Montana EV Conversion

Artificial Noise

2011-06-16T09:00:00.001-07:00

Please, no artificial noise requirements for EVs. The quiet is a beautiful thing. The basic noise of tires on the road is enough to easily hear a EV.

http://evperspective.com/content/artificial-ev-sounds-will-add-noise-pollution

Battery Monitors

2011-05-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time but EV's are in the news more now than ever. For many, building your own EV is still viable especially compared to the cost of a new Leaf or Volt. I did a quick search for battery monitor systems from http://evalbum.com and here are some numbers, which by the way are not scientific but do offer some insite into what others are using.

Paktrakr 144

Curtis Fuel Gauge 74

Xantrex 30

Westberg 29

Evision 25

TBS E-Xpert Pro 25

Elite Power 22

Elithion 19

Trakr 16

Mini BMS 9

Victran 3

EV Dashboard for Android

2011-03-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Porting over the EV Dashboard code to Android went pretty well. Since I'm without a car, however, testing the code will have to wait. Here is a screenshot.

Free Drive

2010-08-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

Congrats to a neighbor of mine who sold his Solar Bug company to W2 Energy. Here is a picture of him from a previous post.

Next EV

2010-07-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

With a few lessons learned with the last 2 conversions I've been thinking thinking about and planning the next EV. This one to keep. Why a conversion instead of a Leaf? Our driving patterns are so limited that we don't need a new car with highway capability and the price of a leaf is way out there.

While the first car was aimed at low cost (40 MPH and 15 mile range), the second convertion, which did suffer a bit from the second-system effect, was mid-range performance (75 MPH and 40 mile range). Here are a few system requirements for the next car.

Donor - This time I can be really patient and wait for a donor that is in great shape (everything working), has good tires and fits our needs: 4 seater with a hatchback. Ironically, an '88 civic wagon fits.
Budget - I'm pretty sure I'll be constrained to under $4K, which could make things very interesting (i.e. it could take a while to find everything on sale).
Simple build - A donor with manual steering. While the end result of installing a manual rack in the del Sol was great, the effort was big. I'm also hoping to find a donor with manual windows to simplify things.
Batteries - I don't really want to battle bleeding edge BMS, charger and battery combinations (again). It will have to be something bomb proof. Perhaps Panasonic's acquisition of Sanyo will yield a bomber HEV or PHEV product that will also be cost effective.
Clutched vs. Clutchless - I throw up my hands because I really didn't mind driving clutchless but everybody says they need it.
4WD - Ask me again in about 6 months. There are about 30 days a year here where you can't drive at all with out a 4WD. So, I guess I can ski...
Solar - Keep the solar panels at home (on the roof) let them collect while you drive.
Battery racks - They need to be versatile, to accomodate different sizes (future). Perhaps a pickup truck. Toss some lead in the back and replace them with LFP when the price is right?

Sold!

2010-07-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

This EV enthusiast is taking it home today. While I'm a bit sad to see it go, I'm starting to think about what I'll do next. After hearing something rattling in the motor we found one of the spring clips for a brush had fallen into the armature. After we pulled it out, the rattling stopped but the brushes may need to be replaced. The armature looked ok, which is good news.

He plans use it as a daily driver. His commute is 25 miles each way and he can plug in at work, which is a good fit for the range of the car.

Body repairs

2010-07-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

These body repairs will neutralize the rust and can be painted later.

Recycling

2010-06-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

My son and his friend loaded the old seized engine from the del Sol into the back of our wagon along with some parts that I couldn't sell on craigslist like the alternator, starter and power steering pump. We got $12.06 for the parts as scrap iron.

Heater

2010-06-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

This DEA RM4, with built in circulating pump and thermostat, was on ebay. Since it won't be needed until this fall I'll wait until then to install it. It should fit right on the firewall. I've also included a couple of current pictures of under the hood and in the trunk.

BMS end board

2010-05-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

The MiniBMS has a simple single wire control for both HVC (high voltage cutoff) and LVC (low voltage cutoff). Basically, if the keyed input (12v) is off and any cell goes to too high (from charging) the end board cuts off the charger (through an AC relay). Then if the keyed input is on (driving) and any cell goes too low a buzzer sounds and ya gotta pull over. The end board can also be wired to cut the throttle in half. This is the BMS end board in a plastic box and the charger relay, not the neatest but pretty good considering all the things right there.

The tests for the buzzer and charger shut off went great. Now the only thing left on this EV is a vacuum pump, which really isn't needed because the disc brakes work really well. Here is the area with the lids on both the BMS and main control box.

Fuel Gauge Driver

2010-05-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

EV Works downunder makes a Fuel Gauge Driver for the original dashboard fuel gauge. The hardest part of the install was pulling the wire back to the fuel gauge sender. I used thermostate wire from home depot, 18/2, which has a double insulation. Once the wire was pulled and connected to the FGD I turned on the ignition switch and the gauge came up really slowly. As you can see it still needs a protective enclosure. Now the tach, speedo, temp and fuel gauges all work. I'll connect the BMS next and try to hook it to the OIL light, through the oil pressure sender.

I'll have to drive it and tune it, but at least for now it says I have gas in the tank. :)

MiniBMS Boards

2010-04-27T14:30:00.001-07:00

The MiniBMS boards arrived and all of them are installed with a green led on. The boards went on pretty easy, except I had to remount the controller and the heat gauge sender to leave some room for the boards.

Notice, the one board could be pushed sideways to make room for a cable, nice.

Twenty boards on the trunk pack.

Heat gauge sender mounted on a copper tube strap.

Elcon Charger... finally

2010-04-21T14:23:00.001-07:00

Surprise, it works! It turns out that the Elcon PFC 1500 didn't support 115v AC input so I ordered a PFC 2000+, (from EVolve Electrics) which provides 9A output for 115v input and won't go over the 15A limit on a household plug. While this is underpowered, I was going for versatility. It fits well between the cells under the hood. The MiniBMS should be here Monday. I'll get it connected next week, just in time for the nice weather.

Earth Day

2010-04-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

MSU asked Ron and I to display our cars on campus and answer question for Earth Day. We got tons of response, especially from the engineering students. Even a couple of civic motor heads thought it was cool. The campus day care brought over about 25 kids and they all crowded around the car and asked questions. One girl said she had a plug-in flashlight. So I guess she got it.

