Hope you all enjoyed having a look inside the welded contactor, such a common fail on these you would think you could by each contactor individually but I haven't tracked any down yet! Next week's episode will follow the build of our new office building inside our workshop building so see you all again then! Have a great weekend and thanks for watching! Remember, if you have any questions add #AskEdd to your comment....Thanks.
My guess is they are custom parts for the application, or quite possibly the part number is unique to this application. Obviously Panasonic make them, but as to the availability aftermarket, that could be tricky. Thankfully the whole assembly isn't that expensive, which comes with everything needed to restore the function for many years to come.
Replying to @eddchina: PUT ONE END OF A 1 INCH DIAMETER HOSE ON YOUR BELLY BUTTON AND CONNECT THE OTHER END OF SAID HOSE TO ANOTHER BELLY BUTTON AND GO **SSSSSSSSS**
For the boat, do a TOFFEE apple finish, with a light green Granny Smith undercoat, with a rich candy toffee letting the green show through here and there, just like a British toffee apple. American 'candy apple' finishes ALWAYS forget the 'apple' part! MAKE IT SO!
@@eddchina I mean Technology Connections made 2 whole videos about contactors and a ton of people watched. Slap a car on that contactor, and you have double the audience! We're here for the long run!
@@eddchina PUT ONE END OF A 1 INCH DIAMETER HOSE ON YOUR BELLY BUTTON AND CONNECT THE OTHER END OF SAID HOSE TO ANOTHER BELLY BUTTON AND GO **SSSSSSSSS**
Hey there. About the amp-rating of the contactor: in automotive-industry it is very common to overload the contactors for a certain time and/or continously with additional cooling of the device itself. Contact temperature is the main thing you need to keep in check with contactors, so that works quite well. Wear usually happens either during contacting or breaking the voltage, not so much in contacted state. I'm in battery development myself and we run most contactors at about double the nominal capacity with the help of an adequate cooling concept (usually with the busbars towards a massive aluminium housing). Great to see more EV-stuff on here!
automotive electrical is always so insane by grid standards. doubling the amperage through a set of contacts, obviously going to have a big effect on life and tendency to weld closed. i'm no elechicken but i've overloaded a switch or two and have experienced the result...
Nominal capacity is important. it's for a resistive load when opening and closing. In a well setup EV it's the continuous and peak Current while closed that matters, and those ratings are much higher. It's not really "over-loading" them. Whereas in mains / grid use contactors are frequently used to connect or disconnect under full inductive loads. It's a wildly different situation.
@@brianwelch1579 Well, grid contactors are often designed for continous use. For our batteries contactors, the most demanding task is quickcharging and this is therefore only like 15 min at the highest current. Also, we cool the contactors actively or passively and therefore make sure to stay inside the maximum temperatures. In contrast to grid we rarely have connections or breakage of current since all consumers are shut down before opening of the contactors.
@@brianwelch1579 To make matters worse, standards for high (heh, 800V by grid standards is not even medium) voltage, used in EVs still are massively based on grid ones.
Love that you're not only into ICE vehicles but also into EVs. Mechanics around my area are so locked in the past that they don't want to learn anything about EV tech. Love your openess.
I work at an EV specialist garage, and I had one of these contactors on my bench with the same failure, so I opened mine up along with the video. I believe the cause is down to porosity of the ceramic around the contacts themselves; eventually there's enough leakage to allow non-inert gas to get in and facilitate welding.
Of course we want to see your work on boats also. You're no one trick poney Edd. I'd happily watch you working on trains, planes, automobiles or boats.
Cannot beat edd , no longer watch wheeler dealers without him in the show, not watched fore years now, he exsplained repairs so well, and gave you the chance to repair your own cars
Very interesting Edd. I was an electronics engineer all my working life, and am of the opinion that relays or contactors will always fail eventually, it's just a matter of time. In high current applications they weld and fail short circuit, and in low current situations, particularly audio switching, they fail high resistance or open circuit. The designers will balance the life expectancy of the contacts with that of the battery pack, working on the assumption that the batteries are most likely to fail first. That one possibly failed due to not enough gas inside at manufacture or a leak over time. The contacts are never pure copper, it's just not durable enough, once a good arc has taken place, the contact plating is compromised and welding happens. At very least, the contactor pack should be part of some sort of scheduled maintenance and therefore be made accessible as others have said.
Exactly right. Contactors have seen a lot of change and Engineering over the last few decades. From exotic and rare alloys, vacuum/gas purges, coatings, layered plating, and heat/cryo treatment. And that just scratches the surface. Went down a rabbit hole with all of that a few years ago, and it's a deep one.
I'm stunned how small that contactor is/was. I would have expected something much more beefy. Maybe that is why it failed. A bit of built in obsolescence? Also +1 to see the boat back in the water
@@eddchina I have a family member who used to work for Nissan. He did a lot of work testing next years models. They used to tell the engineers to strip $500 out of next year’s car effectively making it worse.
The atmosphere of the contacter is probably sulfurhexafuoride (SF6). Very dense, and good at suppressing sparks. Not toxic, but a very strong greenhouse gas.
I'm and electrical engineer and I design inverters. Big contactors are like a necessary evil because you really need them, but if they open on an inductive load with basically any current going through them they're prone to arcing. Also, the voltage and current ratings aren't really ratings for power, since when the contacts are open, there's no current through it, and when the contacts are closed there's no voltage across them. Its likely the maximum current expected to go through it is 80 amps or less on a 100 amp contactor at full load (I'm not sure what kind of derating they use in EVs it might be more or less than 80%).
I have been part of a few high voltage powertrain designs so far and I agree, these contactors are big bulky and a necessary evil. I would never imagine putting in a battery contactor whose rating is below max power, way too risky to have exactly the fault you've seen. How could Nissan argue for that solution? They might say the continuous load on a car is far below the peak (true) and an undersized contactor would not see the high load enough to justify sizing it for the max load - this (in our judgement) would be wrong, as the size of those contact plates is so small that they'd have no thermal inertia and hit max temperature within less than a second of power ON. So, bad panda Nissan for cutting corners on a safety critical component and bricking an otherwise perfectly serviceable powertrain to save 1 buck. Can you tell we had this chat internally a few times? The decision has gone differently though.
I can't believe how puny those contactors are, considering their duty. I'm more used to contactors for DOL starting large1100V squirrel cage induction motors though. You wouldn't want to carry one too far.
