Holiday Season

I have been busy enjoying the holidays, so I have done much EV related. I did order up a new suspension system, a Skunk2 Race package off eBay that should be arriving January 4th. In the mean time, I have been designing my heater setup and here is the start of it:

Basically I have gutted the AC heater core and have is waiting for a new casing, designed to sit a top the dash. I have it mostly designed, I am just searching to the parts to build it. I received some great Christmas presents such as a Radio Shack gift card for parts and a new Canon PowerShot SD780 IS that can take HD video, so sometime this week I will get getting some EV video in HD!

Just Chillin

Now that finals are over, I can get back to EVing!

Today I finally fixed my Shift Adjuster. I installed it backwards when I put the Zilla in, so when I went to use it the transmission thought I was flooring it and would drop into 1st for acceleration.

Now my heater is going to be interesting. I can't build it into the dash until Spring because it's so darn cold out and I don't have a garage. I was going to get one of those 12 volt heater/defrosters, but apparently those do absolutely nothing for heat. So I am working on creating a 96 volt edition of one of the Windshield defrosters and only use half off the heating element, so ~750 watts to save on batteries. I will have a switch so it can go between 750 watts and 1500 watts just in case, and all the proper fuses and wiring. I am working on my design tonight and hope to do something with it tomorrow.

Another thing that has been eating at me, besides the heater, has been my suspension system. The rear rides so low that I can hear the shocks bottom out when I got over bumps, and I am estimating that they will fail in the next 2-300 miles. The stock rear suspension wasn't designed to take 520+lbs in the trunk, let alone have it permanent. And if I ever update to a different lead acid pack, it will weigh even more.

I currently have my eyes set on a Skunk2 Sports suspension system on eBay and I may scoop it up if the price it right.

Little Kinks

Today I reassembled the splash guard for the motor and drove around some more. I have a problem with my Shifting Adjustment potentiometer, either a wire is loose or the pot is defective. I was driving today and had my shift adjustment to its usually spot and then after 15 MPH the transmission would jump between 1st and 2nd and it did that until I turned off my adjustment pot. I will check the connections tomorrow as it's raining like crazy now, and I will check the resistance, etc. I was having a "WTF" moment when crusing and all of a sudden it would drop a gear, then a few seconds later it would jump back up. Ugh.

I also buttoned up my batteries nicely and found something interesting. While my batteries are charging, the AMP gauge back light powers up! I found it interesting, and I first thought I had a problem with my 12 volt system, but further investigation shows it was just the construction of the meter and current going through the shunt can activate the backlight.

Heating Things Up

So after doing a few more Zilla runs, including the worst hill in my commute and ripping up it like nobody's business, I decided to take a good look at my heating.

So these past few days I have used my AC ceramic heater and tested out the capability of them.

It was 27F outside and with the Heater set to MAX, the car was fully defrosted in 8 minutes and 42F, in 15 minutes it was 50F and after 20 minutes it was a nice 58F inside!

I have decided to do the heating right and get the AC drained so I can install my ceramic heater core into the old heater core socket. I still have an AC heater for preheating/defrosting, but I full 1500 watt heater in the EV would be a wise thing. It will use about 15 AMPs, which isn't really that bad. I just need to find a shop to drain my AC so I can work on the installation.

I have also decided that I want to get Lithium batteries for my next set, so I have already started to save up. I am looking at 30 cell of TS-LFP100 from Thundersky, and it should give me 35 miles of range. It looks like that will cost about $3,300 which does sound like a lot, but when I looked at a higher quality/power lead acid pack, I found it would cost about $2500 for that kind of range and twice the weight with 1/10 the cycle life. I have lots of saving and research ahead of me to do.

Zilla Performance

I was able to drive the EV again today, and log the drive with the DAQ feature of the Zilla.

In this graph there is motor amps all over the place because here are a number of inclines, starts and stops and small amount of constant cruising during the run. I am estimating a top speed of about 55MPH with the new setup, which is pretty good. I need to fix my shift point adjustment, but the EV was pretty nice to drive. I just need to break in the batteries mode, and deal with the heater issues.

The Zilla

I got the EV running! After I adjusted the Torque Converter I reinstalled the control tray with the Kelly and took it for a few mile joy ride. The new transmission has a very smooth shift to it and my batteries are going to need to be broken in. They have only 3 miles on them and I want at least 50 miles before I try driving back to school with the EV.

