{"id":11558,"date":"2026-07-23T13:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/?p=11558"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:43:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:43:59","slug":"project-seven-pt-10-project-update-and-software-re-write-with-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/project-seven-pt-10-project-update-and-software-re-write-with-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Project sEVen pt 10: Project Update and Software re-write with AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New video: July EV bench update<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New video covering the latest progress on my Caterham Seven EV conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past four weeks, I\u2019ve rebuilt the vehicle-control software from a clean sheet. The new system runs across the STM32-based ZombieVerter VCU and an ESP32-S3 communications coprocessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the video, I walk through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the updated test bench and contactor box;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the IVT-S current and voltage sensor;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the traction DC-to-DC converter producing 260 volts from the 40-volt bench supply;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the new VCU software architecture;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the live web-based diagnostic interface;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ignition, precharge and drive-selection operation; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the command-line terminal used for detailed diagnostics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The inverter and motor aren\u2019t connected yet, so the torque path remains diagnostic. The next major objective is to bring up the inverter and, ultimately, get the motor spinning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Full update here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cQgi0NkpIcA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It may be slightly over-engineered\u2014but that\u2019s half the fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vido transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. False starts and filler words have been reduced, and technical terms misheard by the automatic captioning system have been corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-markdown\"><h1>July Bench Update \u2014 Video Transcript<\/h1>\n<p><em>This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. False starts and filler\nwords have been reduced, and technical names misheard by the automatic caption\nsystem have been corrected.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Introduction \u2014 00:00<\/h2>\n<p>Hello everyone, and welcome to another Purple Meanie YouTube video. This is\nanother video in my \u201cPutting the EV in Seven\u201d series.<\/p>\n<p>When I left you a few weeks ago, I had the traction DC-to-DC converter up and\nrunning, and I had my bench test rig working. Today I want to give you an update\non where I am now\u2014which is pretty much where I was, but having done a whole\nbunch of extra work in the meantime.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to give you an update on the bench hardware\u2014the ZombieVerter, traction\nDC-to-DC converter and all of that\u2014and then an update on what I\u2019ve been doing\nwith the software. Basically, I\u2019ve rewritten the whole thing.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re going to get into the weeds. I\u2019ll show you what I\u2019ve been doing, give you\na look at the project\u2019s new web interface, and show you the terminal that gives\nme command-line access to the project and lets me get lots of data out of it.<\/p>\n<p>Sit back, and I hope you enjoy the video.<\/p>\n<h2>The bench setup \u2014 00:59<\/h2>\n<p>Hopefully, as you remember from previous videos, this is my bench setup. I\u2019ll do\na very quick run-through in case you missed some of the previous material, and\nthen I\u2019ll cover the changes.<\/p>\n<p>Starting from the battery pack: I have batteries under the desk, but they\u2019re not\nbeing used at the moment. Instead, I have two bench power supplies acting as\nthe battery pack. They\u2019re running in series at 40 volts.<\/p>\n<p>That feeds into a contactor box, which I\u2019ll cover in a second. The contactor box\nfeeds down a cable into the low-voltage side of the big grey traction DC-to-DC\nconverter. It\u2019s capable of 250 kilowatts of DC-to-DC conversion. On the bench\nat the moment, it takes 40 volts from the power supplies and converts it to 260\nvolts on the high side, which I\u2019m measuring over here.<\/p>\n<p>That is the high-voltage path. Control comes from the ZombieVerter vehicle\ncontrol unit. It is open-source hardware and was running open-source software,\nalthough we\u2019ll come back to the software in a moment.