Honda del Sol ads

2010-04-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

These Honda del Sol commercials from the '90s are out on youtube.com. windy, sunny, 30 months.

Today was warm and a good day to start on the body and shampoo the seats. What a difference that made. I guess it used to smell like teen spirit.

Time to wrap things up

2010-04-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well now that the weather is warming I'm making a move to get the del Sol finished up. I'm going to use Dimitri's MiniBMS and an Elcon PFC 2000+ Charger. The Elcon web site has the output for the PFC 1500 listed as 8A for 115V input but I was told that is for 230v input so the actual is half that, 3-4A. But, the PFC 2000+ has an output of 144v/10A at 115v AC input and is only $130 more.

I've also had to replace the PB-6. It was the cause of my jerky startup. Notice this is a genuine "Curtis" product from KTA. "Beware of imitations".

Parts Pitfalls

2010-03-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

While trying to keep this blog just helpful comments about EV conversions, I've tried to stay away negative comments about parts suppliers. Because of my experience with EV Components, however, I have to suggest that you stay clear of them to keep your conversion on track. It is possible that you could have a problem free experience with them, but that is not my case.

I ordered LFP cells from them in June, was as promised delivery in August and didn't get them until late October. Same thing with the charger, ordered in September, was promised delivery in October and didn't get it until late February. Even then it was not the charger I bought and it was programmed for 120 Ah cells not my 100 Ah cells. I tried to reprogram the charger and exchanged several emails with them with no luck. So, I tried to return the charger (for either replacement or refund), expecting them to pay for the return, I was told by the CEO, James Morrison, "I'm done with you".

I've found EV Components to be extremely disfunctional, hard to get information from and downright rude. This is not the kind of company you want to buy parts from for a project that is supposed to be fun.

[Note: Apr 18]
Adding insult to injury, EV Components charged me a 10% restocking fee, for a non-working charger. And charged me for the return shipping of the loaner, which covered the lack of stock they had in the first place. Beware folks!

Alignment

2010-03-04T16:44:00.001-08:00

I drove the del Sol to Honda yesterday and it kept up pretty well with traffic, yet it was still a little rough handling. The alignment went well. All 4 wheels are now within original specs. Only the front left and the rear right are still off by a little. The tech at honda said the ball joints (upper control arms) didn't need replacing because the alignment tool wouldn't allow the alignment if the ball joints were bad. That will save me about $360 and some sweat, yeah!

Driving it home today was great, like butter! After remembering I was driving an EV I got the EV grin for the first time with this car. It still has a bit of a choppy startup and the charger needs programming but its starting to feel almost finished.

Charger

2010-03-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

In September I ordered a Chinoz 144v/8a charger for LFP from evcomponents.com. After it didn't arrive for a couple weeks Dave Kois sent me a loaner Manzanita charger. I've been using that since but still wanted an onboard charger. Finally last week a charger arrived. On the evcomponents.com website the charger I bought was listed as 10.2"x10"x5" and the one that showed up was and Elcon 144v/8a with the dimensions 14"x7"x5.5". So, it wouldn't fit in the bracket I had built for it a few months ago.

So I hunted around for a place to put the charger and found one in the battery rack. When the charger was finally hooked up to the pack I got a "Battery Disconnected" error from the charger. Dave Kois said the charger wasn't programmed for my cells and he eventually sent me another manual with instructions shown below. When I pushed in on the LED/button, it went into the case of the charger and didn't effect the programming. So this one's going back to whence it came.

Choice of Charging Curve (curve 1~10)
1.The LED will flash red several times when AC is first connected, then the LED will flash green once. The number of red flashes denotes the present curve. E.g. If the red flashes three times, it means the present curve is curve 3.
2.To choose another curve, please cut off the power supply first, then unpeel the label, pressing the button while connecting the power. If you want to choose curve 3, release the button after the 3rd LED Flash. Now the selected curve (e.g. curve 3) will be recorded in memory. If you want the charger to work with the selected curve (e.g. curve 3), cut off the power and reconnect it.
3. Factory customizes 10 charging curves before delivery according to customer demand. These are 10 combinations of voltage and battery size for the same battery type.

FOR SALE: Paktrakr 800

2010-02-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

I'm selling my Paktrak 800 with current sensor, serial cable, 4 foot remote extension cable and 6 remotes programmed for Lithium (48 cells). It was originally $751 and I'm asking $590. It is all in very good working condition. This would make a very cost effective battery monitoring system along with a BMS board like the EV Works BMS Cell Module or a shunt board like the Volt Blocher. Let me know if you are interested.

Manual Steering Rack

2010-02-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the summer I had ordered a used manual rack from a '92 Civic, part number 53427-SR3-A01, for $90 from a salvage yard. After comparing the difference between the power and manual racks on the majestic honda site I also ordered 2 parts from Honda the "Grommet C, Steering Rack" 53503-SB2-010 and the "Steering Spacer" 53504-SR3-A00 for about $20, which Tim also mentions in his blog. Unbolting and removing the steering rack went well. The Haynes instructions say to remove the catalytic converter and the shifting extension arms.

I measured the distance to each of the tie-rod ends to help align the steering wheel. The manual rack went in easier than the power rack came out. But I wish I had done it before installing the motor and batteries. I'll drive it to Honda to get it aligned for $60. Removing the rack and installing the manual rack took about 8 hours. While this is a more expensive solution than a loop-back on the power steering fluid reservoir I think it is cleaner and handles better.

Quick struts

2010-02-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

Since the del Sol had been lowered I knew the day would come to replace the springs. The big question was did anything else need replacing. Lowering kits usually just include the springs and can include struts too. The Tokico struts were pretty much toast so I ordered a pair of Quickstruts ($132.99 each), a stock spring and strut assembly, for the rear. It was pretty easy to remove the lower arm and drop the old struts but the outer bushing basically fell out. After calling around the cost of the lower arms ($97) from Honda was only a little more than both bushings and renting a tool to press them in place.

The new springs, struts and lower arm.

After taking the front wheels off it looks like the bushings on the lower control arms are good. Phew! That would have been much more work and $ replacing those.

EV Dashboard adds a BMS

2010-02-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

The open source EV Dashboard project has added a new system, the Hardy BMS. A new beta specifically for the Hardy BMS, which also includes a Config tab and BMS Alerts is available.

