Showing posts with label Alien Motion battery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alien Motion battery. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2015
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
TOO MANY PROJECTS - TOO LITTLE TIME!
Yesterday, the ad from Alien Motion Batteries was posted and the blog got 118 page views and some comments on my Google Plus page. The first Alien Motion battery I purchased, puffed out when the voltage regular on my garden tractor quit working. On a lead battery, you wouldn't notice anything for a year or so but with the lithium, the battery overcharged and the cells puffed up. It was sent back to Alien Motion and they were unsure of what happened but were leaning toward giving me a new battery. The voltage regulator on the tractor was checked so I emailed to tell them the voltage regulator was not working and was putting out 18 volts. Most companies would say "Sorry, it as your fault and we are not paying anything." The folks at Alien Motion were different, they asked me what it would take to keep me as a loyal customer and I asked them if they would give me a new battery for half price. They emailed back and said that would be fine, also thanking me for being honest by telling them the voltage regulator was bad. The new battery hasbeen in my other garden tractor for over a year and is working great! There are so many companies out there that are unwilling to spend a dollar to make hundreds in the future. The lithium battery I bought for them is actually for my Fiero EV but the little lead acid motorcycle battery still works, so I just haven't put it in yet. Alien Motion also has an unadvertised board they can put in the battery for $39 extra, that cuts out the battery if the voltage goes too high. I will say it again, they are a good company and it is my pleasure to endorse them! If you are looking for a good lithium battery for your garden tractor, motorcycle, or EV, they have a great sale going on for a few more days.
 |
LABOR DAY SPECIAL   |
Monday more work was done on the bathroom, putting up a drywall ceiling to cover the opening where a floresent light was above the sink and a piece of drywall where the old mirror was. The job is down to spackling the joints and most of them are corners. It has been awhile since I have done drywall, so am a bit rusty.
Tuesday, the Fiero was taken to Bowman Detailing in Hebron, OH to get ready for the Drive Electric Columbus, Ohio event at Easton Mall. My wife and I had dinner on the way home at Sunset Inn Restaurant and as always, really enjoy their down home cooking. After a good meal and a couple of draft beers, it was sleepy time when I got home, so no progress on any of my projects.
Wednesday, the Fiero was picked up and even though I was not expecting the paint to come out perfect, they said they were going to clay block the surface to get some paint over spray off. After getting home and looking the surface over closely, it appears they just waxed over it. I will admit, the inside of the car smelled really good but they were also supposed to clean the motor and front trunk but appears they did not spend much time on either. The car does look better and will be good enough to take to the show but if it weren't for all the other projects, would have done a much better job myself. They did give me a little off of the regular price they charge but I would rather have had the paint over spray removed on the motor and front compartment cleaned a little better.
After arriving home with the Fiero, it was back to more spackling and while that was drying, the bottom of the rear bumper was wet sanded and painted satin black. The paint is drying with gray streaks in it, so will probably need to be wet sanded again and another couple coats of paint applied tomorrow.
While the paint on the bottom of the rear bumper and dry wall joint compound were drying, I dug out the spoiler and started working on it. The spoiler also had some paint over spray on it so I wiped it down with some solvent and then wet sanded it with 1000 grit sand paper. Then a good coat of wax was applied and wiped off. I thought it may need to be rubbed out with compound but turned out really good with just a hand waxing. When removing the spoiler, the nuts had to be cut off of the studs and I had been unable to find the studs anywhere. Finally I ran across some 1/4 inch hanger bolts that ended up working great.
HANGER BOLTS
A tool is made to install hanger bolts but Home Depot did not have one, so a 1/4 inch coupling nut and a 1/4 inch bolt were used to thread them into the spoiler towers.
HOME MADE INSTALLATION TOOL
HANGER BOLTS INSTALLED
A pretty busy evening but well worth all of the work, as projects are starting to come together enough I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks for visiting,
Randy
Friday, November 28, 2014
ALIEN MOTION BLACK FRIDAY BATTERY SALE
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thursday, November 13, 2014
ALIEN MOTION
During the summer my garden tractor battery went bad and Alien Motion had their AN22 battery on sale for $209.00, so I purchased one, with the intent of using it in the garden tractor until the end of the season, then putting it in the Fiero. It had plenty of power and started the 14 horse engine right up. I mowed for a couple of weeks, but the third week, when the key was turned, nothing happened. Upon inspection of the battery, the case was swollen and there were some dark discoloration where it had got hot. I sent the battery back to Alien Motion and they ask me to check the voltage output on the Garden Tractor. The next time I mowed, I took voltage reading when starting of 15 volts and after I was finished, it was still reading 15 volts, so the voltage regulator was not working. After sending Alien Motion the voltage readings and telling them that my voltage regulator was bad, they actually owed me nothing under their warranty terms but instead offered to send me a new battery for $100.00. I felt they displayed that they would stand behind their product, even when it went bad because of unwarranted causes and would recommend them to anyone interested in a good LiFePo4 12 volt battery for your build. They now have a protection board available for $34.00 extra that will keep the battery from overcharging or over discharging.
Product Details
The Alien Motion Heavy Duty AM22-01 is is our largest battery in terms of cranking capacity but actually weighs less than our AM16-01. We utilize prismatic construction cells for lighter weight and greater power than our cylindrical cells. At under 4 Lbs, the AM22-01 will start the largest V-Twins up to 2500cc as well as many small engine cars with ease. This is a serious workhorse in a tiny package. Guaranteed to provide better performance and provide several times the lifetime of the original battery with proper use and maintenance.