Now for the awesome greenness:

On Saturday I took the EV for a few little runs around the block, then removed the control tray and called it a day. We had to decorate for Christmas, get the tree, setup the lights, all before the snow storm coming that afternoon. Then last night I removed the Kelly and started to install the Zilla 1K-LV. Ok, here are the specs of the Zilla 1K-LV compared to the Kelly

Zilla 1K-LV Kelly KDH09401

Peak AMPs: 1,000 400

Cont. AMPs 350 160

Voltage 72-156 24-96

The Zilla also weights 15 lbs compared to the Kelly 6 lbs. The picture is of the Zilla fully wired up, but not installed in the EV yet. The snow got in my way, but tomorrow I plan on installing the tray and programming the Zilla up. I am going to be started relatively low for my settings, using only 450 motor AMPs and 180 battery AMPs to get started. 450 motor AMPs gives me 95 ft-lbs of torque, just about on par with the original ICE motor. Too much more and I risk destroying the automatic transmission. Besides, I don't need high torque as much as continuously available torque.

I don't have a water cooling kit for the Zilla yet, but I have installed the Zilla on my large finned heatsink and it should suffice for now. I just can't wait to see how the EV drives with this sucker!

Lots of Frustration

I have been holding off posting because I have been frustrated with the transmission. Last week I finished assembling everything Thanksgiving morning, and then on Friday I went to test drive and nothing happened. The motor spun up, but nothing engaged into any gear.

Since then I have spent every bit of free time checking the transmission electronics, sensors, etc and make a conclusion that the transmission was defective and went to remove it today. I was just about to remove it, when I had one last burst of idea about the Torque Converter. I had my old transmission sitting behind me and I decided to measure the distance from the TC to the hole where the starter used to be. It turns out the TC was too far out of the transmission, buy 5/8 of an inch! It turns out that is also the same distance as the teeth on the TC that connects to the ATF pump gears! So all my frustration for the past week has been caused by me not installing the coupling properly!

This afternoon I reinstalled the motor, this time with the TC properly set (I hope) and did a spin up and I could now hear fluid flowing through the transmission. Tomorrow I will reinstall my control systems and give it a drive around. I still haven't spent any time with the Zilla, but if tomorrow goes alright, I can start on the Zilla this weekend.

Saroukh el-Jamahiriya (Libyan Rocket) 2009

Here is the 2009 version of Muammar Gaddafis "Saroukh el-Jamahiriya (Libyan Rocket)" a car which made its debut in 1999, exactly 10 years ago.

The “Libyan Rocket”, as the prototype is called, is described as an “elegant sedan” 17 feet long, more than six feet wide, with a 3-liter, V-6 gasoline engine.

According to the BBC and Fox News, it also has airbags, an unspecified ‘electronic defense system’, and a collapsible bumper.

The car can go hundreds of miles on a flat tire, a feature that could come in handy while driving in the vast Libyan desert. Other safety features include a device to cut off the fuel supply to avoid a fire in case of accident.

Domenico Morali, CEO of Tesco TS SpA, an automotive design company based in Turin, Italy, said Qaddafi joined in discussions about the car’s styling and asked for an original car using Libyan materials including marble, leather and fabric.

The car was unveiled in Tripoli at the end of an African Union summit.

According to the BBC, construction of a factory to produce the car was to have began in October 2009 in Tripoli. (ANI)

Thanksgiving Puzzle

It was really foggy and damp this morning, but I managed to get the control tray installed and spin up the motor. So far so good, but I didn't have time to actually drive the EV because there was turkey that needing eating.

What I did was install everything, check the connections and then tested the IDLE control and do some revving in Park. Something I did find interesting was that is took less AMPs to idle the motor, 10 AMPs down from 15 AMPs. I think that is indicating that I had a lot of transmission drag and my performance and range may possibly increase. Tomorrow I plan on removing the tarp setup and taking the EV around the block as it's all ready to go.

Minor Differences

There seem to be some minor differences between the original A4RA transmission and newer B4RA replacement. My coupling was pushing the Torque Converter too far forward, causing it to jam against the transmission bell housing. After removing and reinstalling the motor 6 times, I think I finally figured it out. I spent a good 45 minutes analyzing all my photos I took, then I went out to my coupling and did more measurements. The A4RA transmission allowed the TC to be pressed more into the transmission without much complaining, where the B4RA just doesn't budge without anything but perfection. The motor is now back together and bolted into the EV. I checked it with a 12 volt spin up and it seems fine, with a little coupling bolts needing tightening which I did.

Tomorrow I am going to reinstall the control tray and see what happens. Hopefully it will be driving again, a few times around the block will tell me.

Then I will get to my Zilla! I really haven't looked at it yet, mainly cause I don't want to get distracted from actually fixing the current problems. I am hoping to do some test runs before we leave for Thanksgiving dinner, then I can drag along my Zilla manual and figure out how I am going to install it.

Stubborn Transmission

Replacement this transmission is a pain. Saturday morning was spent refilling the ATF, then finding out the torque converter popped out a little so I had to disassemble the entire setup to adjust it. Then I put it all back together and found out it was then too far in and wouldn't spin, then it wouldn't line up, etc, etc, etc. So between Saturday and Sunday I had removed and reinstalled the motor 4 times! Then we got a scraping sound and called it a weekend, until today. I have been loaded with school work until today.