The other problem is contactors have a DC and AC voltage rating - and the DC rating is usually about 10% of its AC voltage rating… DC arcs badly and arcs melt the contact material so it fuses…
Edd it's so nice to see a real petrol-head (hope that isn't offensive to you!) embracing EV technology. I was a petrol-head, once, too - but it was the simplicity, power/kg and elegance of the electric drive train that won me over - along with not having to be ripped off every time I visited a garage for repairs. Anyway, surely the contactor's current rating relates to its *breaking* current capability (and I don't mean 'braking' current - I mean the ability for the contacts to open without being damaged by a current flowing through them)? In normal operation, there will be very little current flowing when the contactor opens because the car will not be moving (ie you won't normally turn off the ignition when the car is still moving and thus a high current is flowing through the contactor either one way - accelerating - or the other - decelerating/regen). Therefore the contactor's breaking current rating will be significantly less than its maximum operating current... The other thing to watch for in relation to contact ratings is AC Vs DC current rating as the former can get away with much less robust contacts due to the nature of AC current. Here, the current flow stops and reverses up to thousands of times a second giving a chance for whatever arc may have been created to extinguish - and the arc is plasma at many thousands of degrees C and thus potentially very capable of damaging the metal contacts. Some devices - including contactors- have a magnet located very close to the contacts so that if an arc is created, the magnetic field from the magnet 'blows out' the arc thereby protecting the contacts. Maybe the ignition *was* turned off under power - or more likely, some other fault caused the contactor to open when high current was flowing - there was quite a lot of sign of molten metal on one of those contacts - molten and then squashed... and thus welded. But I haven't a clue really!
@@allangibson8494 These are a lot different than industrial contactors, the rating will be in DC, although I'd have to look at the data sheet to be 100% sure.
Hi Edd, I like to look at everything from you, whether it's a boat, car or workshop conversion. From the 1st episode of Wheeler Dealers to today's RUclips. I've learned so much from you, it's never wrong to tune in. Thank you and Greetings from Germany!
The current rating on the contactor may be the breaking capacity rather than the sustained current rating. Breaking capacity will be much lower than sustained rating as it’s the arc that damages the contacts. Once closed there will just be some resistive heating. Normally in a car the contactor disconnects when you’re stationary and switching off, so the current should be low. On my EV I just see the power jumping to 30 amps in bursts when stationary just for the heater or the DC/DC 12v charger.
Thank you. That's got to be it, makes a lot of sense!
14 дней назад+1
@@eddchina Just taken a gander at a generic Panasonic data sheet for similar contactor. The specific data sheet is restricted to automobile designers apparently. For similar device Panasonic specify maximum current carrying capacity and switching capability (resistive) as one and the same. But from their 'Carry performance life curve' a 120A contactor will carry 400A for 40s and 700A for 10s. This data is of course over simplistic and will be intended as a starting point for designers considering thermal aspect only. Accelerated life testing would have been performed to determine cost/reliability trade off.
The only time there would be any real current (more than many an amp or 2) when the contactors are connecting or breaking would be in a fault condition, like if one of the interlock circuits was opened while under load or if there was a loss of isolation. Under any sort of normal operation, the pre-charge resistor charges the capacitors in the system before the contactors are closed, so no current flows when it closes, and all loads are stopped before the contactors are opened.
Those contactors should of course have been accessible without removing the battery if the factory was not aiming for planned obsolescence. That's just crazy!
The battery in a Leaf is not difficult to remove, maybe only 2-3 hours for complete replacement. The contactors are also connected to large bus bars that remove a lot of the heat from them, they are only opened/closed under basically no load, and the amount of time they actually spend over their rating is very small. Not saying they couldn't have used a bigger contactor, but they also aren't as failure prone as you all are making them out to be.
10:15 - The rating on relays/contactors is the make/break current, meaning that the current will flow/stop instantly as a result of the contact closing/openning. Both of these events cause arcing. In the case of EVs the contactor opens and closes with a very small current passing through since the vehicle isn't moving. The contact can sustain a much higher current once it has settled to the on state.
Hey Edd we love watching anything electrical/mechanical, thank you for all the time, effort, blood, sweat & tears in making the best dad show on the planet👍
Years ago, what now seems a different life to me, I've researched the relays, especially DC breaking relays. As most AC relays can handle much more power because AC current will eventually be crossing zero and extinguishing that arc, they really suck for DC and are DC rated very low. The strongest DC breaking relays also can incorporate a blowout magnet which does exactly that, blows out the arc. The mode of failure is the same for all mechanical relays, and is actually quite simple. Each time you close a relay, you have a little bounce which in turn produces sparks. Also when opening the relay you have the arc. Both effects transfer material from one contact to the other. By doing this, the resistance of the contact starts increasing, creating peaks on one side. At one point one of those peaks will be higher than the rest of the contact, therefore it will make contact first, but because the contact point is very small it has a bigger resistance. Resistance means power loss on the contact, which means generating heat, which in turn melts the materials and weld it together. If the weld point is small you can release the relay by tapping it, but it only prolongs the life of the relay for a short time. The fun thing is that the same mode of failure happens in gas surge arresters and that's why they are supposed to be replaced every time a surge happens, otherwise they short and start to glow, a lovely view if I might add :D
Contactors have seen a lot of change and Engineering over the last few decades. From exotic and rare alloys, vacuum/gas purges, coatings, layered plating, and heat/cryo treatment. And that just scratches the surface. Went down a rabbit hole with all of that a few years ago, and it's a deep one.
I'm happy to watch whatever you work on. The only thing I would like is a reasonably regular schedule. This seems to be happening now, which is great to see.
I’m up for what ever projects you want to show- boats, cars, random workshop inside the workshop. As long as there’s progress forwards on them. I love watching your thought process and the way you explain things. I bet you could make rebuilding a push lawn mower entertaining
@@eddchina working with my father body shop...metal was easy to polish!, help to build/sell yachts, fiberglass was alittle easier to polish. SAILing wood felt great, even with wax on it! [ I am not talking about 'j' class yachts]. WHEN usa drilled holes in haul of nz's, 'america's cup' yachts to test rules in the 80's, I thought it would damage the structure/stress! IT was dennis conners BLUE haul, & then nz's BLACK haul I realised they used technology for ocean racing! WOOD is still better comfort for cruising!
We are always happy when you upload new videos Edd. Happy new year to you too. Of course we want to see boat fixing videos too so keep them coming!!!!!!!
