Troubleshooting an EV

So you're probably wandering, as am I, why the wheels aren't turning yet?  Great question, I wish I knew the answer.  I look at the whole system as nothing more than a series of parts that can wrong and therefore will need to be bypassed or replaced to test it operation.  Electrical engineers see it as an electrical system and will start by testing all the connections. 
My first test was to put in some of my old silicone batteries and do a quick check to get the wheels moving.  Things didn't go according to plan.  When you press on the accelerator, the voltage drops to zero and only 30 amps were being sucked.
That's when I started to replace things.  The curtis controller went first, then the batteries, then the contactor, then the potbox, then the fuses, etc... I can not figure this one out.  Ron Anderson, of Blacksheep Tech is helping me in problem-solving.  Great guy, very patient, and runs a good business.  He told me to start testing at either the most positive or most negative battery and look for where the voltage drops, keeping one wire of the voltmeter on either the most positive or negative then have my beautiful assistant (wife) press down on the accelerator.  The problem is they all drop to zero when the accelerator is pressed. So does the controller, the shunt, the fuses, etc.... This doesn't make sense.

This is when, rather than get mad and frustrated, I do something else to make progress.  I thought I'd touch up my hood and clean up the Bradley Logo on the front.

The logo didn't stand out, all gray metal with very little definition, so I spray painted it all black, then went over the high parts with some light sandpaper so the metal would stand out against a black background.

Much better.  See....progress. : )

Hey, you have to take it victory by little victory or this huge project can really eat you up inside.

Headliner Wiring

Taking down the headliner was quite the experience.  Not only did I get dirt falling on me but I also got some pretty undesirable stuff as well.  Evidently I had a guest that decided to crap all over the inside of it.

If I catch that mouse.....it's gonna wish it was a lab rat!
Moving on, it appears there was a dome light at one point but not only was it removed, it was covered up with no apparent wiring left in sight.  There are no door jam switches either.  The main metal hardware was rusty.

A little bit of rustoleum should at least stop the rust for now.

The headliner fiberglass is pretty flimsy and thin.  There were no sunvisors and according to the original plans, there never were.  There isn't any room to install the usual type of visor, so I'll have to look for something more along the lines of a simple hinge operated visor that folds down and doesn't pivot.
I ran the dome light wire and a ground for the 3rd brake light in the back window.  The dome wire is supposed to run back to the GM headlight switch.

That's what it looks like without the headliner in place.  The foam layer on the headliner will have to be replaced, it has aged and is falling apart. I'll probably look for a gray fake leather to cover it in.

Battery Installation

Alright, what saboteur decided to throw me off by 1/4 of an inch????

This is what happens when things don't go according to plan - YOU IMPROVISE.  The original plan called for the 4 sets of 5 to be in the front of the car.  As you can see a 1/4 of an inch meant I wasn't able to follow through on that plan.

What we have here is two 5s and two 4s.  OK, so it's 14 lbs less - I can live with that.  The real cluster trickled down to the back pack.

That's two 6s two 5s and two 4s.  It all works out.  I'll just need to fill in the gaps with 2X4s then strap the batteries all together.  The frame was later bolted down.

A few quick safety notes on installing batteries.  1. Respect the lightening in a block. Cause that's what you have here.  You do the wrong thing and that lightening will jump out and cause some serious damage.  In my case I was messing with 100 amps, stop and think, the 110V in your house is only 15 or 20 amps. 2. Tape all wrenches etc with electrical tape.  Always know where you are going to lay them down and watch where that extra hand is going, especially if you have to lean over something. (Touching an emergency brake will usually cause a ground) For heaven's sake don't ground yourself.  3. As long as there isn't a draw, you shouldn't have any sparks.  If you see any sparks-STOP and try to figure out what happened before you move on because something caused a draw on the pack.  Using gloves is always a good idea. 4. Maintain control of both ends of the welding cables until it is securely fastened.  I'll stick one end in pipe foam while I work on the other end.

Wiring is such FUN!!!

Someone said that wiring is for the birds - I agree!!!  OK, actually it's not for the birds - it's for contortionists! Argh.  You just get in the car, laying flat on your back and are in the middle of something and guess what, the part you need is on the hood.  Getting in and out of this car roughly 20 times a day can really take a toll.
So after all this time, I finally got to the point where I could flip the switch.  After a few lightning bolts flew out and a couple fuses blew I found out that somethings actually worked.  The headlights, driving lights, horn, cig lighter, indicator lights, brake lights and speedo lights all work.  Now for the things that don't work - flashers, hazards, wipers, and a couple of the LEDs.  What's complicated is trying to marry up a 1967 VW steering column to this 21st century technology.  Add the fact this is an electric car and now you really have some wiring nightmares. There are wires that are supposed to have power that don't and vice versa.  When I get it to work I'll add the wiring diagram which might save some folks a lot of time and effort.  For now, I need to look on the bright side that some things are working.

The good news is the people at EZ Wire are easy to talk with and will help you problem solve what wire needs to do what. The support has been essential to completing this part of the project.

Blue Window Install

The instructions are on the Blue Motors website.  However, a couple things stand out for my install.  I needed a long AV cable to hook to the 7 inch monitor I was using mounted in the dash.  The dash is about 8 feet away from the main unit.  I found a nice long AV cable but when you go to hook up the two cables you have a male to male situation.  You can buy an AV adapter connector at most reputable electronics store for about 2.99 for two.  I mounted my monitor to the main console of the dash.