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a small coprocessor board attached to it. In my implementation, that is\nan ESP32-S3 dual-core processor. It has a small OLED display showing things such\nas the IP address it is using, so I know how to log into it.<\/p>\n<p>The ZombieVerter itself uses a 32-bit STMicroelectronics STM32F107\nmicrocontroller.<\/p>\n<p>I also have a power distribution module. It sequences the low-voltage,\n12-volt supplies, powers the VCU, and powers the low-voltage side of the\ntraction DC-to-DC converter. It has a 12-button keypad programmed over the CAN\nbus.<\/p>\n<p>The blue button is the ignition button, simulating the car\u2019s ignition switch.\nThere are also D, N and R buttons for drive, neutral and reverse\u2014represented in\nthe software as forward, neutral and reverse\u2014and the button at the top right is\nStart\/Stop. Once the system is in Ignition, I can press Start\/Stop to energise\nthe system.<\/p>\n<p>The coprocessor board has a serial connection, alongside the programming\ninterface for the STM32. Both run through USB and a hub to my computer.<\/p>\n<p>That is the basic bench setup. Now let\u2019s concentrate on the new things.<\/p>\n<h2>Bench hardware changes \u2014 04:16<\/h2>\n<p>The first new item is the coprocessor board, which has a whole set of new\nsoftware on it. That has changed since my last bench video.<\/p>\n<p>The other major change is the contactor box. Previously, its circuit breaker\nwas external to the box and flopping around on the bench. I also didn\u2019t have\nthe black device at the bottom or the cable running out of it.<\/p>\n<p>The black device is an IVT-S shunt. It measures current in the negative line\nrunning through the box. It also has three voltage sensors. I\u2019m measuring the\nvoltage on the battery-pack side of the positive contactor, on the traction\nDC-to-DC side of the positive contactor, and on the traction DC-to-DC side of\nthe negative contactor.<\/p>\n<p>That is now integrated into a new box, which I 3D-printed, with a newly routed\nPerspex cover. The LEDs showing positive, negative and precharge activation\nare still working.<\/p>\n<p>The other new item on the bench is a CAN sniffer. It uses a board from\nMrDIY.ca with an ESP32 board sandwiched in the middle and an Adafruit Feather\nOLED display on top. The display shows its IP address, received CAN-packet\ncount, and the load on both processor cores.<\/p>\n<p>It sends packets using the GVRET protocol back to my Mac, which I covered in a\nprevious video.<\/p>\n<p>That is the bench setup as it stands. Now let\u2019s look at the software.<\/p>\n<h2>Why I rewrote the software \u2014 06:40<\/h2>\n<p>Before getting into the software in detail, let\u2019s have a quick look at why I\u2019ve\nbeen doing this and what I\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n<p>My previous bench videos were based around the open-source ZombieVerter\ncodebase and hardware. I\u2019m still using the hardware, but I\u2019ve changed the\nsoftware quite a bit.<\/p>\n<p>I reached a fairly good stage with the bench and the traction DC-to-DC\nconverter, but I wasn\u2019t confident that I was adding software in the way I\nwanted, or in a way that made sense for my project.<\/p>\n<p>About a month ago, I decided to look at making a clean sweep. I\u2019d been using\nCodex, ChatGPT\u2019s coding agent, on about a dozen projects over the previous six\nmonths and had done lots of things with it. I had been very reluctant to use it\non the vehicle control unit for this EV project, but eventually I reached the\npoint where I felt reasonably confident and decided to have a go.<\/p>\n<p>I started with a clean sheet of paper\u2014none of the open-source ZombieVerter\nsoftware and none of the previous Wi-Fi coprocessor software\u2014and started again.<\/p>\n<p>That allowed me to implement a fairly classic software architecture. Drivers\nsit at the lower level. Devices sit on top of those drivers and consume their\ndata. Services sit above the devices and use their output. Above that is the\napplication layer, which contains the vehicle finite state machine.<\/p>\n<p>All of that runs on the STM32 microcontroller in the vehicle control unit on\nthe ZombieVerter circuit board.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside it is the Wi-Fi coprocessor: the ESP32 on the daughter card with the\nOLED attached. It connects to the STM32 VCU over a one-megabit serial link. The\nESP32 is responsible for rendering a website that I can access over Wi-Fi, and\nfor providing a terminal that gives me even greater diagnostic access to the\nvehicle.<\/p>\n<p>That is the software architecture I\u2019ve implemented. It will evolve as new\ndevices, services and drivers are added, but that is where it stands today.