EV Bling

We'll the car has been up and running since mid February and I've been driving to work for probably a month and a half or so without any issues (other than the BMS glitches). I don't see any reason it won't keep running fine so I figured it was time to make things a little more official and add my EV Bling. OK I had way too much crap bought that I was going to add to the car but the more thought about it and placed items it just seemed a bit too nerded out. I settled on two changes to help announce the EVness of the car.

First I added the "EV" to the S2000 emblems on the side.

Second was the customized license plates. I had to make another DMV trip for these, but luckily this was routine and went smooth.

Solar and PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric)

I've been getting a few questions about my solar and how it all works in regards to the power company. I'll do my best to explain it.

The solar is directly connected to the grid through the inverter. The inverter is designed to not send power into the grid if the electricty is off. This prevents the power company from getting shocked if they shut down their side and want to be sure no solar systems are now powering those lines.

So the way it works here is the power company keeps track of the excess energy you produce during the day. This is done in the simplest terms by letting your meter run backwards. Then at night, lets say, when you're not generating any power your meter runs forward again and you recover that excess energy you created earlier. It's really a great setup since you don't have to worry about costly batteries that need replacing.

Additionally, and to some what complicate what I just said, we have a couple of options here and I went with a time of day (TOD) metering. Peak is 1pm-7pm, partial peak is 7-9pm and 9am-12pm, off peak is 9pm - 9am. This is Monday through Friday. The weekends don't have peaks and all holidays are also like weekends. For peak the energy rates start at about 30 cents per killawatt. Partial peak is about 14.5 cents, and off peak is 8.5 cents. What this means is while I'm at work and not using much energy not only am I making excess energy, but it's not really counted on the kW basis. It's tracked as credits in the form of currency. Later at night when I get home and start using the power again I'm buying it back at a cheaper rate than I sold it for. This helps out the power company to supply their power needs during the "peak" for all users and allows me to only require a system that generates about 75% of my energy use.

It gets more confusing yet...Each Peak, Partial Peak, and Off Peak have their own seperate tiers. Tiers, for those who don't aleady have to deal with this, is an alloted amount of energy you can use at a set price. Once you use more than this the price of the power increases. I believe for my power company their are 5 tiers. So even with the right sized system you might end up going up in tiers during off peak (night time and weekends) simply because you don't generate much here. However, you've also been getting paid quite a bit during peak to cover multiple tier pricing during off peak.

So that's how it all works for me with my power company. Hope this clears things up, I know it confuses me more. :)

Elite Power Solutions - Not so Elite

I've been waiting some time to post what I feared would be the case from this company, but I think it's time to let as many people know as possible.

As you're aware for those following along I've had a few, to say the least, issues with the BMS system I purchased from Elite Power Solutions. I've emailed them quite a few times along the way but never really got a fix to anything and it always resulted in me figuring out a work around to make the system happy.

Recently, I thought I had two bad cells. It turns out, again, the BMS was misreporting these cell voltages, but only under load (they show fine at standing voltage, but drop quicker in voltage on under load than they really are). Here is the email transaction. It seems to start off fine, but after well over a month, I just feel like I'm getting the run around.

EDIT (Emails Removed):
Turns out the emails sent around clearly stated they were not allowed to be posted anywhere for public view. I was nicely asked to remove these emails from my blog.

This is where it's at now. I'm sure they will not get back to me until I bug them again. They are more than happy to take your order, but don't count on that one year warranty being honored. As far as the TS cells themselves, I'm so far quite pleased. I only ordered them from somebody in the US hoping to get the customer service support if needed.

I'm probably screwed on ever getting this thing fixed and might just design my own or mix and match a few other options out there.

So where should you buy these cells from now? Dave over at EVComponents is offering the cells and a different charger and BMS system. I kick myself, because his cell prices are about 70% of what I paid from EPS. Check out his website at http://www.evcomponents.com/. They are working at keeping these cells in stock! This means no more 2-3 month turn arouund times either. Very promising for the EV world.

Update: Elite is sending yet another module out to replace the defective one. Sadly, I've discovered another issue with another module. This module has a problem with one cell where it will randomly cut the voltage in half (display only, the cell is fine). This in turn is telling the charger, if charging, there is a low voltage condition. To the charger this means terminiate immediately and do not restart. I've been lucky on the timing and so far have not been stranded while I was debugging the issue. I've since reduced my low voltage trigger to just above zero to prevent yet more false alarms. I'll keep you posted on the results of the second module replacement as well.

DMV trip four

I realized when talking to a guy about my DMV experience that I hadn't posted the fourth, and I sure hope final trip to DMV for registration to Electric.

As you recall from trips two and three, I was told to come back when the registration was due. This would allow them to open the smog section in their computers so they could input the DMV ID number on the BAR cert and finally change the MP field from G to E.

Well, as I'm sure you can guess, the smog section still couldn't come up. They tried this and that, talking amongst themselves and about 30 minutes later...nothing. So the lady says, "Well your registration is due, would you like to pay and maybe that will open up the smog section?" What do I have to loose, I'm thinking. I pay and the computer spits out the new registration paperwork. Sure enough, the MP section is already set to E!

So, in hind sight I'm thinking their system has changed a bit. The BAR referee computer must now directly change type to avoid the whole DMV confusion process. I think if I would have waited for the due notice to come in the mail, I could have paid it online and received the updated E registration without any of the headaches I went through.

I have had a few people telling me that E means something else, or doesn't exist, etc. So I'm really not 100% sure if this is done, and won't know for two years when the smog would be due again. I think I'm good, but you never know with DMV. :)

2500 and counting

Today I broke 2500 miles on electric, woohoo! In general things have been really smooth with the build and I'm overall very happy. I'm really pleased with the lithium cells and the balancers I built. Hopefully the cells just keep us moving for many many years :)

OK, so there is one item I'm not completely happy with. The BMS from TS has some really great features all wrapped into one system. Many piece together things like amp meter, fuel gauge, etc. It was nice to find it all in one package, but this thing has been far from reliable.

You may recall my initial problems with charging where the BMS would freak out and start reporting cells at low voltages and such if the charger was at high amps.

The next thing I noticed was two cells that seemed to be sagging pretty bad under load. I placed a volt meter on them and they weren't sagging at all like the BMS reported. There are 5 modules, up to 10 cells connect to each. I switched around two of the modules and then I started getting two different cells (same module) that were reporting sag. I'm still waiting on a replacement from Elite Power Solutions. The first "replacement" didn't work at all and I had to send that one back.

I've also had a couple of occurrences where the charger just stops during the charge and I couldn't figure out why. I was at first assuming it was getting a little hot, so I started opening the trunk (until I get time to vent the trunk better). This seemed to fix it for a bit, but it started happening again. While driving the other day, the BMS alarm went off indicating one cell was about one volt lower than it really was (it immediately jumps back up to normal voltage). This has happened a couple of times now. During charging, any low voltage indication will terminate charging, so again the BMS shows its quality.

I have some plans to implement my own high and low voltage protection, and still use this BMS for the rest of it's functionality. This way if it blimps, it doesn't matter except for viewing purposes.

1.21 Gigawatts!

OK, so maybe I'm not harnessing the power of the lighting bolt, but the sun works well too. I've been patiently waiting as Acro Electric has been installing the solar system for the house, and more importantly the power to charge the car as well!

I kept climbing up on the roof when I'd get home from work to see what they had accomplished.

Day1:
Here is a picture of some of the anchor bolts installed for one of the two groups of panels.


Here is a close-up of one. You see all the black caulking that goes into the drilled hole. Additionally the black piece of flashing will be over the bolt and hole with the higher shingle laid over this as well see later. This flashing allows most, if not all, of the water never even get near the hole.


Day2:
Here is the south facing group of rails installed. You can now see how each anchor is covered by the flashing and slide under the higher shingle.

Here is a picture of the west facing group. I didn't have much south facing roof space so half of the panels went here.

Day3:

The panels and inverters are brought in for installation. The panels are from SunPower model SPR-225-BLK-U. They are small and rated for 225 watts a piece, which is quite a bit especially for their size. There are two inverters SPR-3000m and SPR-4000m. As you've probably guessed they are rated for 3k watts and 4k watts respectively. There are 28 panels total for a DC/STC rating of 6.3kW. This is fancy rating they give to "lab conditions" and you won't see these numbers in the real world. Therefore another rating is given (CEC/CSI) which is a "real world" rating of 5.56kW. The physical roof footprint is 393 sq.ft.

Here is the south roof again with the panels installed. They are a nice solid black color, you can't see the PV cells like you can with the other panels.

The west facing group.

Here is the west facing group again with some perspective of how little roof space was needed for half (3.15kW) of panels. I could really add a lot more if I need to.

Day 4 and 5:

The last couple days was doing all the wiring and finishing touches on the system.

Here are the two inverters mounted in my garage. You can also see the new 220v plug I had them install while they were at it for the car charger. I was running a long, and rather big, cable across my garage before.

Today was the first day they got to fully operate over the entire time frame of sun light and they produced 40kW. I'm pretty sure as summer really kicks in we'll get even more out of them.

A trip to my local Honda dealer

I still hadn't aligned the car after the conversion and I knew the weight changed plenty so it needed to get done. I finally made an appointment and took it in yesterday. My biggest concern was having somebody drive it, so I made sure to explain to the guy I was checking in with what needed to be done. It's nothing hard, but a few tricks that your average guy would think the car was broke when it didn't turn over :)

Long story short, Honda didn't get much work done that morning. I had about 15 of their employees looking at the car and asking questions. It was great to hear from all these guys how clean the job was and how much they liked it. There were a ton of questions from them and it was great to be able to show some people that this kind of thing IS possible despite their beliefs. I also found it interesting that they were impressed with a car that could go 80 miles on a charge. The typical reply was, "hey that's all I'd need to get to work and back".

Towards the end of the actual work the mechanic brought me back to explain something on the alignment. He said because of the weight difference in the front the caster couldn't be brought back into specs on the front, but it was very close. I asked if shifting more cells to the rear (which was something I was thinking of doing down the road) would help and he said no. The rear settings were maxed out on camber and adding more weight to the rear would put it outside the range as well so things will just remain as they are. It definitely makes me glad I went the LiFePO4 route, any amount of lead that could get me to work would kill my little car.

The icing on the cake for the day was I got the employee discount rate for the work since I made their day by bringing the car in. They all knew me by name now and kept thanking me. It was a great day but my wife couldn't understand why it took two and half hours until I explained the story. :)

Hitler's Tesla

I found this inside footage of Hitler and his current delays on his Tesla. Enjoy :)

Parts For Sale

On Saturday I put all my gas related parts up for sale on Craigs List. http://modesto.craigslist.org/pts/1151313984.html

Here are the major items up for sale but there are a lot of little pieces I don't need but didn't want to list.

F20 Engine, Converter, Manifold, ECM, Radiator with both fans, Intake box with filter, Alternator, Muffler Set, Heater Core, Fuel tank with Pump.

The muffler set went today. Hopefully the parts keep on selling to help recoup some of the conversion cost.

1000 miles and counting

On the way to work on Friday I hit 1000 miles! It's amazing how quickly the miles are adding up now that I'm driving to work each day.

Charging Station

It's official, the charging station is complete. I now have a reserved spot and don't need to come in early or put cones out when I leave for lunch. Woohoo!