Hello, Edd! I might be able to shed some light on the current rating of that contactor. The contactor is rated for 120A of constant current load. This represents the thermal limit of the metal parts and their ability to dissipate losses into the surrounding environment without becoming too hot and sustaining damage. The key factor here is time. It takes a significant amount of time (minutes) for the contactor to heat up to the maximum permitted temperature at a 120A load. Here's the fun part: Because the cruising power consumption at motorway speeds is approximately 20kW for a Nissan Leaf, you are only loading the contactor with around 60A. The maximum power of 80kW is only used during hard acceleration. In these scenarios, the contactor is loaded above its maximum constant current rating, but since this duration is limited, the metal parts inside don’t dissipate enough energy to heat up excessively. Once you reach cruising speeds, the contactor is only loaded to a quarter of its maximum thermal capacity (half the rated current results in a quarter of the maximum thermal losses), allowing the contacts to cool down again. The same principle applies to electric motors used in electric drivetrains. They can deliver immense power and torque, but only for a limited time before requiring a cooling period. The driver doesn’t need to worry about this because the motor control unit monitors the motor’s winding temperature and reduces output torque to prevent overheating. You’re unlikely to notice this as a driver unless you are, for example, towing something heavy up a steep hill. tl;dr: You can safely exceed the rated current of a contactor for a limited duration.
Thank you. Nice explanation. In that case it will make sense to uprate the contactors in our new Electric Ice Cream Van record attempt so we can use more current for longer. Better cool the batteries a bit too then I suppose!
@davidjereb you're correct, but the problem (as Edd brushed the topic of in the EV service episode) is the capacitors in the Leaf. If there's any kind of leaking current that drains the capacitors, the current in the moment the contactors engage will far exceed the nominal capacity. Especially if the control resistor is also faulty. My bet is that the current (in the moment of contact) could be as high as 300 Amps, and that's far more than these contactors can withstand (even for a short time). That's probably also why you exchange the complete module instead of just a new contactor.
Thanks Edd. You have a really captivating way of presenting your delivery, always making everything sound so interesting. I am a retired teacher and so recognise the real talent you display in your ability to explain things in terms that we can all understand. Incidentally, way back in the early days of WD - do you remember that Guards Red Y Reg Porsche 924 that you restored? It was mine! When I had it, it was beautiful and I took great care of it. Sold it to an ex pupil who wrecked it so I was so pleased when you found it and restored it. I went on to own two 944s and have finally managed to purchase a Porsche 911 Carrera 2S Manual which I have now. It all started with that car that you sorted - (it's predecessor was a White Datsun 240Z which I had restored and that is still on the road to this day....somewhere in the UK).
Hey edd! I think you should make videos on just about anything. For most of us, we can relate because every guy who works with their hands knows, you jump from one thing to the next depending on the mood, budget or waiting for parts. The important thing, is that you keep making videos and showing us what you are working on. Back to work! Lol 😆
More of everything please Edd, it’s a joy to have you regularly back on RUclips. I’m loving the paint job idea for the river launch and how that necessitates a bow thruster! 😉 If you want the ultimate in manoeuvrability build your own azimuth thruster for the stern then all your low speed steering issues are gone! ⛴️
Ed you will still need the fend offs believe me when coming alongside but the bow thruster will help. When you leave the jetty or berthing place, take in the fend offs in and only put them out again when preparing to come alongside the jetty again. Boats very easy to scratch!
Love seeing all the restorations and projects along with the explanations on stuff that I wouldn’t normally come across in everyday life. Really liking the updates in each episode about what’s happening in the workshop generally too. Great channel 👍
How your hands don't look like an old dartboard is beyond me. The boat and the Range Rover get my vote! It's great to get regular videos from you again Sir.
Thank you, have to be thick skinned to be on YOuTube so perhaps my hands have extra protection?! Thanks for watching, all of the above projects will be on their way soon!
@eddchina I'd really love to see a Talbot campervan getting it's clutch and synchro gears done. By an amazing stroke of luck I happen to have one, if you fancy it? 😉
Fascinating couple of videos on the Nissan Leaf battery which has raised a couple of questions: Did the Leaf go to a Nissan dealer before ending up in your capable hands & if so what was their proposed solution? If the problem with the contactor is a common one then why isn’t it more readily accessible for repair? With all the bad press/scaremongering going on about the high cost of battery replacement you’d think that EV manufacturers would take steps to address these concerns.
Boat as well please, and it’s great to have you back. The smaller contact is the pre-charge circuit, as if the inverter has a capacitor bank it needs to be charged to line DC volts before you close the main contractors, otherwise you do significant damage to the inverter, as a large volt drop when the inverter is placed under load will result in an undesirable rise in current. The resistor is the discharge circuit and is very important, as it discharges the DC bus when the supply contractors are open.
Candy cherry paint with a black basecoat always looks gorgeous and has a very very 1950's hot rod feel to it, ad some black pearl effect to it for an even more striking effect.
Love the ideas splitting all the videos now into their own sections everyone can take what they want and you should see the figures of viewers now watching the complete video from start to finish without skipping parts it doesn't interest them. I look forward to the office building as well as the boat but love your car stuff as well. In my line of work we used to service contactors. You could unscrew the old contacts and fit the new contacts in under 5 minutes and I guarantee that those contactors are most likely still working today but you might not be able to get parts anymore. You have to remember car companies are parts companies.
Hi Ed I think what you have got is a miniature VCB Vacuum circuit breaker. The vacuum inside is to suppress any spark that’s created during opening. If it has lost vacuum it will quickly fail.
All these projects are interesting. I'm probably most keen on the Internal office block & moving on with the Range Rover. But that bow thruster on the boat is most interesting, because we once had a boat on the Thames near Marlow, so I remember how difficult slow speed positioning could get.
Hello Edd. Nice (and cold) workshop you have. I love to see all off your work. I'm sad to see how bad components that are put in electric cars. My son have a 200 m2 workshop (cold as yours) to fix things. My project now is a red Opel Kadett City from 1979. I hope to get on the road here in the spring. Keep up the good work👍😊
I've watched many videos about contactors in HVAC systems. Very similar failure issues. Which, to a much smaller context, reminds me of the points in old cars.
Hey Edd, we just enjoy watching you repair and rebuild things so the boat wouldn’t be bad to watch. Have you thought about doing something along the line of wheeler dealers seeing as that’s how we got to know you? Perhaps something where you work in tandem with a car dealer and take a car they trade in then get it ready for resale.
It's been my experience that many of these relays have a high rating, but that's for intermittent use, not for continuous use for lengthy periods. On a number of thermal stores with immersion heaters exceeding 9 kW, a certain manufacturer used surface mounted, on the PCB, relays which either burnt out or where the contacts became welded together. In several instances this caused the store to overheat and produce water at 95 Deg.C, the point at which the PRV activated, but a lot of damage was done to the properties. We replaced the PCB, but used the relays to operate external contactors, which are far more robust. Ed, do the boat, office and anything you fancy, but keep doing vehicles. Maybe cover repairing failing BEV battery modules, especially testing them for performance and usability.