<\/p>\n<h2>The new web interface \u2014 09:12<\/h2>\n<p>Here we are in the web interface. It is served by the Wi-Fi coprocessor and\ndisplayed over Wi-Fi on my desktop. As you can see, there\u2019s quite a lot going\non. This is the result of about a month\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p>There is a list of pages down the left-hand side. We\u2019re looking at the\nDashboard at the moment, and I\u2019ll run through what the pages do.<\/p>\n<p>The Dashboard shows the high-level readiness of the system and the bench. Some\ngauges currently run in test mode for future vehicle speed, motor RPM and\nbattery-pack temperature.<\/p>\n<p>At the bottom is the direction indicator, showing whether forward, neutral or\nreverse is selected. It also shows whether ignition is on, whether Start has\nbeen pressed and whether the brake is depressed. The brake is hard-wired as\npressed for the bench at the moment.<\/p>\n<p>There is a torque indicator showing the amount of torque being requested from\nthe inverter. The contactor indicators show whether each contactor is open or\nclosed. They\u2019re all greyed out at the moment, so they\u2019re open.<\/p>\n<h3>Drivers<\/h3>\n<p>Looking at the software model I just showed you, we\u2019ll start with the Drivers\nat the lower level. Each panel represents a device driver.<\/p>\n<p>There is a CAN driver; GPIO drivers; output drivers controlling the hardware\noutputs; and the serial-link interface between the ESP32 and the STM32 vehicle\ncontrol unit. These are rendered in real time.<\/p>\n<p>If I press the accelerator, the analogue-to-digital converter values change.\nThose values are the input to the throttle. You can also see the CAN traffic\ncount increasing.<\/p>\n<h3>Devices<\/h3>\n<p>CAN feeds the next layer: Devices.<\/p>\n<p>The power distribution module is connected over CAN. You can see the number of\npackets received on CAN ID 0x210, and the PDM is currently sending the\nforward\/neutral\/reverse request, which is Neutral.<\/p>\n<p>The shunt provides voltage, current, power and temperature measurements over\nthe CAN bus. It sits on top of the CAN driver and is currently showing\nquiescent voltages and essentially no current flow.<\/p>\n<p>The Drive Selector handles the forward, neutral and reverse input. It also has\nthe concept of freshness: the data has not gone stale and contact hasn\u2019t been\nlost with the CAN source. The selection has been accepted because it is fresh\nand valid. More information is available under Engineering Details.<\/p>\n<p>The Throttle device takes input from the lower-level ADC driver. It fuses the\ntwo ADC channels into one throttle request from zero to 100 per cent, with a\ndead zone. The interface shows whether the throttle is released, the two input\nchannels and the fused percentage output.<\/p>\n<p>The Traction DC-to-DC Converter is also on the CAN bus. At the moment it is in\nan unknown state because ignition is off and its 12-volt supply is not powered.<\/p>\n<p>The inverter isn\u2019t wired up yet, so it is unavailable. The battery management\nsystem is not connected either; a fake module currently supplies the\npermission needed to exercise the rest of the system. The chargers are also\nnot connected.<\/p>\n<h3>Services<\/h3>\n<p>Above Devices are the Services.<\/p>\n<p>The High Voltage Manager, or HVM, takes input from the shunt and traction\nDC-to-DC converter. You can see the battery-pack and low-side shunt values\nmoving because the shunt is powered, but the HVM is Open. The contactors are\nopen and the system has not moved through Low-Side Precharge, Low-Side Closed,\nHV Ready, Opening, Discharging or Fault.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a Torque service. It takes the throttle output and decides\nwhether there is a valid torque request. Inputs from the Fault Manager, BMS and\nother parts of the system determine whether torque is allowed to proceed to\nthe inverter.<\/p>\n<p>Other services include the Fault Manager; the Charging service, which will\nhandle the charging modes; the Configuration service, which allows parameters\nto be configured; and the Dashboard Stream, with diagnostics for the web\ninterface.<\/p>\n<h3>Vehicle<\/h3>\n<p>At the top application level is the Vehicle finite state machine. It currently\nshows that the vehicle is Off. Ignition is off; the system is not in Precharge,\nRun, Shutdown, Fault or Charge; and the page shows any faults or inhibitions\npresent in the system.<\/p>\n<p>Below that is a view of the powertrain: the battery pack, low-side precharge,\nlow-side bus, traction DC-to-DC converter, high-side bus and inverter, which is\nnot operational at the moment. The Drive Demand section shows the fused\nthrottle and torque request.<\/p>\n<p>That brings us back to the Dashboard.<\/p>\n<h3>Other pages<\/h3>\n<p>The Configuration page lets me set various parameters on the board. When I\u2019m\nworking on the bench, I don\u2019t want to recompile everything just to change a\nparameter.<\/p>\n<p>Signals exposes the VCU\u2019s internal signals so I can watch them change.