DMV trips two and three

I don't even know how to start this entry I'm so frustrated and humored at the same time. I headed back down to DMV with my BAR cert. First I'm told sorry, we can't change anything without the title. What? Nobody said this last time I was in here. So I just tell them I'll pay for a new one as if though I lost it. After an hour of waiting and paperwork to fill out they tell me they have change my car to Type Q. I couldn't remember off hand what Q was, but I told her it's suppose to be Type E. She tells me she tried E and it didn't work, but Q worked so she used that. WTF? So I asked her what Q meant, and this part tickles me. She says, "I don't know, but my supervisor said to try either E or Q and the computer didn't allow E but allowed Q so it must be correct". UGH

I leave because I don't know off hand what Q is. After getting back to work I find out they made my car a Hybrid! So I headed back down for trip three to the DMV. Now the two ladies that helped me are out to lunch and I'm told they have to help me again....so I wait. After they returned I explained what Q meant. Now they need a manager to unlock my records because only one change per 72 hours is allowed. They spent a fair amount of time digging through menus and trying different options but couldn't get the computer to take Type E.

Finally I asked if they have entered in the data from the BAR cert since there is a DMV ID# on there and the BAR ref told me they needed to input that information into the computer. Well it turns out this needs to be entered into the smog section which will not show up until smog is due for the car. Yeah, it just kept getting better.

They wrote down everything they had learned on a paper so that when I come back in a month they will know where to start. Luckily the registration is due in a month because the BAR cert is only good for 60 days!

I'm hoping by documenting all of this I can save time for others in California who need to go through this process. I'll keep you posted.

BAR Referee

Today I had the appointment with the BAR referee. DMV required me to get a certificate stating that the car had been converted from gas to pure electric.

They asked me a lot of questions before and after seeing the car. I had to point our the batteries, motor, etc. State which emissions pieces I had removed (which was everything). It almost seemed they were trying to see if I even knew what I was talking about or catch me in some type of lie for why I converted it. They probably get a lot of people trying to pull one over on them to pass smog.

After the vehicle inspection they went to the computer and started going through a bunch menus. Then they showed me a huge list of all the items my car is now exempt from. The information was electronically sent to the DMV, but they also gave me a physical paper to take back when finishing the DMV paperwork.

That was it. No crazy safety inspections or anything like that. Just a quick visual over view of the top side under the hood. Next step, back to DMV.

500 miles!

Today's second trip to work brought my total miles over 500 now. A small milestone, but one none the less.

DMV Registration Started

I think this part scares me the most of the whole process. I just can't find good information on what to expect here.

I went to DMV today and asked what I need to do in order to change the registration from Gas to Electric. After they did some research, they gave me the phone number to BAR (Bureau of Automobile Repair) stating that I need to get an inspection from them first and then come back.

After being on hold for 30 minutes I spoke with a nice gentleman who informed me I called the wrong number and I needed to call the BAR referee instead. I received that number and made another call. It turns out I can go to Modesto Junior College which is within battery range for a round trip! I'm so glad I don't need to tow it, especially if I don't pass and need to return.

I asked the guy on the phone now what was involved so that I could make sure the car was ready, sadly he didn't know. I have an appointment in two days so we'll see what happens.

First drive to work

Yesterday the plug was installed and everything was in place for my first run to work today. I was a bit nervous but everything couldn't have went better.

I left 30 minutes earlier than normal to make sure I got the spot next to the charging station. They haven't marked it off yet and installed the sign so I'll have get there early for a few days or so. It's not an issue with my company as I think everybody knows I've done the conversion but we share the parking with surrounding companies as well and it would be hard to go door to door tracking down the owner of the vehicle to ask them to move it. :)

It looks like I used about 60% of my pack on the 35 mile drive to work. Sounds bad, but considering the 2,000 ft elevation climb over the journey it's about what I expected. It also appears I used about 35% of the pack coming home. I drove a lot faster on the way home since I had the downhill advantage so I could lower than number if I tried. I'll keep tracking the numbers, but it doesn't appear I'd want to risk the round trip without at least a little time on the charger.

Here is the pedestal / charging station that work installed for me. A big thanks to Front Porch and those involved getting this taken care of for me.


Here is another shot of the car charging at work.


I did run into a little issue when I first got there and plugged in. Within a minute or the so the car quit charging. Turns out there was only a 20 amp breaker installed and it wasn't enough. After talking to the electrician he installed a 20 amp breaker because the plug style I requested was only rated for 20 amps. An error on my part, but he came out immediately and upgraded the breaker and plug style to 50 amps. I had to change the plug styles on my side too and then it was up and charging. I still need to keep track of how long it takes charging at work and at home as well as the energy required to start calculating energy costs.

BMS Touchscreen

I've been debating mounting this monitor for the BMS for some time. First I wasn't sure if I'd keep it connected all the time or not. The original plan was to monitor the serial I/O going to it and then take that data and turn things like the capacity into something for my fuel gauge. I also wasn't sure if I'd even stick with this BMS system or replace it with something better. After looking around I'm just not excited about any of the other BMS systems, especially not for the cost of something that does more. Now that I've added my own cell balancers the system I think is going to meet my needs perfectly.

OK, so for the first time I got so caught up in trying to figure out the best way to do this and make it look clean that I forgot to take pictures of the process. Sorry all.

I used 1/4" plywood and created frame about an 1/16" wider on each side, so 1/8" wider/taller total. This is to allow room for the monitor to still fit after wrapping the foam and leather material around the sides. The frame is shorter on one side so the monitor tilts towards the driver and to compensate for the curving dash. The front side is easy since it's all squared up, but the backside took a few attempts to get the curves just right to match the dash.

After the frame was complete I took and wrapped the outside with a very thin foam using a spray adhesive to attach it. Next I wrapped it with a synthetic black leather material to try and somewhat match the natural look of the car.

Finally I screwed some L shape brackets into the frame (two on each side) and finally screwed the frame into the dash. This part killed me and was probably the biggest delay factor. I really didn't want to screw anything into my dash!

The wires are ran behind trim/panels up in behind the dash poke out through a small hole I made just above the radio and below the BMS monitor.

Here is a picture of the final product from the driver seat.


Another shot from the passenger seat. You can see a little better here how the back needed to match the contour of the dash. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with the results.


Of course after completing the install I had to take it for a spin. It was very nice having this information at quick glance and is going to really help my driving to easily see the amp loads. This quick little spin puts me up to about 280 miles so far. I keep checking at work and things are moving along on the plug install. Looks like it was a pretty big job to get power from the main panel out to the parking spots. It's scheduled to be finished this Friday so I might be driving to work finally as soon as next week. If not, it shouldn't be much longer. I can't wait!

40 mile drive

I had some time to spare this weekend waiting for parts to come in and nothing major to get done so thought I'd take it for another drive. I first went down to Prime Shine Express and drove it through the car wash. Poor thing hasn't had a bath in at least 8 months. Next I headed off in the direction to work and drove until I had travelled a total of 20 miles. I pulled over and jotted down my exact miles and energy consumption. Since there is a lot of up hill on the way to work I wanted to break up the two directions for comparison. I headed back home and took a bit of a scenic route, including a stop at the store for milk, to get as close to 40 miles as possible just for a nice round number.

On this trip I tried to keep my average speed closer to 55mph instead of 65mph just to see if I could notice the energy usage difference. I noticed my amp gauge staying around 125 amps instead of the 150 or so I saw at 65mph. After I arrived back at home I plugged it in and did the math. I averaged 345.18 wh/mile for the 20 mile trip up the hill and coming home I averaged 242.57 wh/mile. My overall overall average for the 40 mile trip was 293.23 wh/mile. This is considerably better than the 350 wh/mile average from my "Inside Drive" video doing 65-70mph most of the way. I'll continue to test things to improve this number over time like moving away from the Z rated tires, perhaps a belly pan or anything to improve rolling resistance and aerodynamics.

I used roughly 50% of my pack during the trip in the hills at 55 mph. At least I know even after my pack has aged and lost some capacity I'll still easily make it the 35 mile trip to work where I can recharge.

Speaking of recharging at work I just got word that everything is go on the plug getting installed and the job is suppose to start next week with a two to three week time frame. Most of the time is waiting on some parts, I think the pedestal with all the plugs. I'll get some pictures as the work progresses on that too. Once the plug is in I'll be ready to start commuting with the car. There are of course things left to do but they will be done here and there when I fell like it now, no more rushing!

Volt Blocher

It's been awhile since the last update but I've been busy on the next step in the project which is the cell balancers for the lithium cells. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for balancing as anything on the market is not cheap. Dimitri, a buddy of mine from Florida who is working on his second conversion, ask what my plans were for balancing, but I had none. He had found a few schematics of shunting balancers that people had designed. I messed around with the schematics in prototypes and although a good stepping stone they didn't work the way I wanted so I began designing my own circuit.

The cells are charged in series and viewed to the charger as one large cell. The charger has no way of equalizing the SOC (state of charge) for each individual cell. I've designed a simple cell balancer that takes advantage of the nature of lithium during charging. LiFePo4 cells are 3.2v nominal and like other lithium technology stay right around this nominal voltage until the end of the charging cycle when they climb in voltage very quickly. The cell balancer is designed to start shunting energy at 3.6 volts that would otherwise be going into the cell. The balancer shunts 1.5 amps at 3.6v and goes up from there as the voltage increases. Let's say you are charging your pack at 10 amps, then each cell is receiving 10 amps. If a cell reaches 3.6v 1.5 amps of this energy is shunted and the cell is now only receiving 8.5 amps. The remaining cells which are below 3.6v still receive the full 10 amps which allows them to catch up over time and perhaps multiple charges. The lower the overall charging rate then the higher percentage of the energy can be shunted allowing for a complete cell balance in one charge. For example if you can limit your charge to 1.5 - 2.0 amps you can simply leave the charger on and wait for all balancers to indicate they are shunting and therefore the pack is now balanced.

Here is a picture of a completed cell balancer. They simply need to be connected to each cell only. There is no master unit or mess of wires to tie them all together. I named them Volt Blocher. My my last name Blocher (pronounced Blocker) and the fact they will keep the voltages down by shunting away the energy.


Here is a picture of them installed in the car. I needed to make 45 units for my setup. My wife helped out on the assembly line and really saved me some time.


Here is a picture of the units in action. In the closer four units you can see that three of the four units are shunting energy indicated by the red LED. At this point the picture was taken only about 6 or so of the 45 units were in this state meaning the remaining cells needed to catch up.


This looks much cooler in person but thought I'd add a shot with most of the cells now shunting. Lots of red and green lights. After about three hours of charging I had just four cells remaining that weren't balanced. I'm going to continue to charge at a slow rate and see how long it takes to bring them level with the others.


There will soon be two others using the Volt Blocher units. Dimitri and Jim have ordered their DIY kits and will hopefully have them up and running soon.

For more information and ordering please visit VoltBlocher.com

Fill it up!

Now that the charging is working correctly I was feeling good and decided to finish up the plug. Remember those two circles I cut out for the cooling fans on the controller heat sink? Turns out they are just want I needed. I marked out the three bolt holes. Then I measured the thinner diameter of the plugged and plasma cut that out of the center.


A nice and tight fit. The other side of the plug will come in from the other side and sandwich the plate. I used a 4 prong twist lock 220v 30 amp plug. It's only hooked to the 220 side of the charger. The 110 plug is just laying in the trunk. It won't be used much if at all but is there in case that's all I can get.


A few bolts and the plug was done. Looks pretty cool. When I get time that sticker will be changed or modified just for fun. I think "Premium Electrons Only" will suit this car better now don't you?


Fill it up! Charging will be quick and easy now.

Controller Temperature Sensor

I designed the new computer to monitor the temperature of the motor controller but being in a hurry to drive I didn't make and hookup this sensor until now. After each short drive I keep checking the controller and at least in the winter so far heat is no concern at all. I'm only seeing a few degrees increase in temperature.

Either way it'll be nice to see this temperature while driving so I decided to finish that up.
I used a hobby servo extension cable for the wiring. You can depress the little tabs and remove the connectors from the housing.


Note the position of the wires. It's not the same as the original order on the cable. The LM34 temperature IC from left to right is +, signal, -. Use three small pieces of shrink tubing to protect the terminals and keep them from shorting out on each other.


