Az 33 ev

[Dan Cooper]

It's been kinda warm in the garage, so I have been working indoors on the dash.33' Dash.jpg

[Dan Cooper]

Although I did mention it being kinda warm in the garage, that is an under statement. It is hot here in Phoenix area. Never the less I do try to get something done. Here I was just a little of what I was doing. Trying to figure out where to locate things based on wiring and plumbing for coolant lines.33 Mock up.jpg I have the Tesla 10k charger sitting on the battery box, the heat ex-changer is for the Model 3 motor in the rear. Next to that is the DC to DC converter that charges the 12 volt battery, on the firewall I have the remote brake reservoirs. Then The controller for the electric power steering. The power steering is bolted in place, it doen't appear to be in the way of the battery box.

[BradC]

That's good progress with the temperature being center-of-volcano-like! It's been like that here too the past week. Such fun...

That looks like a good layout. I put my heat exchanger in the front grill and the fan has still never kicked on. I've driven it for extended lengths in up to about 95F so far and it stays below the 50C trigger.

[Dan Cooper]

I'm actually planning to use the radiator that came with the kit to cool the batteries, also the condenser will mount to the radiator . It has the electric fan too. I will give it a try and see how it cools. I modified the radiator by cutting off the radiator hose fittings. I will weld a cap over these with a fitting on it the size I need for the battery coolant lines.

[BradC]

I would guess that you'll never see the batteries trigger the fan with the stock radiator (not a bad thing) - it'll always be the condenser. Granted mine aren't the Tesla packs and I'm driving in lower temps on average, but I've never seen my pack temps go more than a couple of degrees over ambient. That would change drastically though if you plan on getting DC fast charging working on it.

[Dan Cooper]

As hot as it is now it seems I can't have too much cooling. Besides I might learn something in the process. Kinda scary thought.

[BradC]

Yeah - it should work just fine. Are you planning for DC fast charging capability? That's a whole new topic to me that would be interesting to follow if you pull it off.

[Dan Cooper]

I was looking into it with one of the other battery options I looked at. I haven't given it a lot of thought since I started installing the Model 3 Batteries. If you consider the cooling and the battery packs I have, it might not hurt to investigate that again. Thanks for the thoughts.

[BradC]

There's a lot more to it. Charger and BMS has to support it and you would probably need more systems powered up during charging so the water pump and fan can run for battery cooling. Maybe the DC/DC converter too?

I only had a 30A circuit available in the garage so my charger was capped down to 5KW, but it still doesn't take too long to charge. I kind of felt like DC fast charging was too much of a risk for a DIY EV. Try to explain burning down the house to my wife and then the insurance company doesn't sound fun... haha.

[Dan Cooper]

I have a 60A circuit for my Tesla wall charger, with the Tesla 10K charger I am putting in the car it should charge reasonably well. But I had a thought if you want to see about looking into the DC fast charger. If it doesn't work well I have a spare bedroom. Just a thought, maybe not a good one.

[BradC]

Haha - I think I'll stick with not leveling my house but thanks!!

Your setup will charge 2X faster than mine and I'm good with the way it works now for the way I drive the car. That's easier on the batteries too than DC fast so there's that...

[Dan Cooper]

I just don't think I really would need fast charging. For what I intend to use the car for.