The weather has not be nice, rain and cold so I setup a blue tarp around my EV and working space. I took everything apart again and went on an investigation. I took pictures off everything, like 100 photos and then went about analyzing them. I found Aluminum shavings on the bottom of the transmission bell housing and found the culprit. The teeth on the torque converter is hitting the top left and top of the transmission! Something is not getting aligned properly! So now that's the current mission.

And on another note:
My Zilla 1K-LV was waiting for me at home last night! It's a beast compared to the Kelly, 20 lbs vs 6 lbs. I was getting really frustrated with my EV until this package came in. Now I just need to get this transmission working with my Kelly, then I will install the Zilla. I have no idea when that will be because nothing has been going to plan.

Coming Darkness

The Darkness comes earlier each day, making it harder to do EV work.

The EV is back together, minus 3 quarts of ATF. I spent all of yesterday getting the motor installed, the mounts back together and all the wiring of the control tray. The most difficult parts were the coupling and then the rear motor mount. I have a few bolts that just didn't want to go in, and after about an hour they finally set themselves.

Today I was finishing up the IDLE control wiring, then it got dark and I couldn't properly see the ATF levels, so I called it a day. I had to use the IDLE to get the ATF flowing because it registered FULL after only 3 quarts, and that sucker can take over 6 quarts to be filled up during an "overhaul". After a few seconds of idling, the ATF registered low, so tomorrow I can refill it up again. Then I can drive it FINALLY!

I plan on taking pictures and video with the idling, and want to try out the Pocke Dyno iPod Touch app to what the performance is like with the Kelly, then compare it to the Zilla when that comes int.

Transmission Removal Day 5

The weather this weekend was awful. Lots of rain and wind I no garage or shelter to work under. So yesterday I took in my control tray and worked on it a bit. I properly installed my IDLE control circuit and neatened up the loose cables.

Today the weather lighten up this afternoon and my dad and I almost finished the transmission swap! Well, the old one is out and the new one is in, but I still need to put the wheel back together and tighten up a few bolts before I get to reinstalling the motor and refilling the transmission ATF. I am going to spend this week reassembling the EV slowly so I don't miss anything. I am guessing about 2 hours to reinstall the transmission sensor cables, ATF cooling lines and get the motor back in.

I didn't take any pictures though. When ever I thought about it, I was covered in grease and in the middle of suspending a transmission. The actual removal went pretty easy once we figured out the ball joints. Usually you have to take both front wheels off, but we couldn't because the car became too unstable, so we just removed the left wheel and moved the transmission instead of moving the right drive shaft. It's wasn't by the book, but it worked anyways.

The EV is SOO CLOSE to being operational again! EV Components has says that my Zilla should be ready for shipment this week, so with any luck my Thanksgiving weekend will be installing the Zilla.

Transmission Removal Day 3 and 4

Days 3 and 4 were very uneventful. I was hoping to have a full day yesterday, but that was interrupted with last minute projects and a possible summer 2010 adventure.

I was having problems removing the ball joints from the lower control arms, so I had to go out and get sockets for an Impact Drill. After getting the sockets my dad still couldn't get the bolt off the damper fork on the right tire setup, so we moved on to the other side and that came off much easier. Then it turns out we didn't have to remove the fork, we actually needed it to help separate the ball joint from the lower control arm.

Those were also a problem. Last night we were stumped, so we went down to Autozone to get a Ball Joint Press used to remove/install the joints. Turns out it doesn't fit a Civic! Not even close. So I went down to the local Honda mechanic that does our ICE Honda's and his advice was quite interesting. Instead of using a removing tool, you use a jack to push up the rotors, remove the lower control arm Castle bolt (easy part) and then use a sledge hammer and beat the control arm until it pops out. It work great!

Now I have one axle removed, that shifter cable removed and all the bolts loosened. If the weather holds out I hope to finish the swap tomorrow. I am guessing 15 minutes or less to remove the transmission then maybe an hour to get the new one installed.

Transmission Removal Day 2

Today was really a bust on what I wanted to do. All I got done was drain the transmission fluid, remove the ATF cooler and unplug the transmission from the wire harness.

I got hung up with removing the suspension system from the front wheels. I need to remove the lower control arm from the hub/axle setup but I couldn't get the bolts off. I need to get some impact sockets to I can use the impact drill to get off the stubborn bolts.

Tomorrow I will be doing some tool and socket shopping and hopefully finish the transmission replacement.

Transmission Removal Day 1

I have started to replace my transmission. On Saturday I removed all my electronics and my motor and here is the current transmission still in the EV.