Next I wrapped all three connection in one larger piece of shrink tubing.


Now to make a housing for this sensor. We want to use something that will conduct and transfer heat quickly so that we can see changes to the temperature quickly. I'm using a small aluminum tubing that I cut a 1" long piece from. The bolt and nut are used to reinforce walls on half of the tube while shaping the other half.

After pounding the unprotected half with a hammer you get a nice flat piece that we can drill into for mounting the sensor somewhere.

A little JB Weld to hold the sensor in place. Shove the sensor to the far end so that it contacts the metal to pick up the heat well although the JB Weld does a fair job at heat transfer from what I've noticed.

Here is the final sensor hooked up and ready to be mounted.

I used a self tapping screw and mounting the sensor on to the heat sink of the controller.

This is temporary as I'm still not sure exactly what I want or need mounted in the car. This little LCD screen is showing the RPM from the computer, the temperature of the motor and the temperature of the controller. The RPM are not needed since the dash has that implemented already. Eventually I'll probably use the microprocessor to determine which of the two is hottest relative to its maximum temperature (which I also am outputting here on the screen for reference) and use the dash temperature gauge to represent that temperature. This way it won't matter which of the two is hot, if you see the gauge getting too high, something is too hot and that's all that matters.

After my first test drive I realized I did something wrong. When driving the temperatures tend to bounce around a little and unless you let off the throttle it's hard to tell the real temp. I didn't run shielded wire from the sensors to the computer. I'll need to pull the front batteries out when I do the AC so I'll rerun those wires at that time.

Charging issues

I made another long trip 26+ miles but it hasn't been all fun. I'm still working on a good cell balancing solution and now I've realized I have some charging issues.

I noticed that when I try to crank up my charging amps (above 6 or 7 amps) the BMS starts freaking out and misreporting cell voltages. Many just go to zero and the BMS triggers for the charger to shutdown.Two things will fix this. First, remove the serial cable from the charger to the BMS. I can turn my amps up to max and the BMS happily reports all cell voltages but of course I now have no protection from over voltage and other alerts. The charger will only charge based off full voltage. The second thing that got it working was completely removing the charger from the trunk and setting it on the garage floor. Now I can leave the serial cable plugged in and it all works fine. Put it all back in the trunk and it's crazytown. It seems I'm getting some kind of EMI going through the serial cable to the BMS which is causing problems but not sure why only in the car.

I didn't notice any of this before because I wanted to start out charging the pack at low levels. I need to be able to charge at much higher rates when making long trips (like going to work) or I might have to sleep over. Oh well all part of being the the few first to do something like this.

UPDATE:
This is now fixed. I had to completely isolate the charger from the car ground. I used some foam stripping that is sticky on one side and placed that between the charger feet and the rack it mounts to. I then placed rubber grommets in the holes on the charger feet so the bolts couldn't touch metal on the charger. Last I used rubber washers between the charger feet and the metal washers. Basically just make sure no metal on the charger touched the car metal. I'm now able to charge at 24 amps!

Inside Drive

I went out for another drive and this time with my neighbor so he could film while driving. The drive was 22.1 miles round trip. The fastest I took the car was ~70 mph but there was more available so we'll have to see what top speed is one of these days. I did a lot of driving at 65-70 when possible and 45-55 when traffic was slow. Overall I consumed a bit over 7000 Wh for an average of 316.74 Wh/mile. I really need to test this while trying to average 55 mph and taking it easy to see what the best is.

Things still look good even driving at these speeds though. My total pack capacity is 23040 Wh. If I try not to go below 80 DOD that gives me 18432 Wh. If we divide that by 7500Wh to play it safe we get 2.4576. Then multiply that by the 22.1 miles we got gives us a range of 54.3 miles driving at 65 in the hills.

My next long test I believe will be out to my Uncle Duane's house. It's about 30-35 miles away and completely flat ground. Maybe 6 to 10 stop signs along the way so I plan to drive it at 55 mph the whole way and see how the efficiency looks.

Three, four and more

The days at work have been long when all you want to do is get home and take the EV out for a spin. A couple days ago I went out and drove the car around a bit to get the pack drained down slightly. When I got it home I reset the watt hours remaining and capacity numbers of the BMS. I charged up and it showed about 6kwh. Last night I then took the car again and sure enough both those numbers drop when driving so this will, for now, be my fuel gauge. Eventually I'll take this data and convert it so that my original fuel gauge works as well but that's low on the priority list right now.

The drive last night was by far the best. I got the front bumper back on and what a difference a little wind resistance makes. I went for a total of 16.2 miles of mixed city and hwy type driving. I got the car to 65 mph and there was plenty of power to spare. One day I'll test out the top speed when I get time and I'm on a nice open stretch.

I was also pretty hard on the throttle last night trying to get a good feel of what the car can do. I ended up using about 6kWh. So if I drive really bad I'm still looking at a 60 mile range. I also calculated 375 Wh/mile. Considering the lead foot this is really good. I'll be trying a conservative drive over the weekend hopefully and try to estimate my best range as well.

Things are really going well! So that was drives three and four. The more is another video of the walk through. Still plan on getting the inside car ride and again hopefully this weekend I can get my neighbor to film that so I can focus on driving.

Have something else you want video of or explained better? Just add a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Second drive

Sorry no video or pictures this time but they are coming! I actually had a few errands to run last night when I got home from work so I took the EV out to put some time on the batteries and get those broke in but mostly just to learn more about the nature of the car. I was surprised when I returned home and had put 6.5 miles on just driving around my little town.

I'm learning the torque curves a lot better now and this thing can really accelerate if you shift right. I'm becoming more impressed with the performance as the driver gets better.

I was having trouble figuring out the remaining capacity on the BMS system and after talking with Elite it turns out I need to do some rewiring. Apparently this system also tracks the current being charged into the cells and my wiring design didn't take this into account so add that to the list of remaining items.

Still to do:
- Put my front bumper back on.

- Finish wiring the BMS system inside the car. It's just sitting there on the console and needs to be mounted. Turns out there is also no way to turn the power off to the BMS computer or the BMS monitor so I will be installing two switches. The monitor only needs to be on if you want to see the output (driving). The computer needs to be on while driving or charging but you could turn it off otherwise.

- Build covers for the cells so they are not completely exposed and a potential hazard.

- Finish the electronics and wiring for the heater.

- Setup DC/DC converter to switch on only when ignition is on.

- Fabricate the serpentine pulley for the AC and get that all mounted up.

- Add a protective shroud under the motor. It's a pretty clear shot between it and the ground right now so preventing anything from bouncing / spraying directly onto or into the motor would be a good idea.

- DMV registration

Probably some other little details I'm forgetting but that's the schedule for the time being.

I'll be trying to do a video with a quick walk through of the car and components with an inside drive this weekend if time permits.

First Test Drive

It's been a long and painful wait getting to the point for the first test drive of my car but the wait is over! This weekend I was able to get the car to the point I could go for the first test drive and I'm still grinning. The video isn't the greatest since it was getting dark. I'll be adding another video in better lighting which also shows under the hood and trunk along with an inside the car test drive later this week.

Wiring it all up.

I've actually been a little behind on the blog. Being so close to the point of a test drive I was putting all my time into the build. Sadly I even forgot to take pictures of all the things I had planned but there are still some good shots.



It's time to wire everything up. To do this you need some form of conduit from the front to the rear of the car in almost all EV builds since usually batteries and components are not all in one location. I used what is known as Smurf tubing because of the Smurf blue color. It's just a 3/4" plastic flex tubing designed high voltage applications in homes. It's light weight, again flexible, and reasonably priced. I think I paid $30 for 100 ft at Home Depot. I also picked up some orange flex for the low voltage wiring. It's technically the same tubing from what I can tell but the color coding is standard (low voltage = orange, high voltage = blue).



In order to connect the rear cells to the BMS system I needed to run 28 wires from the front to the rear of the car. This is to support two BMS voltage modules (11 wires each for cell voltage and 3 for temperature). In addition I ran a 10 gauge solid strand back as well. This gives me a positive 12v line from the DC/DC converter I'll be putting in the trunk to charge the original 12v battery. The DC/DC converter takes the traction pack which in this case is 144v nominal and charges my 12v system essesntially replacing my alternator.



Here is that low voltage run.





Another shot of the uncut wires hanging out of the trunk area.





I installed two runs of the high voltage tubing. Because of the size of the 2/0 traction wiring I could only fit one cable per tubing. I additionlly pulled an 8 guage solid strand wire from the most postive terminal on the front battery pack to connect to the charger. The most negative terminal of the traction pack will be in the rear of the car already so we can attach directly to that terminal later.



The installation of the two other tubings was nothing special but thought I'd show how I closed up the tubing. There are connectors you can get for the tubing to run it into junction boxes etc. These at least reduced the opening diamter some. After crimping on the terminal I added a layer of wire loom to protect the exposed portion of the wire.



Next I wrapped the whole thing with electric tape and finished it off by heat shrinking the ends.

Here is a shot of the three flex tubings coming into the trunk secured by some jumbo sized zip ties. You can also see the DC/DC converter setting in place on the right.

Here is the installed DC/DC converter. I see a lot of people installing this up front in the car. The thing that bothered me was you can easily see in to the electronics of this thing. Maybe it's moisture resistent but I didn't want to take any chances so I decided to place it in the trunk. It made for some extra work but I feel better about having it here where I know things stay dry. These converters actually come with your standard 110v AC outlet cord attached which may scare some. Internally this AC voltage is converted to DC using some sort of bridge rectifier. When sending it direct DC only half of the rectifier is working but the end result is the same. You can simply cut off the 110v plug and wire it to your traction pack. It doesn't matter which wire is positive and which is negative. Next to the big black high voltage power wire you can see the two smaller 12v output wires. The black wire is ground and runs just to the right where there was a convenient bolt to ground to. The white wire as I mentioned before is ran into the low voltage conduit to the front of the car.


Here is the 12v + wire coming from the DC/DC converter and guess where I connected it. That's right the original location the alternator use to be connected. This is the small circuit panel under the hood on the driver side of the car.

Here is the high voltage wiring. This isn't as neat as I hoped for but I was really running out of room and had to place these components close together. The two outside, funny, shiney looking things are the contactors. These are basically giant SPST relays that are designed to handle high voltage and high current. I went with two just for the added fail safe. One contactor closes when the igntition is turned on. The second closes as you depress the accelerator. Additionally there is another low current relay which you can barely see right in the middle of it all which tells the controller when it's ok to run. I plan to add an array of safety features later that will turn one or more of these relays off until all the safety requirements are met. These can be things like the car isn't still plugged in to the wall outlet to controlling the RPM limit of the motor. Towards the bottom is the KLK fuse (white round thing). This is rated for 250 volts and 500 Amps. You'll want to use one of these for every group of battery packs you have. This way if a short happens the fuse will blow and you won't loose your batteries. Last on the bottom left is the giant anderson connector. You can disconnect this to guarantee all high voltage is removed from the system. BEWARE, however, the capacitors in the controller will continue to carry a charge after disconnected.

This is a picture on the other side of the controller. The big black box with the 2/0 cable running through the sensor that detects how much current is being used when driving. This is like a MPG gauge and helps you judge how efficiently you're driving. On the far left is the pot box. This is 5k variable resistor which you connect your original throttle cable to. Now the further you press on the original accelerator the faster you go, just like a gas car. The last thing here is a small fuse block. I tapped into the 12v ignition line from under the dash and ran a line up to the front. When you turn on the ignition now it triggers a relay which then supplies voltage to this fuse block. From here I'm running the vacuum pump and the 12v fan that cools the controller.

Here is a final shot of everything wired up and ready to go.

Now it's time to charge it up and have a test drive!

