I dab the brake to get max regen and then ease off so the actual brakes are not slowing me down, just the regen.


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