AS

Whatever happened to september, that's all I want to know.

September flew by in a blur of laziness and lack of motivation, I guess. :o

[quote=MetroMPG]I believe controllers "charge"

You're not really...I'm doing a lot of head-nodding down here in Georgia.

OK. Continue head-nodding...

Tried and failed again to get my eBay golf cart controller

Man, my tinker time this weekend was

You can do it!

I wonder what the market is for custom EV conversions...you could start (another) business, :p

Here's an interesting thing: that Youtube video I made of the motor spin-up has been watched over 500 times.

Think I just discovered wh

Got the EV-1 controller

Excellent. :thumbup:

Attaboy, Metro. I knew you could do it. I have been sending you good luck telepathic messages for 2-3 days. Do you have snow tires for that baby?

SWEET!

Some more excellent controller news: I got the Cursit

Whoops, missed this...

As a matter of fact, it's currently wearing the Blackfly's snows! I had to put them on it to get it through the safety check. :rolleyes:

could be useful for comparing the efficiency of the 2 electronic controllers.

Maybe you could modify the meter with a heated needle and then run some thermal paper past it while driving... j/k :D

But seriously, if you had a way to make periodic voltage readings with your laptop, you could effectively record the current at intervals by reading the voltage across the shunt (that's what the meter does). Depending on what other measurements you recorded at the same times, you could build some interesting data to play with (like vehicle speed, braking, battery voltage, SOC, etc).

There must be a cornicopia of A-to-D devices you can plug into an RS232 port with which you can take voltage recordings.

Good ideas. Something like this?

https://www.rentron.com/Volt-Meter.htm

It would satisfy the nerd in me to drive both the cheapest AND most instrumented NEV in existence.

Or a DMM with an RS232 output:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Mastech-PC-RS232...QQcmdZViewItem

Too expensive for Project Forkenswift, but I didn't even know they existed until you suggested it.

That looks like it would work for a single channel metric. :thumbup:

I'd be very surprised if you'd want to stop there with only the amperage over time w/o reference to what else is simultaneously going on. I was thinking of maybe a 4-channel or 8-channel multiplexed A/D. I'm sure I've tripped over things like that but now that I want one, I'd have to go digging. :confused:

EDIT (second try): the example above uses the ADC0831 single-channel 8-bit A/D converter chip. Also in the same family are ADC0834 (4-channel) and ADC0838 (8-channel). The 8-channel can be configured as either 8 directly addressed inputs or 4 differential inputs. That latter may become necessary if you want to measure things on both the high voltage side as well as the 12V system. You definately don't want to make the grounds of those 2 systems common to each other.

PS - did you get the Healey going yet?

No but thanks for asking. BTW, your progress inspires me every day. :thumbup:

Now that I'm nearly done with the holidaze (family-shared illnesses notwithstanding), I expect to get back to it soon. :)

That site also has an example using the chip for which they're selling the firmware & tools that implements a 4-channel A/D voltage logger. That chip is actually an 8-bit microprocessor with the A/D, and a small amount of program memory built in. It may even have voltage conversion buffers required to convert serial communication to true RS232 (I'm not sure).

In contrast, the 8051 is the chip used in many ECUs (like Honda) and is powerful enough to be useful independent of a PC. It's a faster 8-bit microprocessor, with 4 built-in 8-bit I/O ports but no built-in A/D chip. For that, you'd probably use something like the ADC0838. Serial I/O would be optional but you'd probably want to use one in order to program/debug/data-dump the thing.

Instrumentation is nice and all, and perfect for your application, but I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum in my conversion. I want an EV that will make people's loins ache, and not a rolling science project. Imagine the thought of rolling around in the ghettos of St. Louis in one dope ****ing ride, and that ride also being electric powered.

Silveredwings, you should convert the Healey. It might sound blasphemous, but the car has a lot going for it. It lends itself to extensive aeromods without greatly harming the aesthetic appeal, it's lightweight, and has small frontal area. not to mention, the battery room would be pretty decent with all the IC-related components removed.

Metrompg, I think you might be interested in Peter Ohler's EV palm pilot:

https://www.ohler.com/palm/EVDash.html

Victor Tikhonov simply uses a labtop to take his data, but he has all those fancy Siemens and Brusa components for his CRX.

Just the Siemens motor/inverter is more than 8 times the budget of your entire conversion. 107 HP AC motor/inverter combination, revs up to 9,700 rpm. This gives his CRX 0-60 mph in about 9 seconds or so and a theoretical top speed over 130 mph. He scored a set of Ovonic NiMH that supposedly give him about 150 miles highway range or so.