And this is my new transmission. The original transmission was a Honda A4RA and this is a newer B4RA, from a 1998 Honda Civic LX and has 104,000 miles on it and it comes with a 3 month warranty so I have to get EVing!I haven't actually removed the transmission yet. Today was spent picking up the new transmission and cleaning it up. I also restocked my transmission fluid and made a list of how I am going to proceed. The weather looks good so I am hoping to get the transmission swapped out tomorrow and driving by Thursday afternoon. I plan on dealing with the transmission tomorrow and hopefully get the AC/PS bracket built but I will only do that if I have time.

Lots of Thinking

I didn't get my new transmission this weekend. Apparently something happened and the transmission casing got cracked or damaged so it had to go out for repair and *should* be done Monday. Just great.....

Anyways, I removed the motor and have everything ready to replacing the transmission yesterday in the hopes that I would have the transmission all set to go. So today I decided to tackle my heating problem and found it's more of a problem than I had hoped. I was all set to go at it and remove the dash to get to the old heater core and remove it and replace it with the Ceramic element. After reading the service manual I found that I have to drain the AC and remove part of it, and I do not have the means to do that at this time.

I now have to figure out something else. I am thinking on building the Ceramic heater into a compact DC setup that will sit in front of the windshield and the only real purpose will be to defrost the windshield while driving. I will purchase another Ceramic heater to use to preheat the EV in the mornings.

I have also decided to get a start on making the mount that holds the AC and PS compressors. They have been held by rope for over a year now and I think it's time to do something about that. I have a basic idea that I will be fine tuning and hopefully built this week. I actually have most of this week off due to holidays and classes that have already ended, so plenty of EV working time!

Replacement Transmission

I have finally found a replacement transmission. I decided to stick with an Automatic and ordered it up today. I was looking at a manual, but when I showed up to the salvage yard the prices for the transmission, shifter, linkages, etc were just too much at this point. It's fall now and the good working days are numbered and I know I can replace the Automatic transmission in 6 or so hours, so that's the way I went.

The transmission is from a 1998 Civic and has 104,000 miles on it. It was still in the donor car so I couldn't bring it home today, but it's supposed to be out and ready for me tomorrow. I will be doing all the proper transmission care, checking all the sensors and draining all the ATF and replacing it with all the new ATF I bought, but only used a small amount of it.

Oh My...

I finally got my idle control functioning and decided to give the transmission a drive. 1/4 from home it dies again, this time for good. It turns out that the TC wasn't the problem, but something with the ATF pump and possibly the clutches. I had to push the EV home, but at least it was down hill. I spent most of Halloween Day testing out the Idle and it was working fine, but after I went for a drive it gave out again.

Now I am looking for replacement transmissions before my Zilla arrives, and I am keeping an eye out for Automatic or Manual transmissions.

I have located a few places that have transmissions, and tomorrow I plan on visiting one or two of them to check them out. I want to have my replacement in my hands by this weekend because I want this EV going !!!! AAHHHH!!!!!!!!

Back in Business

The EV is running again!

I took everything apart and decided to replace the only thing that I had a spare part of: the Torque Converter. I figured that the only things I had to loose was 8 hours and $25 of new ATF. The old TC was toast! I guess after 244,130 miles it make sense, so the new TC I put one was the one I got with my sacrificial transmission for constructing my plates last year. It has about 97,000 miles on it so it should be good for quite a while. I have been meaning to get rid of the old engine and transmission for some time now, and I am glad I didn't!

I have also decided to idle the electric motor. I am designing the circuit tonight and tomorrow I will be purchasing the parts to build it. The idle will make it easier for others in the family to drive, and I will be using the old Cruise Control switch to turn the idle On/Off so I can save power while at a long stop light. Though, it only takes about 18 AMPs to properly idle the transmission in Park, and most likely slightly less in gear. Also, having the idle will allow me to use the A/C when the car is parked, when I ever get around to actually building the A/C compressor mount.

Karma

This morning I exercised my vocabulary of 4 letter worlds. My transmission DIED on me a mile from my house. I had just replaced my last battery and took the EV out for a break in run, Not a break Down run!!!

I was driving down the street and went to stop to make a turn, and I heard a very interesting whirring sound as the car slowed down. Stumped, I went to make the turn, heard the whir again, the car lurched forward and then that was it. I glided into the next parking lot and the transmission would not engage anymore.

So now I am ripping EVERYTHING out of the engine compartment and going to take a look at the damage. I am hoping it's just the Torque Converter as I do have a much newer spare. The transmission has 244,130 miles on it and I guess that was it. If replacing the TC doesn't fix my problem, I will be going to the local salvage yard and claiming a new transmission.

I am so mad/sad/disappointed right now it's stupid. I guess by the end of this conversion, I will have rebuilt every aspect of the car that it will be just like new. But for crying out loud, WHY NOW!?!?!?!?! The Zilla is due soon, I just replaced my pack and cleaned everything up.

