BMS end board

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

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

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

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

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

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

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".