Bluetooth onboard

2010-02-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

With a 5v voltage regulator connected to the keyed 12v the IOGEAR Bluetooth adapter on the Paktrakr now works without the 5v Kelly. I'll have to wrap up all the loose wires.

New controller & Kill A Watt

2010-02-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

The Kelly KDH14800D finally arrived. It is larger than the B model and uses a 0-5k ohm throttle. So, I had to cut out the 5v input to the PB-6 because it was causing a ton of interferance with the potentiometer. The controller has great pick-up from a stop and could even accelerate from 30 mph pretty well. It topped out at 73 mph.

I drove 10.4 miles and recharged the pack. With a kill a watt meter it registered 4.47 KwH. So, 429 wh/mile. Hmmm, room for improvement? The brakes might be rubbing a bit, the tires need inflating, I was pushing the car to see what it could do and the Kill A Watt is measuring from the wall so it takes into account any loss in the charger.

Local EVs in the news

2010-01-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

EcoAuto had a press release with Environment Montana recently and a few of us brought our EV's there.

Kelly controller programming

2010-01-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

I messed around with the controller programming today. It was pretty easy (doesn't work with Windows 7) and I set the Throttle start position to 20% and 30% and the performance was really bad, only 20 MPH with it floored. Fany at Kelly also had me set the throttle up/down to "lower" and at 20 it would take forever to "ramp-up" to speed and at 1 it would do better off the line but had a dead spot between 15 and 30 amps about. Very frustrating. I've asked them to let me return it unless they can suggest other settings.

Bluetooth & test drive

2010-01-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

We finally got some warmer weather, which motivated me to wire the IOGEAR Bluetooth adapter into the 5v output of the Kelly controller temporarily to allow the EV Dashboard to connect to the Paktrakr. I drove 10 miles and didn't find any EM interference from the engine or controller with the Bluetooth connection. The Kelly can only consistently put out a max of 120-130 amps but no more. The acceleration from the line was good, but not great. Also, at about 4500 RPM, in any gear the motor made a high pitched whine and reduced power. The SOC% went from 88% down to 52% for 10 miles.

One thing did suprise me, while accelerating, the LFP cells all dipped well into the "low" range below 2.75v (120v pack total). And they snapped back up to 3.2v (144v) when I let off the gas pedal. That's still a usable term isn't it? "gas pedal". This indicates that a low-voltage cut-off on the controller at anything above 2.75v would fail.

After adjusting the throttle and changing the Paktrakr amp sensor I drove it again, 10 miles. It topped out at 68 MPH and could sustain 140 amps. Better, but not the 250 amps in the Kelly specs, which I thought it could do.

Inertia Switch

2009-12-17T14:00:00.001-08:00

This switch will shut-off the keyed switch power to the main contactor in the event of a collision. It is odd to plan for events that you hope will never happen.

EV Dashboard is Open Source

2009-12-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

I've setup EV Dashboard as an Open Source project on Codeplex. There are still a couple of open issues I'll have to fix but the beta version is available to download. The Paktrakr implementation is working and a placeholder for the Elithion BMS and Xantrex Link-10 have been created.

New controller & single cell charger

2009-12-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

Kelly Controls sent a new KDH15600B, which is 11" long compared to the 7" KDH14401A. It fits into the same spot as the smaller model with only one new cable needed. Notice the paktrakr resting there. I'm waiting for an extension cable to run from the last remote in the trunk. Then I'll strap the remotes and display in a permanent location.

Single Cell Charger
After the initial charge to the TS cells and they rested the voltages were all between 3.32V and 3.36, which is pretty good. I bought a single cell LiFePo4 6A charger to manually balance the cells in the interim before I can find an inexpensive and adequate BMS. The single charger has a 3.8V cut-off and each cell charged for 1-2 hours then after rest the cells are all at 3.50V. The weather was a little colder the past few days, -5F and the garage was cold too and each cell appeared to dip a little to 3.48V. I expect when they warm up they might come back to 3.5V.

According to the ThunderSky charging curve 3.8V is 75% charged and the remaining part of the charge curve is at 4.2V with a tapering current for about 30-90 minutes. So, I'm not sure that shunt style BMS that limits part of the current to 3.8V is appropriate unless it can "release" all the cells once they are balanced to finish the charging cycle.

EEStor and Zenn

2009-12-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

A recent Zenn press release has EEStor listed as the technology behind Zennergy. At the Zennergy site, EESU (Electrical Energy Storage Unit) is an Ultracapacitor storage device with about a third the weight of Li-ion, no over discharge degradation and 1/10th the charge time ("minutes").

China and EV myths

2009-11-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

This China_Fact_Sheet_Electric_Vehicles fact sheet from the White House is pretty encouraging for the future of EVs. Specificially the paragraph about "Public Awareness and Engagement", which I think, is the biggest hurdle. Over the past year I've talked to alot of folks with unfounded preconceived ideas about EVs. These are the best ones.

Myths:

"The range of an EV isn't enough for most people." An LEED builder
"The electric grid can't handle electric vehicles." A mechanic
"Electricity generated from coal pollutes as much as gasoline." A british friend
"Ethanol is the worst environmentally." A energy think tank "expert"
"We won't have electric cars anytime soon." The same think tank guy
"We don't all need an electric car like Al Gore says." A Montana house representative
"If we don't use gas then we won't have taxes for roads." A local builder

EV Dashboard

2009-11-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

EV Dashboard is a Windows Mobile application that also runs on a Windows CE 5.0 based dash mounted GPS device like the one below.

This is a GPS touchscreen from dealextreme.com. Notice the catchy phrase on the side. It also says "Very Good Very Powerful" across the top.

After finding the time over a couple weeks to connect the Paktrakr up to the TS cells I was able to get the EV Dashboard connected. There were only a few differences between my test data and the live data from the Paktrakr so I only had a few tweaks to the display. I'll mount it in the car next.

It is pretty easy to see that cell 7 on Remote 4 is under charged. (I haven't activated the cells yet). There are 45 cells (20 in the trunk and 25 up front) and Remote 3 has only 5 cells on it and is split with 4 in the back and 1 under the hood. This required a single wire strung back to the remote in the trunk. Also, the remote's lead is not quite long enough so Ken Hall from Paktrakr is making an extension.