I've thought of that. In fact I think it would be too cool to convert one of the AHs I've seen with blown engines (though most of them end up modified with V8s). :cool:

I also know the racing history of Donald Healey's cars, and how successful of a roadster icon it became in America. I see both sides of it. I think I'd end up trading my time off between swapping in new running hardware into very very old rolling hardware vs. updating everything between the frame and the pavement. Even a GT6 is atleast a decade more advanced than the Healey whose running gear was designed in the early 1950s.

I'd actually rather send the Healey off to a good home and use it's accrued value to hack up something much easier to provision with parts and will handle as if it was made closer to this century. Maybe a Miata or Z3. I've gotten very spoiled with the handling and reliability of modern cars. Then the biggest limiting factor is battery technology, as it has been for the past 150 years. :rolleyes:

I know what you mean about that Siemens AC drive system: the ProEV Impreza has 2 of them in it for 270hp 4wd plus 35+ kW worth of Kokam Li-Ions. :thumbup:

Battery technology has evolved a huge amount in the past 15 years. Due to politics and lack of automotive volume, EV builders just don't have ready access to an affordable battery capable of providing long range and long life.

I've thought of going to the dark side and lowering a smallblock Chevy into my Triumph, but I want to get off of using gasoline too badly. But the raw power of a V8 in a tiny little British car is something that commands my respect. After all, there's not many cheaper ways to get you down the 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds, while still getting over 20 mpg...

I can't wait to get my hands on those new batteries. As for which car to modify, chosing my projects is as important as choosing my battles. :)

ASDF

Well, I hope you don't drop $88,500 on your conversion. That might make all your coins ache. (sorry 'bout that)

Coins... So funny. :D

I was startled when I saw the $$$ too. No danger of that happening with the Forkenswift: my coins are already aching, and I haven't spent 1% of that amount. (0.5% actually, since I'm only paying half.)

If I had $88,500 to spend on a conversion, I'd use an AC150 drivetrain, a three-speed paddleshift transmission with 3rd gear geared for 200 mph, a custom carbon fibre body designed for aerodynamic efficiency(< .18 Cd, < 1.4 square meter area), and about 500 kg of 18650 Li Ions. This would yield a roughly 900 kg race car with 0-100 kph < 4 seconds, 400 m drag race ~12 seconds, ~320 km/h top speed(in theory), ~700 km range at 120 km/h, and ~140 km range at 320 km/h... This cost would not factor my own labor, obviously.



That $88,500 conversion by Roland though was spend on the vehicle in total over its overship period. He's experimented with expensive fuel cells and prototype batteries in this car, and each incarnation of the car has had its upgrades factored into the cost.

Well that's a horse of another color now isn't it?

weekend update ...

1) Fixed (epoxied) the speedo cable boss I fubared back in post 340. Installed the replacement cable from the red car (getting the cluster out was a bit of a pain). Then tested it: made the wheels go 25 km/h :p

2) Put oil back in the tranny ("previously enjoyed" 5-20 synth from the Blackfly :o) ... then noticed it was seeping around one of the axle seals. Crud. Last thing I want is an EV that leaves oily spots on the driveway. That's just too ironic for my tastes.

3) Dug up Jerry's nice clear circuit schematics over at https://evconvert.com. They're so easy to read for an electrical newb like myself. Got together with Ivan and we drew up the Forkenswift's schematic, v 1.0. I'll post it sometime.

4) Tranny & adapter plate are now properly fastened with good size nuts & bolts (no more wing nuts).

5) A friend donated about 20 feet of used 3/0 welding cable - it'll be great for making battery connections.

6) This week: want to pick up a battery load tester, and start looking for 6 or 8 surplus/used batteries. Starting with the forklift co that sold us the Baker.

Excellent: 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

So it is with the Healey too. I put some gas in it with no leaks so far. The fuel pump doesn't suck (in this case that's bad). So it's either $275 from Moss or I tinker with it. The wife says "spend." I think a new one should play nicely with almost a grand in new SU carbs. :cool:

Watched the DVD, "who killed the electric car" tonight.

I think my Sidekick would be a good canidate for a EV project as well.

Now all I have to do is go back and read all 400 plus posts to this thread!!!!!!

I think I saw an older Sidekick/Tracker conversion for sale a while ago. I wonder if it's still around.

If range at speeds over 30 mph isn't a serious concern, go for it.

I'm just curious - for wiring up an EV, would it be wise/economical/ludicrous to use Romex for the wiring? I know lack of flexibility would be a downside, but would there be any others?

Can you get romex in 2/0 or 3/0 AWG? If not, it will heat up and maybe catch on fire. If you have to bunde it, how will you connect it to batteries and things?