<\/p>\n<p>CAN Mapping will eventually allow internal variables to be published on CAN\nIDs. At the moment it does very little and uses synthetic data.<\/p>\n<p>Plot allows me to graph values such as torque requests or shunt measurements.<\/p>\n<p>The Data Logger can capture selected values at various rates and export them\nin CSV or JSON format.<\/p>\n<p>Updates provides a way to upload firmware to the board. At the moment I usually\ndo that through the debugger.<\/p>\n<p>Files lets me inspect, change, delete and upload files on the Wi-Fi\ncoprocessor\u2019s filesystem.<\/p>\n<p>Wi-Fi lets me change access-point and station-mode settings. Audit lets me see\nwhat has been happening in the system. Faults shows latched faults or faulty\ndevices that may inhibit the system, and Events provides a related event view.<\/p>\n<p>There are also pages for the two processors. The ESP32 page shows its running\ntasks and CPU use. The Loop task is taking quite a lot at the moment, which I\nwant to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>The STM32 page shows its tasks and changing runtime data. Its Link task also\nlooks a little high, and I\u2019d like to reduce it. If the browser disconnects,\nthat link activity drops towards zero because there is no data crossing it.<\/p>\n<p>The link can operate in Balanced, Fast or Quiet mode. The software protocol\nbetween the STM32 VCU and the ESP32 Wi-Fi coprocessor uses a subscription\nmodel.<\/p>\n<p>When the two processors boot, a catalogue of telemetry metadata is sent\nbetween them. That includes field names and information describing values as\nvoltage, current, frequency and so on. After that, the telemetry itself is\nbinary. There is no need to transfer JSON between the processors: only IDs and\nvalues are sent.<\/p>\n<p>The web interface uses the catalogue to decode those values and render the\nsite with relatively little traffic over the serial link. It is using roughly\nthree kilobytes per second here, rising to around eight kilobytes per second.\nSubscriptions change according to the page being viewed, so the transferred\ndata changes when I move to a different page. That is a very manageable load\nfor these processors.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Web Health provides simple diagnostics about the web system.<\/p>\n<h2>Running the bench \u2014 18:53<\/h2>\n<p>With that in mind, let\u2019s fire up the bench and see what it looks like when it\nis running.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing I\u2019ll do is turn on ignition, represented here as T15. When the\nindicator goes green, ignition is on. I\u2019ll go over to the bench and press the\nignition button.<\/p>\n<p>T15 goes green and the system starts up. On the Devices page, the traction\nDC-to-DC converter is now Ready rather than Off, and its low-side and high-side\nparameters are coming in. On the Drivers page, CAN is up and running, and the\nADC is still operating. Pressing the accelerator still moves the throttle.<\/p>\n<p>The next step is to precharge the low side and high side. I do that by pressing\nthe Start button on the PDM keypad. We\u2019ll see the positive and negative\ncontactors perform their sequence.<\/p>\n<p>I press Start, the contactors perform their dance, the positive and negative\ncontactors close, and we have 260 volts on the output.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the Devices page, the shunt now shows 40 volts. The traction\nDC-to-DC converter also shows 40 volts on its low side and 260 volts on its\nhigh side. Good news.<\/p>\n<p>Back on the Services page, the Torque service still cannot produce a torque\nrequest because we are not in a drive mode. Let\u2019s do that next.<\/p>\n<p>I press D on the keypad, which selects Forward in the software. Back in the\nTorque service, pressing the accelerator now produces an accepted torque\nrequest that would be sent to the inverter. There is no inverter connected at\nthe moment, but that is how the path will work.<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, quite a lot of the system is running, and the interface lets me\ndebug and diagnose what is happening.<\/p>\n<p>The HVM display has progressed from all contactors open, through Low-Side\nPrecharge and Low-Side Closed, to HV Ready.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll run precharge again so you can see that transition. I press Start, and the\nHigh Voltage Manager moves through its phases into the operating state: HV\nReady. Because we are still in Forward, we also get a torque request.<\/p>\n<h2>The command-line terminal \u2014 22:14<\/h2>\n<p>Now that we\u2019ve looked at the website, let\u2019s see the terminal.<\/p>\n<p>The web interface is very good at showing what is happening across the system\nat the same time, synthesising many things into one view. When I want to dig\ndeeper, the command-line interface lets me probe the board in much more detail.