BATTERIES, BATTERIES, ADD MORE BATERIES!

The last Better Place battery module is currently being bottom balanced so it can be synchronized into the Fiero's battery pack and I thought it would be good to show you where I gained my knowledge on bottom balancing lithium batteries.

Below is the presentation on lithium batteries from EVCCON 2014:

EVCCON 2015 WRAP UP

Michael Brown, a retired IBM employee, now residing in Thailand, made Cape Girardeau and EVCCON a stop on his world tour this year. Every year I go to EVCCON with the intention of doing daily blog posts about the event but have always found that others have already done write ups and that there is really no need to duplicate their efforts. Below are Mike's daily blog posts covering this year's event:

EVCCON 2015 Day -1

EVCCON 2015 - Day 0

EVCCON 2015 - Day 1

EVCCON 2015 - Day 2

EVCCON 2015 - Day 3

FINAL EVCCON 2015 WHISKEY TOAST

A special thanks to Brian Couchane for the ride to and from EVCCON for me and the Fiero! Brian is always lending a hand to other EVers and even brought his generator all the way from Ohio it the back of his truck, so those drag racing at Dyno Dom's in Siskin, MO would be able to charge between runs. Again many thanks Brian!

Also the help getting the vacuum leak on my brake line fixed by Aaron Lephart and his father was greatly appreciated. They went to the local NAPA and picked up some different clamps while I finished breakfast and would not even accept any payment for them. I appreciate the help guys and look forward to seeing you next year!

The week always goes so fast and I sit here in my hotel room wishing that I was getting up tomorrow and going to another session filled day at the EVTV garage instead of loading up the car and heading home but I guess that will just need to wait until next year!

To another Great EVCCON,

Randy

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

In May of 2009, while searching the internet for alternate fuel vehicles, I came across a video done by Jack Rickard of Cape Girardeau, MO,  that featured a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster replica, electric conversion. At the bidding of Jack's then partner, Brian Noto, weekly EVTV Shows started being produced by June of that year. Needless to say, I was hooked and started attending the yearly Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention (EVCCON)  from that year until now. This year the weather cooperated and  a barbecue was finally held at Jack Rickard's home, overlooking the Mississippi, River; The location of the original weekly video productions.

The ORIGINAL EVTV GARAGE

So when when I walked into the driveway from the fire pit and saw the door of the garage open, it took me back to the the beginning of the EVTV weekly show , the source of the many great memories I have of past EVCCONS and of most of the knowledge I have gained about electric cars, over the last 6 years.

THE ORIGINAL EVTV GARAGE

INSIDE THE ORIGINAL EVTV GARAGE

JACK'S STILL

There were many absent from EVCCON, renamed The EVTV Open House this year but for me and a group of die hards, we got a real trip down memory lane!

My dream was always to be able to bring a car to the show and life is short, so you never really know if you will ever be in Cape Girardeau again, but this year my dream came true!

Long live your dreams,

Randy

VACUUM PUMP CLAMP CLEAN UP

This morning the clamps on the vacuum pump were replaced to hopefully give it a little cleaner look. Nothing functional but it does look better. Eventually a small vacuum tank will be added but doesn't seem to be necessary as the pump provides plenty of vacuum and does not seem to motor boat.

BEFORE

AFTER

Final preparations to tow the car still have not been made and I am a little worried, as Brian's company works with some major manufactures and if the right deal happened to be closing, could cause major changes in the EVTV Open House plans.  Another local EV enthusiast  offered a ride to Missouri, but after four years of sweating over the Fiero, really had my heart set on taking it to Cape Girardeau. 

All my cloths are packed and in the Fiero so will just need to pack up the laptop, camera and all of the chargers to be ready to head out. Hopefully my next post will be from the EVTV Garage.

Randy

FINAL PREP FOR EVTV OPEN HOUSE (EVCCON)

After work Friday the final prep work for the trip to Cape Girardeau began. As a side note, I hate the spell check in Blogger, as it marks words as misspelled that really are not, such as Girardeau. It was spelled correctly but has a red line under it, so I have to take the time to look it up on Google just to make sure. 

Ok, back to the prep work; The solid state relay for the heater did not seem to be working correctly so was taken out and replaced with a Giga-Vac contactor. A little over kill but at least I know the defroster will work on a cold September morning in Missouri.

GIGA-VAC CONTACTOR FOR HEATER

When the car was detailed, it came home with the rear view mirror laying on  the passenger side floor, so a trip was made to Autozone to get some rear view mirror adhesive. After pealing off the old adhesive with a razor blade and roughing up the glass and steel attachment with some emery cloth, both were cleaned with the supplied cleaner and a drop of the adhesive was applied to the steel attachment. After holding it in place for a couple minutes, then letting it dry for a half hour or so, the mirror was clipped back in place and seems to be holding just fine. The car was detailed last month and after the local farmer harvested his soy bean crop, in back and to the side of my hours, the car was covered with dust. On the way to get the wind shield adhesive, the Fiero was run through a car wash and looks pretty good again. (From 10 feet)

REAR VIEW MIRROR REATTACHED

As I am not sure if blinker and brake lights are required on a car when being towed on a dolly, sheet metal was screwed to the original slotted motor bay covers. This will allow a place for the magnetic base on the portable tail lights to clamp to on the otherwise fiberglass body. The original slotted motor bay covers were replaced with solid ones to help keep water out. Brian Couchene is towing the Fiero to Missouri and his dolly does have tail and blinker lights on the fenders, so not sure the portable ones will be necessary but wanted to be prepared, just in case.

