Front Battery Box

I've done a lot of procastination for the front battery box.  A lot has to do with the price of batteries, initially I want 160Ah Thunderskys at 144V to give good top speed and distance.  As I've changed jobs money is a bit tighter than it used to be so I've been looking at alternatives.  There are now 90Ah, 100Ah, and 120Ah to choose from either Thundersky or Sky Energy.  Packaging is similar in size and I've compromised from my original 160Ah to go for the 120Ah from Sky.  The height of the batteries is the same as the 160Ah but have the same footprint as the 90Ah also they are 3.4V as opposed to 3.2V.  This should give me a range of 80-100km with a top speed of 120km+.

Now I can organise my front battery box to suit.  I'll have 12 batteries in one long string.  The box cost me AUS$250 to get made and I'm now working out suitable mounting.  I'll use the existing mounts at the front where the radiator was and look at mounting through the chassis rails, to do this I'll need to drill a hole then sleeve it so when the bolt is tightened up it doesn't deform the rail.

New Controller

I've just got the controller from Cloud Electric in the USA. It is a Logisystems 144V 750Amp. I've recently heard that Logisystems have teamed up with Netgain Motors and the new controllers are red in colour, same as the motors.

One thing to watch out for is the throttle pot as the standard ones don't have a fine enough control at low speed so the motor would be jerky. The new logisystems controllers come with the proper pot as part of the price. Here's some photos when I unpacked it and then when I fixed the cooling fans to it.

Car Show

Again I've had to put the project aside for awhile for personal matters. However I did go to the car show at the local PCYC and they did have some beautiful vehicles there. You just can't go past the Mustangs and Corvettes and I fell in love with the T-Bucket hot rods. I reckon a bucket would be a beaut EV, look at the room at the back for batteries! (Do I have a blue theme?)

I couldn't get the X7 there so was very disapointed. Definitely next year. There was the Suzuki hatch from Suzi Autos that I saw at a previous show.

Plug Arrangement - finished

A quick post.

Just finished off the plug recepticle, covered the hole where the petrol filler used to be. Quite neat with plenty of room.

Plug arrangement

This is NOT the inlet (left)! I've been mulling over the plug arrangement for some time now. A lot of EV's use a caravan type plug/socket, similar to the one to the left. In fact I bought this one for the job. This inlet has an IP32 rating for weather protection, it's not waterproof but the socket is angled downwards to let water run off it instead of into it. This is why it must be fitted vertically. Unfortunately the area at the back of the petrol fill recess doesn't have a flat surface and there's not much room.

To add to things I need a 15amp inlet due to the traction pack (160Ah needs a bigger charger hence 15A instead of 10A). I reckon I've found an elegant solution to my dilemma.

This is what I found at Jaycar's, it has a 16A rating, compact and solidly connected. It even has a locking tab so the plug cannot fall out of the socket. The Jaycar catalogue numbers are:
IEC panel mount male plug 16A - Cat PP-4182 ($6.95)
IEC locking mains lead (2mtr) 16A - Cat No PS-4180 ($22.95)
or if you need 10A
IEC panel mount male plug 10A - Cat No PP-4174 ($4.95)
IEC locking mains lead (2mtr) 10A - Cat No PS-4170 (16.95)

The plug/lead is 2 meters long, I will chop off the 3 pin plug and fit a new one that has a watertight rating, this I will plug into a long extension lead that has a watertight socket.

Looking at the photo on the left you can see that it is angled downwards and fully recessed there is no way water can ingress unless you hit it with a hose! If it wasn't for the lead I could shut the flap, if I could notch the flap without damaging the paint I would have the flap shut while charging. I know, what about the limit switch for the flap to show that it is charging? I am looking at having a relay powered by the plug that will lock out the 'start' circuit. Next I have to fit a plate to cover the holes where the old petrol filler used to be.

Greenfest

Last weekend Brisbane had 'Greenfest' a three day festival. All sorts of environmental and energy friendly stuff but due to other commitments I could only pop into Greenfest for about half an hour. Saw the only TESLA in Australia which sure looks good (in that untouchable drooling sort of way!).

Also had a look at a 1994 Suzuki hatch that was put together by SuziAuto from Springwood (Brisbane, Queensland). They have on offer to the public converted Suzuki's for a reasonable price (considering for a pro shop), they'll even convert your own car just have a yak to them and discuss what you've got. They're passionate about Suzi's (converted or not) and are friendly sort of blokes. I reckon it's great to see somebody doing something about offering EV's to the public now with a real product instead of just talking about it. Good on ya blokes (and blokessess too), now where is that government assistance?

Thought I'd take another photo as the X7 is now, I do love the wheels. Has a front windscreen now but yet to install the surround (nothing to do about conversions just RX7 restoration stuff).

Change web address

I'm changing the address to www.electric-rx7.blogspot.com as this will make it easier for people interested in EV conversions to find.

Sorry for any inconvenience!

Brett