Here is the setup tab. You can select the battery type, select logging to the SD card and run back your data in simulation mode.

Contact me if you are interested in using the EV Dashboard. I'll can just send you the beta bits. Also let me know if you can build a low power bluetooth serial cable for the Paktrakr. That would save some power and $ for the IOGEAR Serial to Bluetooth adapter and DC adapter and it would be a more elegant solution. This previous post has some setup details.

Activating Thundersky LFP

2009-11-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

Thundersky LFP cells require an "activation" charge cycle before discharging. James from evcomponents said "The max is 4.25 V Although you should only do that the first time for activation. After that 3.8 V should be the max. ".

The Thundersky "quality certificate" says:

"The electricity is half loaded when the batery produced, the battery cannot be discharged directly under any condition, and must be charged before first use. Please check and if the voltage is 4.2v means the battery is fully charged. If the battery is used in series there must be professional technicians to handle and required charger and BMS must be attached in use."

Then in a separate print out it says:

"Warning
Before first discharge the battery, please charge it to 4.2V with the constant current of 0.1CA~0.5CA and stop until the charging current falls to 1% of the original."

So, I have the Manzanita Charger set to 191V as the cutoff for 45 cells at 4.25 each. Below is a graph of the paktrakr data from the charging cycle for 8+ hours. The amps are X10 to fit on the same scale as volts. The small blip before the "hockey stick" is when I turned off the charger to go to bed and restarted it in the morning. The charger started tapering the amps at 191V and then the voltage dropped. I set the amps to 10A manually and then adjusted again at the end to 1A.

Snow Driving

2009-11-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

We took the del Sol out for a drive today. All-in-all very good but the acceleration was very choppy and slow and after about 5 minutes at about 40 MPH the controller cut out. I pulled over and it wasn't hot to the touch. I've been warned about overheating with the Kelly KDH but it isn't a hot day (see the pictures below and notice the snow). I'm more than a little concerned that the Kelly controller is both underpowered and easily overheated.

It took 5 attempts to get up the drive way between the choppy startup and the summer tires on the slick snow. Since the car came with studded snow tires I'll have to put them on soon.

After contacting Kelly Controlls customer service they said the KDH14401A (144V/400A w/ Regen) was underpowered for the vehicle. They recommended an upgrade to the KDH15600B (156V/600A). The A models are 7" while the B models are 11" and the web site says the B's are a newer design. I'm hoping that will take care of this problem.

Tachometer

2009-11-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've decided to get the original Tachometer in the dashboard working. I've saved the blue (BLU) wire on the wiring harness, that ran from the distributor to the junction connector C415, to connect to a hall-effect sensor and 2 magnets on the motor auxiliary shaft. Thanks to Brian's work at S2KEV the tach signal should need 2 12v pulses per revolution of the motor. This coincides with 2 spark plug ignitions per revolution for a 4 cylinder car.

The gauge goes to 8000 RPM so the FB1-4001A should register on the gauge well. I've got 2 magnets to JB weld to a 3/4" shaft collar for the auxilliary end of the motor, a bolt to mount the Melexis sensor, 2 nuts to adjust the sensor and an angle bracket to mount the bolt on the motor mount instead of on the motor directly. They told me I was reinventing the wheel at Ace. We'll see.

I used an old 4 wire plug from an old computer and only used 3 of the sockets. The parallax site has recommended cables and magnets to go with the sensor. Another option for the hall-effect sensor is this Honeywell SR13C-A1 which is pre-mounted and wired in a plastic snap case. I ended up using this one with a metal strap bent into position.

Well, my first try didn't work. There was almost no voltage on the output when a magnet passed by the sensor. But after I dug a little bit into it the wiring diagram they recommended sensor circuit have a pull-up resistor between the Supply (12v) and Output (tach wire). I tried out the resistor with my son's Circuit Jr. kit and it worked so after putting in a 4k ohm resistor the tach works. With the car on jacks and in 1st gear I was getting about 2000 RPMs for 10 MPH.

Here is the sensor mounted to an L bracket on the motor mount on the auxilliary end of the motor. I've re-crimped the ends with the resistor and wrapped it in heat shrink to keep it clean.

More snow and the next EV

2009-11-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

It is snowing. And snowing. We already have about 2 feet and counting. I'm pretty sure that the del Sol won't make it through the deep stuff. So even before it is finished I'm thinking that the next EV will have to be a AWD, maybe an older Honda Civic Wagon AWD. Here is our alley this morning with a garbage truck stuck in the snow. You don't see that everyday.

Last Cables

2009-10-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Running 2/0 cable from the 20 cells in the trunk with plastic cable wrap and plastic straps. Using self drilling screws made it easier to mount the straps but it was still the toughest day on the car yet. The Paktrakr and BMS wiring will have to go on the outside of the plastic wrap with zip ties. This is the home stretch with only wiring the cells together remaining.

Below is a picture of the cables in the trunk under the battery racks.

Steve drove by in his Solar Bug to return a cable crimper.

Cell connectors

2009-10-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

The TS cells came with connectors from cell to cell but the connection between each pack of 5 is about 1/2" wider so I made 3 connectors from 5/8" thin walled copper pipe, flattened, drilled and wrapped in heat shrink. They aren't as pretty but should work just fine.

Vacuum brake pump

2009-10-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

This vacuum system is from evsource, which claims it is quiet. I found a good place for the pump and tank and hooked it up. The instructions are very good. It ran for about 40 seconds, was super loud, and then shut off because the vacuum had been reached. So far so good. Then when I hit the brake pedal it turned on again and didn't shut off. Something is wrong. I had to disconnect it from the battery to get it to stop running. They are sending me a new system. Hopefully that will work.

The noise might be a big problem. This pump is rated at 72 db. There is a pump at metricmind.com that is rated at 50db, which might be the ticket.

EV Dashboard

2009-10-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

I've written a Windows CE app, which will also run on a Windows Mobile 5 and 6 device, to display data from the Paktrakr. It reads the data from a bluetooth adapter on the serial cable. I've got it running on a dashboard mounted GPS. On the main tab it displays amps, volts, temp, soc% and kWh. And on the second tab it has a bar chart of the batteries or cells with voltages. It has a simulation mode and can log data to the SD card.