Also voting for the boat. Anything that you do is always informative and interesting so Iook forward to anything .and the longer the project the more shows we all get so I am all for it. Looking forward to a great, intelligent, and wonderful for you, your show and friends in 2025.
10:30 Firstly, the power printed on a motor can mean many things. It can mean the peak power the motor can produce, it can also be the peak continuous power the motor can produce, or the peak continuous thermally limited power a motor can produce, and/or many other definitions. The peak current draw might be as high, but the nominal current draw much lower. The capacitors would be able to supply the short term power pulse, and 'smooth out' the current from the battery (hence have a lower current draw through the relays). Meanwhile the current printed on the relay might be nominal current draw, but still able to handle much higher current pulses for short durations. It all depends on the definitions in the datasheet, I am sure the engineers have done their homework.
Hmm. About those contacts in the relay - I thought they were coated with some other more CONDUCTIVE metals such as silver, or beryllium ? Certainly something with a HIGHER melting point than just Copper !
HI, I have worked with very large versions of those contactors. what I have found is that the bellows that keeps the atmosphere out will fracture over time and let the protective gas (I think SF6) out then it welds itself up. Rich
Sometimes switch contacts are rated for the *SWITCHING* current, and they may be able to *carry* more current than that when engaged. It would be presumed that the highest current situations (hard acceleration) would not include moving the Contactor at that time. The Contactor would be actually switching on and off when turning the car ON or OFF. ...Maybe...
Since you asked, I would like to see the work on the boat as well, perhaps more than the work on the forklift engine, though that is interesting, too. Maybe an electric boat? Also, I'm enjoying the EV DYI content and while the Bosch tools and equipment provide good information, definitely keep focusing on the DYI aspect for us at home.
Whilst they have a custom part number for the Nissan application, they're just standard Panasonic AEV14012 contactors different mounting ears. The specifications are 120 Amp continuous, 225 Amp for 3 minutes and 400 Amp for 30 seconds with 38mm2 busbars (conducting heat away). They are Hydrogen filled and fitted with magnetic blowouts to help quench an arc if opened under load.
@@eddchina You need the Nissan specific version for a direct drop in and I don't think they're available from Nissan (I've got a couple of used ones to hand) . I've used Kiovac, or Albright contactors as replacements. Both have higher current ratings. The EV200 has a 200 amp continuous rating and is readily available from Farnell, Mouser etc. I usually call Dalroad Norso, they're very helpful.
Hope you all enjoyed having a look inside the welded contactor, such a common fail on these you would think you could by each contactor individually but I haven't tracked any down yet!
Next week's episode will follow the build of our new office building inside our workshop building so see you all again then! Have a great weekend and thanks for watching!
Remember, if you have any questions add #AskEdd to your comment....Thanks.
My guess is they are custom parts for the application, or quite possibly the part number is unique to this application. Obviously Panasonic make them, but as to the availability aftermarket, that could be tricky.
Thankfully the whole assembly isn't that expensive, which comes with everything needed to restore the function for many years to come.
Solid State replacement for the Contactors?
Replying to @eddchina:
PUT ONE END OF A 1 INCH DIAMETER HOSE ON YOUR BELLY BUTTON AND CONNECT THE OTHER END OF SAID HOSE TO ANOTHER BELLY BUTTON AND GO **SSSSSSSSS**
For the boat, do a TOFFEE apple finish, with a light green Granny Smith undercoat, with a rich candy toffee letting the green show through here and there, just like a British toffee apple.
American 'candy apple' finishes ALWAYS forget the 'apple' part!
MAKE IT SO!
Any content is good content as long as its not a reupload or s section of a previously uploaded episode. Thanks you Ed and team.
"Do you want to see us restore a boat?" ...Edd, we're watching u tear down a contactor.. we watch everything 😂❤
True, thanks for watching, need to re-arrange my sock draw so I'll grab the camera!!
@@eddchina I mean Technology Connections made 2 whole videos about contactors and a ton of people watched. Slap a car on that contactor, and you have double the audience!
We're here for the long run!
@@eddchinaI'll bet they are all orange.
You can get the M&S socks with days of the week on them. Then arrange your draw from Monday to Sunday!
I would love to see the boat project. It appears the boat was classy. It needs the attention to bring her to a pristine luster.
My kind of engineer. If it breaks, fix it. If you can't fix it, break it the rest of the way to see how it works!
Absolutely, I'm very good a breaking things!
YES! I'm more of the latter though.
Trustee on boat very very interesting 😊
Don’t associate engineers with mechanics.
Voting +1 on showing the boat restoration, more content is always better
More content it is, be great to get the boat back in the water this year too!
@@eddchina
PUT ONE END OF A 1 INCH DIAMETER HOSE ON YOUR BELLY BUTTON AND CONNECT THE OTHER END OF SAID HOSE TO ANOTHER BELLY BUTTON
@@eddchina
PUT ONE END OF A 1 INCH DIAMETER HOSE ON YOUR BELLY BUTTON AND CONNECT THE OTHER END OF SAID HOSE TO ANOTHER BELLY BUTTON AND GO **SSSSSSSSS**
@@eddchinaplease do my friend 🙏🏻
❤ This boat is going to be very interesting
Hey there. About the amp-rating of the contactor: in automotive-industry it is very common to overload the contactors for a certain time and/or continously with additional cooling of the device itself. Contact temperature is the main thing you need to keep in check with contactors, so that works quite well. Wear usually happens either during contacting or breaking the voltage, not so much in contacted state.
I'm in battery development myself and we run most contactors at about double the nominal capacity with the help of an adequate cooling concept (usually with the busbars towards a massive aluminium housing).
Great to see more EV-stuff on here!
automotive electrical is always so insane by grid standards. doubling the amperage through a set of contacts, obviously going to have a big effect on life and tendency to weld closed. i'm no elechicken but i've overloaded a switch or two and have experienced the result...
Nominal capacity is important. it's for a resistive load when opening and closing. In a well setup EV it's the continuous and peak Current while closed that matters, and those ratings are much higher. It's not really "over-loading" them.
Whereas in mains / grid use contactors are frequently used to connect or disconnect under full inductive loads. It's a wildly different situation.
@@brianwelch1579 Well, grid contactors are often designed for continous use. For our batteries contactors, the most demanding task is quickcharging and this is therefore only like 15 min at the highest current. Also, we cool the contactors actively or passively and therefore make sure to stay inside the maximum temperatures. In contrast to grid we rarely have connections or breakage of current since all consumers are shut down before opening of the contactors.
