[Jesse lloyd]

Hi there experts
Any help with my smith eddison transit would be amazing - it was completely fine when I bought it a week ago but now it's got some problems....

I was stupid enough to try charging it from one charger from a house socket - thought it had worked but it just said it did then ran out of battery. So I fitted the correct 32amp connection from my house and it did one full charge no problems but since then charger 1 has stopped working completely and the locking system has stopped working too which leads me to believe that there's more than one thing going on.

I'm looking for advise and possibly someone who has some experience to check it out if possible - I'm Southampton based

 

[Lee Dalton]

Hi there experts
Any help with my smith eddison transit would be amazing - it was completely fine when I bought it a week ago but now it's got some problems....

I was stupid enough to try charging it from one charger from a house socket - thought it had worked but it just said it did then ran out of battery. So I fitted the correct 32amp connection from my house and it did one full charge no problems but since then charger 1 has stopped working completely and the locking system has stopped working too which leads me to believe that there's more than one thing going on.

I'm looking for advise and possibly someone who has some experience to check it out if possible - I'm Southampton based

It seems that all of these conversions are a huge money pit of problems.
@Mike Schooling is probably your best bet in terms of getting to the bottom of the problem...

 

[David Arthur]

Hi there experts
Any help with my smith eddison transit would be amazing - it was completely fine when I bought it a week ago but now it's got some problems....

I was stupid enough to try charging it from one charger from a house socket - thought it had worked but it just said it did then ran out of battery. So I fitted the correct 32amp connection from my house and it did one full charge no problems but since then charger 1 has stopped working completely and the locking system has stopped working too which leads me to believe that there's more than one thing going on.

I'm looking for advise and possibly someone who has some experience to check it out if possible - I'm Southampton based

Hi Jesse Ive also just bought a Smith van, and although I am totally ignorant about electronics, I cant see just charging on one charger causing any problems? if its disconnected/ isolated properly, can somebody who does know what they are on about please educate. I thought about doing it myself, seems a good idea ( in ignorance) if you got stuck at somebody's house, hopefully your issue wont be a difficult fix, but whatever it is keep us all posted

 

[donald]

One week ago... good .... return the vehicle to vendor and ask for your money back.

Seriously, don't ask any more questions here, you will be wasting time. Invoke the new consumer rights and get your money back asap. Reject it as being unfit for sale.

I've been lumbered with an eExpert that almost works, but doesn't. Mike Schooling is clearly as fed up with it as I am.

If anyone wants 84 x 160Ah winston thundersky cells, PM me and I'll throw a van in free with two new tyres, a hydraulic wheel chair lift, a refurbished eberspacher heater, and all the other crap I have burned my money on trying to bring it into full time use.

 

[Seb]

Hey guys I'm the owner of a ford transit smith edison conversion and I'm looking to upgrade the commando connector so I may use public type 2 connectors (so much money spent already on breakdown). Had it for a month now and only problems with the charging only works on high voltage. Can I return it to the seller ? Due to lack of charging points ?

 

[Prakash patel]

Hi there experts
Any help with my smith eddison transit would be amazing - it was completely fine when I bought it a week ago but now it's got some problems....

I was stupid enough to try charging it from one charger from a house socket - thought it had worked but it just said it did then ran out of battery. So I fitted the correct 32amp connection from my house and it did one full charge no problems but since then charger 1 has stopped working completely and the locking system has stopped working too which leads me to believe that there's more than one thing going on.

I'm looking for advise and possibly someone who has some experience to check it out if possible - I'm Southampton based

You will need to create a seperate supply from your house consumer unit with an isolator switch and a mbs of 45 or 50amps which will do the job I have a mwb transit and every charge it gives me 70miles max to be safe 60 then ensure you get home to recharge. I am looking to find a battery supplier who could supply similar with up to 200 or more miles per charge if possible.
I have heard that tata car's in india have a prototype car that does 800 kilometers per single charge they have also come up with a car that runs on air which costs RS70 per fill that's like 85p to 90p isn't that cool if it takes off. but its only for a small car with 3 people inc the driver.

 

[Prakash patel]

You will need to create a seperate supply from your house consumer unit with an isolator switch and a mbs of 45 or 50amps which will do the job I have a mwb transit and every charge it gives me 70miles max to be safe 60 then ensure you get home to recharge. I am looking to find a battery supplier who could supply similar with up to 200 or more miles per charge if possible.
I have heard that tata car's in india have a prototype car that does 800 kilometers per single charge they have also come up with a car that runs on air which costs RS70 per fill that's like 85p to 90p isn't that cool if it takes off. but its only for a small car with 3 people inc the driver.

also you will need a 10mm 3 core cable but get an armoured one flexi type

 

[Nigel Tegg]

Hi Prakash!
Ironically, I rang Going Green yesterday, and James said is your name Prakash Patel (I don't even have an Indian accent!) I was planning to build some 85.3kWh batteries for the smith Edison, and a 43kWh for myself. the 85.3kWh would give around 200m when driven carefully. Also plans for a 50-80kW CHAdeMO onboard. They won't be cheap though! I used to work for a subsidiary of TATA in Norway, using the same EIG 20Ah Lipo cells.
Kind regards, Nigel Tegg BEng.

 

[Nigel Tegg]

they have also come up with a car that runs on air

TATA didn't "come up with it, they bought the licences for India from MDi France.... (the air car)

 

[paaa]

TATA didn't "come up with it, they bought the licences for India from MDi France.... (the air car)

Hi Nigel
I actually have 4 of these smith Edison vans and was working on the chademo and camper conversion. I would be interested in hearing about your progress.

 

[martinwinlow]

Hi Nigel
I actually have 4 of these smith Edison vans and was working on the chademo and camper conversion. I would be interested in hearing about your progress.

I assume your vans are the 'van' versions that Smiths did as opposed to the ones done for Sainsburys - one of which I have now sporting a flatbed with real tail lift - that uses Valence U27-12XP LiFePO4 battery 'modules'? Do your vans use the Hyundai 3P motor and Enova Systems controller?

 

[paaa]

Hi Martin, yes all van bodies, three are fitted with the valance batteries ,enova inverter and edn charger units you mentioned and one is an older model with amberjack battery enova motor and two brusa chargers. Did you get PDS to connect in the end , mine just gives pkg errors.Which version of PDS do you have?

 

[martinwinlow]

Did you get PDS to connect in the end , mine just gives pkg errors.Which version of PDS do you have?

~I'e only just seen your reply (don't know why my subscription doesn't work) becuase my van has just developed a significant issue - I think it's related to a similar one from last winter. It's fuel gauge says the battery is empty but it still runs ok... for about 30 seconds and then cuts out. An ignition cycling starts it again but that gets pretty tedious very quickly.

Yes, PDS connects and IIRC, it is a question of using the correct RS485-USB dongle. The one I use cost about £80 - cheap ones off ebay don't work. PDS doesn't help much though, TBH as there is no description of how the configuration files work. I am seriously thinking of doing the inverter conversion using a logic board that someone developed but I can't remmeber anything about it. I guess a new inverter would be another route and one which might eliminate so much of the total mess Smiths made of the conversion (IMO!).

I see there is a thread on DIYelectriccar which I'm wading through... 90kW Enova Panther Inverter Smiths Edison Van

... and another more recent one Enova Panther 120 info thread (I see you are on there, too).

 

[paaa]

Hi Martin Damien Maguire made a board in the past and info is on his GitHub. Might be cheaper and easier to use a Toyota inverter these days as has better support. Does the manual not list out the config files and what they do? There is a pdf attached on my version.