The controller

With the batteries in I knew how much room I had left to work with up front. It was time to build the control board. This board will be nice surface to mount many of the high voltage components to. I ended up using polypropylene (I think 3/8" thick). It's a little more expensive than using some type of wood but is still easy to work with and doesn't have to be sealed and painted later to make it last.

Next I have to wonder how I let so many weeds crop up in my yard. Right! I have done nothing but work on this car for several months. Below I'm setting up a straight guide for cutting the material. I made the mistake of using a metal bit in the jigsaw and ended up with goo. The blade got too hot and polypropylene started melting. You can probably stick with the jigsaw and a wood bit but I didn't confirm that. I ended up switch to the Sawzall with a wood blade. This blade has massively aggressive teeth and was able to cut the material quickly without causing any heat and made for a clean cut. However you cut it, the trick is to do it fast before it gets hot.


I found this heat sink on eBay for $20. What a deal. It wasn't the exact size I needed but very close. You can buy a ready to go heat sink from Curtis but it's like $300+ or something crazy. EV America sent me a flat piece of aluminum for a heat sink which they claim works just fine but I wanted to overdue the cooling on this component since I had the option. I needed to trim off a few of the fins and drill some holes to match the holes already on the controller for a heat sink.


I ended up using the small sheet of aluminum they gave me anyways to provide a mounting surface on the top side of the board. Without this the controller would just fall through since the a hole needed to be cut that was large enough to let the heat sink pass through. You can also see a very thin piece of sheet metal I used to attach the fan(s) too. I current only am using one fan but installed the option for fan two in case I needed to add a second one later.


Did a quick test fit to make sure it all works together nicely before applying the heat compound.

This was like being in kindergarten again. Finger painting is great! I'm applying the heat compound. It needs to go on all pieces of connecting metal. In this case that was actually four sides of metal: The Controller, the metal support plate (both sides), and the heat sink itself.

I started loosely laying components on the board to get an idea of where things might fit. It's gonna be tight.

Finally the control board all installed.

Next we need to wire everything up.

Rear batteries installed

OK I've finally got the rear batteries installed. I had to rebuilt this rack a second time or I would have posted this during the front battery install post. I also seem to have lost the picture of the rack by itself so you can really see the mounting points but there are four feet that come off from the sides and I used 5/16" grade 8 bolts to secure it to the trunk. Be careful that the holes are far enough out. I noticed that there are two layers to the metal work here and if you drill just past the sides of the trunk where it dips down you'll enter a cavity that you can't actually get to from the bottom and therefore can't attach the nuts to the bolts. You could use a lag bolt but that has a good chance of just ripped out with the thin metal here. Speaking of, use a nice wide washer on both sides to get a lot of surface area.

Here is the first picture that wasn't lost after the batteries are mounted.


Here is a top down view to show the room left over. Ah some storage space you say still....I wish. I've decided to, at least for now, use the jumbo charger inside the car. I'll probably replace it someday with something smaller and gain some room back....we'll see. If you look at the bottom of the picture you'll see some large metal feet that I've added. The charger will bolt to these.


Here is the charger in place with the BMS wiring all attached. This is kind of a fast forward in time shot really since if you look closely you'll notice I'm already charging as well. You can also see some unprotected yellow and red wires in the left side of the picture. These are the two sets of power wires for the charger (110v, and 220v). I haven't finished installing the final plugs for these so that still needs to be done.

Front battery racks

I was going to post all of the battery rack and battery installation in one post but there is a lot involved and it's taking longer than I thought so figured I'd break it up some.

After reading through the Thundersky documentation I found on their website it said if you want to remove a cell from a group to discharge all the cells of the group first. Turns out these cells will expand and become ruined if they are used. It was hard to read the directly translated documents but it also sounded like you were fine if you recompressed the cells before use.

SinceI knew I needed groups of cells other than the five they came in I didn't hookup and start charging the cells immediately as I've noticed others doing because I didn't have a good way to discharge them again in a timely fashion.

I built a quick and simple cell compressor more for storing the od cells while I was waiting to build a new group. So for example I needed a group of seven which left three cells sitting around. I didn't know exactly how many cells I would need in each group and designed as I went (I'm bad at planning really far ahead).


Here is a new group of the seven cells. I got some huge zip ties and a tool to tension them. I noticed this actually is providing better tension than the stock setup. The stock setup is loose enough that the cells can still shift a little which allows them to get out of alignment. This method keeps the cells very snug. Below is also the first base frame for the group.

Another shot of the frame as I progressed. The batteries will sit on top of the motor mount and be allowed to move slightly with it.

The rack placed on top of the motor mount frame.


Here is a near completed battery rack holding three groups of seven cells above the motor. All three racks, especially the center are angled forward to account for the slope of the hood. There are very tight clearances all around between the sides and hood.

Just another shot from the front.

Here is the rack all painted. You'll notice I added some feet on the sides near the back. These, including the length of the rubber feet rivoted on, are 1/4" inches longer than the rest of the feet. This allows for all this weight to be evenly displaced downward on the engine mounts instead of only towards the center.

I can't remember the names of these things but they are basically a really long nut. They may be called couplers which is what they do. They are used throughout the racks with the threaded shafts to provide adjustable points for securing the cells as you'll see later.


Here is the rack bolted in place on the motor mount frame. Again notice those feet I mentioned earlier on the outsides of the motor mounts applying most of the weight to the outside and avoiding sag and strain.

Here are the 21 cells in place for a test fit. All looks good.

A final shot with the support bars securing the cells.

Now there is some room up front where the radiator use to be. Technically this isn't the best place for batteries. In case of an accident they are not as well protected and can be ruined during a front in collision. Of course so can the batteries over the motor if the crash is bad enough. Either way I don't have the room to pick and choose the locations so they are going in here.

After doing some measuring I determined I can squeeze nine cells in here. I changed my mind a couple times but then finally decided on the best way to secure the frame as well see in a second.

This rack needed to built in two pieces and bolted together to allow it to fit into the confined space and get to the mounted points.

Here is the front cross member which convienently had two bolt holes where the original engine stop was. This was the rubber bumper used to stop the engine from dropping too far down when you discount the tranny. I'll be using it as one of the main mounting points.

Here is a shot of the frame in place. I had to also drill holes in the side frame (unfortunately no other available holes).

Here are those side holes that were drilled. You can see these beems with the front bumper removed.

The finished assembly.

I installed the finished assembly. Things were so tight I couldn't help but scrapping a little of the paint. I hate that!

I wanted to add this picture since I forgot to mention it earlier. The white plastic sheet seen here was also used on the first three groups of cells to protect from anything that may come up from the road. The plastic is what is called wonder wall. It was thin, very hard and yet could bend without breaking. It was very lightweight and cheap so seemed worth trying out. When I get things rolling I plan to come back and build a lightweight shell around the batteries with this material. We'll see how that works out later.

One final shot with the 30 cells in the front of the car. This leaves another 15 to fit into the trunk.

Computer Revision 1

While I was waiting for my batteries I also finished up the first computer revision. I plan on making a more advanced version but figured I'd do a basic setup which will give just what I need to get things rolling and then later, with the car mobile, I can test and prototype to see exactly what I want.

I figured the basics I needed were to monitor the RPM signal from the motor and relay this to the tach gauge and EPS system. I also wanted to make sure I could watch the temperature of the motor and controller. I can also added an output port so I could optionally install a small LCD screen to show this information although I haven't used it yet (just using a connected laptop currently). This version uses a BASIC Stamp microprocessor. I'm using an ADC0831 to convert the signals from the LM34 temperature sensors to a digital output. This sensors will output 10 millivolt per 1 degree F. The only other IC on the board is a 5v voltage regulator.

Below is a picture of the basic circuit board after it was etched. I've done chemical etching myself but for something critical like this I wanted it done professionally. I used ExpressPCB for the job. They offer free software to download which is very easy to use. It's not very advanced compared to other PCB software but will do basic jobs like this. After you design your board you can click an option to compute the cost of the board. There are a few options. You can get everything from prototyping to full production work. Below is the prototyping board. I think it cost $50 or so and you get three boards in case you mess up something while soldering. The prototyping version requires the exact board size shown below. I think it was 2.5" x 3.2" or close to that. It goes up in price considerably for full silkscreening and solder masks for surface mounting. After I placed the order, completely through the software, I received the boards in the mail within 3 days.



I guess I didn't need the flash here. This is just a loose fitting of the components. Yep it all fits.


Here is a shot of the board with all the components and IC sockets soldered in.


Added the BASIC stamp chip and ADC IC.


Here is a project box I picked up at radio shack. Turns out it's just a little too deep to fit where my original ECM was and I need to replace it later. For now the access panel is still off and I'm going to live with that way under the car is rolling and I have time to go back and clean things up.


Here is the finished box. You can see the serial port I added so I can update the software and tweak anything later. There is an external LED to show power and an external fuse for protection.


The computer is in the car and working as expected. That's it for the computer until revision 2.

Who killed the electric car?

I've heard about a movie called, "Who killed the electric car?", but never watched it till recently. This is extremely eye opening. I had no idea we could have had MANY EV vehicles on the street already. I just figured there were always good technological reasons for the cars never making full production runs. This movie really gets into the details of how auto makers, oil companies and I'm sure some money under the table with political figures have been working towards killing the electric car. You'll be amazed at what GM has done!

It can be found here on YouTube. It's broken up into ten parts so make sure to watch them in the correct order it could be rather confusing. You can also purchase this video off the Internet.

Watch it, you'll be amazed.

Batteries arrive

After a very long wait (6-7 weeks) the order of lithium batteries, charger and BMS have finally arrived! I actually ended up picking up the shipment from the freight distribution point closest to me instead of waiting another couple days to schedule the delivery with them.

As I've mentioned before I ordered everything through Elite Power Solutions. You really don't know what to expect when dealing with people online and especially for this kind of money but everything went smoothly and they are legit.

Below is a picture of the crated delivery. Five boxes total. Three boxes contain 15 cells each, one for the charger and another for the BMS system.



Here you can the first box opened. I didn't know what I was going to get really other than lithium cells. They came pre-bound with nice aluminum end plates and handles to carry them. It's very important these cells stay bound while there is any charge on them. So for example if you need to exchange a single cell for some reason the entire block that is bound together must be drained completely first. I didn't know this until reading the instruction manual. I didn't get this with the order but found the info on the Thunder-Sky website.


Here is just a picture of everything received in the order. You can see charger isn't small.


I measured and added the post dimensions for these cells. Again these are the 160Ah cells so I doubt they are the same for other cell sizes but I'm not sure. This info will be helpful if you are making a per cell battery balancing system. The BMS only monitors the and reports information about the cells. The only active BMS piece to it is shutting down the charger when the highest cell reaches a set voltage. I will be charging to 3.8v max. This means the cells can become out of balance which will reduce the overall power you can get from the pack safely.

Here is the best shot I could get showing a side and front angle of the aluminum end caps that came with the cells. You may need to, as I do, use longer or shorter groups of cells than five. I need to find some similar straps that are longer but will reuse the end caps.

Here is a box of all the connector bars, bolts and locking washing to put your cells in series. These also came with the cells. The wires you see there are actually part of the charger. There are two connectors which you must wire into the outlet style you want (one for 120v and one for 240v). I was expecting only 240V so this is nice I will now add two separate plug types on the car so I can recharge anywhere (120V plugs are much more common here). Using 120V will double the time it takes to charge, but it's better than not charging.

Here is the charger. Elite has a variety of options here. I picked the 200V max, 24 amp max charger. You can dial in the voltage and amps you'd like to charge at. This makes this charger very versatile for different pack configurations and charge stations. So if perhaps you are sharing an outlet with some other amp sucking EV you can dial down the amp draw and avoid a tripped breaker. The back, which I forget to show, has a DB9 connector for the BMS interface and the two power connectors.