Display:

I found a cheap 5" GPS display running Windows CE 5.0 Core with Bluetooth that can run apps. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22067 It includes a bracket to mount on the dashboard.

The application should also run on any Windows CE 5.0 Core device with bluetooth including the Magellan Maestro 4250 and the Mio C520. These devices may, however, require renaming some of the installed files.

USB:

There is only one USB port on this type of device and it doesn't provide power. So it can't power a serial to USB adapter. Even more, because of limited battery on the device the USB is needed for charging. Perhaps there is a USB splitter that would charge from one side and communicate from the other, but I couldn't find one.

Bluetooth:

The device doesn't have pairing software for remote bluetooth devices so I had to discover devices and open a stream to the bluetooth device directly instead of through a virtual COM port. I used a IOGEAR Serial to Bluetooth adapter that has an AC power cable (output is 5V and .35A). To get it to work on the Paktrakr serial cable. Hopefully I can find a car adapter to fit it. Then I had to solder a wire between pin4 and pin7 on the 9pin serial cable coming from the paktrakr.

While this wasn't an ideal solution it does work.

Better Bluetooth Cable:

I ordered a couple bluetooth usb dongles from Amazon for 99 cents each. They run the Broadcom 2045 chipset which has very low power requirements. So, I believe it wouldn't be too hard or expensive to build a cable from Paktrakr. I'll be looking for some help with this since it is out of my comfort zone.

http://www.broadcom.com/products/Bluetooth/Bluetooth-RF-Silicon-and-Software-Solutions/BCM2045

GPS:

Microsoft has a GPS Intermediate Driver (GPSID) that is available on Windows Mobile 5 and later. This allows multiple apps to share the GPS hardware. This GPS device doesn't ship with GPSID and I can't find a way to set it up. So, watthour/mile will have to wait for the "advanced" version.

Tesla paper

2009-10-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

The 21st Century Electric Car is a white paper by Tesla Motors. It basically shows that electric drive is more efficient and less poluting than any other drive, including NG, Hydrogen, Diesel, Gasoline, and Hybrid.

Rack changes

2009-10-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some late changes to the firewall battery rack. A friend is a blacksmith and welded on a couple straps for me today. No plywood is needed and I feel better about how the cell will rest in the trays now so I'll start wiring together the pack soon!

Batteries Home

2009-10-21T13:59:00.001-07:00

Well, they finally arrived! My original order for 45 100Ah Thundersky LiFePo4 cells was placed with evcomponents in June. While I was told they would be here mid August, I just got them last week (end of October). I've got 20 cells in the trunk, and 25 under the hood. The dimensions are actually what is listed in the specs so the racks are just about right. The connections on top of the cells will be about a half inch higher but I've reserved room for those. Also, the there is room for the vacuum pump and tank, bonus!

Straps will hold them in place.

Motor mount revisited

2009-10-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

With the batteries here and the charger on the way it was time to finish the motor mount. I trimmed off the top edges, drilled a couple of holes for the tachometer sensor and painted it.

Hours

2009-09-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

How much time does an EV conversion take? I've tracked the hours below with my previous project's hours in parenthesis. This project has gone much quicker but includes a few more things like the wiring harness, tachometer, BMS, etc. Building the adapter plate took much more time in the last project. Since I still have to install the brake pump, charger, BMS, Batteries and tachometer the numbers are estimates.

Prep 35 hours (30)
Motor Mount 18 hours (50)
Low voltage Wiring 30 hours est. (20)
Cables and racks 41 hours (30)
Misc. Paint & Clean-up 10 hours est. (20)
Total 135 hours (150)

Firewall rack

2009-09-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

This rack will hold 3 of sets of Li cells. Since I left the original aux. battery it couldn't be exactly like Tim's racks but is close, 12"x37". I've extended the front with 3 10" pieces of angle, 1 1/2"x1/8". They will hold the control box, controller and charger. I won't need a sheet of plastic or plywood because of the box containing the fuse, cut-off switch, contactor, and wiring terminal.

Left side.

Right side.

Front rack

2009-09-20T15:32:00.001-07:00

This rack will hold 2 of the 5 cell packs and is mounted very similarly to Tim's front rack except it is a welded box 35.5" x 7". I've only mounted it to the top single bolt on the "towing" mount of the frame. The straps coming down are 3/4" x 1/8" and bolted to the rack with 1/4" bolts. Instead of powder coating I used a propane torch to burn off the oils and moisture and then primed and painted.

Left side.

Right side.

Rear rack

2009-09-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

The rear rack is 30" x 12" and will hold 4 of the 5 cell blocks. The tube is 14.5 inches but because of the frame under the trunk, the whole rack had to be mounted 1.5" from the forward wall of the trunk. If the tube was 16" it would have been a better fit. The holes and bolts are 3/8".

Battery Racks

2009-09-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

I've ordered 45 Thundersky 100 Ah cells from Dave at evcomponents in Issaquah, WA. They are supposed to be here any day so I've got to get the racks installed. The cells are 145mm X 220mm X 68mm or 5.7" X 8.66" X 2.6". The are already prestrapped in groups of 5 (5.7" X 13.85" X 8.66"). I'll put 2 in the front rack, 3 in the firewall rack and 4 in the trunk. They are 7.7 lbs. each so the weights should be similar to the ICE parts removed from the car. I cut the pieces and had a friend weld them together. I'll follow the installation advice and instructions from Tim Kutscha, with a few changes. I'm not bolting the racks but welding them at 45 degree angles. Since the dimensions of my batteries are thinner the racks will be narrower. Also, the del Sol trunk appears to be a different shape than the Civic. I'll just prime and paint the racks instead of powdercoating them. Here is a picture of the welded racks.

Vantage Green Truck

2009-09-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ron let me drive his Vantage Green Truck last week. Very nice. It has smooth acceleration, nice interior, and a flashing light on the top! The display is very small and the regen is pretty agressive so it slows down quickly.

Floor mats

2009-08-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

While these del Sol floor mats I found on ebay are really faded, they are still pretty cool.

Throttle (me)

2009-08-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, I had the throttle wires connected to the micro switch on the front of the potbox. As you can see from the picture (I got lucky) and there is a 3rd post on the throttle. With some internet reading I connected the 5V input to the unused 3rd wire and grounded the 1st wire (white) and the middle (wiper or black wire) is the throttle input. Now the throttle and gas pedal work correctly.