@@brianwelch1579 To make matters worse, standards for high (heh, 800V by grid standards is not even medium) voltage, used in EVs still are massively based on grid ones.
Definitely want to see all of the restorations. Boats, cars, tricycles !! I’m down.
Cool, thanks. I better get back in the workshop and get cracking!
Yeah, also: fix that contactor please :D
Love that you're not only into ICE vehicles but also into EVs. Mechanics around my area are so locked in the past that they don't want to learn anything about EV tech. Love your openess.
I work at an EV specialist garage, and I had one of these contactors on my bench with the same failure, so I opened mine up along with the video.
I believe the cause is down to porosity of the ceramic around the contacts themselves; eventually there's enough leakage to allow non-inert gas to get in and facilitate welding.
Of course we want to see your work on boats also. You're no one trick poney Edd. I'd happily watch you working on trains, planes, automobiles or boats.
That is brilliant news, definitely want to keep broadening the scope of the engineering we cover in our videos! Watch this space...
Rebuilding Deltic diesel would be nice :)
I'm sure a pacer would fit
More people drown in cars than in boats in the UK, supposedly.
In which case they're closely related topics.
Cannot beat edd , no longer watch wheeler dealers without him in the show, not watched fore years now, he exsplained repairs so well, and gave you the chance to repair your own cars
Very interesting Edd. I was an electronics engineer all my working life, and am of the opinion that relays or contactors will always fail eventually, it's just a matter of time. In high current applications they weld and fail short circuit, and in low current situations, particularly audio switching, they fail high resistance or open circuit. The designers will balance the life expectancy of the contacts with that of the battery pack, working on the assumption that the batteries are most likely to fail first. That one possibly failed due to not enough gas inside at manufacture or a leak over time. The contacts are never pure copper, it's just not durable enough, once a good arc has taken place, the contact plating is compromised and welding happens. At very least, the contactor pack should be part of some sort of scheduled maintenance and therefore be made accessible as others have said.
I am an old electrician, I remember large power contacts with silver tips, they were quite reliable until the silver wore away.
Exactly right. Contactors have seen a lot of change and Engineering over the last few decades. From exotic and rare alloys, vacuum/gas purges, coatings, layered plating, and heat/cryo treatment. And that just scratches the surface. Went down a rabbit hole with all of that a few years ago, and it's a deep one.
Kudos to the film crew again. I appreciate their efforts to get the shots.
I'm stunned how small that contactor is/was. I would have expected something much more beefy. Maybe that is why it failed. A bit of built in obsolescence? Also +1 to see the boat back in the water
Brilliant, thanks for the vote. Definitely think Nissan should have spent a £1 or two more on the contactors!
@@eddchina I have a family member who used to work for Nissan. He did a lot of work testing next years models. They used to tell the engineers to strip $500 out of next year’s car effectively making it worse.
The atmosphere of the contacter is probably sulfurhexafuoride (SF6). Very dense, and good at suppressing sparks. Not toxic, but a very strong greenhouse gas.
aka The other funny voice gas.
Thanks. Oops! maybe I can still scoop it up off the floor?! I seem to remember there being a shortage of it in Germany a while back.
@@eddchina Just very diluted. You can find a fun video where they have an aquarium filled with SF6, and float a boat made from aluminium foil in it.
Well I'm going to look for that right now.
Sulphur Hexafluoride is usually not toxic unless it is exposed to high temperatures above 350 C - then it decomposes to toxic byproducts…
I'm and electrical engineer and I design inverters. Big contactors are like a necessary evil because you really need them, but if they open on an inductive load with basically any current going through them they're prone to arcing. Also, the voltage and current ratings aren't really ratings for power, since when the contacts are open, there's no current through it, and when the contacts are closed there's no voltage across them. Its likely the maximum current expected to go through it is 80 amps or less on a 100 amp contactor at full load (I'm not sure what kind of derating they use in EVs it might be more or less than 80%).
I have been part of a few high voltage powertrain designs so far and I agree, these contactors are big bulky and a necessary evil. I would never imagine putting in a battery contactor whose rating is below max power, way too risky to have exactly the fault you've seen. How could Nissan argue for that solution? They might say the continuous load on a car is far below the peak (true) and an undersized contactor would not see the high load enough to justify sizing it for the max load - this (in our judgement) would be wrong, as the size of those contact plates is so small that they'd have no thermal inertia and hit max temperature within less than a second of power ON. So, bad panda Nissan for cutting corners on a safety critical component and bricking an otherwise perfectly serviceable powertrain to save 1 buck. Can you tell we had this chat internally a few times? The decision has gone differently though.
I can't believe how puny those contactors are, considering their duty.
I'm more used to contactors for DOL starting large1100V squirrel cage induction motors though. You wouldn't want to carry one too far.
The other problem is contactors have a DC and AC voltage rating - and the DC rating is usually about 10% of its AC voltage rating…
DC arcs badly and arcs melt the contact material so it fuses…
Edd it's so nice to see a real petrol-head (hope that isn't offensive to you!) embracing EV technology. I was a petrol-head, once, too - but it was the simplicity, power/kg and elegance of the electric drive train that won me over - along with not having to be ripped off every time I visited a garage for repairs.
Anyway, surely the contactor's current rating relates to its *breaking* current capability (and I don't mean 'braking' current - I mean the ability for the contacts to open without being damaged by a current flowing through them)? In normal operation, there will be very little current flowing when the contactor opens because the car will not be moving (ie you won't normally turn off the ignition when the car is still moving and thus a high current is flowing through the contactor either one way - accelerating - or the other - decelerating/regen). Therefore the contactor's breaking current rating will be significantly less than its maximum operating current...
The other thing to watch for in relation to contact ratings is AC Vs DC current rating as the former can get away with much less robust contacts due to the nature of AC current. Here, the current flow stops and reverses up to thousands of times a second giving a chance for whatever arc may have been created to extinguish - and the arc is plasma at many thousands of degrees C and thus potentially very capable of damaging the metal contacts. Some devices - including contactors- have a magnet located very close to the contacts so that if an arc is created, the magnetic field from the magnet 'blows out' the arc thereby protecting the contacts.
Maybe the ignition *was* turned off under power - or more likely, some other fault caused the contactor to open when high current was flowing - there was quite a lot of sign of molten metal on one of those contacts - molten and then squashed... and thus welded.
But I haven't a clue really!
@@allangibson8494 These are a lot different than industrial contactors, the rating will be in DC, although I'd have to look at the data sheet to be 100% sure.
Yes, please, to the boat video. I always enjoy and learn from the content you post. Thanks!