Here is the BMS. Damn there are a lot of wires and connectors in this box. I'll go into more detail on the pieces here and the others as I install them to show which connections go where. I'm also currently waiting on the English instruction version for the BMS. I don't read Chinese sadly.

That's it for now until I get time to start building the battery racks and get this all installed. Hopefully soon!

Building the heater

Money has been tight after ordering the batteries and the holidays so progress has been rather slow lately. This is technically the second heater but I will only fully document the final design.

I first built a water heater utilizing the existing heater core. It used a 1500 watt engine block heater and pump to circulate the water. I decided not to use this setup for a few reasons. First and least important was the noise I could hear from the pump circulating the water. A few people recommended a pump that was very quiet but after further thought I didn't try it out. The second reason was the amount of heat I noticed on the outside of the heater unit itself. I figured if all that heat was on the outside it was wasted energy especially while driving if air was passing over the heater. The hoses also get very hot on the outside which again means energy lose. Last I figured this gave me a fluid that could leak, and therefore something that needed to be checked from time to time.

So, as many others have done, I went for the ceramic heater setup which replaces the water heater core with an electric version. Mine, however, well be quite different from the typical basic ceramic install as you'll see later.

The first part in building a ceramic heater is removing the heater core and this is not an easy task, especially with newer vehicles. As I've mentioned before, get the service manual for your vehicle as it will really save you time during your build.

I won't go into boring details of the dash removal but figured I'd still post a few pictures to give you an idea.

Here is a pile of plastic trim, air bags, steering column, etc which is well over a foot tall. There are a few things in the picture to give some perspective. Of course also not shown is the full dash itself.


Here is a picture after removing the dash. I thought I was home free at this point. I was wrong. From the middle to the passenger side you can see the heater box, blower assembly and condenser unit. The blower and condenser needed to also be removed to get to the heater box. This really wasn't that much more work but meant the refrigerant needed to be evacuated. I was hoping to avoid that.

A slightly closer picture with the heater box finally out! Look at all those wires! Most of them are attached to the dash so this is really nothing.

At last the heater core itself is removed.

Here is a shot of the heater core itself. It's a lot skinnier than I thought it would be.

OK on to building the new heater core. I purchased this ceramic heater from Kmart for $30. It was the cheapest ceramic heater they had. First I purchased a $20 heater which was not ceramic and just used five coils of wire. I doubt these would hold up well with the vibrations of a car. It was so cold in the garage I just kept it for a shop heater :)

Here I am testing the temperature coming out of the heater. 231 Fahrenheit, hopefully that will do the trick on the cold mornings. It rarely gets below 40 where I live so this should do just fine.

Now for a test to see how much power this heater really draws. It bounced around quite a bit while running but it's drawing right around 1500 watts as advertised.

Here is the ceramic heater element itself.

Here is the first place my heater will be different than most others. Instead of destroying my original heater core which I hope to sell to get some cash back I'll build my own. I'm using aluminum 1/8" thick for all the pieces. The main frame is 1" square tubing.

Below I've cut out a recess for the heater to set in with my plasma cutter. It was cut slightly higher and angled in to allow clearance for the outer terminals.

I messed around to see if I could weld this assembly but aluminum is a huge pain to weld with a MIG welder. To be honest I was suppose to use 100% argon gas but was only trying it with my 75% argon 25% CO2 mix so it failed horribly. I couldn't afford to get another cylinder for the argon gas so fell back on self tapping screws to hold it together.

Here you can see on the left a piece of flat laid across the side and end pieces using the self tapping screws to hold it together.

Here is one side assembled. The screws go into the side pieces and the end pieces.

I drilled a 1/2" hole on the top for the wires and put a couple of grommets in there to protect the wires from the rough metal holes.

Now I need to make some plates to fill in the gaps where the ceramic heater doesn't cover. I used a piece of metal clamped down to the plating I was cutting to act as a guide for my plasma cutter.

Here is the bottom plate installed.

It's hard to see here but I've cut some slits into the side pieces to allow me to bend them in. This will give a solid piece on the sides a good distance away from the ceramic heater element to allow about a 1/4" of silicone.

I originally cut out small pieces of plastic (from a coolant reservoir I used on the water heater setup) to keep the ceramic heater from touching any metal. This is very important not to short out the heater element to the frame. However, the plastic couldn't withstand the high temperatures if the airflow was too low so I removed these and replaced the gap with more silicone.

I used a high temp (650 Fahrenheit) silicone gasket sealant putting about 1/4" on both sides and bottom. I then cut and installed the top plate. Both of these plates will force all the air to pass through the heater element and not be able to bypass it.

Here is a side-by-side of the water and electric heater cores.

Next I added a foam stripping to all sides and the top. This not only keeps the element from being able to move a little inside the heater box but adds a little more sealing to keep air moving through the element and not around it.

Here is the completed heater being installed back into the heater box. Now that the new core was complete I also did a quick continuity check with my multimeter to make sure that none of the elements were grounded to the frame.

Here is a shot in the housing with a wiring harness built for it. There are five seperate 12 gauge wires inside the harness coming from each section of the element.

Later I will show the electronics and wiring side of the heater. The five wires actually allows for more than the two heater settings (low/high) that they give you and I will be taking advantage of this to allow for more levels of heating. This will not be done, however, through any switches. I will use the existing hot/cold knob and build a circuit to detect changes to this and convert that into a desired temperature setting. Then depending on the temperature differential I will determine how much heat to output. This should end up a lot better than a simple on/off switch on the dash and will use less power when only a little heat is needed without completing shutting down which would then be shooting cooler air out the vents.

I reinstalled the dash and did a quick AC test with the heater. My garage was around 47 F and so was the inside of the car when I started. I was able to get the car up to 80 F. I also measured the vent temperature and I was getting 115 F. I compared this to my truck after it heated up which was putting out 140 F. I'm not sure what my original temp would have been in the car but figured this was at least some reference point. In addition I'll be running the heater on 144v DC so it will actually get hotter than the AC test.

Batteries ordered

After months of debating which batteries to buy the deed is done and there is no going back. I originally started this build with the idea of using the typical LA(Lead Acid) battery as the power source. After doing the math and seeing what other EVs range seemed to be it didn't seem LA could really get the range I was looking for, at least not without making my car weigh in a 4,000 lbs. I ordered 45 of the ThunderSky LFP-160Ah modules at $264 a pop, not cheap. On top of that the charger and BMS system added another $3,000. The full setup was ordered from Elite Power Solutions.

The amount of money up front for this setup is scary but after doing the math the investment should be well worth it in the long run. First off I can get about four times the capacity out of them as LA pound for pound. The setup I ordered will add 550 lbs. of lithium to the car which should keep the overall weight of the build at or maybe slightly below the original weight. This compared to most EV conversions needing the suspension beefed up to support the extra weight. Lighter will also mean faster acceleration than with the LA and also less power required to accelerate.

A standard LA battery last around 200 charges. Some of the higher end cells can go as much as 400 cycles. Cycle life of the lithium cells start at 1000 and go as high as 3000 cycles for 70% DOD. If I used flooded LA and got 200 cycles out of them I would still break even if I only got 800 cycles out of the lithium cells so I shouldn't have any trouble getting my moneys worth if the cells hold up....we'll see.

Hurry up and wait. So now that I finally committed to this purchase I get to wait for 5 to 9 weeks for them to arrive. UGH. I'll take this time to work on the electric systems of the car and hopefully have things ready to go when the cells arrive.

12v Test Video

It's just too cool to see the car moving that words can't describe. I got my neighbor to video as I backed it out of my driveway up the street a bit and then back in. I edited the video to shorten it up since at 12volts it wasn't moving very fast if there was much of an incline.

Installing the motor

After taking a nice vacation to Oregon for some quad riding in the dunes and getting over a nasty cold I was finally able to get back to the project. First I needed to hoist the motor and transmission down into the car so I could start measuring things and figuring out how to build the motor mount. I knew this would be a two man job even with the hoist so I grabbed my neighbor again for some help. The top center bolt of the adapter plate to transmission turned out to be perfectly balanced for the setup.

Here is another closer shot to show what we have to work with. You can see the original two motor mounts that we need to eventually tie into. Still plenty of room in here for other things later such as batteries.

Here is a top down view just to show another angle. My neighbor had a good idea of using this strap to support the motor weight so the car could easily be moved around if needed.

A quick note about the rotation of the motor. It turns out that all Honda engines do not rotate counter clockwise like I read. At least the S2000 rotates clockwise. This effects where the front motor mount holes need to be so make sure your motor is setup correctly before making your motor mount.

Let the work begin. Here I am making my first cut of the project.

Here is one of the brackets made to set against the adapter plate and utilize those bolts to build a frame around the motor. A plasma cutter makes these custom corners a breeze. The metal used here was 3/16" x 3" flat bar.

That same mount shown in place.

Next I welded 1/4" x 1 1/2" angle to the plate.

I made another plate for the other side of the motor. These couldn't set at the same level on this side and are slightly higher overall because the closest bolt to the center is below the angle iron in this shot and can't be seen.

Here is the finished support frame. The front bracket was also 3/16" x 3" flat. The center was notched out for the secondary output shaft of the motor. The two ears were added to bolt to the front of the motor. We'll see how all this fits a bit later.

Finally on the frame assembly two holes have been drilled on each side to mount the brackets that attach to the old motor mounts. These must be bolted on and NOT welded because the motor mount bolts are at an angle and the motor will not drop in properly if it's all welded together.

Here is one of the two motor mount adapters. It's hard to see here but there is a bend to metal to transmission from the angle of the motor mounts to the level frame support. The larger center hole on the left is a 1/2" hole and existing motor mount bolt goes here. The slightly offset hole from there is an alignment hole where the motor mount has a tab sticking up. The two smaller holes are for the mounting to the frame support. I used 3/8" bolts here and drilled the holes one size up from there. The most important feature of these adapters is the small strips of metal on each side. They create a triangular shape and add a great amount of support against the weight that will be pushing down on them.

Here is a quick shot of the whole assembly before we take it out for paint. It's much easier to the angle of the mount adapters in this shot. At this point I've probably installed and removed pieces of this a dozen times as the measurements were made and it was all built.

Here is the whole assembly again after a primer, two coats of semi flat black and one coat of clear.

Here is a shot from the back side of the assembly.

Here are those two ears I was talking about earlier. These are the only two spots on the motor. Depending on how you build your plate and fasten it to the motor these two bolts could end up anywhere. You do have the option of rotating them in 90 degree increments though by rotating the motor on the adapter plate. I didn't feel like taking everything back apart and didn't see much benefit from a rotation so I worked with what I had.

Here we have the completed and installed motor mount from the right side of the car. The largest bolt on the plate connecting to the adapter plate originally called for 47 foot pounds and that was reused here. The motor mount nuts were torqued to original spec of 40 lb/ft and the newly added 3/8" bolts were torqued to 35 lb/ft.

Here is a shot from the right side of the car. You can see here that bolt is just below the angle iron and a tight fit. Make sure you give yourself enough clearance to get a socket in there. Also I mentioned earlier this side had to set slightly higher. You can't really see it here but I crafted two 1/4" x 1" x 3" spacers to set between the frame and the mount adapters to make up the 1/2" difference.

Here is a shot of the entire assembly installed.

With this done I finished installing a few last things on the transmission (shifter, console, etc). Next I jacked up the rear of the car and put the transmission into 1st gear. I then tried the old 12 volt test again and the back wheels started spinning forward. Make sure to keep an ear out for any strange noises or vibrations. Things should be fairly quiet or something is wrong.

So then I couldn't resist. I lowered the rear of the car and ran the motor again. I was amazed at the torque from only 12v. The car immediately lunged forward and begin moving fairly quickly. I'm pretty excited at this point as things are slowly falling into place.

