New Powerfinn charger installed

 

Corolla eFX got back on track with a new Powerfinn PAC-800 charger feeding its traction battery pack! 

I had noticed that two Finnish companies Powernet and Powerfinn would have suitable chargers to replace my faulty brandless chinese made charger. I made a query for both of them and was quickly replied from Powernet that they cannot sell to private persons. I cannot understand this kind of business approach although it is a very typical one within companies aiming for industrial markets. I was happy and also relieved when Powerfinn was ready to see if we could find a solution for my case:)

Powerfinn did not have a suitable charging curve ready to fit my top balanced 24 series connected LiFePO4 cell's so I made an order for a Powerfinn PAC-800 charger and software work to get a charging curve that I wanted:constant current until 87,6V end voltage with a 2A charge cut off current. The charger it self was nicely priced, but the software work doubled the price. If software work is not needed the PAC-800 is very competetively priced in my opinion. If there would be a simple user configurable version of the PAC-800, it would be a superb product for all EV builders;)

 

 

The charger itself is a very nicely built device. It has an active PFC which keeps the input current so low that I am able to use an indoor heater to heat up my car on winter while charging from a 16A schuko socket.

Mounting the PAC-800 was easy thanks to the well designed mounting plate. I like the chargers behaviour with slow turn on ramps, controlled fan and high accuracy. All the things that I have measured from it so far have been nicely in its specification so I am very pleased!

Corolla eFX's weakest link

Having installed the new brush set and an air filter to the motor made me think that brush problems would have disappeared. I got about 9 maintenance free months of driving and then without any warning the brush set was destroyed again. We were driving to a grocery store nearby with my daughter when the motor stopped responding to throttle normally. A nasty plastic smell surrounded us as we pulled over. It was a -19 degrees cold winter evening so we were happy that my brother was close by and he gave the Corolla it's second towing back home.

At home I inspected the damage and came into a conclusion that I would again need to buy a new brush set. I purchased one again from Evdrives eBay listing. Everything went smoothly again with the shipping and the customs, thanks Evdrives!

This time I was not able to determine any clear root cause for the brush set failure. I noticed that one brush spring had broken into pieces but I have no way of knowing if it was the cause for the breakdown or not.

Anyway I'm getting more experienced in changing the brush set into a ME1003 than I would like to be.. The new brushes were quickly in their place and ready for burn in. I spent a total of 72h of burn in driving for the new brushes with my 3.3V 10A charger connected directly to the ME1003 terminals.

Now all was set to get back on track with the Corolla. I had planned to get to work with the Corolla on the next morning. But in the morning I chose not to go as I noticed that my 72V 10A battery charger was acting strange.. Later I noticed that the charger had broken down not charging at all, just blinking it's led. So now I'll have to find a new charger, and I'll also think again about replacing the motor with something that doesn't have brushes in it ;)