Obviously Oblivious

Ok, so I have been having problems with my new brakes, specifically a VERY squishy pedal. I have bled the brakes twice, checked the fluid, readjusted the pades and shoes and still nothing seemed to help. The weather hasn't really been cooperating, so I decided I was going to bring it down to the local Goodyear dealer this morning and let them have at it.

A couple hours later I get a call saying that everything was mechanically sound, it just needed more vacuum!!! I never even thought about the vacuum!!! So I went to pick it up and just cranked up the vacuum and drove it home. Man, what a difference. I just finished cranking the vacuum high enough to provide the extra stopping oomph, but also shut off once it reaches max Hg.

Next on my to do list is replace the last "old" battery in my pack. It passes all the tests Walmart does on it, so I can't replace it under warranty, but I am fine with that because I wanted a good battery to test my BMS modules revisions on, and for camping power. I even have an old car battery to use for core, so I should be all set. I am also still looking out for a new suspension system, the last major piece besides the Zilla. I have found one I like, I just need to see if I have the funds for it.

My Zilla will hopefully arrive the first week of November, according to EV Components. I have been waiting forever for a nice controller, so another two weeks isn't too bad.

How I Used an Automatic Transmission in an EV

I have been lots of questions on how exactly I used the automatic transmission in my EV. So this insanely long post is a summary of how I did the whole transmission setup.


The first thing I did was design a motor coupling and plates that mimicked the old ICE. I kept the torque converter and flywheel setup, and since it mimics the original engine, the adapter plates and motor coupling can be used with the automatic or a manual transmission. I used the transmission's Flex Plate to design the motor coupler, which is a taper locking coupling. The aluminum plates were created using a second transmission I bought off Craiglist because at the time the car was still driving and I wanted to have as little down time as possible, so I bought the second transmission (which was skipping gears) as a EV sacrifice so I could use it as a template for the coupling and for the bolt hole pattern on the plates.Next, I left the Automatic transmission installed with the existing radiator/transmission cooler. I also left the PCM and ECU installed as they are needed to operate the transmission and the dash board. I also used the old engine mount to hold up the rear side of the 9" ADC FB1-4001A series wound motor. The motor has a rear shaft that will connect to the Power Steering pump and A/C compressor.
After all the mechanical is done, comes "fooling" the PCM. I Do not idle the motor at all. It does take about 6 seconds to build up pressure for the clutches to operate, but that only happens when the EV is first started before a trip. During driving the pressure stays up while at stop lights and such, and getting going again is no slower than with using a manual with a clutch.

Now comes the big question: How did I change the shift points on the transmission? Did I reprogram the PCM? Modify the transmission soleniods? I did nothing of the sort! The key to using to changing the shift points: replace the TPS with a 5 k potentiometer!

In and ICE he TPS tells the transmission when to shift, depending on how hard the pedal is pressed, when accelerating or cruising or coasting. By replacing the TPS with a 5K potentiometer I now can manually tell the PCM when to shift. The higher I set it, the longer it stays in each gear. After 1,000 miles of driving like this, I have had no problems and I have found a few settings that work well depending on which terrain I drive on. Higher RPMS mean better efficiency while lower RPMS allow for better acceleration.

I usually leave it at about 1/4 turn, however it needs to be set to 0 every time I start up the EV because if the TPS (5k pot) is higher than 0, the transmission thinks you are stepping on the gas and will lock the Shifter into place so you cant move it from Park. Annoying, but effective safety measure. And I will not be bypassing that protocol, but if I do the transmission can easily be shifted into Neutral with the EV off, and that is a safety issue that is checked during the yearly Inspection.

Battery Mangement System 0.1b

It's been awhile since I have updates anything. I finished my brakes, but I did the bleeding all wrong because I have NO stopping power. I can jammed the brakes to the firewall and the EV will stop, but barely. So I either did the bleeding wrong (which I think I did, pressed the pedal too far) or I killed my Master Cylinder/Brake Booster.

I also have replaced most of my pack under warranty because they were not working right. I have one left to replace, which I plan to do soon. They needed equalizing, but I didn't know until after I replaced most of them. I am going to replace the last one just so it's new like the others.

Anyways, I have really good results with my BMS. Here are pics of a few modules, and then installed in the EV.

I installed these and took them on their maiden drive to school (with funky brakes, but that's another thing) and found bugs in the software. I have a visual error reporting function that is supposed to activate for about 5 minutes, while disable the module, then go back to normal. They would not get to normal, so I sat in the parking lot rewriting the code at 8:30 AM and then updated all the modules.

They have been working really well. During the charging phase, the voltages are pretty much every where because of the batteries each being slightly different in age. (Well, one's about a year older than others.) But once the charger gets to the end, the balancers help spread the final voltages pretty evenly. I was having some problems where some batteries were charging at 15.2 volts and other at 14.0 volts. Now they all charge around 14.6-14.9 volts.