Note: At this point in the conversion I cannot recommend a Kelly KDH for the simple reason they don't support 0-5K throttle input.

Batteries

2009-08-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

Several new things have happened with batteries in the past 9 months. The price of Lifepo4 cells has dropped from about $250/100 Ah to $120/100 Ah and there are a few importers who are offering that price, including evcomponents.com and jungle motors.

Perhaps the biggest indicator is that LG Chem and its US division, Compact Power Inc (CPI), will supply the batteries for the Chevy Volt. They plan to spend $800M on a Korean factory. Also, A123 will supply the batteries for Chrysler and Kia and Nissan Leaf (with NEC) have announced EVs.

A quote from an article about the Leaf:

"However, the battery, the most expensive component on the car, will only be leased to customers.

The Leaf is powered by laminated compact lithium-ion batteries, which generate power output of over 90 kW, while its electric motor delivers 80 kW/280 Nm."

Maiden voyage

2009-07-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

With a couple batteries tied to the radiator mounts I was able to drive up and down the driveway a few times before the batteries got weak. Like I said, the throttle is really jumpy and there is a wobble in the motor front plate, which I'm affraid might be serious. The next step is to get the battery racks built and installed and string some cables to the trunk.

Kelly controller error

2009-07-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

I had a few set backs today. I first got the 2,4 error "Throttle signal is higher than configured dead zone at power-on." I had the ground and 0-5v output reversed. Then I got the error 2,2 or "Internal Voltage Error", which says "The controller is damaged". I guess I got a bad one.

Later: It turns out I had the potentiometer wired wrong. The 5v goes to the COM (left), Ground to the N.O. (middle), and the 0-5V throttle to N.C. (right). It works now. The throttle is very quick and the car lurches forward or back, not sure what that is.

Solar Bug

2009-07-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Steve Titus lent me a couple batteries for testing. Here he is standing next to his Solar Bug. It is a 72v EV with a solar panel on the top. With 3-4 amps from the PV panel he should be able to get 10-15 miles per day from the sun!

Makin' cables

2009-07-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

With the control box in place and the low voltage wiring ready, now time for the high voltage cables. The orange ultraflex cable is much easier to work with in tight spaces, like the control box, than the black but it is twice as expensive. In this picture is the Noalox anticorrosion gel and the hammer crimper. I've found pounding with a hammer on the cement floor give the best results.

Temperature sender

2009-07-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

This is the original temp sender from the engine. It is a thermistor or temperature resistor connected to the temp gauge on the dashboard. When the temp goes up the resistance goes down. I'm mounting it to the controller to monitor the temp from the drivers seat. The controller operates up to 90C (195F) and will shutdown at 100C (212F). This corresponds to a typical 195F thermostat in a car so the gauge should read about halfway when the controller gets hot.

Control box mounted

2009-07-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

There was a mounting bracket already in the engine bay and a 6" angle bracket from Ace fit perfectly to one of the screw holes for the clutch, which is gone. The mount is bomber and the hood even closes, which is a plus. Also, there is room for battery racks in front and behind. The controller is Kelly 144v with regen from cloudelectric for $875.

The Kelly KDH requires a 5V input instead of just the 5ohm input from the existing potbox wires. So, wiring the 5V output from the controller into the potbox, plus the ground and the 5V output of the potbox.

Sorry I'm so color blind with my wiring. The yellow-black wire should be black (gnd) and the blue wire (from the throttle's black wire "signal") should be green. I've used yellow for 5V from the controller to the throttle.

Control box and controller

2009-07-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

The control box is starting to take shape. I picked up a wiring box at home depot and have been drilling holes in it for 2 days. I've found a good place to mount it just above the transmission. The controller will mount off of the side of it. Once I get everything bolted down I can start wiring it.

EVs in the hood

2009-07-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

It turns out that the neighborhood I live in is a hot bed of EV activity. An engineer for the Barefoot ATV lives nearby. I drove one today, very nice. It has really smooth accelerating and has aggressive regen so it stops almost without braking.

Last week I drove Steve Titus' Solar Bug , which has a solar panel on the top. It was a sunny day and the 48v panel was producing 3amps, which should recharge the batteries in a few hours after driving a few miles.

Potentiometer

2009-07-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

I've installed the potbox in about the same place as the last car. It was more manageable to attach it directly to the firewall than near the controller or heatsink. Plus the accelerator cable was much shorter on the del Sol than the older civic. Notice the remnants of the wiring harness. I'll wrap that in some plastic cable wrap to protect it.

Wiring harness

2009-07-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

This manual has good wiring diagrams of the '93 del Sol. Along with tips from this blog Open Source Civic EV Kit: Figuring out the wiring harness I was able to get the backup lights working. Testing the speedometer will have to wait until it is drivable. Ironically, the "check engine" light is now on. So, I'll have to remove fuse #15.

Motor mount

2009-07-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Using a grinder I cut a channel for the motor mount plate. The plate is 1/8" steel. There are 2 mounting holes on the auxiliary side of the motor.

Motor installed

2009-06-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

Since the coupler and single plate setup is so simple the installation was really easy. I had to cut 1/4" off the motor shaft with a hack saw and I used a grinder to cut 1" off the drive shaft. Tony warned me about going really slow so the shaft didn't heat up and damage the bearings. It took about 2 hours. But, I got a lot of work done on the motor mount waiting for the shaft to cool.

Zach and I slide the motor under the frame with the front end on jack stands. We used a cable hoist suspended from the garage rafters to lift the motor into place once the coupler and plate were mounted. Because the transmission only has 2 mounts we put the jack under the adapter plate to level the motor for a test spin. I expected that wiring the motor for CCW would be correct... but I was wrong. The wheels spun backwards in first gear. The FB1-4001A can be wired for either direction so the jumper can just be switched.

Coupler and Adapter plate

2009-06-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

The coupler and adapter plate are done and ready to be installed. I'll have to cut the drive shaft and maybe the motor shaft to get them to fit together. Tony Smith did the machine work and I would highly recommend him again. The plate is 1" to get around any future movement from spacer rings and the clutch splines have been welded on to a keyed coupler that fits the motor. This will eliminate almost all the weight from the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate of the original setup. According to EV America, every 7 lbs taken off the flywheel equals 100 lbs. of vehicle weight. So, that should be about equal to 600 lbs. Nice!

