Whoops! Time flys

At present the car is on jacks sitting in the garage.  The thing is that I've been inundated with family and job concerns.  I haven't given up - just putting the project aside for awhile.  Sorry if I've dissapointed anybody but for the past year and the next few months it'll have to wait.  As soon as I get back into it I'll carry on the blog.

12V battery shelf & video part 3

  I've now mounted the front battery box. I used the existing radiator mounts at the front and have drilled through the chassis rails aft of the box to put mounting bolts.  However, for the chassis bolts I've put a pipe sleeve over the bolt so when I tighten it up the nuts it will not crush the chassis rail.

 This I couldn't show in the video hence the photo to the left.

  

I've also mounted the 12 volt battery shelf using one from another car and welding more mounts to suit.  I was going to hang it from an aluminium shelf over the top of the motor to hold the controller etc but thought that a heavy lead acid battery swinging off an aluminium plate wouldn't do too well as it would warp or buckle.

  

So, I'm using the bolt I put through the chassis rail for the traction battery box mount andI have purchased a  longer bolt (grade 8.8 of course) to replace one that was for the steering assembly (photo left) and used for the 12 volt battery shelf.

As you can see I've used the traction battery box mounts as well.  With the shelf firmly mounted I'm also using a dropper strap that will go up to the aluminium plate above the motor but I'll have a reinforcement rail to assist with weight distribution.

Mains plug connection - Video

I'm getting the hang of this now so here is a video of the mains plug connection that I had pictures of in a previous section.

Intro Video Electric-RX7 Part1

I've repeatedly been asked if I do any videos and I keep saying"sorry, no I don't". Well I've got a new phone and I've worked out how to take short videos with it, upload to Youtube and embed to the blog. The first is a quick intro to the project.

Seat Ibiza EV

Today has been an interesting day.  We went and had a look at a Seat Ibiza electric vehicle which is in the final stages.  It has an Impulse9 (slightly smaller brother to the Warp9) by Netgain, a 1000Amp Logisystems/Netgain controller, Zivan charger, 120V of Thundersky 160Ah lithium batteries with EVWorks BMS.  It has no clutch, has crash inertia switch, circuit breaker with emergency disconnect and fuses as backup. It is a 4 seater but may be a 3 seater depending on weight.  It has power steering AND airconditioning.  As you can see by the photos the workmanship under the bonnet looks very, very good.

We went for a quick zip around the block and I couldn't believe how much torque it had.  Unlike the Curtiss controllers it was quieter than a church mouse, when we got out of the car Connor said it was just soooo cool and can't wait to get the X7 on the road.  Seeing this car has given us that extra boost and confidence in what we are trying to achieve.  When Steve started the project he approached me to sling a few ideas around but really I learnt way more off him as he has done some thorough research via talking to people who have real experience in converting an EV and indepth internet searches.  It was through our discussions that I decided to go for the Logisystems controller, Iota DC/DC converter, Zivan battery charger, opting for an aluminium batt box in the front and he put me on to Google Sketch which has been handy.  Thanks for your help Steve and I hope the car does well for you.  It certainly looks good!

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.