You must mount the main unit within 1 foot of the shunt and the shunt needs to be on the negative side of the battery pack NOT the positive. (Even though most EV wiring diagrams have the shunt on the positive side, it really doesn't matter what side you put the shunt on, for this unit to work - it needs to be on the negative.) The picture they give makes it pretty clear how to wire those shunt cables.  The part that is left to your imagination is attaching to the 156V positive lead.  I ran the cable into my Magic Box and tapped into the main fuse connection with a large O or ring connector. The 156V lead doesn't have to be on all the time.  The 12V lead does need to be on all the time.  Again these connections went into my Magic Box and connected with the 12V battery leads.

I don't have the tachometer hooked up yet as I don't have the car running yet.  So....later on I'll do that.  For right now, I'm happy the unit is in and working - Volts and Amps - yee haw!

RAAMmat Sound Proofing

This is the trunk area to start with.  The previous owner had used a wool like material that was tacked down with an adhesive.  When I went to pull it out - it smelled bad and was filthy - some of the material still stuck to the fiberglass.  I used a steel brush attachment for my drill to clean things up.  Since I'm going to put down batteries in the trunk area the very first thing I should do is finish this area first so I don't have to take everything out to install sound dampening material and carpet.

Why sound proof?  If you have ever rode in a fiberglass car you'd know - it's noisy.  

After a bit of research, I decided to go with RAAMmat.  First, this doesn't smell like asphalt.  A lot of guys are using a roofing product from Lowe's.  When someone starts by saying this stuff is smelly as it goes in, I wonder what it will smell like on a hot summer day.  I'm thinking roofing material doesn't belong in a car. I'm certain OSHA has something to say about that!  Next there was the cadillac of sound proofing material - obviously too expensive.  People that have used this product love it because they are too embarrassed to admit they got ripped off. Finally, I found RAAMmat.  The product is affordable, isn't made of asphalt and is 60 mils thick.  The foam, MVL, they also offer is also affordable and lines up with the research I saw on the internet.  The mat acts as a dampener by stopping the vibration, and the mass volume load creates a distance and muffles the exterior sound.  My panels went from ching to thump.

Kinds looks SciFi, doesn't it.  The panels are 15X15 and therefore not an exact fit for the backseat of a Bradley GT II.  It does cut easy enough with a new razor utility knife.  They say not to worry about overlapping.  The mats went down easy enough.  Your hands will get black from smoothing the panels to conform to the shape underneath.  Now for the MVL foam.

The back wall is done.  This goes in easier than the RAAMmat and sticks well. I'd show you more except my camera is dying.  I then used some spray adhesive to stick the smoke colored carpet on top.  Please note that I decided to pull the wires through a separate hole in the lower part of the bench area.  This saved me about two feet of wire.

Pretty Dash Two

Ever since I got this adult ADD thing happening, I will start one thing then move onto something else, then start something else and maybe later come back to what I had started originally.  This kinda follows my pattern for this Blog.  So, I went and started on the center piece for the dash. 

The 7 inch screen will display the Bluewindow EV data.  The 5 panel switches are my best guess at the time of what I'll need. In the case of a change, I'll use black paint and paint over the engraved words.  That's a fan switch next to the switch panel.
Looking at the photo above, I'll bet you can figure out where the speedometer will go.

LED Part Two

The fuse panel that came with the EZ Wire kit only has the standard thermal flasher fuses.  You have to replace them with electronic fuses.  I got these from an auto parts store for $8 each.  Easy to pull and easy to replace. Mine used the 2 prong.

I found these cool halogen driving lights that I added to the front.  I'm guessing it's better to hook everything up now while I can.  What was odd when I went to drill the holes was there were holes there already.  Hmm...maybe some previous owner had them and took them off???

After I wired up the front lights, I started on the back.  The big red 70's school bus lights had to go.  I replaced with new 2010 big red school bus lights - they're round.  But first I had to take the old ones out and just look at this feat of engineering magic from the 70s.

I like the reflective metal to help enhance the luminosity.  Her's what you've wanted to see....

Yes, I painted the bucket a nice gloss black.  Does it remind you of Darth Vader's helmet?  The light looks a lot better.  One of the rebuilders on Bradley GT covered his set-up with the smoky glass.  I'm not into that just yet, besides, I want to get this thing running.

Heres' a shot of the passenger side bucket removed.  This is where the 12V battery is supposed to go.  Lots of room in there.

Bleeding the Brakes

Finally, this is a pivotal point in the project.  After all the agony of dealing with bolt-on disc brake kits that were anything but bolt-on, emergency brakes that didn't quite fit, an ebrake handle that exploded, and a master cylinder that bled rust, new brake lines that kept getting delayed in being delivered, it all came together.

Of course when I went to grab my one-man bleeder kit the tube is way too small.  Off to the hardware store for yet another purchase. A 1/4 inside diameter tube seemed to work the best. The front and back bleeder bolts are different sizes.  The same tube would work, I just had to use an adjustable wrench. By the way, I bought a large bottle of brake fluid at WalMart for $4 and they wanted over $8 for the exact same thing at the hardware store. 

Now I had to persuade my lovely bride to once again help me out.  She had to lean into the Bradley, with the door open and push down, and up on the brake pedal when I would tell her.  Started in the back and eventually worked my way around to the front.  I did have a connection come loose which leaked some fluid but after some tightening, a little more bleeding, the lines firmed up and I could see the calipers working.  YeeHaw!!!