<\/p>\n<p>The terminal presents a command prompt. I can ask for help on the coprocessor or\nthe main STM32, inspect outputs and inputs, inspect ESP32 CPU use, inspect\nSTM32 CPU use and tasks, and examine the link. The list goes on.<\/p>\n<p>I can inspect the Torque service, see the subscriptions active across the link,\nand retrieve lots of other data. It is very useful for understanding the\nsystem in detail while it is running.<\/p>\n<p>It also lets me work with outputs on the bench. The system powers up in a mode\nthat prevents access to the contactors or activation of outputs, so I have to\nexplicitly arm the bench first. The output diagnostics then show what is\nhappening. At this moment, the contactors are closed because the system is in\nits precharged state.<\/p>\n<h2>Closing thoughts \u2014 24:17<\/h2>\n<p>That is a quick run-through of the bench setup in my office. You saw it a few\nweeks ago, and it has reached pretty much the same level of operation again\u2014but\nthis time I\u2019ve rewritten all of the code.<\/p>\n<p>Some people will say, \u201cWow, that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d Others will say, \u201cYou fool,\nwhat are you doing?\u201d I suspect it\u2019s a bit of both, to be honest.<\/p>\n<p>I reached the point where I was changing so much of the open-source code that\nit became an interesting intellectual exercise to see what I could build. I\u2019m\nhere now, and I\u2019m pretty happy with what I\u2019ve got. Whether I regret it remains\nto be seen.<\/p>\n<p>There has clearly been an enormous amount of testing invested in the\nZombieVerter code that I won\u2019t have replicated myself.<\/p>\n<p>I have done nearly all of this work with ChatGPT Codex. The way I work is to\ncreate a plan with Codex, and then Codex executes it. We iterate through the\nplan. Each plan is a phase, each phase contains slices, and each slice contains\ntasks.<\/p>\n<p>There may be around a dozen tasks per slice and a dozen slices per phase:\nperhaps 120, 150 or even 200 tasks in a phase. I spend about an hour working\nwith Codex to flesh out the plan. It creates the checkboxes in a Markdown file\nand then carries out the requested investigation, documentation or code\nimplementation.<\/p>\n<p>The project has probably reached about 50,000 lines of code across the\ncoprocessor and vehicle control unit, plus at least as much again in the\nMarkdown planning and documentation files.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve completed about 28 phases to get the software to where it is now. That is\nfour weeks of work: starting with a clean sheet and ending with the\nfunctionality now running on the bench.<\/p>\n<p>The next stages will involve much more testing, getting the inverter running,\nand then getting the motor spinning. It will all be done with an agentic AI\ncoding system, and I\u2019m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n<p>It has been great fun getting this to work and understanding all the nuances of\nhow the software has been designed and developed, because I\u2019ve had to make\nthose decisions with Codex.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve rearranged interrupt-service routines, brought DMA online, got the two\nreal-time operating systems running on the two processors, assigned the tasks,\nand decided what functionality belongs in each one.<\/p>\n<p>This is standard real-time operating-system and embedded-electronics work\u2014the\nsort of thing I\u2019ve been doing for nearly 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>That is what I\u2019ve been up to. Please comment below: am I crazy? Probably. Is it\nover-engineered? Of course\u2014that\u2019s what I do. Let me know what you think.<\/p>\n<p>If you liked the video and want to see more, please give it a thumbs-up and\nsubscribe. It\u2019s always nice to have more subscribers.<\/p>\n<p>Next time, hopefully, I\u2019ll be getting the inverter running and the motor\nspinning. In the meantime, take care\u2014and happy blatting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A detailed July update on the Purple Meanie Caterham Seven EV conversion, including the rebuilt VCU software, ESP32 web interface, updated bench hardware and live precharge demonstration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[51,38,26],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-11558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caterham-blog","category-electric-vehicles","category-youtube","tag-project-seven"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Project-sEVen-pt10-002-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8yl38-30q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11251,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/project-seven-update-feb26-short\/","url_meta":{"origin":11558,"position":0},"title":"Project sEVen Update Feb26 Short","author":"John Martin","date":"February 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Brusa BDC668 traction DC2DC converter working on the bench. A quick update on progress with my Project sEVen test bench. As I build up the system to eventually get my motor spinning on the bench, today I get as far as running up the Brusa BDC668 to do a DC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Caterham Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Caterham Blog","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/caterham-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-12.52.51.