Brake Install

Here are some pictures from the new brakes installation. The top picture is comparing the old rotor on the left to the new one on the right. The Second picture is the old rotor and pads, which look awful. And the last picture is the final result with the new rotor installed and new pads. The entire EV got this treament, but the rear had drums so those got replace along with the shoes. It took about 4 hours to do the whole process, including bleeding the brakes, which was not too bad.

September Update

I have been EV less for over a week now and I am still working on the brakes. I have installed all the new rotors, pads, drums and shoes, but I had to fix the front left caliper as it was sticking badly. It had shave 1/8 of an inch off the rotor due to it being all gummed up and not releasing. Next I have to get more brake fluid and bleed the lines and I should be all set in that area.

I have also sold my old K99-4007 to another EV'er this past weekend, so I have recollected a good chunk of the money I spent on this conversion. I am making a spreadsheet of all my costs, but at the moment the total money spent on the EV, including money reclaimed by selling parts, is about $3,100. Pretty darn good, but that doesn't include the $2,000 Zilla 1K-LV I just ordered up.

Being a Eco Pro Recycler

Here are a few strict guide lines that I follow to ensure a happy and productive partnership of parts. Remember most companies have to pay to get rid of some surplus.


1.If you don't ask you will not receive, but don't steal!
2.Tell them what you are really doing, don't lie, they may be even more happy to help you if they really dig your project.
3.If they say no because they need it, don't steal, ask if they may know where you may get one.
4.Offer to pick up the part(s) at their convenience night or day and if you are qualified, offer to remove the parts with your own tools and ask what tools you will need when and if you need to come back (mechanics are very sensitive of their tools).
5.If they scrap parts for scrap metal weight or trade them in for a core charge, offer to pay them in cash for that.
6.If you have special skills that they may use, you can also barter your services for their parts.
7.Don't sell the parts for any reason, if the donor company finds out they will cut you off.
8.Clean up after yourself.
9.Don't be a pain in the rump, ask when to call again or if they want to call you.
10.Don't hog things' spread the wealth give things away too, ask if they need it back if you can't use it after all.
11.Don't sort or separate there take it all home, don't be a pest and most important - clean up after yourself.
12.Do be very thankful.
13.Do be educational.
14.Do be humble.
15.Do bring 1 or 2 pictures of you project so they may see your vision and also become inspired.
16.Have fun and wear safety shoes and always have a first aid kits.

Brake Time

I was driving home on Tuesday and half way home I smelled something odd, but wrote it off thinking it was the construction truck that pulled in front of me. Then about 2 minutes later I was cruising at 35 MPH @ 80 AMP draw and all of a sudden my speed plummeted to 25 MPH. My brakes were dragging quite badly that I ended up using all my battery getting home and I really could glide.

The brakes have never been decent since I started the EV. I attributed it to rust from sitting for the 4 months of conversion, but yesterday I finally had time to take a look at them. The rotors are warped, pads are rusted, drums shot and all the pads are scraping. Today I bought a new entire set of rotors, brake pads, drums and shoes and tomorrow I will install them.

I have no idea how old these brakes were to begin with, but there has always been a ratting sound that supposedly means warped rotors, but I never did anything about it because I thought new brakes would cost loads of money. I was wrong, these new sets of brakes all came to under $150 in parts.

I may see an serious improvement in performance and range with a new set of brakes that don't drag. I guess I will find out this weekend once I get the new set installed.

Spraying On Your Trunks

Asphalt Undercoating was sprayed to the entire trunk and wheelwell area and at $7 and $10 a pop at Canadian Tire www.canadiantire.ca really cleans things up.

And They Say I Don't Have A Spline

So trying to find the spline that would fit the Crown TSP drive motor donated four weeks ago came up short, but the same fantastic corporation was replacing two drive gear systems in a lift truck and donated them for our project. Each drive system weighs about 200 lbs.

Spline Removal Purpose Video 1


Spline Removal Purpose Video 2


Spline Removal Tool Video

Having A Wheel Well Good Time

Time to repair all the rust outs, this will be my first time working with Bondo fibreglass with hair. As does everyone else in the world embarking on a new project, I have now completed 93 straight hours of YouTube tutorials and now feel qualified and brave enough to crack the first can of Bondo, I received 5 cans of Bondo free so when I make a few mistakes I won't cry to loudly. I have long ago and lots of times used Bondo Body Filler alone, let the fun begin.

Battery shelf rust out.

Right and Left wheel well rusted right through.

Things That Were Never Meant To Go Together

Here is a close up of the two main components but three things that were never meant to go together.

1. On the right - 1984 Pontiac Fiero standard transmission.



2. On the left - 72 Volt 7.6 Kilo-Watt Crown TSP drive motor.



3. Me 39 year old dreamer that can't let anything go to waste.

The 2 drive motor power a 14,000 lb or 7 ton lift truck.

