Electric conversion: Project ForkenSwiift

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Well crud. Just missed out on an eBay auction for a potbox that had all the right specs.

Got another price for a Curtis replacement pot: $45 CDN. That, to me, is just insane, considering you can go into radio shack and get a 5K pot for $2. But the standard seems to be 300 degrees of rotation, not 50.

It's looking like buying the replacement will be the route to take.

I just hate spending 5% of our total budget on a wee potentiometer

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you using only 2 connections to the pot (one end and the wiper)?

So what if you took a pot with 300 degrees of rotation moved it only 1/6 of the way to 50 degrees and stopped? In that case wouldn't a 30K pot work?

The next trick is finding one of those .
http://www.elexp.com/srp_s30k.htm

I know you can get a 50K pot at radio shack. 0 to 50 degrees would be 8.3K. Is that bad? Worth testing? Or wait for that $0.90 30K one

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

No need to wait for any ICE to warm up. you can get your heat as soon as you want it.

Yes, instant is nice.

Some ICE cars have instant heat too. I don't know about the US market cars, but the last generation Echo hatch that I test drove had a honking big resistor in the heating duct that you could light up as soon as you started the car. It didn't feel "hot", but warm air did come out of the vents within a few seconds.

But man, the BTUs coming out of an ICE heater once warm is pretty hard to beat with ceramic heaters.

Even the EV1 had a lousy heater, from first hand reports I've read. (Though it was a heat pump, not a ceramic resistor.) Efficiency, efficiency...

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Silveredwings

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you using only 2 connections to the pot (one end and the wiper)?

Nope, I need all 3 wires for the Curtis. (Otherwise the existing pot in the potbox would work.)

The amount of time I've spent looking for a deal on the right pot, I could have just done some work and earned enough $ to buy several at list price.

But it's the principle!

(I even considered making my own wire-wound pot, but couldn't find any decent resistive wire around the workshop )

[MetroMPG]

I even took apart the Playstation analog controller to see what pots it has.

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I even took apart the Playstation analog controller to see what pots it has.

I don't think that's weird at all. One time my brother was in need of some kind of high wattage variable resistance for an impromptu project and used a piece of ham he had lying around. He had wires stuck in at different points.

Kids, don't try this at home.

[The Toecutter]

Kids, don't try this at home.

You're telling this to someone who picks up brown recluse spiders and used to break lightbulbs and stick the tungsten filaments in electrical sockets as a kid.

[MetroMPG]

Hmm: http://www.fsipcatalog.com/p-4053-mo...ntiometer.aspx

0-5k ohm, says an email from the vendor. Diagram shows 3-wires. It's a slide pot, but that doesn't really matter. Looks like it may also have microswitches built in.

$14 plus shipping.

[Silveredwings]

I was thinking that slide pots are notorious for getting dirty and flaking out, but after looking at it, I think that one may be pretty well sealed.

[MetroMPG]

Well, I got some advice & encouragement from an experienced EVer...

[Silveredwings]

Nice work Darin.