It's 85 degrees out and I'm ready for the first drive with the new cooling system I installed. I drove approx 4 miles to the high school up one hill then checked everything out. The motor was warm to the touch and the controller was cool to the touch. OK, don't expect scientific data just good old fashioned "tactile sensory data." (That means I used my hands.) Everything looked good, no leaks no burning smells.
I then drove over to where I start my daily commute which has a 5% grade hill and, BTW, this is where the Open Revolt and Soliton Jr (without water cooling) both started to fail. Speed limit is 35, I'm in 3rd gear pulling 150 - 200 amps. Oops! I'm speeding. (EV grin begins to widen) OK, that was easy, let's move onto the gradual grade which follows. This is probably a 3% grade for about two miles. And once again, I'm having to watch my speed because it's very easy to go too fast. Wow!! This stuff works. I continued on for another mile and then turned around and came home. Total mileage was approx 12 miles.
Once I drove in the garage, I engaged the tactile sensory device again. The controller was barely warm. The motor was hot, but I noticed the fan wasn't blowing as hard. Then a heard a click noise and saw a red trouble light on my controller. I quickly connected the computer and saw the error was the 12V was too low. My 60 AH Lithium battery was down to 9% charge and I had started with a 100% charge. Granted, I've been running this battery for a couple years now so the capacity should be lower. I never did bother to balance the cells since it was set up as a 12V battery. As much as I love this cooling system, it does suck some amps. Looks like it's time for a DC to DC converter. The only problem is when I asked the question, "which DC to DC do you prefer?" to the EVnetics guys; the answer wasn't encouraging. They don't like any, they hope to build one that will outperform all others but haven't gotten around to it yet.
As it stands, I either need to get a larger 12V power source or try my luck with a DC to DC converter. Of course I could always attach my battery to the DC to DC so I get the best of both worlds. Right now, with my current 12V and the cooling system on for my entire commute home (when it's 90+ degrees), it won't make it.
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