- Ultra-Lightweight Heavy Duty High Power Lithium Motorsport Battery
- Holds a charge with minimal drain for years when there is no draw on power
- 2-Year Warranty and Out of This World Support
- Great for everyday use for bikes and powersports applications up to 2500cc
- Works with the original charging system
- Great for racing applications & big V-Twins
- Significant cost savings and longevity compared to lead acid
Thursday, September 18, 2014
THE BAD NEWS BUT THE GOOD NEWS!
Back in August my garden tractor battery went bad after using it to regen discharge the Better Place cells with the Powerlab 6. Alien Motoin had their AM22-01 heavy duty LiFePo4 battery on sale for $209. My plan was to use it the rest of the mowing season and then put it in the Fiero this fall. A MCU Battery Low Voltage Disconnect Controller by Peak DBI was even purchased to keep the Alien Motion battery from over discharging. The battery worked great until last Sunday and when I turned the key on the garden tractor, nothing happened. Upon further investigation, the battery was puffed around the positive terminal. When I contacted Alien Motion, they said they were scratching their heads trying to figure out what happened and suspect the voltage regulator on the garden tractor was not working correctly. Then I did not hear anything for a couple of days and had to email them again, asking them what they wanted me to do. Finally they replied and gave me a RMA number and told me to send it back to them.
PUFFED OUT BATTERY
Then the Elite, Model DCM9040, volt, amp watt meter went bad, so it hasn't been a good week. The EBAY seller is going to send me another meter, so I guess it could be worse.
My son's fiance got a speeding tick when they were coming to our house on Labor day, and also got a ticket for expired license plates, requiring her to appear in court. My Son could not get today off of work, so I took a day of vacation to got to court with her. She was afraid she was going to lose her license and was in a rather bad mood on the drive to the Lancaster, OH Court House. There were so many people with traffic tickets there, that only the person with the ticket could go into the Court Room. With nothing I could do to help her now, I walked down the Main Street of Lancaster hoping to find some interesting shops to look around in. I was only gone 15 minutes when my phone rang and it was Vanessa. She was on the court roster hanging in the hall of the Court House but when she went inside the court room, her name was not called. When she approached the bench, the Judge told her she had paid her speeding ticket fine and renewed her license plates, so there was no need for her to be there. Great, the day was starting out very good.
We arrived back at the house and I changed cloths to go out and work on the Fiero. All of the battery connection were made up and the contactors were all wired up but the motor connections had to be made up, the dc-dc converter and battery installed, new wires connected to the battery pack for the dc-dc converter, and a new wire run from the positive side of the battery to the controller for it to measure pack voltage. For being almost ready to test drive, there sure was a lot of work to do but one by one, each task was completed. Now the moment of truth, I got in the car, turned the key to the run position, then to the start position but nothing happened. A laptop was connected to the controller and the pot box was re-calibrated. Same result, nothing happened. I was getting 13.5 volts to the controller when the key was turned to start but when it was released back to the run position, the voltage went to zero. So into the house to pull up the relay schematic. After studying the schematic and looking at the relay connections on terminal block, two of the wires were on the wrong connection. The wiring was put on the correct terminals and back into the car to try again. Now I was showing 13.5 volts when going back to the run position after the key was turned to the start position but still did not have any pack voltage showing. Upon further inspection of the negative contactor actuation wires, found that one of the wires had slipped out of the crimp connector. A new terminal was crimped on to the wire and another start try was made. This time there was 13.5 volts in the run position, and 124 volts pack voltage but the motor still would not run when the throttle was depressed. Seem I had pushed the emergency/maintenance switch, so pulled it back up in to the connected position. This time when I went through the start sequence, the motor ran when the throttle was depressed. Finally, success!
TEST DRIVE
As the insurance went into effect on September 13, I was finally able to take the Fiero on the Highway and run it up to 60 mph. It did great and the pack voltage did not drop lower that 114 volts under moderate acceleration from the 124 resting voltage. The 12 volt system did not drop below 12.5 volts and recovered to 13.5 volts when cruising.
I am going to need to tidy up some wiring and get it in loom but then on to finishing the instrumentation and interior.
Thanks for visiting,
Randy
Sunday, August 31, 2014
TAKING A RAIN BREAK
Last week has been very productive and the latching relays for the contactors is wired up. The wiring was tested with the new Alien Motion AM22-01 battery before it was installed in the Fiero but has not been tested in the car. Hopefully it works because getting to all of the wiring is getting harder and harder with all of the components installed.
RELAY CONNECTOR WIRING
RELAY INSTALLED IN CAR
If you have followed this blog you will recall I purchased a Ballistic LiFePo4 12 volt battery last year that ended up failing. I found out that these are actually manufactured by Star Motion for Ballistic, so contacted them to ask them about their warranty policy if used in an electric car conversion. I told them that Ballistic had refused to honor the warranty because the battery was not used as a starter battery and was told that the Alien Motion battery would be covered as long as it was not over charged or completely drained, no matter what application is was used for.
To make sure that the battery does not get fully discharged, I ordered a Peak DBA low voltage cut out. This should eliminate any possibility of over discharging the battery.
LOW VOLTAGE BATTERY CUT OUT
As it is raining today, it will be a good time to clean the garage and get ready to cut and bend the Plexiglas cover for the battery and contactor.
Until Next Time,
Randy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)