Fantastic! Thanks for watching, more boat stuff to come then...
It's always a pleasure to see you working and repairing! Cheers!
Thank you. It’s great to have you to share in our curiosity!
Hi Edd,
I like to look at everything from you, whether it's a boat, car or workshop conversion.
From the 1st episode of Wheeler Dealers to today's RUclips.
I've learned so much from you, it's never wrong to tune in.
Thank you and Greetings from Germany!
Cannot wait to see you working on the range Rover build and yes would like to see some videos of the boat as well. Take care
Boats, cars, office builds, you record Edd, I’ll be here watching it!
GREAT TO SEE YOU BACK A VERY HAPPY 2025 LOVE TO SEE MORE OF YOU PLEASE .
Happy 2025 to you too! Working on weekly if we possibly can!
All Edd content is good content, so yes I want it all. Or as much as you can keep up with. Always learning from your videos, so the more the merrier.
Thanks very much, we are aiming for weekly offerings for as long as we can...
The current rating on the contactor may be the breaking capacity rather than the sustained current rating. Breaking capacity will be much lower than sustained rating as it’s the arc that damages the contacts. Once closed there will just be some resistive heating. Normally in a car the contactor disconnects when you’re stationary and switching off, so the current should be low. On my EV I just see the power jumping to 30 amps in bursts when stationary just for the heater or the DC/DC 12v charger.
Thank you. That's got to be it, makes a lot of sense!
@@eddchina Just taken a gander at a generic Panasonic data sheet for similar contactor. The specific data sheet is restricted to automobile designers apparently. For similar device Panasonic specify maximum current carrying capacity and switching capability (resistive) as one and the same. But from their 'Carry performance life curve' a 120A contactor will carry 400A for 40s and 700A for 10s. This data is of course over simplistic and will be intended as a starting point for designers considering thermal aspect only. Accelerated life testing would have been performed to determine cost/reliability trade off.
Really good insight, thanks
The only time there would be any real current (more than many an amp or 2) when the contactors are connecting or breaking would be in a fault condition, like if one of the interlock circuits was opened while under load or if there was a loss of isolation. Under any sort of normal operation, the pre-charge resistor charges the capacitors in the system before the contactors are closed, so no current flows when it closes, and all loads are stopped before the contactors are opened.
Those contactors should of course have been accessible without removing the battery if the factory was not aiming for planned obsolescence. That's just crazy!
and not run at double their ampacity.. it was DESIGNED to fail
The battery in a Leaf is not difficult to remove, maybe only 2-3 hours for complete replacement.
The contactors are also connected to large bus bars that remove a lot of the heat from them, they are only opened/closed under basically no load, and the amount of time they actually spend over their rating is very small.
Not saying they couldn't have used a bigger contactor, but they also aren't as failure prone as you all are making them out to be.
Yes to the updates. Amazing to see such a tiny bit of metal responsible for everything.
You would have thought a slightly more butch version wouldn't have cost that much more and would have been so much more reliable!
Thanks
10:15 - The rating on relays/contactors is the make/break current, meaning that the current will flow/stop instantly as a result of the contact closing/openning. Both of these events cause arcing. In the case of EVs the contactor opens and closes with a very small current passing through since the vehicle isn't moving. The contact can sustain a much higher current once it has settled to the on state.
Hey Edd we love watching anything electrical/mechanical, thank you for all the time, effort, blood, sweat & tears in making the best dad show on the planet👍
Years ago, what now seems a different life to me, I've researched the relays, especially DC breaking relays. As most AC relays can handle much more power because AC current will eventually be crossing zero and extinguishing that arc, they really suck for DC and are DC rated very low. The strongest DC breaking relays also can incorporate a blowout magnet which does exactly that, blows out the arc. The mode of failure is the same for all mechanical relays, and is actually quite simple. Each time you close a relay, you have a little bounce which in turn produces sparks. Also when opening the relay you have the arc. Both effects transfer material from one contact to the other. By doing this, the resistance of the contact starts increasing, creating peaks on one side. At one point one of those peaks will be higher than the rest of the contact, therefore it will make contact first, but because the contact point is very small it has a bigger resistance. Resistance means power loss on the contact, which means generating heat, which in turn melts the materials and weld it together. If the weld point is small you can release the relay by tapping it, but it only prolongs the life of the relay for a short time. The fun thing is that the same mode of failure happens in gas surge arresters and that's why they are supposed to be replaced every time a surge happens, otherwise they short and start to glow, a lovely view if I might add :D
Just did a yt search on blowout magnets, how cool.
We are here to see you work on anything Edd ! .... Haffren was also very entertaining !
Thank you. Hafren was an interesting project for sure and I think Phantom will definitely float your boat too!
Contactors have seen a lot of change and Engineering over the last few decades. From exotic and rare alloys, vacuum/gas purges, coatings, layered plating, and heat/cryo treatment. And that just scratches the surface. Went down a rabbit hole with all of that a few years ago, and it's a deep one.
I'm happy to watch whatever you work on. The only thing I would like is a reasonably regular schedule. This seems to be happening now, which is great to see.
Love the channel -the content changes and gives greater appeal of interest with all the projects - Hi from New Zealand
Hello New Zealand! In that case more boat stuff to come and definitely some car boat (amphibious) stuff too when I get the chance!...
@@eddchina love to see the boat
Yes please. I'd love to see the boat restoration too. Thank you Edd!!!
I’m up for what ever projects you want to show- boats, cars, random workshop inside the workshop. As long as there’s progress forwards on them. I love watching your thought process and the way you explain things. I bet you could make rebuilding a push lawn mower entertaining
Happy to have you back regularly, thanks. Boats are ok too. I like your tips and tricks so keep that on as well. Overall great. ❤
I was just commenting on another video how I watch people clearing up their workshops so I will watch anything you do!!!
Ed the boat is great! DO NOT use synthetic WOOD!🎬
But you don’t have to varnish it every few years!!
@@eddchina working with my father body shop...metal was easy to polish!, help to build/sell yachts, fiberglass was alittle easier to polish. SAILing wood felt great, even with wax on it! [ I am not talking about 'j' class yachts]. WHEN usa drilled holes in haul of nz's, 'america's cup' yachts to test rules in the 80's, I thought it would damage the structure/stress! IT was dennis conners BLUE haul, & then nz's BLACK haul I realised they used technology for ocean racing! WOOD is still better comfort for cruising!
We are always happy when you upload new videos Edd. Happy new year to you too. Of course we want to see boat fixing videos too so keep them coming!!!!!!!
Thank you. I'll add the boat jobs to the list. After we've had a bit more progress with the Ferrari and the Range Rover, of course!
