This morning I drove the Fiero another five miles around the neighborhood, to drain the pack down before charging again. While still not perfect, the gears can be shifted reasonably well now and I was able to go through all four gears without any hang ups. The amp hour reading was down to around 14.5 and the voltage was at 120 volts before starting out. During the drive the voltage did not dip below 98 volts, under light acceleration and stabilized around 113 volts, when cruising at 40 mph in fourth gear. The car had been driven 19 miles since the last charge and had used 45 amp hours, so it used around 2.4 amp hours per mile or using 120 volts as an average, 284 watt hours per mile.
When I got back from driving the car, the charger was hooked up and the fourth charge of the Better Place module was started. The voltage had come back to 120 volts and I took readings after charging for one minute, and then every half hour, until the end of the charge, where I tried to document when the charger started cutting back the amperage.
CHARGE GRAPH
This time the module was charged to 136.9 volts or 4.27 volts per cell. The amperage cut back to 2 amps but the voltage did not hold steady and kept climbing. Even after adjusting down the voltage and current pots, the charger still did not shut off so had to be manually shut off again. The pack took 47.71 amp hours and had 14.7 amp hours left in it from the previous charge, so should have 62.41 amp hours or 7489 watt hours in it. Tomorrow I am going to take the Fiero out on the interstate again and have a route that should give me about a 18 mile drive.
PLANNED INTERSTATE 70 - 18 MILE TEST DRIVE
While the module was charging I rearranged the air compressor, shelves, and table, in the front of the garage, so the Fiero can be moved back in. The other two modules will be moved to the front of the garage to bottom balance but there should be room now for the car to be pulled in if the weather turns cold. I moved some items that were on the shelves into a plastic storage box and put it all in the Better Place shipping crate. It has proven to be quite handy to store the unused components from the Better Place packs, like the contactors, cell measuring connections, and BMS. The new location for the table will be much bette, as their is an electric outlet close by and it will be more out of the way now.
My focus is going to turn back to getting the meters, tablet, and interior installed in the car, so I can get the passenger seat back in. The car runs so much better with just one of the three modules, I am excited to take my wife, son and his fiance for a ride. I also have some co-workers asking me about the build, so would like to be able to drive it to work sometime soon.
Until next time,
Randy
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