Out of Reach

I have waiting for my Synkro for while now, so I decided to contact EV Components to see what was going on. It turns out that getting the Synkro is getting pretty hard and production seems to be behind for the moment, so arrival was up in the air.

So I went with another option: Order a Zilla 1K-LV. More powerful than a Synkro and will be shipping within a month or so, and it's under complete control of the folks at EV Components. For the past year EV controllers have been hard to get a hold of, and the Zilla was basically untouchable because it had been out of production since 2008. I have always wanted a Zilla, but it does cost quite a bit, more than I have ever planned, but in the end it wasn't much more than a Synkro.

I should be able to zip around with a Zilla, seeing as they are the most popular for drag racing, a small commuting car so have nice zip with a power house under the hood.

I have also been driving the EV better, figuring out when I should glide, accelerate or pull over when the hills get too bad for the controller and I start to hold up traffic. I am hoping for a 2-3 mile increase in range with the Zilla because it won't be wasting AMPs going up hills, and I should be able to stick in 2nd for longer for way more efficiency.

Temperature Effects

Last winter I attempted to insulate my batteries, but didn't finish because I wasn't seeing a noticeable difference when driving less than 10 miles doing my around town driving.

Now I am starting to see the difference between 58F, 63F, 74F, 81F, etc in my morning drives. The past few days it has been about 48-60F outside and my batteries has been about 58-63 depending on the day. So last night my dad an I quickly whipped up a temporary insulated box for the batteries. It is made from 1" foam board that has been cut out and duck taped together, just to see if it works before really trying to make it nice.

Well it WORKED. Last night it was 78F on both temp sensors when we installed it, then I plugged the car into the charger and after 30 minutes the trunk was down to 72F but the batteries were at 92F! This morning, after the batteries had been charged for a few hours and just floating, the box was 81F while the trunk was 63F. The drive to school was much improved from the previous drives and I even had power left when I parked vs yesterday's limping onto campus into my spot.

This website has good basic info on deep cycle batteries, including a section on Temperature Effect: http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

EV Update

I have a few EV-related updates:

First Paul and Sabrina's Open Source EV Controller is now available as a kit for purchase. Here is the Wiki: http://ecomodder.com/wiki/index.php/ReVolt

And here is the main purchasing website: http://www.paulandsabrinasevstuff.com/store/index.html

I am considering making this controller this winter if the funds allow it. It has the potential to be a great contender to the EV world, not to mention having a spare controller around.

I have also been working on my BMS system slowly. I have been changing up the design a bit and adding a few features. I am going to make up a design and have prototype boards made by PCB Express. $51 + $9.85 shipping for 3 professionally made boards is a decent deal.

I think this design has the potential to be a sell able product and I am also going to design a charger system and LCD status screen also. Possibly create a charger/bms kit with a few interesting twists, like real battery/cell management and a computer programmable system.

Wire Wire In The Wall

Now comes the time to find a shorted ground wire in the frame tunneling, body frame or light socket that is for the tail, licence plate and side marker lights. The stop, turn, hazzard and brake lights work.

1. 1st. You need this.

2ND. You will need this.

3rd. You may need 13 of these.

Mounting Battery Rails

Mounting the battery bank rails made out of used aluminum transport trailer roof rails. that were donated to the project. Remember people ask if you can have it, everything for the project was donated.









Son riveting battery rails in place. How many kids are building Electric Cars these days, I know of only one. Despite the sad look on his face he is actually having fun.

















Load testing the battery grouping with a little jump.







Video jumping.







Battery configuration, trying to maximize space and balance the weight of all the pack. Each pack weighs 20 lbs, so just in the front there is 360 lbs.

After the battery placement has been finalized then we will add both fibreglass and rigid insulation to enclose the boxes to maintain the heat for the winter time. We will add vents and controls for the summer time.

These rails were cut down to bridge the gap across the front void where the spare tire (center) and the radiator (right) use to be.

These rails were also riveted in place by our son, he also calculated the correct Ah capacity that the car would need to travel 150 km.

Can You Pick Out The EV?

Can you pick out the EV? Wait- they're all EVs! Well, after about 5 months of trying to get a spot, there I am smack in the middle charging away. Today was the last bit of rearranging needed to squeeze me in, but now that's over, just in time for the semester to start tomorrow.

The school year started today for the public schools, which is good for me. All my high speeds hills that I have left to contend with are now 20 MPH school zone, which means good EV driving for me. The arrival of my new Synkromotive controller is still up in the air, but I really hope its soon. When I do get it, I am going to start off with the motor AMPs @ 500 and the battery AMPs @ 200 to save on battery power. According to the calculator I should need anymore than 175 battery AMPs to climb these hills, and anything higher is just wasted AMPs.