Hello, Edd!
I might be able to shed some light on the current rating of that contactor.
The contactor is rated for 120A of constant current load. This represents the thermal limit of the metal parts and their ability to dissipate losses into the surrounding environment without becoming too hot and sustaining damage. The key factor here is time. It takes a significant amount of time (minutes) for the contactor to heat up to the maximum permitted temperature at a 120A load.
Here's the fun part: Because the cruising power consumption at motorway speeds is approximately 20kW for a Nissan Leaf, you are only loading the contactor with around 60A. The maximum power of 80kW is only used during hard acceleration. In these scenarios, the contactor is loaded above its maximum constant current rating, but since this duration is limited, the metal parts inside don’t dissipate enough energy to heat up excessively. Once you reach cruising speeds, the contactor is only loaded to a quarter of its maximum thermal capacity (half the rated current results in a quarter of the maximum thermal losses), allowing the contacts to cool down again.
The same principle applies to electric motors used in electric drivetrains. They can deliver immense power and torque, but only for a limited time before requiring a cooling period. The driver doesn’t need to worry about this because the motor control unit monitors the motor’s winding temperature and reduces output torque to prevent overheating. You’re unlikely to notice this as a driver unless you are, for example, towing something heavy up a steep hill.
tl;dr: You can safely exceed the rated current of a contactor for a limited duration.
Thank you. Nice explanation. In that case it will make sense to uprate the contactors in our new Electric Ice Cream Van record attempt so we can use more current for longer. Better cool the batteries a bit too then I suppose!
Yes you’ll find in a lot of electronics the headline rating is just a nominal value, that applies a particular scenario.
@davidjereb you're correct, but the problem (as Edd brushed the topic of in the EV service episode) is the capacitors in the Leaf.
If there's any kind of leaking current that drains the capacitors, the current in the moment the contactors engage will far exceed the nominal capacity. Especially if the control resistor is also faulty.
My bet is that the current (in the moment of contact) could be as high as 300 Amps, and that's far more than these contactors can withstand (even for a short time).
That's probably also why you exchange the complete module instead of just a new contactor.
Thanks for that! I love getting smarter every day.
Fair enough. But that contact looks like a spot welder. If it's a common issue on the Leaf presumably it's been underspecced for the job.
Happy New Year Edd, Nice to see the chassis again. Boat changes sound interesting definitely include it please.
Thanks Edd. You have a really captivating way of presenting your delivery, always making everything sound so interesting. I am a retired teacher and so recognise the real talent you display in your ability to explain things in terms that we can all understand. Incidentally, way back in the early days of WD - do you remember that Guards Red Y Reg Porsche 924 that you restored? It was mine! When I had it, it was beautiful and I took great care of it. Sold it to an ex pupil who wrecked it so I was so pleased when you found it and restored it. I went on to own two 944s and have finally managed to purchase a Porsche 911 Carrera 2S Manual which I have now. It all started with that car that you sorted - (it's predecessor was a White Datsun 240Z which I had restored and that is still on the road to this day....somewhere in the UK).
Hey edd! I think you should make videos on just about anything. For most of us, we can relate because every guy who works with their hands knows, you jump from one thing to the next depending on the mood, budget or waiting for parts. The important thing, is that you keep making videos and showing us what you are working on. Back to work! Lol 😆
Happy to see all content! Learn things from every project. And happy new year to you too Edd!
I really enjoy watching you restore cars and it would be a plus to see you sell them at an auction!
More of everything please Edd, it’s a joy to have you regularly back on RUclips. I’m loving the paint job idea for the river launch and how that necessitates a bow thruster! 😉 If you want the ultimate in manoeuvrability build your own azimuth thruster for the stern then all your low speed steering issues are gone! ⛴️
Failure analysis, Clive would be proud.
And it wasn't even my fault! For a change!!
You should have sent it to Big Clive
@@steveosshenanigans Or a collab on this channel with him.
@@anotheruser9876 yes even better
That was very interesting to see the contactor, thanks Edd.
You are very welcome, it was a great suggestion to have a deeper look!
Hey Edd;), Happy New Year to you too ! I personally would love to see any progress, so yeah can’t wait 💪Thanks!!
Ed you will still need the fend offs believe me when coming alongside but the bow thruster will help. When you leave the jetty or berthing place, take in the fend offs in and only put them out again when preparing to come alongside the jetty again. Boats very easy to scratch!
I'd love to see more on the boat Edd!
Keep up the great work.
Thank you, will do!
Love seeing all the restorations and projects along with the explanations on stuff that I wouldn’t normally come across in everyday life. Really liking the updates in each episode about what’s happening in the workshop generally too. Great channel 👍
How your hands don't look like an old dartboard is beyond me.
The boat and the Range Rover get my vote! It's great to get regular videos from you again Sir.
Thank you, have to be thick skinned to be on YOuTube so perhaps my hands have extra protection?! Thanks for watching, all of the above projects will be on their way soon!
@eddchina I'd really love to see a Talbot campervan getting it's clutch and synchro gears done. By an amazing stroke of luck I happen to have one, if you fancy it? 😉
Looks like a old set of points that have been arching.mad to think it was so much work to get to repair that
Glad your back in my algorithm Edd.
Used to watch you on wheeler dealers.
Edd best part of the show
Fascinating couple of videos on the Nissan Leaf battery which has raised a couple of questions:
Did the Leaf go to a Nissan dealer before ending up in your capable hands & if so what was their proposed solution?
If the problem with the contactor is a common one then why isn’t it more readily accessible for repair?
With all the bad press/scaremongering going on about the high cost of battery replacement you’d think that EV manufacturers would take steps to address these concerns.
Yes to the boat. I am very interested in the bow thruster installation.
Thanks Edd, really happy with the new and improved channel!
TBH it's great to see you and the gang back with some regular content. Keen to see the RR completed but more than happy with the mash-up content
Happy new year to you too, dear Edd !
Boat as well please, and it’s great to have you back. The smaller contact is the pre-charge circuit, as if the inverter has a capacitor bank it needs to be charged to line DC volts before you close the main contractors, otherwise you do significant damage to the inverter, as a large volt drop when the inverter is placed under load will result in an undesirable rise in current. The resistor is the discharge circuit and is very important, as it discharges the DC bus when the supply contractors are open.
Thanks for the vids Ed, love them all and really appreciate you taking the time. 🙏🏼
Candy cherry paint with a black basecoat always looks gorgeous and has a very very 1950's hot rod feel to it, ad some black pearl effect to it for an even more striking effect.