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-12.52.51.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-12.52.51.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-12.52.51.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-12.52.51.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-12.52.51.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8125,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/09\/30\/seven-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":11558,"position":1},"title":"Putting the EV in sEVen &#8211; Index","author":"John Martin","date":"September 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Project sEVen is the electric conversion thread for the Caterham, covering mechanical packaging, EV power electronics, CAN bus diagnostics, 3D scanning, CAD references, and systems integration.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Caterham Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Caterham Blog","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/caterham-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cartoon-Seven-Vector-with-EV-Purple-Bumper.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cartoon-Seven-Vector-with-EV-Purple-Bumper.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cartoon-Seven-Vector-with-EV-Purple-Bumper.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cartoon-Seven-Vector-with-EV-Purple-Bumper.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cartoon-Seven-Vector-with-EV-Purple-Bumper.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cartoon-Seven-Vector-with-EV-Purple-Bumper.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11261,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/project-seven-jan26-update-short\/","url_meta":{"origin":11558,"position":2},"title":"project sEVen Jan26 Update Short","author":"John Martin","date":"February 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Quick update video. Just getting the test bench set up. Lots is going to change in the next few weeks. https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/7cyrt5BPVSQ","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Caterham Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Caterham Blog","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/caterham-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1882-Annotated-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1882-Annotated-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1882-Annotated-scaled.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1882-Annotated-scaled.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1882-Annotated-scaled.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1882-Annotated-scaled.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11273,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/project-seven-pt9-traction-dc2dc-converter-bring-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":11558,"position":3},"title":"Project sEVen Pt9: Traction DC2DC converter Bring Up","author":"John Martin","date":"April 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Project sEVen update covering traction DC-DC converter bring-up, high-voltage testing, low-voltage integration, CAN bus work, and the Caterham EV testbench.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Caterham Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Caterham Blog","link":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/category\/caterham-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Project-sEVen-pt9-001_2-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Project-sEVen-pt9-001_2-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Project-sEVen-pt9-001_2-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Project-sEVen-pt9-001_2-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Project-sEVen-pt9-001_2-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Project-sEVen-pt9-001_2-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8652,"url":"https:\/\/purplemeanie.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/04\/11\/putting-the-ev-in-seven-lowflying-part-5-spring-24-progress\/","url_meta":{"origin":11558,"position":4},"title":"Putting the EV in sEVen \u2013 Lowflying part 5 : Spring &#8217;24 Progress","author":"John Martin","date":"April 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"So, it was about time I did an update for the Caterham and Lotus Seven Club magazine, Low Flying. 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