MOUNTING PLATE FOR TAIL LIGHTS

The hose clamps I used on the brake vacuum lines just stick out like a sore thumb so I picked up different clamps that should blend in a little better. If time permits, they will be installed tomorrow.

BRAKE VACUUM LINE CLAMPS

The trunk is packed with tools, adapter cables, and everything that may be needed to make sure I can keep the Fiero running. Probably won't need any of it as I have never had any problems with the car breaking down but don't  want to get caught off guard out of town.

The batteries are being topped off again as I am trying to have as much charge when we leave as possible. Not sure what the charging situation is at the Cape but want to make sure there is enough in the car to make it from the hotel to the EVTV Garage.

See you at the EVTV Open House!

Randy

NATIONAL DRIVE ELECTRIC WEEK - COLUMBUS, OH

Recently I signed up to take the Fiero to National Drive Electric Week - Columbus, OH, to be held on September 12, 2015 at Easton Town Center.

   

National Drive Electric Week Event - Columbus

Day:	Saturday, September 12, 2015
Time:	9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Location:	Easton Town Center 3945 Easton Square Pl Columbus, OH 43219

 to attend this event.

 to help the organizers for this event.

 the organizers for this event.

Last week troubleshooting was done on the retractable headlight motors, and it was finally discovered that a fuse was blown and the positive connector on the main contactor was not fully seated. The connections were cleaned with alcohol and coated with Nolox, zinc connection compound.

LIGHTS STUCK IN OPEN POSITION

HEADLIGHT MOTOR SCHEMATIC

HEADLIGHT DOORS CLOSED

The body of the Fiero is a mess, with a bad repaint job dull and flaking off in areas but I took the car to Bowman Detail Shop in Hebron, Oh, and they feel they can make the car look better. An appointment was made to have the car detailed next Wednesday. The bottom of the bumpers and ground effects on the side of the car is going to be wet sanded and painted satin black and the driver side was painted this morning.

SIDE GROUND EFFECT PAINTED SATIN BLACK

Also, a couple of nicks in the front of the hood were painted gloss black. If I have time, I may try to put a little body putty in them and then paint them again.

NICKS IN HOOD

Still quite a bit of work to do to get the car in shape to take to the National Drive Electric Week event and EVCCON but hopefully everything will come together.

Randy

HURRY UP AND WAIT

The Fiero will be officially insured after midnight, so I am anxious to get the 12 volt cutout box that was purchased on EBAY and test the Better Place Module. I guess the second module could start to be bottom balanced and the Dell Venue tablet finished wiring. This would allow the center console to be installed, so there is actually work I could be doing.

Tomorrow I need to put new brakes on my Miata, as one of the rears has started scraping. New rotors and pads were ordered from Autozone and were shipped to the house as part of the purchase price. I may start discharging the next module while I am working on the Miata, so once all the bugs are worked out with the new connections and connectors, it will be ready to install in the front compartment.

As a JLD404 needs to be mounted in the center console for the fuel gauge, I am going to need to pick up another one from Light Object and below is a link if any of you need to pick one up.

JLD404 METER

 Specification

Dual Alarm output (relay) J1,J2
Power: 12-32V DC
Default DC500V,5A
Max current: 9999A (an external shunt required)
Amp-Hr recording: 0.001~9999AH
Sampling: 3/s
Control Type: Relays
Relay: 3A@125VAC, 3A@14V DC
Display: Blue LED
Size: 96mm x48mm x62mm
Mount Hole: 92mm x44mm x62mm

The weather has been getting cooler over the last several days and it is hard to believe that summer is almost gone. I have been working on the Fiero 3 nights a week and every Saturday and Sunday since April, hoping to get it done enough to take to EVCCON. Now I am hoping to get it done enough to drove to the Columbus National Plug in Week event on September 21st at Easton Town center in Columbus, OH.

NATIONAL PLUG IN WEEK COLUMBUS, OH

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy

SHOP CLEAN UP TIME

It seems that my shop was designed by EVTV and it get's pretty messy, as I am intent on going forward and do not always pause to put tools away and keep things organized the way I should. Yesterday and today, I took some time and started organizing the miscellaneous fasteners and other items that accumulate during the course of a build. I have storage bins that have been sitting around mostly unused, so started sorting and getting all of the left over items sorted so I can find them in the future.

EVTV SHOP

CZ-EV SHOP

SORTING BOXES OF LEFT OVER ITEMS

STORAGE BINS

When I was putting the instrument panel back together, I actually had to stop and clean the shop to find all of the bolts and will probably need to do the same when the center console goes back together. Hopefully while cleaning now, all of the bolts will be located and help speed up the process when ready for installation.

Jason Horak posted a couple of good videos from EVCCON and I have embedded the link to them below.

