Marks Story
Hi all! Today was spent trying to figure out why my ammeter wasn’t working properly. After consulting with the folks at Electro Automotive (Gary Snyder, Bill Lentfer) we determined that I may have the wrong type of shunt for my system. A shunt is a device which when hooked up to the main pack allows a small amount of voltage to be used for the “calibrated”gauge. This allows me to use small wires to the gauge instead of big battery cables. Since I have regenerative braking I have to have a shunt that allows current to flow in both directions. I am not real sure of the structure of the shunt but I think it runs by Thermal Dynamics, metallurgy and some kind of magic incantation. So once I realized that i was not going to fix that one today, I moved on.
My next task was to hook up the “State of Charge” gauge. This went flawlessly since, I already ran the wires when I made the loom which runs from my relay board to the front of the car. lastly I hooked up the DC/DC converter. This device acts like an alternator on a car, When the key is on it pulls juice uniformly from the main pack and uses it to charge the auxiliary 12V battery. After I got it all hooked up I put my volt meter leads on the aux batt and it read 12.42V, then I activated the DC/DC by turning on the key. When I measured this time it read 13.55V. This told me the DC/DC converter was charging the aux batt. The only pics I took today were of the State of Charge gauge.
I have been asked to include some close ups of the modifications I am making. One of my alert readers noticed that I have eight or more pictures of Evie from the outside. She, the alert reader advised me , people want to know what makes Evie Tick. So Belia… This is what makes Evie tick. Pictures 1-3 show the Fuse block and and console with the instrument panel. Note in the second picture, The rear hatch cover is now hinged and fits properly. That is rubber around the inside edge of all the doors. Pic 4-6 are various stages of opening the Instrument Cluster. I did this beacuse i realized the if I didn’t I would have to crawl under the Dash to see what wire goes where. It will now be very easy to replace light bulbs. The hinge is an old T-Bird glove box hinge I had and modified for my purposes. Of course evrything will be cleaned up and trimmed upon completion. Picture 7 shows the placement of the charger. 8 and 9 show the motor, 1/3 of the batteries, and the relay panel which will be enclosed upon completion. Lastly we have the gas cap. Yup, that is a household 110 outlet. I hope this satisfies and refreshes. See you next time. Enjoy and “Keep on Pluggin”
Here are more pictures of Evie. These were taken on the 17th after I readjusted the top and doors. The doors fit much better now. What you can’t see from the pictures, I had to shave off just a sliver of the inside fender well to allow better clearance for the wheels and tires. I have decided to mount the 12 Volt fuse block/wire harness on the center tunnel behind the emergency brake. This will give me easy access. This car has a center console and all I will have to do to check or change a fuse is lift the door on the console. The console also has channels built into it which I can run my harnesses through.
The push is to get her street legal so that I can start driving her to work. Some of the members of Team Evie are coming this weekend to help. There are many rivers to cross before we get there.
On Aug 9th 2009 (yours truly’s birthday) I had a few friends over for a bar-b-que. Each one got to ride in Evie down the block and back again, for a total of 6 trips. The batteries are still ready for another run. I sent my battery charger to Sacramento for re-calibration. It was set up for 18 8V batteries, and I am using 12 12V batteries. When I get it back I will fully charge the batteries and see what this baby will do. I am wearing a large smile these days just knowing I am so close to seeing a dream become a reality. In case you are wondering what ever became of the two Bradley’s I was using for parts, here is the answer. I gave the rust bucket gray beast to Greg at Bugformance of Stockton as a core for the brand new transmission Evie is sporting now. I asked him at the time if he would let me have parts as needed and he could keep the rest. Well the darn thing sat in his yard for about 1 year I had taken the top and one of the doors off of it and then he finally he sold it or gave it away to a guy named Jon Connolly. He also told Jon about me and that I might have some “spare parts” for a Bradley. I had a whole car (remember the white one I bought for parts?) so I gave him the other Bradley… Actually that is not quite right, we bartered. He is going to paint my car. He has won awards for his paint jobs. I have decided to paint her Wimbledon White with a Blue GT 40 racing stripe. The pictures below were taken on the day I put Evie’s windshield in.
Today August 4th 2009 at 1435 PDT Evie moved on her own power. I threw a seat in her (didn’t even bolt it in and a steering wheel on her (again, no bolt) and started her up and drove her down the driveway and down the street and back. Then I backed her up the driveway and into her stall. I did this a total of two times. It has been a long road to get to this point but we are here. Here are some photos of Evie on her Maiden Voyage Day.
There I was… Alright, Here is what happened. Way back when, when I received my DMOC in the mail, I simultaneously received an email with attachments. One of the attachments was a backup copy of the .par file which was loaded into my DMOC prior to delivery.
When the motor did not operate properly I was asked to send to Electro Automotive the .par file I received from Azure. So I sent them the backup copy that azure sent me. After analyzing the .par file, the team at Electro Automotive determined that the parameters on the .par file were correct. Back to the drawing board…
What we still hadn’t determined (and just assumed) was that the backup copy which Azure sent me was in fact, what was actually loaded in my DMOC. This was not the case. What was actually loaded in my DMOC was a .par file for a 336V system. As Gary (Gary Snyder) said “it’s a wonder the motor worked at all” Once this discovery was made it was just a simple matter of loading the “backup” .par file I was sent into the DMOC. After that I only had to save the file to the non-volatile memory. The process took about 9min.
Gary from Electro Automotive e-mailed me today and said he was going to send a follow up email to Azure. There is one person ahead of me apparently. I am going to go out on a limb here and give my theory.
This setup was originally designed to be run off of 18 8V Flooded Batteries.
I changed the battery configuration to 12 12V Gel filled batteries because of weight constraints and maintenance considerations.
The 18 8V Batteries have more current
The DMOC is programmed for the amperage provided by the 18 8V batteries and therefore expecting that amount of current
It just seems to make sense…to me…somehow.
Spin This
Today I received a phone call from Gary Snyder and he asked me to send another capture with an additional parameter. I did and also included a Quicktime Movie of the capture. Just click on “Spin This” and you can see the movie. I takes awhile to download so just hang in there. While your waiting you will be able to sample some of the feelings I am having while this thing gets solved. Now the Electro Automotive, and the Azure Team’s can scratch they’re collective heads as much as I have been scratching mine… The ball is in their court… again we wait…