Motor

2009-06-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Motor choice

The information I have wrestled with the most is from the evparts.com site, http://www.evparts.com/img/mt2114peakmotoroutput.PDF

This basically shows that at 120v and 400 amps, which is low for racing but high for a range minded vehicle:

Motor size T HP
X-91 6" 87 36
L-91 6" 60 42
203-06 8" 63 47
FB1 9" 80 50

The first thing I noted was the torque to hp ratio is highest in the X-91. If I understand torque vs. hp (which I might not) a high torque would provide acceleration but not a great top speed or hill climbing capacity. The next thing to note is that the FB1 has larger torque and hp for the same voltage and amperage. Even without looking at the torque curve, this indicates the FB1 is more efficient. I would like to see this same chart at a more realistic current like 100 amps or 80 amps.

Since the del Sol has these original values:
Torque 98(s) 106(Si) 111(VTEC)
HP 102(S) 125(Si) 160(VTEC)

At 144v and 400 amps (max.) I calculated the torque at 111 ft.lbs. and hp at 68, which actually comes pretty close to the original, only a little shy on the HP. So, the FB1-4001A at $1450 from cloudelectric was a pretty good fit. Also, there were a few folks who have already done this, mitigating the risk factor.

68.72 HP = (400a * 144v * .89 Eff) / 746
111.6 ft.lbs. = (5252 * 68.72 hp) / 3282 rpm (back calculated from the evparts chart above)

Adapter Plate Mock-up

I had a local machine shop laser cut a mock-up of the adapter plate in acrylic from a design on the net. It took about 10 minutes and cost $32. There are 2 holes off and the basic outside template shape is way off, but with a little cutting it fits. I'll use the outside shape of the old template and the holes of the new one to build the adapter plate from a 1" alum. plate of 6061, which should eliminate the need for spacers.

Blank slate

2009-06-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Everything is removed now and I'm ready to start building parts.

Motor mount: This transmission is only mounted on 2 points instead of 3 (like the '88 civic) so a really solid motor mount on the auxilliary side of the motor is needed. That will probably be a 1/8" steel plate bolted to the original motor mount.
Starter hole cover - I picked up a 1/8" alum sheet for the controller and have enough on the end to cut the starter hole cover.
Adapter plate - rough cut for the machinist.

Towing it

2009-06-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Troy helped me tow it to the corner station to have the engine pulled and manual rack installed. It is funny how hard to move these things are when they don't run. I mounted the regular tires instead of the studded winter tires that were on it. Basically it was a $150 car with 2 sets of $50 tires.

Gas tank and exhaust are out

2009-06-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

There was 9 and a half gallons of gas in the tank. I filled up my car and the lawn mower and gave our neighbor 4 gallons too.

Rear view

2009-06-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

Heading home

2009-06-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

Snow on the mountain tops in the distance.

This is were it sat in Wolf Creek.

Trailering it home

2009-06-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

The craigslist add said "Fast car + 80 mph + no oil = blown engine". The engine seized up near Wolf Creek and was just sitting there. A couple guys from the gas station helped me get it on the trailer. "Jerry's got a come-a-long!". Anyway, it'll sit in front of the house until I can get the engine out of it.

1988 Honda Civic Wagon

2009-06-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

This is a conversion of an '88 Honda Civic Wagon to a 72 volt electric vehicle. This EV has a maximum speed of 45 MPH and a sustainable speed of 25-30 MPH. Its range is 18 miles. The onboard chargers can be plugged in to any 110 outlet and charge up the batteries overnight. The total cost including the donor vehicle was almost $4000.

Loaded up and down the road

2009-05-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Lloyd is hauling it to Seattle on his way through Denver.

Sold!

2009-05-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

These 2 super nice EV enthusiasts drove out from the Seattle area to take this little EV home.

Now I can get started on the next one... I guess I'm hooked!

Fender repair

2009-05-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

The fender is back on with the dents pounded out and the rough edge patched up. It isn't perfect, but looks a lot better. A heck of a lot cheaper than a professional repair at $200-300. Now its ready for paint.

For Sale

2009-05-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

This is a great car and I'ld like to build another one.

I've only got a few things left to finish:

Front fender
Back hatch latch
Paint (rust spots and fender)
Fix the horn

More pics

2009-05-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Sand, Bondo, Prime

2009-05-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

There were only 5 small rust spots only one was all the way through. Zach helped wash and wax the rest of it. Then the sun came out and it looks pretty good!

Vacuum Tank

2009-05-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

A plastic tee from the pump to the tank and master cylinder.

A PVC tank 3 inches by 10 inches tucked in next to the batteries. It gave about 3 and a half brakes before the vacuum was gone. The little Brake Booster (cheap) vacuum pump from ebay reached vacuum in about a minute, maybe a little more. The total on parts for the brake system about $160.

Emblem

2009-04-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

Better than a bumper sticker.

Wheel paint

2009-04-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Before

After

Vacuum pump

2009-04-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so this picture is hard to see... but this is the vacuum pump, switch and hoses. This pump is BrakeBooster from ebay for $98+shipping. I wrapped it in a piece of pipe insulation foam and you can hardly hear it when it is on. It is advertised as pulling 20 inches of vacuum, but I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll get a gauge to see.

The switch is from evsource.com. The pump is rated at 4 amps and the switch 10 amps so no relay is required. I just split the keyed wiring from the main contactor into the COM plug and the white/red from the pump into the NC plug on the switch. It took a little adjusting on the switch to get it to turn off when there is enough vacuum. I've connected the original vacuum tube from the master cylinder and you get one good brake before the pump turns. And after about 5 seconds there is enough vacuum to assist the brakes again. The braking assistance isn't much, but enough to help. I may build a PVC tank just to see.

Battery Box

2009-04-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is just a 2x4 frame with some particle board over it to protect the batteries from the fold down cover. It isn't air tight, but since the batteries are sealed this should be ok.

