Headliner

Finally got my headliner installed.  I had started on the thing quite sometime ago.  I added some foam insulation then covered with gray vinyl.  It's not perfect but it is functional.  Had a booger of a time trying to figure out what screws,sleeves I would use to mount it.  BTW, this thing goes in best if you go through the back window.  Trying to go in from either door will just frustrate you.

Not pictured are the door and back window pieces.  Some of the contact glue didn't hold very well.  Gorilla duct tape really does work wonders.

Secondly, I installed my wife's seat.  I was getting some nasty looks about that. I still have a little rat's nest of wiring to clean up but that's primarily because I haven't hooked up the heater, radio, and other stuff.  That will come later. 

I am driving it but the batteries are still sagging.  I did order some capacitors, 49 at 1,500uF 200vdc.  I found them on EBay for about $150.  That's only $3 per capacitor - very good deal!!  It should take up a 14X14 inch area that's about 4 inches deep.

I noticed that Jack Rickard who does the EVTV show believes in them, but he does a huge pack that can cost mucho dineros!!

The Big 55 Bang!!

The first time I tried 55 mph the batteries didn't like it, they started to sag and the buzzer went off on my MiniBMS which indicates a cell is getting low under discharge.  OK, the batteries haven't been used in awhile so I'll charge them up and try it again with a fresh pack.

Second try, rode up to Roslyn and then tried 55 mph, woo hoo it's going 55 then BANG!!!  Holy smokes, what the snikees was that?!  It looked like the hood had popped open.  (How can that be, the hood opens like a corvette?) Pulled off the road and discovered the old gas hood, smaller part of the hood, had popped open.  So...I guess I need to use the key and lock it in place. Duh....

But still the buzzer went off again during my attempt.  In general the pack doesn't like a sustained 150+ Amp hour drain.  I then drove home, jacked up the rear end and had my wife put it in gear and ran the wheels at 7 amps while I checked the batteries to see which ones were lower.  I really didn't see much difference.  I either need to do a higher discharge to test or maybe the pack is just getting broken in again and I need to just keep driving it?

There is another possible solution.  Creating a supercapacitor bank that allows the battery not to feel the strain of high/quick discharges.  Go to diyelectriccarforum and search under Flux Capacitor.

 Tons of discussion.  The inventor did this for under $100 bucks and connected the thing between the contactor and the controller.  The prices I'm seeing are around $300 - 400.  That's about the cost of three 100AH liFEPO4 batteries.  If it preserves the pack, it's worth it weight in gold.

More to come.

On the Road Again

Despite having to drive 100 miles and  arriving on time to pick up my motor and now modified adapter plate/hub, the company that was doing the repairs was not ready for me.  An hour later they showed me everything that the machinist had done and assembled and tested it on a 12V battery.  In addition to the hub being off center the adapter plate was not completely parallel with itself.  They ground it down to level it. The technician said it would be probably off by 1/16 of an inch now.  So, after having waited a month for something that should have taken a week, it cost me an extra $200.  !@#$#@! (This is why I'm not letting you know who the company is)

Of course once I get home, I'm wanting to put this badboy into my Bradley and give it a go.  I fully expected to be disappointed on the first attempt.  And I was.  As I was tightening the bolts I could feel the flywheel starting to hit something.  I took out the motor, replaced the flywheel (with teeth) with the flywheel with no teeth.  Slid the motor in and once again, the motor is frozen from the flywheel hitting something. That usually doesn't happen. Hmmm......

OK, remember at the start of this blog how I talked about the distance or "magic number" now being off 1/16 of an inch?  I added some 1/8 inch washers to the bolts and viola, it works.  I left the motor on the motorcycle jack and left the bolts just slightly loose, I applied some juice so the wheels would turn a little.  The motor seemed to then line up with the transaxle and any vibrations smoothed away.  I then tightened everything up, and removed the motorcycle jack.  I went through all 4 gears with the car still on jacks.  Nice and smooth.

Took the car for a quick couple rides around the block.  Then went for a 7 mile ride on the backroads of town.  Then went for a couple errands - another 7 miles.  7 KWh to recharge, don't forget the car had been sitting for quite a while.  Balanced the pack and now I'm ready to go and test at 55 mph.

I still need to get an alignment done so I'm not sure I want to push it too fast just yet.

12V Battery Area

The 12V battery is supposed to reside right behind the passenger side rear turn signal.  This area has been shielded with a wood base.  When I first cracked it open it was a big mess.  I'm guessing battery acid had leaked at one point and the water from the oversized tire in the back also leaked through. 

Plenty of room for a battery, especially the 60AH lithium that I use.

I'm not sure if it was all fiberglassed in originally for protection but now comes the fun part - scrapping the crud off to see.  My plan is to spray with truck bed spray so it will protect the area from any further damage.  The ultimate solution would be to replace the old wood and glass it in.  I'll go with a temporary solution for now.

Off the Road

It's been awhile and my Baby has been out of commission since January.

At first I thought it was the four metal dowel pins that help stabilize the flywheel to the hub, since they were different lengths. 

I thought this could throw off the flywheel by just a tad. I ground them down and reassembled everything and yes, that did seem to help.  But still there was a slight wobble.

 I finally realized I wasn't getting anywhere with resolving the wobble in the adaptor assembly so I called on an expert in the Seattle area.  Unfortunately it has taken a very long time to come to the conclusion that a small error in the "run out" on the hub is what the problem has been all along.  15/1000 of an inch can really screw things up!  This has lead to a second machinist making a second hub.  $300 later, I should be able to finally pick it up tomorrow.  The deal was for them to balance the assembly and mount it on the motor, then I take it home and install it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Of course the daily snow in the morning doesn't help matters, so even I could have been driving it, it would have been in the garage.  BTW, you need to recharge and balance the batteries probably once every two months or so, unless you have something that is draining them - maybe a dc to dc converter?  Then you'll have to do this maybe every two weeks to a month that the car sits idle, depending on the amount of drain.