12 volt test

I started off by removing the bolt that holds the coupler and putting a drop of loctite to make sure it doesn't come out. Even if it did the coupler had to be pressed on and I can't imagine it will ever move again, at least not without using a puller.

Then I attached the spacers and adapter plate to the motor. Again using some loctite and torqued these bolts to 40 ft lbs. With these bolts, and despite them being recessed were still very close the flywheel so I shortened the heads by .07" each using a bench grinder. I didn't want to risk them rubbing after perhaps the motor and transmission warmed up.

Next the flywheel was bolted on. The original specs called for 90 ft lbs of torque but I dropped this down to 70 with a small drop of loctite. The original crankshaft this was on was a hardened steel. The steel we are using is considered soft and I didn't want to risk pushing the material too hard and strip out a hole on something that took so long to make.

We can now attach the clutch and clutch housing. This part can be tricky if you've never changed out a clutch. You'd think they'd design these different to avoid the problem but they don't. The problem is the clutch itself needs to be centered with the housing, and therefore the transmission input shaft. If you simply tighten all the bolts the clutch will probably be too low (gravity) and you'll never be able to push the transmission and motor together. Usually you can just buy an alignment tool that you slide in while you torque the bolts. I didn't have one so made one out of a 17mm socket and some electric tape. It wasn't perfect but allowed me to slightly move the socket on an extension until I could see it was aligned before tightening the bolts. These bolts called for 19 ft lbs and again I used just a small drop of loctite.

Next came the hard part. The two guide pin holes we drilled are very slightly off and it requires some elbow grease to get them started each time. After I finally got it together I realized the clutch arm had fallen out and I had to start over. This is a reverse clutch and it actually pulls on the clutch instead of pushing into it to release. It makes hooking the clutch arm into place tricky and has to be done at just the right time while you're mating the motor and transmission.

Now the grand finale! I was so nervous to apply the 12v to the motor afraid I'd hear some rubbing, clanking, or just see the whole unit vibrating badly. All of this of course unfounded since I witnessed all the machining work. So I wired everything up and then touch the final wire to the battery. Luckily the transmission cross brace was still attached because that's what kept the whole unit from falling over as the initial torque kicked in. The motor always instantly reached its top speed for 12v and output shaft of the transmission was spinning happily along. Very quiet, very smooth...woohoo it works!

Of course the initial test wasn't enough as I was just too excited. I had to go get my wife, bang on my neighbors doors (he helped me strip the car down originally), call my uncle, try out a few of the gears just to see the output shaft spin at different speeds.

Here is a quick shot of the completed assembly after the 12v test.


Another shot so you can see another angle.


Next comes hoisting the motor/transmission into place in the car and taking measurements for the motor mount that needs to be built next.

Adapter plate and coupler complete

I finally got some time from my uncle to machine the parts and it took longer than we anticipated. Engineering as you go and a lot of measuring twice before you cut really added to the time but I think we'll end up with a reliable setup.

I loaded up the truck with everything I could think I needed and headed to my Uncle's house.


First was to create the coupler. The coupler needed to be 3.125" OD with a 1.125" ID with a .25" key. Here is a picture of the raw metal before we began to work with it.



A shot of the metal slowly getting turned down to the diameter we need.


It's starting to take shape. You can see the end is a little less than 2" wide and about .200" deep if I recall. We did this so the coupler could sit flush against the motor bearing and wouldn't be able to work its way in.


Here we are cutting the coupler slightly longer than we want it. This was the only step of the lathing process that had enough friction to require a lubricant.


Now we are slowly shaving off the end to bring it down to the exact length we need.

After the basic coupler was shaped out we broached out the key way using a 40 ton press. This was so cool to watch I forgot to take pictures.

Next we needed to drill and tap the holes. We used the flywheel as the template and a drill bit that was the same size as the hole to make an initial mark before moving down to the correct bit. To use the existing bolts you'll need an 11mm drill bit and a 12mm - 1mm pitch tap. This is not at all easy to find. My Uncle had to order it from a supplier he uses. You won't find this at Napa or Ace as it's a very uncommon pitch for that diameter.


Here is a picture of the final coupler installed on the motor. A couple things I didn't capture on film was the recessed washer and bolt which screws in from the front. We had to recess these to give clearance for the transmission input shaft. We also are using a beveled hex bolt and we beveled the washer on the lathe to match and recess the bolt further. A quick coat of paint to help with rust and we are done. Notice the black garbage bag duct tapped around the motor. This is quick and cheap to do and will prevent anything getting in the motor during the build.


Here is the simple yet invaluable alignment tool. Basically the adapter plate has an existing 4" ID and the coupler is 3.125" OD. So we machine this tool to slide over the coupler and then the adapter plate slides over that allowing us to perfectly align the plate with the center of the transmission.


Here is the shot making sure the alignment tool works. It's a tight fit, just like we want. The outer darker metal ring is the steel alignment tool.


There were quite a few steps again here that I couldn't take pictures of. We needed more hands than we had.

The first thing you'll do is use any alignment pins on the transmission and mark those across first. Simply slide your plate onto the alignment tool and find a good position that will make sure no part of the transmission is sticking out past the edges. Then using a rubber mallet give the plate a whack over the pins to mark out their location.

In order to start marking your holes you'll need a couple of things. First is a good set of transfer punches. This can be placed in different sized holes and mark the center where we'll need to drill. There were four holes on the tranny that were threaded and we couldn't use a transfer punch. We bought extra bolts and cut the heads off and turned a perfectly centered point in the lathe. We could then use our mallet again to mark these locations and drill them all out.

After we had all of our holes drilled out we butted the transmision to the adapter plate and secured it with a few bolts and marked the outline which you can barely see as a scratch in the metal.

Now comes the cutting. In our case the most precision cutting tool we had was a plasma cutter.

It's not a perfect cut but only took about two minutes. I later took a grinder to the sides to clean it up a little bit but it doesn't need to be perfect as this edge is only cosmetic.

So next we realized the flywheel didn't have enough clearance and was rubbing on the plate. We then had to bevel the inside ring of the plate and recess the four motor bolts. I believe we put those in about .150".

Here we finally have the transmission mounted to the motor! The clutch and flywheel at this point were not actually attached to the coupler. My uncle and cousin held the assembly in place while I snapped a quick picture.

The next step will be to tear this back down and reassemble it with proper torques specs, locking compound, etc and then finally give it the 12v test!

I also had about 80k miles on this setup so I'm going to spend the money and replace the pilot and throw out bearings while I'm here. I'm thinking of just replacing the clutch too as it does show some decent wear.

Adapter plate update

Well I haven't updated the blog lately because there hasn't been any progress lately. I'm really stuck waiting to install the motor and tranny now and that means this adapter plate and coupler need to get finished. After some incorrect parts came in I finally got some pre machined parts I've been waiting on.

Here is the main adapter plate. The pre drilled holes you see are ready to fit the ADC FB1-4001A motor.


Here is one of the four spacers I calculated I'll need to get the distance correct between the coupler edge and the adapter plate edge.


You can see six bolt holes total above. The outer four match the bolt holes on the motor. The inner two are designed to be used with the tension pins shown below. Tapping these pins into the holes will hold the whole assembly together.


A shot of the spacers and adatper plate behind held together with the tension pins. Note the final bolts from the adapter plate side into the motor is what will actually hold this together under the strains of operation. These are only to hold it gether during assembly but will remain in place.


Here is a shot of the assembly sitting on the motor. You can see how the spacers push the adapter plate away from the motor. This allows me to build a coupler that is long enough to fit onto the entire shaft and give plenty of threads for holding the flywheel to it. The adapter plate will eventually be cut to match the shape of the transmission.


An inside shot of where the couplter will go. To match the original distance the coupler will actually inset just slightly from the adapter plate. We may need to do some milling on the face of the adapter plate so the flywheel doens't hit.



Sadly that's it for now. I'm now waiting for when is a good time for my uncle to machine the coupler and finish up the adapter plate to match the transmission. Looks like this will be early October. The anticipation of getting to drive this when it's done is killing me! I think I'll spend the next couple weeks working on my AC and heater designs.

Motor RPM sensor

Now we'll build a sensor for detecting the RPM of the motor. This number is important for safety of the motor, efficient when driving, and most importantly my power steering needs this value. Sure I could just spoof a number to make it happy but would much rather have the real value and display it on the original tachometer.

First off the sensor we will be using is a Melexis 90217 Hall-Effect Sensor. This is really a great sensor. It auto calibrates itself depending on the seen variations in magnetic fields and has a built in ADC. The sensor can be used in a few ways but in this case it seems easier to use the gear tooth pickup feature. Basically you can add a magnet to one side of the sensor and then by running metal past the sensor on the other side causes the magnetic field to pass through the sensor. As each tooth passes by it detects the tooth. Take the total count for a given period of time and divide that by your number of teeth and then convert that time frame to minutes for your RPM!

I picked up a few supplies from a local Tractor Supply and of course hardware store. I found a keyed collar that was 3/4" (secondary output shaft). I also found a 3/4" gear which I figured I could use. They also had the 1/4"x1" key I needed to lock the collar to the motor shaft. I also picked up a plastic spacer. I needed something to house the sensor that wasn't a material the magnetic force would be affected by. The long black thing is just some heat shrinking tubing.



I put some heat shrink tubing around the magnet so that the pins of the sensor wouldn't short out across it. Next I hot glued the sensor to the magnet.



The sensor and magnet were then placed inside the plastic collar and hot glued into place. The connector is attached to the sensor.



Here is a top view. You can see the sensor embedded in the spacer and hot glue.



Next I put a layer of heat shrink tubing around the whole thing (blue) followed by a few wraps of electrical tape. The sensor is ready.



Now we needed something to mount the sensor to that could be mounted to the motor. Again to avoid interfering with the magnetic field I choose an aluminum square tubing. It's easy to work with and doesn't need to be strong to only hold the sensor. It also allowed for the sensor and wire to be enclosed even further. I cut an oblong mounting hole so that it could be precisely adjusted above the gear if needed.



Here is the completed sensor assembly. It was a snug fit into the tubing but I added some extra electrical tap anyway.



I welded the gear to the collar and painted them to protect the steel from the elements. Not bad!



Here is the gear and sensor mounted to the motor. When I'm doing the final wiring I will protect the sensor wires in a loom. Right now I have a few extra washers bring the sensor out far enough. Later this will be replaced with the mount for my AC compressor.



Here is a picture of my setup testing the RPM sensor. Make sure you never apply more than 12 volts on this motor unless it's under load. You can seriously hurt the motor and yourself.



Here is the output from my debugger. I'm doing a 250ms sample in this test so my number needs to be multiplied by 240 to get RPM. If I was doing a 1000ms, or 1 second, sample I would multiply by 60. In addition I have 12 teeth on the gear so the number must be divided by 12.
98 * 240 / 12 = 1960.




In the final project a variance of the pulses, not RPM will be sent to the gauge and EPS unit. I think it was something like four pulses / revolution. I'll have to do some testing and compare my debugger numbers to the gauge to calibrate that.

Motor temperature sensor

The FB1-4001 from Advanced DC motors is far from having all the bells and whistles you'd hope for. In fact the only sensor it has is an on/off over heat sensor that is open until the temperature has risen too high in which case the circuit closes. This is great for a dummy light or buzzer but for those of us who want real numbers all the time you'll have to make your own.

I found a large bolt hole that I think was used to hoist the motor into the crate. It's a 5/16 course thread and looked like a good spot to mount the sensor. I bought a 1" 5/16 bolt, washer and a nut. The reason for the nut is so that I can shorten the bolt and then remove the nut which helps to clean up the threads after cutting them.



After cutting the bolt I drilled a hole down the center of the bolt. The sensor will be installed here later.