Love the ideas splitting all the videos now into their own sections everyone can take what they want and you should see the figures of viewers now watching the complete video from start to finish without skipping parts it doesn't interest them. I look forward to the office building as well as the boat but love your car stuff as well. In my line of work we used to service contactors. You could unscrew the old contacts and fit the new contacts in under 5 minutes and I guarantee that those contactors are most likely still working today but you might not be able to get parts anymore. You have to remember car companies are parts companies.
Great video great mechanic Edd China nice to see you again ❤
To see you nice! Thanks for watching!
Hi Ed I think what you have got is a miniature VCB Vacuum circuit breaker. The vacuum inside is to suppress any spark that’s created during opening. If it has lost vacuum it will quickly fail.
Good to see you back Ed, and a happy new year to you to!
All these projects are interesting. I'm probably most keen on the Internal office block & moving on with the Range Rover. But that bow thruster on the boat is most interesting, because we once had a boat on the Thames near Marlow, so I remember how difficult slow speed positioning could get.
Hello Edd. Nice (and cold) workshop you have. I love to see all off your work. I'm sad to see how bad components that are put in electric cars. My son have a 200 m2 workshop (cold as yours) to fix things. My project now is a red Opel Kadett City from 1979. I hope to get on the road here in the spring.
Keep up the good work👍😊
So glad to see you again and hope to enjoy many more of your adventures !
It' quite odd to see Edd is literally broking something rather than repair 😂 Thank you for all your videos ❤
Definitely want to see stories about the boat. Love the bow thruster.
Edd, Cheers from Maryland. Whatever you are working on, we enjoy watching. Boats, cars and planes or anything mechanical!
Love to see you working on the boat as well👍
Everyone knows your a very busy man,therefore we want to see everything only the construction and mechanical conquests obviously .. great stuff Edd
Squeezing all the jobs in and then filming them too definitely makes for more busyness!
Ed, I love watching you fix anything!
I've watched many videos about contactors in HVAC systems. Very similar failure issues. Which, to a much smaller context, reminds me of the points in old cars.
Love when you rip things apart and explain it
Hey Edd, we just enjoy watching you repair and rebuild things so the boat wouldn’t be bad to watch. Have you thought about doing something along the line of wheeler dealers seeing as that’s how we got to know you? Perhaps something where you work in tandem with a car dealer and take a car they trade in then get it ready for resale.
The boat sounds fun, and we will see it pottering about on the Thames when it's finished.
Of course we want to see the finished boat too. I honestly find your videos very interesting.
Ed, keep on keeping on! Love the varied content.
It's been my experience that many of these relays have a high rating, but that's for intermittent use, not for continuous use for lengthy periods. On a number of thermal stores with immersion heaters exceeding 9 kW, a certain manufacturer used surface mounted, on the PCB, relays which either burnt out or where the contacts became welded together. In several instances this caused the store to overheat and produce water at 95 Deg.C, the point at which the PRV activated, but a lot of damage was done to the properties. We replaced the PCB, but used the relays to operate external contactors, which are far more robust. Ed, do the boat, office and anything you fancy, but keep doing vehicles. Maybe cover repairing failing BEV battery modules, especially testing them for performance and usability.
Also voting for the boat. Anything that you do is always informative and interesting so Iook forward to anything
.and the longer the project the more shows we all get so I am all for it. Looking forward to a great, intelligent, and wonderful for you, your show and friends in 2025.
Definitely want to see the boat!!!!
Happy new year and welcome back Sir so happy for watching you 😎
Thanks for watching! Happy New Year to you too.
@eddchina thank u Sir 😎
10:30 Firstly, the power printed on a motor can mean many things. It can mean the peak power the motor can produce, it can also be the peak continuous power the motor can produce, or the peak continuous thermally limited power a motor can produce, and/or many other definitions. The peak current draw might be as high, but the nominal current draw much lower. The capacitors would be able to supply the short term power pulse, and 'smooth out' the current from the battery (hence have a lower current draw through the relays).
Meanwhile the current printed on the relay might be nominal current draw, but still able to handle much higher current pulses for short durations. It all depends on the definitions in the datasheet, I am sure the engineers have done their homework.
Would love to see the boat updates.
Hmm. About those contacts in the relay - I thought they were coated with some other more CONDUCTIVE metals such as silver, or beryllium ? Certainly something with a HIGHER melting point than just Copper !
I believe that the silver contacts are melted and splattered over the plated copper surface -- see 15:50
HI, I have worked with very large versions of those contactors. what I have found is that the bellows that keeps the atmosphere out will fracture over time and let the protective gas (I think SF6) out then it welds itself up.
Rich
Sometimes switch contacts are rated for the *SWITCHING* current, and they may be able to *carry* more current than that when engaged.
It would be presumed that the highest current situations (hard acceleration) would not include moving the Contactor at that time.
The Contactor would be actually switching on and off when turning the car ON or OFF.
...Maybe...
Good point. Interesting to see if anyone else can back up this explanation but it makes sense to me.
Would enjoy watching videos on the boat. …the variety maintains the interest.
Brilliant, more varied content coming up but we will make a chunk of progress on the Ferrari and Range Rover first! Promise!
Since you asked, I would like to see the work on the boat as well, perhaps more than the work on the forklift engine, though that is interesting, too. Maybe an electric boat? Also, I'm enjoying the EV DYI content and while the Bosch tools and equipment provide good information, definitely keep focusing on the DYI aspect for us at home.
By all means- Please share with us the process and progress on the boat project. Would love to see it.
Thank you. I had better crack on with that then as summer is coming!!
Yes... please show maximum content, including a fab video on the boat bow thruster.
Thanks
GO ahead Edd love all your work
Whilst they have a custom part number for the Nissan application, they're just standard Panasonic AEV14012 contactors different mounting ears. The specifications are 120 Amp continuous, 225 Amp for 3 minutes and 400 Amp for 30 seconds with 38mm2 busbars (conducting heat away). They are Hydrogen filled and fitted with magnetic blowouts to help quench an arc if opened under load.
Love it, knew someone would know more about them! Thanks for the info, how much are they when bought separately?
@@eddchina You need the Nissan specific version for a direct drop in and I don't think they're available from Nissan (I've got a couple of used ones to hand) . I've used Kiovac, or Albright contactors as replacements. Both have higher current ratings. The EV200 has a 200 amp continuous rating and is readily available from Farnell, Mouser etc. I usually call Dalroad Norso, they're very helpful.
Just keep doing what you're doing I think. I'm enjoying the varied content
Boat Restauration sounds thrilling lookin Forward to it ,thank u🎉
Well done Edd....Great detailed vlog! Keep them coming