I also decided to do the math savings. It costs $2.86 a day to drive my ICE to school and back, which ends up being $57.37 a month at current gas prices of $2.70 a gallon. Now my EV takes 6.5 hours to charge, and at the 7.5 cents/KWh that is $0.49 a charge up, or $9.80 a month in electricity. The $0.075 is the cost of electricity at night, when I charge my EV. So it's basically a 6x savings in costs!

Now the trick is figuring out how long I can drive it before weather become a range limiting factor. BTW, it was 48 F when I left this morning and now its 86F where my EV is parked. This New England weather is just screwed up.

Little Tricks

Today was the first, real, Official full time EV use to work and back. I was welcomed on this September first with 48 F weather! It was in the 90s last week, and all of a sudden it was cold and brisk. On the way in, I did notice the cold had an effect on the batteries, and I messed with the charger yesterday didn't help.

First, the charger. I was reading that I should set the float on my charger to 14.4 volts, so I did. Well, some batteries didn't get fully charged because of that, so it went right back to 14.8 volts this morning when I got it.

Now the temp. According to this: http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Temperature%20Effects%20on%20Batteries the batteries were down to about 87% capacity due to the weather, and that was dead on. I usually have 40-50% left, but I was closer to 25% left and did my best to slow down. I did a few trial last winter and found that betteries were much warmer when left charging over night and range was quite decent compared to cold batteries, so tomorrow I will get to see if it still true since I will have the EV charger most of the night.

It's time to start thinking about installing the ceramic heater and get down to insulating the batteries, for real this time. I am looking into sheet metal or some type of cheap plastic to house the foam insulation.

6 Cool European Electric Cars Never Coming to the US

The European tradition of coachbuilding—the manufacturing of carriages—dates back to the 1700s. These days, it refers to the high-end auto design firms, such as Rolls Royce and Ferrari, which build custom-designed specialty vehicles.

Like nearly every automaker in the world, coachbuilders are going green, by designing and building all-electric vehicles. Their electric cars are well suited to the congested streets of Rome or Paris, but don’t hold your breath for these cool electricity-powered rides to make it across the pond. By nature, the coachbuilders produce vehicles in limited runs intended for local markets.

The cars in the list are:

Pininfarina B0 ("B Zero")
UK Lightning
Heuliez Friendly
Heuliez Pondicherry
Karmann Quicc DiVa
Ford F-150 Ha-Pa



Keep reading here

Think Electric Car

From Norway, comes the Th!nk City, the new compact electric car coming from Europe.

With a fantastic acceleration, considering the size of the car, with the following stats:

Top speed 100km/h
Acceleration 0-50km/h 6.5 seconds
Acceleration 0-80km/h 16.0 seconds
Typical charge time – standard electric socket:
0-100% SOC (state of charge) approx. 13 hours, 230VAC / 14A
0-80% SOC (state of charge) approx. 9,5 hours, 230VAC / 14A
Range IEC* 170km (summer tires, heater off)
Range FUDS** 180km (summer tires, heater off)
Range EU UDC*** 203km

With the city range around 200km(125Miles), the Th!nk City has the most attractive mileage in the Electric Car market, using the electric motor only.

Pre-launch activities of the TH!NK city have started in selected European markets like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and now recently Spain. TH!NK city vehicles are in this pre-launch phase primarily being sold to municipal fleet, government and utility partners for early adoption EV pilot and demonstration fleets, supported by government incentives to help reduce the initial high cost of the batteries.

It might take some time before this car enters the open market in Europe and even longer in the US.

Electric Car Th!nk's Official site: www.think.no

The Adventure: Home

My EV was basically fully charged when I left for home yesterday. The trip was pretty uneventful, but I ended up missing on of my planned short cuts, so I had to drive through some 45 MPH streets with mild hills, into the center of town, adding another 2 miles to my 16.5 mile commute. The EV did well, until the last hill home. I dropped to 25 MPH going up the hill and I had to pull over cause some guy was riding my tailgate. It was a 30 MPH hill, so I there was really not a big deal... Oh well.

I definitely need the new Synkromotive controller and to not miss out on my shortcuts. I probably would not have had much trouble with that final hill if I had an extra 10 Ah of juice in my pack to contend with. Actually, I am going to look it up to see if it was my batteries getting sort of low, of the controller not giving the juice to go up.

EDIT: It must be both the controller not giving the juice properly since the calculator shows That 230 motors AMPs are needed and only 165 battery AMPs to climb the hill, and an extra 10 Ah of power would be nice since climbing that hill at 30 MPH will use 3.75 Ah of pack.

Every One Need A Little Fibre

A fantastic person donated a whole pail of fibreglass cloth towards the project. I was going to slow down on the project and try to save and budget to buy more cloth to enclose the battery pack areas for the winter time but a great Guy happened along.