The sensor is a LM34 from National Semiconductor. There are quite a few ways to use this little guy depending on the temperature range you need. I'm just using the basic setup which allows for 5-300 degrees Fahrenheit. Each degree will change the output signal by 10mV. Then by using an analog to digital converter (ADC) you can get a nice digital readout of the temperature. Below is the sensor after connecting it to three wires and heat shrinking them so they can't touch.



Next I wrapped the whole thing in another heath shrink layer to hold it all together.


We are now ready to mount the sensor so I mixed up some JB weld.


I filled the hole with JB Weld and then inserted the sensor.


The other side of the sensor after JB Weld.



After it dried I applied a coat of paint. This is a steel bolt and will rust if not protected.

Finally here is a shot of the new sensor installed in the motor. Later when finalizing the wiring during install I will protect the exposed sensor wires in a wiring loom.



Here is the output from my debug terminal. I tried running the motor for awhile but with no load and only 12 volts going through it the temperature didn't rise. I did take the sensor and set it in direct sunlight and it went up 10 degrees in just a few minutes. The picture below is showing the ADC value that is being returned. It's a 12 bit ADC (0-5v) but you could easily go with less accuracy for the sensor.

Clockwise vs Counter Clockwise

After unpacking the motor I found a few things that EV America put in there for me. First was a document with a few warnings and guidelines. One that caught my eye was that motor can't be run in CW rotation unless ADC or a representative has modified the motor. The motor comes ready for CCW rotation which is good for most vehicles, except Honda as they run in CW rotation. I contacted EV America and they gave me a walk through on changing the motor.

In order to make the change rotation you need to release the springs on the brushes and then remove the four bolts holding the CEH in place. You can then rotate the CEH. The far left holes pictured here were for the original CCW, the next hole is for neutral whatever that means, and the bolts are currently in the CW location. These holes change the timing of the motor and determine which way it will want to pull. I had no idea it worked this and just figured you'd hook the polarity backwards to change the direction. Not the case here, it will rotate the same way regardless of polarity.

Second I added screen (window screen) to the brush protector to keep out all but the smallest of objects. This will help prevent damage from small rocks flying up into the motor. The screen was attached with a hot glue gun and then I used scissors and a utility knife to cut it to size.

Here is a picture of the motor assembled again. I manually rotated the motor by hand to make sure it was smooth. I put some small 6 gauge wire on for a quick 12 volt test to make sure the motor rotated the proper direction. I say small on the wire because I will be running 2/0 wire which will dwarf the 6 gauge wire. 6 gauge wire is actually quite large. For example this was the wire I used to pre wire for my hot tub. You can also see in this picture the chain I attached using the bolt holes on each end to lift it out of the container.

Vacuum system for power assited brakes

Ok here is probably the first EV part of the build I've done. I was going to wait on the vacuum system because you typically don't want to start planning where to place components until the motor is mounted. Overall from that point it's probably best to consider the larger items and work smaller to make sure you have room for everything. However, you may recall a spot in the far front left corner of the car where there was an emissions pump of sorts and I removed that. I just happens to be a great size to put my full vacuum system so I decided to get this piece of the project out of the way while I wait on the adapter plate/coupler pieces.

Below is a vacuum reservoir that I built. It's designed to store extra volume of less pressure air. Typically an ICE (internal combustion engine) will generate approximately 10-20 in/Hg and in large volumes so there isn't a need for this as the existing reservoir will hold plenty. With an EV we need to be as efficient as possible. This involves using a somewhat small and efficient vacuum pump that will build up the vacuum over time. When the brakes are needed the reservoir will be able to produce multiple uses of the brakes before becoming depleted at which point you'll loose the power assist and it's much harder to depress the brake pedal to stop.

The reservoir can be purchased but it's simple enough that most should create their own. All of the parts are easily found at a hardware store in the plumbing area. I used 4" ABS and the unit is about 8" to 10" long. In order to only have to deal with one hole that needed to be sealed I opted to use tees outside the reservoir. The one hole was thread with a tap and die set and a threaded tube was threaded using plumbers tape to help seal was ran through the top. On the inside a coupler was used allow me to really tighten things down. Plumbers tape was used on all connections to help avoid any leaks. The barbed fittings allow for hose to be slipped on and then using a ring clamp you can secure them well.


I made my own bracket that would take advantage of the existing bolt holes in the frame and would allow me to fully mount the complete vacuum system in one shot. I believe this was
48"x 1"x 1/8" flat steel and cost about $4 with metal leftover.


Here you can see the Gast vacuum pump secured to the mounting bracket. In addition you can also see some rather large ring clamps that will hold the reservoir in place.

A shot of the reservoir attached to the bracket.

Here is the assembly attached to the car. It's hard to see but all the vacuum lines have been attached. There isn't a special vacuum line. Anything that holds up well to the elements will do as long as the walls are not too thin in which case it could collapse under the vacuum. For all the major lines I'm just using a 3/8" ID black fuel line I found at the hardware store. You can also see a very small clear line. This runs over to the switch which is mounted to the back of the bracket. I forgot to take the picture of the switch being mounted but you can slightly see it where the red wire has the yellow shrink tubing sticking out. One of the barbed fittings was removed and capped before installation and after I had calibrated the vacuum switch.

To calibrate and test I hooked the hose my new vacuum system to the cars original reservoir and connected the battery directly. First I adjusted the switch until it turned off at 20 in/Hg. The pump is rated for a maximum of 25 but that usually means it will get pretty slow and take longer to reach that using more energy. Next I counted how long it took to bring the system from atmospheric pressure to 20 in/Hg ~25 seconds on average. Next I did multiple runs of pumping the brakes quickly to deplete the system. I consistently get five well assisted depressions of the pedal followed by two that were slightly stiffer and then after that it's much harder to press the pedal and the vacuum gauge shows depletion. Next I checked what happens after just depressing and releasing the pedal one time. Every time the pump would turn back on and take on average five seconds before shutting off. At first I was thinking this wasn't good and would prefer it to go two to three times before kicking back on but then realized a potential hazard with that. If I only have five good pedal depressions and releases and say three are used up what happens if I needed the brakes a few more times in a row in some emergency situation? I realized it turning on for a short while after each braking was really a good thing. Probably the only way to get away from this would be to have a HUGE reservoir where the pressure wasn't affected so much with each braking.

Here is a shot showing the line running up to the original brake reservoir (it's the new shiny black hose.

I still have to run an ignition lead to a relay near the pump so that it only runs when the key is on and I'll be using the wiring which was already in the area for the old pump. I'll be holding off on this until I install the rest of the electronics.

As you can see the overall system is very easy to build and straight forward. I used a Gast vacuum pump from EV America ($225). The switch was ordered from EV Parts ($23.50). Everything else was obtained from the local hardware store including the metal to build the bracket.

Adapter plate and coupler status

As I mentioned before I wasn't sure which route I was going to take on getting the plate and coupler made. For my setup it turns out I need six pieces machined total.

The coupler which mates the motor output shaft to the original flywheel. The flywheel has the clutch attached to it which then slides over the input shaft to the transmission.

The adapter plate is the second piece. It needs to be cut to match the outline of the transmission and have all guides and bolt holes drilled out. The center of this plate needs to be perfectly aligned with the motor and trany shafts to all fit together properly.

Finally I need four spacers. These spacers sit between the motor and the adapter plate. If you think about the original setup the flywheel is positioned a certain distance away from the mating surface of the transmission. This distance must be matched very closely so that the everything fits properly and the clutch still works. In order to do this I need to add an additional two inches of spacing between the motor and adapter plate. Each spacer and the adapter plate are made from half inch 6061 aluminum.

So I did some research and EV America has pre machined spacers and adapter plates. I called a local metal supplier to compare the cost of the raw metal vs their price and it's reasonable in my opinion for the time saved. Also if you were to go to Joe's machinging and have them create these with or without specs you'd probably pay more. If you can machine them yourself and need to save as much as possible then that's the clear path. I was quoted $350 for a 24"x48"x.5" 6061 sheet of aluminum. Add tax and you're closer to $375 or so. This assumes you don't make any mistakes maching and need to buy more. EV America has the adapter plates for $220 and the spacers for $90. I ended up paying $590 shipped.

Basically the spacers are ready to bolt on. The adapter plate has the inside hole and bolt holes for the motor ready to go I just need to do the transmission outline and guide/bolt holes. The couplers they sell are for cluthless designs so won't work for me, I want my clutch since I drive in the hills and will need to down shift. I can buy the raw metal for the coupler for ~$25.

My uncle has agreed to do the maching work for me. He doesn't have a lot of free time right now but since most of the parts needed are machined we should be able to finish the rest on a Sunday and be done with it. If we had to do it all I'd have to wait till after October for the help.

I plan to add some photos of all of this once they are machined and will show the assembly of them to give you a better idea of how it all works.

Helpful Links

I've added a list of EV related links on the right side of this blog. These are by far not all the sites out there but I find I use them the most for obtaining information, comparing prices and just passing time when I'm bored and planning things for the conversion.

First round of parts arrive

I finally got some long awaited parts in this week. Below is the box the motor was shipped in. I'm going with an Advanced DC FB1-4001A. This is a dual shaft motor that can operate from 72 volts up to 144 volts. My goal is run it at 144 (room for batteries permitting).

This thing was really well packed.

Here is picture of the motor with my hand as a reference for the size. Amazing how small it is and yet it weighs in at about 140 pounds.


Here is a picture of the Albright contactor SW-200. It uses a 12v signal to trigger a massive contact point which will allow the 144 volts from the traction batteries to be sent to the motor controller. Two are used for added safety. One will be turned on with the ignition switch and the second will be turned on when the pot box switch is triggered (just as you begin to press the accelerator).


Not sure why this blog image uploader decided that some of my images were better off sideways. Here is the vacuum pump that will be used for the power assisted brakes. An additional chamber to keep a vacuum reserve will be built but I'll cover all these details as they are built and implemented later.


Here is the motor controller again picture with my hand for size reference. This guy weighs in at almost 20 lbs. I'm using a Curtis 1231C-8601. This can run between 96-144 volts and push a maximum of 500 amps. Do not confuse this with the other 1231C model which is only for up to 120v and 550 amps. The end of the model number is different but not always shown on some websites.


Here is a sheet of metal that the controller will be mounted to and a fan that will greatly help to remove heat from the unit. This should help the unit for many hours of operation.


Here is a picture of the Curtis PB-6 potbox. It will connect to the original accelerator cable and provide the motor control with the data for how fast I want to go. It's hard to see in the picture but on the left side of the picture are three little connectors. These are what I was referrering to earlier that will trigger one of my contactors that we need power.


Now that we have the motor the next major task is to find a machinist who can work some magic and mate my new motor to the transmission.

EPS DTC Codes

So after doing some research on why the EPS light would come on it's exactly like a check engine light. There are a set of codes that can be displayed to help diagnose problems with the system. The bad part is you can't use your standard cheap OBDII tool to read and clear these codes. The only scanners that will work for sure are from Honda and you can't buy them. There are some 3rd party scanners that cover most of the functionality and on average you can own one for 5k. Now I figured I was really in trouble here. After going over the electrical diagrams and service manual in general for many hours I found the loop hole I needed. It turns out Honda installed a backup way to do all of this in case your scanner software wasn't up-to-date! It turns out the EPS was complaining there was no vehicle speed signal and no engine rpms. I reset the codes and then made sure both spoofed signals were in place and the problem went away. It also turned out I was only getting a partial assist boost. Once I removed the dtc codes the boost is now very noticable.

How to retrieve subsystem DTC codes:
1) Bring the SCS to ground. This is pin 1 (at least on this vehicle). Unless you have a scanner which can do this, simply take a wire and stick it into the pin 1 hole. Then attach the other end to a ground on the vehicle. I believe pins 12 and 13 are also ground and you might be able to use of them but I didn't test this.

