# Nissan Leaf 2018 motor controller inverter



## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

So I bought a Leaf motor....

it was delivered as a puzzle!

For general interest...pictures of a 2018 inverter..


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## zippy500 (Apr 3, 2017)

WOW what happened to that, definitely let the magic smoke out


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## bigmotherwhale (Apr 15, 2011)

looks like mechanical damage only to me, good looking inverter and some very nice IGBTs how will you drive it? can you use the original board or some kind of brain board like lebowski jhubener ect..


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Assuming that the first image is of the charger, and based on the DC terminals, it looks like the charger failed dramatically and was then ripped off of the inverter.


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## bigmotherwhale (Apr 15, 2011)

It looks like its been in an accident and the top has been sheared off and filled with dirt to me.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

bigmotherwhale said:


> It looks like its been in an accident and the top has been sheared off and filled with dirt to me.


It seems unlikely to me that the charger case could be sheared off of the inverter case with no damage to the inverter case, but perhaps. I don't see the charger case in any of the photos.


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## bigmotherwhale (Apr 15, 2011)

im sure boekel will let us know soon enough.


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

Haha yes the car was driven into the back of a commercial truck... so the 'top box' was sheared off.

the inverter only seems a bit damaged at the big capacitor block (by pullin on the copper input terminals, might be electrically ok.

The charger / junction box have two levels, the top part wasn't to badly damaged. took it all apart for recycling, only saved some contacters and a diode 

With some help I want to try if the inverter /motor can be controlled by CAN with the same protocol as earlier Leafs. Will have to find out pinout first...
Also quite busy so might take a while.


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## boznz (Aug 22, 2018)

The 2018 Inverter looks different from older models I have seen so be prepared for the fact Nissan may have also messed with the CAN messages to drive it. Also I doubt anybody else out there has access to the newer model Leaf yet and if the messages have changed you will need another working one to analyse and figure out the right messages to send.

Alternatively the IGBT and driver board would probably work fine with one of the open source controllers mentioned elsewhere on the forum.

Both ways unfortunately require a bit of technical knowledge

The IGBT is rated at 700A / 650V, its definitely a beast!


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## jhuebner (Apr 30, 2010)

Poor thing!


Looks like they vastly simplified the controller and gate drive section.


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

jhuebner said:


> Looks like they vastly simplified the controller and gate drive section.


and cable between connectors


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