Nissan Ultima Hybrid

2009-03-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

During spring break we rented a car and were given a Nissan Altima Hybrid. Very cool, we got a chance to try out a real EV, so I thought. So, you get in put your foot on the brake and push the "On" button. No motor starting, very quiet, nice. As we drove through the parking lot and sat at the stop sign and stop lights, no motor noise or exhaust, just smooth EV. Again nice!

The dashboard has a Kw gauge, a battery charge gauge and a MPG gauge, with an "EV" light. The Kw shown were up to 150kw but mostly stayed between 0-5Kw. The "blue zone" on the Kw gauge was for regen charging.

As soon as you push on the gas to accelerate any more than "really easy" acceleration or at speeds over about 20 MPH or more than about 5 Kw, the hybrid motor starts and is a bit noisy and has lots of vibration. When you brake, the regen kicks in and you can see the Kw go into a "blue" zone to recharge the traction batteries and at high speeds you can even see the battery charge gauge move. The regen was very smooth and really help braking. While it has good pickup at stop lights, at highway speeds, the acceleration is spotty at best. It either drifted along smoothly or was gearing down to keep up speed. Not too impressive.

The Nissan web site boasts 35 MPG. The MPG gauge read much less most of the time, between 10 and 15. When in EV mode it was pegged at 60 MPG. But again, it was only in EV mode when you were at a stop light or driving around the parking lot, only! My '86 Honda Accord got 36 MPG and had at least as good pickup so I would say that all the fuss over hybrid technology has put this car behind those of 1986, even with tax credits!

There is a really problem here! Hybrid's don't give us any advantage, none! We really need to move to solutions that offer 100+ MPG, like Plug-In Hybrid or EV only vehicles. These are a real solution. Also, Flex-Fuel vehicles that run on Ethanol (cellulosic) or Methanol, at only 15% gasoline will give us the equivalent of 500+ MPG of gasoline. Now that is a solution worth pursuing!

Hybrid (kind of)

2009-03-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

We rented a Nissan Altima Hybrid over spring break. It was basically an electric assisted ICE and ran on only electric when you were stopped or going less than 15 mph, which kind of defeats the purpose I guess. It did have a really cool Kw meter! When you braked the watts went in to the blue "charging" mode.

Let it snow

2009-02-26T16:29:00.000-08:00

It started to snow on the way over to Marcus' shop to weld in the front battery rack. And it kept snowing. By the time we were done there was 6 inches on the car. But the rack is in. Now to get another battery and a cable for it and we're at 72 volts. Hopefully it will melt off a little and there will be a chance to test it out with all 6 batteries soon.

Battery straps

2009-02-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

I couldn't decide on battery straps between cables, metal straps bolted down, or just rope. My wife says "kayak straps" and she was right! Ace sells custom leathercraft tie-down straps premade in different lengths, which are rated to 200 lbs 3 times the weight of a battery. A perfect fit and cheap too!

Tough nut to crack

2009-02-26T07:15:00.000-08:00

It shows just how bad a mechanic I really am. I couldn't even get the transmission filler plug out. It did take two guys to finally get it. So, I don't feel too bad. Thirty bucks later and a tranny full of fluid we can drive it. Top speed so far has been 40 MPH on a downhill. That's with only 5 of 6 batteries.

Rear batteries

2009-02-22T12:17:00.000-08:00

Four batteries in back all wired up. They all fit in the spare tire well. They each have separate chargers, Soneil 1206S, 3 stage, 3 amp and 12V.

Mileage

2009-02-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

The old gas hog had 276,262 miles on it.

Maiden Voyage

2009-02-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Today was big. We finished the remaining battery cables and hooked them up. With the car still on blocks, we tried the throttle and it looked good so we drove around the block! Wow, it works! Really quiet and pretty good acceleration, especially since there were 4 of us onboard. There are still a few things to finish, like a vacuum pump for the brakes, the front battery rack and another battery.

Radio - comedy of errors

2009-02-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

This bad boy didn't have a radio when we hauled it back here, just a mess of wires. But not to worry, my father-in-law had an old one we could put in there. So, when I picked it up, it was old, ancient, history, passed on. I tried to get a plug at a local car audio place and they said "no way, we just threw out 40 radios yesterday". Five minutes later I'm dumpster divin' for a honda with a plug to match the wiring. Well, I found a radio but no plug. So, a few minutes on ebay and a $1 + $5 shipping (ironic) and a few days later I'm in business.

So, Zach and I hook up the power and ... "CODE" flashes on the radio. After trying a few random attempts, we give up. The next day, I call Honda with the serial number and they give me the code, which works. That's a pretty hot theft prevention program! Anyway, the code works and ... no sound. So I check the speakers and they aren't there. After a few calls, I'm laughing all the way to Walmart for a $20 pair of 5.25 speakers that are good enough to Rock!

Junction box and Controller mounted

2009-02-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

The junction control box is mounted next to the controller and the low voltage is now wired. With a honda wiring diagram I found a "hot in on" 12v wire that the ignition key turns on. This was wired to the controller relay and the main contactor. And it works!

Controller mount

2009-02-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

The controller is a Kelly KD72500, which is 72 volts and 500 amp max. The mount is a piece of $1 scrap aluminum found in the recycle bin when we took then engine parts in. I mounted it horizontal to leave room underneath for the accelerator and speedometer cables. Also, I think the vacumn pump will have to go under it too.

The kelly wiring diagram includes reverser contactors and backup beepers so it is more complex than I needed. Here is a diagram from a curtis controler that is pretty close to a minimal diagram.

Control box

2009-02-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

This control box is a 10x10 metal junction box with a lid. It will mount nicely on the firewall next to the controller with the 4 orig. holes. Only 2 knockouts will be needed to fish the cables through. With the cold weather I've brought it inside to work on the wiring. The components are the main contactor, a 400 amp fuse, a 30amp automotive relay and a cool cutoff switch mounted through the top. Room was saved for a heater relay (solid state) and a shunt.

Stringing the cables

2009-02-16T10:07:00.001-08:00

Even though it probably isn't needed I ran the cables, including 2 2/0 battery cables an an extension cord for the chargers, through this 1 1/2 inch black pvc pipe under the chassy where the exhaust pipe was. The pipe should protect the cables from dirt, rocks etc. It was cold out so a hair dryer help get the pipe to fit. It is strapped down with 2 hole straps and self drilling screws. All the parts for under $10 so a minor cost to protect the cable.