First steps forward

While by no means it feels like the rebuild has started, there are these small and motivating steps into the right direction. When Ecumaster heard what happened to my car and the Advanced Display Unit (ADU) had survived the fire but was damaged, they helped me.

Display in the electric Volvo

First a quick recap of what I used and how I implemented it. The ADU is a CAN display and used a lot in autosport. I moved the heater controls to the side and had embedded the screen in the middle of the dashboard. I modified a spring return switch with an original Volvo Amazon style knob to navigate to the next and previous page using two inputs on the ADU. Also the range mode (standard/long) was an original Amazon style knob with ‘Räckvidd’ bezel showing/updating a visual element.

The software environment that comes with the ADU is very user friendly and has a lot of possibilities. In the end I visualized the whole thermal management on one page and made many other pages.

Not only could you go through pages manually, also CAN triggers are possible. If the car would go to CHAdeMO DC fast charging, that page was automatically selected to show the charging process details.

One other feature I really like about the ADU is the possibility of using overlays. For example for showing warnings. I also used it during charging. During charging the car is kind of ‘on’. However, as long as the ignition was off and the door was closed (ie the car was parked), the ADU would show a black screen (overlay) with just a small SOC percentage in the corner. When the door was opened and/or the ignition was enabled the overlay would disappear and the (AC) charge screen would show. Of course it requires the signals to be present (either as digital inputs and/or via CAN) but the logic can all be implemented in the ADU.

By the way, further details about the ADU can be found on the Ecumaster website.

Refurbishing the screen

But the fire destroyed almost all that. Many parts, even in the interior did not survive. However I was keen on taking out the ADU and test it. Via the fresh air intake the heat got in slightly to the right. The ADU was mounted in the center so it could be it was not impacted. After taking out the dash it turned out the connectors and the wires near the ADU had not melted.

So the good news is it had not been hot. On the other hand there was the impact of water and highly corrosive fire extinguisher powder. But after taking it out and powering it up on the bench it still worked!

As you can see the aluminum has corroded and the screen itself had a grey film from the smoke.

Rebuild support from Ecumaster

Ecumaster has send me a new casing completely free of charge. Thanks!!

I have the first generation ADU. Currently the Gen2 is IP65 and has a piece of glass in front of the screen. The good news is that it is backwards compatible.

Disassembling the ADU was quite easy. I managed to completely clean the TFT with some alcohol and dedicated screen cleaner. So now the ADU is good to go again. Thanks again Ecumaster!

Support and donate

So the good news is I do not need to buy a new ADU and even got the parts to repair it for free. However, most components are gone and I need to buy new parts. Your support would be very welcome.

It’s still a long way to go. Stay tuned for further updates.