I’ve got a few questions about higher voltage and performance upgrades for an em1400.
Question 1:
I’d like to reprogram my controller to get more speed out of it. I know @Inwo has been playing with this and from what I’ve seen he’s got it sorted out, have you worked the bugs out and have everything working correctly?
2:
I’d like to raise the voltage to 15s or 16s (Samsung SDI) batteries, @JarJarJava mentioned that it may cause issues with regen braking causing overvoltage. I don’t think mine has regen turn on, I don’t notice it anyway. Can the regen be turned off? Can the controller and charger handle/ be reprogrammed to the higher voltage?
Side note: I’m not sure if I have the factory software/hardware in it now, I’m able to do 15-20mph in reverse and I can’t imagine that’s a stock setting.
17:1 gears are the killer here. On 23" tall tires, at 9500 rpm on the motor, 35 is all it can do.
I don’t have a programmer, but iirc, Dave raised the RPM limiter on mine to maximum 9500 before George brought it out.
I’m still on the clapped out AGM batteries for lack of time to build the new pack, but I have hit 35 a few times. I’d probably not want to get this vehicle over 40-42. Handling gets sketchy quick.
35mph is all I’d need. My small city has a citywide speed limit of 30 so unless I take it out on roads that it’s not allowed on, no need for any more speed.
What year and which variant do you have Derrick? The shop manual seems to indicate there were a number of little differences between variants and years.
The EM-1400’s I have seen are open to reprogram.
Regen should not be an issue as limit is 69v.
Only limit is dc converter capped at hard limit of 60v. Should be a way around that, swapping converter or aux. 12v battery.
IMO 14s is the safe choice. Allows full charge with no mods.
15 is 4v limit for 60v converter. If you go 15 then should swap converter and go 16s.
If I supply the batteries, I can be helpful with programming and advice.
This is a 14s sample I have here, with room to add two more cells.
I have it’s twin with @djgabriel2004@16s now.
Sounds like 14 is the easiest/ best way to go. I’m not sure on my battery situation yet though, last month I got talking to a friend/coworker from another office and he said he has some extra batteries leftover from his off grid home battery install, he said he’d sell me 16 of them at a price I can’t pass up. I’ll have to get ahold of him and see if he was just talking or will really sell them. I’d like to do a 2p system so I’ll probably be looking for some more batteries if I get those other ones. No matter what I end up with for batteries, I definitely need the speed increased on my controller if your willing to do that.
The wiring diagrams in the shop manual show “14V Aux Battery Charger” I spent 10 minutes looking for it on Emmy. Finally gave up figured it was on some other year but they didn’t indicate which. IIRC, all the hardware and wiring, maybe less one relay, is there to hook it up, at least on mine,.
I’m discovering there are a number of little Easter eggs on these eM1400s.
Like there is wiring for a road/turf switch too. It’s tucked way up by the passenger compartment wall from the hood side*. I think mine has a jumper block on the end of it.
The back up light wiring is all there and connected. Even terminates right over the license plate and hitch receiver where the backup light on a Ranger goes. It’s plug and play to add.
If time permits, I’m really hoping to get some quality time with Emmy this weekend. I want to look for the back up camera wiring. With the full hard cab rearward visibility is less than I like, even with the bed high side cage removed and stored.
There is more that I saw in the book too. I should probably start a thread…
Controler does have 2 or 3 drive profiles, wired or not. I can set up 2 and 3 if you want.
Speeds, regen, economy limited torque full speed, etc.
Ranger uses 80% torque and lower speed limit, but you can control speed with your foot.
Either way is fine. More coast, less regen in econ mode too.
Sounds like I gotta get me a programmer once I get the battery pack built. That way we can just email files back and forth.
No clue which one I’m running, regen seems mild on this one, hard to tell if it’s even kicking in, I need to either get the li-ion pack built so I can watch the BMS or at least put an amp clamp on the current pack for a bit to say any more.
The initial throttle lag and ramp up on whatever program I’m running are torture. Especially comparted to the '10 eL that has been adjusted to where it’s near instant response. On the eM, there is a noticeable delay between pedal down and actual movement, and then it ramps up really slow. It’s like a non-committal version of the turf mode on older stock vehicles. Once you are moving, the delay is less, but still there, Meanwhile, the throttle reaction from from dead stop to three bells astern is very quick…
@Derrick It never occurred to me to actually see how fast I could go in reverse. Thanks for tip, if mine is like yours in reverse, Rockford turns might become my 2nd favorite electro-derelict trick with Emmy.
It can be improved but acceleration and max speed are going to reduce the Range. Polaris made the acceleration curve to maximize the range. Lithium Is recommended if you want to play with acceleration settings