2) Turn the ignition ON. All subsystems will now begin displaying their DTC codes through their indicator light in the dash. Note that if a system doesn't have any codes the light will remain on or off. The light will flash for each number so count the flashes. It will also alternate between slow and fast flashes per digit. For example a code of 23 would be two slow flashes followed by three quick flashes.

3) Look this code up in your service manual to determine the problem. Each subsystem also has a crazy way to reset it. The EPS involved turning the steering wheel full left to center a couple times with pauses in between.

Oscilloscope and engine RPMs

I finally got the new handheld oscilloscope in to try and figure out what I was doing wrong in creating the RPM signal for my gauge and to enable the electronic power steering to work. The scope is a Velleman HPS10 and I picked it up new on ebay for $140 shipped. I didn't know what to expect never using a scope before but looking at the features I was pretty sure it would do what I needed. I'm really impressed with this scope for the money after using it. It showed me that my timer circuit I had built wasn't behaving as I thought it was :)

So ultimately what I'm trying to create here is the signal the RPM gauge wants to see. However, this signal comes from the ECM which it creates based off the crankshaft position sensor and they are not the same pulse. After trying a few different things my circuit still wasn't pulsing what the gauge wanted to see so I decided to simplify things and reconnect the ECM to the engine and crank it over while watching the signal the ECM generates for the gauges on the scope. Instantly I realized my problem. Unlike all the other sensors so far this pulse is NOT 5 volts, it's 12 volts. I was never creating strong enough pulses to be measured.

After building another quick circuit and increasing the frequency a bit I was able to get the gauge to move as I wished. At the same time I heard a relay click and sure enough I had power steering! I tested it a few times trying to turn the wheel without the assist and then turing it on to make sure everything was in working order. I did notice the EPS light is remaining on even after the "engine is started". In other words the RPMs are not zero and I would think the light should turn off now. I'll have to look into that next.

Bleeding the brakes

I finished bleeding the brakes today and wanted to share a few new things I learned this time around. I've always done brakes in the past as a two man job. One guy pushing in on the pedal while the other guy is releasing the pressure at the caliper. The wife was with the baby and my neightbor was on vacation so I decided to purchase a brake bleeding kit. These start at around $25 and go up depending on quality and are well worth it.

First always make sure the reservoir is topped off before bleeding each wheel. You'll also want to check in the service manual for the order the wheels should be bled in. Yes there is a correct order. Before you bleed each wheel remove the bleed valve completely and wrap the threads with teflon tape. This will ensure that no extra air can enter the bleeding tool air lines making it hard to tell when the process is complete. Replace the valve and attach the bleeding kit to the end of valve. Pump the handle and build up the vacuum in the fluid catcher. If the vacuum doesn't want to build up or won't hold check your connections, find the leak and fix it before continuing. Once you have built up 15-20 in/hg you can crack open the bleeder valve and watch the system bleed itself. At first you should only hear the air moving through the system. You might at first see some dark/old fluid after which the air will come. Finally you should start to see the cleaner/new fluid coming into the tube. It doesn't take long and the bubbles will stop coming up the tub. Each wheel should only take 10 seconds or so. If it's taking longer you may still have a leak at the threads and need to redo the teflon tape or you haven't opened the valve very far making it take longer for the fluid to transfer. When the bubbles stop close the valve. Refill the resorvoir and repeat for the other wheels. Do these steps and you'll have your full system bleed in no time at all.

A small delay

Last weekend I started creating a new wiring harness. The original wiring harness had so many extra sensors that I didn't need and didn't want cluttering things up so I decided to take it apart and remove all the connections I wouldn't be using in the conversion. Look at all those wires!

I haven't finished the harness yet but will add some pictures of the final product.

I wanted to make sure that some of the existing sensors that I planned to reuse would still register properly. The of which would be the VSS or vehicle speed sensor. I decided to create circuit that would simulate the sensor output using a Basic Stamp microprocessor. These are very handy little guys for doing various tasks quickly using a simple basic language.

Here you can see the simulated sensor working. We are doing 40 Mph in my garage! Ugh, is that the odometer going up? Just as if you were really doing 40 Mph everything still functions and responds normally including the odometer. Don't leave that circuit running for too long :)

Ah yes and last but certainly not least is that small delay that I mentioned before. He was born July 22nd. Mom and baby are doing great!

In the next couple weeks I will be continuing the electronics conversion. The next major step is properly recreating the engine speed pulse. This signal is needed for the RPM gauge, electronic power steering, and cruise controls circuits to function properly. I've ordered a small handheld oscilloscope to make the remainder of any signalling circuits I need to build easier so this step is on hold until that comes in.

I can't weight!

I decided to weigh everything I had and figure out how much weight I've actually removed so far from this car. There are some weight reduction options remaining, but everything else would cost money so I won't consider them at this point.

Removed items (lbs)
Catalytic converter: 13
Headers/Manifold: 20.5
Mufflers: 52.5
Radiator: 13
Gas tank: 25.5 + 79.2 (full tank 1.3 gallons * 6lbs / gallon)
Misc (hoses, brackets, emissions): 65.5

I've also removed, at least for now the spare time, jack, and tools. These will go back in later but for the initial tests I wanted stripped down: 30

The engine and components still attached is somewhat unknown. The specs say 325 but I'm pretty that is without the intake, starter, etc. I'm going to say 350.

That makes for a grand total of just under 650 lbs removed. Not bad but you always want more on a project like this :) The car originally weighed 2800 minus the 650 puts as at 2150.

Speaking of waiting I found out the motor is going to take longer to come in than I originally expected (up to 6 weeks). I'm going to start working on a few side projects that need to be done at some point anyway to pass the time.

Dismantling Part 2

I finally got some more time and cooler conditions to continue with the dismantling phase of the project. I went head to toe on the car and found every bracket, heat shield, and emissions components that were no longer needed. Then I started in on the big job which was the gas tank. My neighbor had mentioned that it should be plastic these days and not weigh much. I checked on my truck and sure enough it was plastic but after removing the EVAP canister I was able to bang on the tank and it was metal...it's gotta go!

The entire rear sub frame must be removed for this job...ugh. Here you can see the car with the rear sub frame removed. You can barely see the black of the tank hanging just below the red frame.

Here is a shot of the rear sub frame. This includes the differential, suspension, etc. I tried lifting it...damn too bad I can't remove some weight from that thing.

My neighbor George who helped with the first dismantling steps came over and found my camera. Here is an "action" shot of the tank bolts being removed. Please notice the all-purpose 5 gallon bucket from Home-Depot. Today its purpose was to make up the difference between my floor jack and the gas tank which was pretty high off the ground.

At last the final dead weight item as been removed! The rear sub frame is back together. I still need to bleed the brakes but don't have time today.

Dismantling

I started the processes of removing all of the unnecessary components this weekend. It was hard to start removing that first bolt but as the hours went on I quit focusing dismantling a 30k sports car and focused on the bigger picture, a clean, low maintenance, and low cost sports car!

Here is a shot just after removing some of the intake system, alternator AC compressor, and cooling system.

Don't forget to label those bolts and keep things organized. It takes awhile but can really save some time later!

Here is one of the tubs I bought to just throw parts into so they aren't laying all over the place.

After two days we had everything major out except the engine. It is amazing how much time is spent disconnecting wire harnesses and brackets that you don't have good access to! Here is a picture of the exhaust system.

Here is the transmission. Although it was removed it will be reused in the conversion. We still need to create the adapter plate from the new electric motor and transmission. In addition a coupler between the motor shaft and flywheel must be created.

Day3 After some more removing of sensors and hoses and other crap it was finally time to hook the engine up to the hoist! This was not easy compared to many other vehicles the front sub frame needed to be dropped 3 inches to make room to get the bell housing bolts out.

It's almost out, just a little further!!!

Success! Look at all that room in there. The new electric motor is only 9.1" diameter and 15" long leaving a lot of room for batteries up front.

There are a few little pieces here and there to remove but the biggest is the gas tank which remains in the car. Just like the engine the rear sub frame needs to be dropped to get it out. Hopefully I can get to that and more next weekend.

Preperation

I tried to do as much research as possible before jumping in but it's hard not to. Try to read as many books as you can get your hands on and talk to others that have done conversions already. I found the "Convert It" book helpful although it's extremely outdated the basic conversion ideas are still the same. Also the guys over at http://www.ev-america.com/ have some great information that they'll hand out for free just send them an email.

As much I want this to be successful I've planned for the worse. I plan to be able to reinstall the gas engine if by chance the conversion goes south. I bought a couple of plastic storage tubs, lots of Ziploc bags and a label maker. Not only will this be helpful for any parts I can recycle into the build I will be able to reverse the process if needed...lets hope not!

It doesn't take much in regards to tools to get the job done and you can buy a few things as you go if you find you don't have just the right tool. I have a good set of ratchets, wrenches, screw drivers, torque wrenches, etc. Also a floor jack or two and four or more jack stands are a must. You'll also need to rent or borrow an engine hoist. I was originally thinking I could do all this in a one car garage spot, which is possible, but two spots is just right and gives you room to move things around and not trip all over yourself.

Get the service manual for your vehicle! There is nothing worse than wasting time trying to figure out how to remove or reinstall something and it's usually time wasted in trial and error.

Get a friend to help. It's possible to do the conversion yourself but it'll be much easier if you can get some help, especially on removing or installing the heavier items.

The car

At first I looked around at used cars hoping to find some crazy deal on something nice with a blown engine or something. Truth is that it's very rare to find a car in great condition with a blown motor. Usually the driver takes equal care to all parts of the car. Everything I found say within a few thousand was crap, or so old it didn't have the safety features that are great on modern cars (i.e. ABS brakes, Air bags, etc).

The S2000 is a third vehicle for us so I won't be down a car while doing the conversion. In addition this car is only used for commuting to work so it's already a special purpose vehicle and the limited range of an EV fits the role perfect here.

2003 Honda S2000

Curb Weight: 2800 lbs

Battery space: Not much. I think I can squeeze 12(12v 115AH) batteries

I'm shooting for a 144v system. There is just no way this vehicle could go with less than 12v batteries since it can't handle the weight. On the plus side it's light and aerodynamic. I have quite a few plans for reducing weight and increasing range which I'll cover later. I should be able to get 45+ miles per charge and need around 37 to get to work one way where I'll be able to recharge for the return trip home.

Background

I've been wanting to do an EV conversion for awhile but never committed to anything. The ever increasing gas prices and some research pushed me into realizing this isn't that crazy of an idea. I was originally thinking of selling my car and buying something even more economical but the car already got 26mpg commuting to work. So even doubling my mileage just didn't make up for the cost of a new Prius for example vs how much it would cost to convert my current car and how quickly I could recoup that investment.

I currently spend a minimum of $300/month just to get to work assuming I don't drive anywhere else. Cutting that cost in half with a Prius 20-30k would take awhile to pay for itself. The conversion I've estimated at around 6k. Monthly costs being about $30 in electricity. So in theory I can recoup this investment in a of couple years. Not bad compared to the 10+ years for the Prius purchase. Now we know gas prices will continue to raise so it would actually pay for itself in less than that amount of time but not needing gas at all is the real solution and it's just cool!

UPDATE:
I haven't changed this post because I wanted to keep the real history of the build. Many are reading this post and not understanding things change. Gas was over $5.00 a gallon when I started and to my surprise it did drop and drastically. I originally was just hoping for 45 mile range and on lead acid batteries. This wasn't feasible so I had to change to lithium cells which blew away my original estimate of only $6k.

Recouping the cost was based on the original estimates and gas prices. I haven't done the math but I'm guessing it will take a very long time to pay for itself if ever. It's now just a project that I've thoroughly enjoyed.