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 thought I would shed some light on this post… But seriously folks… (rim shot) I spent the day creating looms of wire and fortifying my installation. I have to hook up a horn, Bolt in the seats, figure out a latch for the hood, hook up the DC/DC converter, Install the Battery charger. I also want to get and laser accurate 4 wheel alignment.I have been up since 0430 this morning, it is now 2225 that’s 18 hrs. I will write more when I am more coherent.
Keep On Pluggin’
The really interesting thing about building an electric car is the wire harnesses. They are relatively small in comparison to an ICE vehicle. For example there are only three wires coming from the back of Evie to operate the the directional, Brake, and tail lights. Don’t get me wrong, there are many wires in an electric car, its just that the twelve volt system in an electric car eliminates the entire starting, and ignition system which uses some pretty heavy duty wires. Just an observation… I have been pretty busy working on Evie since the last entry. These are some photos which i promised earlier. The foam will be shaped and covered with fiberglass the same way the dam on the front was constructed. Since Dave picked up the front of the car by the dam when we flipped it I feel very assured that this is a strong and light weight means of attaching the top to the body. I have been charging my batteries and keeping them fresh. The charger is not mounted yet but it seems to work just fine. I purchased a pair of SAE approved directional lights for the headlight assembly. The lenses which were manufactured by Eddie at Sew Creative in Turlock CA, are just sitting on there. Eddie will make the final tweek when he does the interior. I am waiting on my light switch and i can finish the lights and get my brake and light certificate. Notice I moved the brake reservoir so that I could actually use it. Before, it was neatly tucked in the space under the lip of the hood. Looked great but in order to remove the cap you had to take the mounting screw out of the bracket and move the reservoir out and away from the lip, then remove the lid trying to keep the brake fluid from spilling and… It was a bad idea. I moved it so that i could just walk up and remove the cap to check the fluid level. The last picture is yet another front view of Evie. After Evie is registered, I will do some test runs with her and fix her up as I go along. After all this is a one off vehicle which I plan to keep and use as a daily driver.
Over the last two days I have been designing and building a suitable wiring harness for Evie. So far I have Designed the harness, Designed and assisted in welding a bracket for the 12 V accessory battery. Installed the bracket, Installed headlamps, installed taillights, figured out how to make the parking lights, headlights, taillights, directional lights, brake lights, and marker lights all work. I also now have a license plate light. Jim Cullen (you all remember Jim Cullen, from Ed Begley’s Bradley) Jim told me the proper way to glass the top to the body. I have to move the brake reservoir, it was originally mounted in a very inaccessible spot. Oh and I almost forgot, I charged the batteries to full and drove Evie around the block… Wow!!! This little car has some pep. I will be posting more pictures soon. Thank you for reading
Keep On Pluggin’
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.