When I woke up on Sunday morning at EVCCON, the sky was dark and it looked like rain, so decided to head back to Ohio. Sure wish I would have taken a chance on gone to Dyno Dom's for the drag race!

The shop cleaning should be done sometime before next weekend, so hopefully it will be full speed ahead by then. I am actually ready to start testing the relays and contactors and if they check out, will be ready to wire the first Better Place Module. The way the module is being configured, it will be easy to add the second and third modules to the existing one as I am making previsions to tie in the parallel cables from the front of the car.

More next week,

Randy

FINAL BOTTOM BALANCE PASS AND FIRST CHARGE

Sunday started early, continuing to bottom balance the remaining 18 cells to 2.9 volts. They were actually charged to 2.935 but settled to around 2.909 volts after they sat for awhile. 

FINAL BOTTOM BALANCE

All of the cells were checked again with a voltmeter and the highest cell was 2.9 volts. My 220 Volt AC cable was too short, so I had to run over to the hardware store and get another 10 ft of 12/3 cable to hook up the charger. Then the negative lead from the charger to the module had to have a shunt installed and a little length added to te cable. Finally all of the connections were made, the volt meter hooked up to the highest cell, the JLD404 connected to the shunt and Pack positive and negative, and the 220 breaker was turned on.

BETTER PLACE MODULE FIRST CHARGE

The charger had been set to charge the 37 HiPower cells but the voltage will need turned up for the Better Place Module, as at 4 volts/cell, were still taking a charge with the voltage rising slowly and not yet on the vertical curve.

TABLE AND  GRAPH OF FIRST CHARGE

Not sure why the amps on the graph above fall off at 28 minutes but you can see from the charge curve that it did not reduce to 10.2 amps until after 60 minutes.

While the module was charging, I did some research to find a wiring diagram to hook up two relays so when the key is turned to start, it will open the contactors and put 12 volt power to the controller, that stays energized until the key is turned from the run to off position. Finally I found a schematic for the same Bosch relays I am going to use.

START SWITCH RELAY WIRING DIAGRAM

Work was a little slow today so I took a half day off so possibly I will start wiring up the relays and making up the battery pack leads to the controller.

More later,

Randy 

BACK FROM EVCCON

I left Cape Girardeau around 7:00 am ext and headed for home instead of the drag race, as it looked like rain. After seeing Michael Brown's posts, it looks like I should have stuck around!

EVCCON 2014 DAY 5

Michael also did a post of DAY 4, and it is really great that he took the time to document the event. I finally did get to talk to Michael at the Awards Banquet to let him know his work was appreciated. 

Although I had a great time at EVCCON this year, was disappointed the Fiero did not get done in time to take, that so many speakers canceled out on Jack, and that quite a few of those in attendance in the past, did not make it this year. Thanks to Al Gada and William for letting me be a part of the drag racing team at Jack's hanger on Friday. It turned out being a lot of fun!

Thanks to Jack Rickard and all of the folks at EVTV for making this year's EVCCON another success, and for all of those taking the time and spending the money to bring their conversions. Can't wait until next year!

Randy

DISASTER AVERTED!....I HOPE!

Over the last six weeks I have been putting on the push trying to get the car ready for EVCCON and although I fell short of that goal, have got the battery pack installed and made much headway on getting it hooked up to the controller. In my haste, I put the motor compartment lid down last night after dark, not noticing that I forgot to put on one of the side covers, allowing the rain we had overnight to get into the Synkromotive controller. Fortunately, I had made a separate cover for the DC-DC converter, so it was protected from the rain.

COVER LEFT OFF OF MOTOR COMPARTMENT

CONTROLLER LED NOT BLINKING

When I went out this morning, the led was not flashing on the communications port. There was no pack voltage on the controller and only 12 volts, so I unplugged the connector and after 30 seconds or so, plugged it back in. The led was now flashing yellow, not a good sign. I took my wife to the grocery store to stock up for the week I would be gone to EVCCON and upon returning, started emailing the folks at Synkromotive, to find out what the yellow light means and to ask them what they think the water could have damaged in the controller. Before sending the email, I thought I would look and see if there was a code being flashed, so opened up the motor compartment cover, plugged the connector back in and to my relief, the port was now flashing green again. Not 100% out of the woods yet but I do feel a lot better and will hook up the computer to see if communications can still be established to the controller.

Copper sheet was ordered to make the bus bars for the battery module, positive side contactor and emergency/maintenance shut off switch and should be here when I return from EVCCON. Also, a new trunk seal was ordered from the Fiero Store to keep the water out of the trunk when it rails. 

There is a potential buyer at EVCCON for the HiPower cells that are currently in the car but since I am not bringing the Fiero, have no way to get them there without renting a vehicle, so will just have pass on the offer. I guess if they really want the cells, we can arrange to meet somewhere between Columbus, OH and Tulsa, OK, this fall. My wife has been after me to go somewhere together before the end of the year, so maybe a trip to St Louis, MO may work out.

Anyway, with any luck, I should be having appetizers and drinks at the EVTV shop by 5:00 pm tomorrow. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

WORK CONTINUES ON CONNECTING THE BATTERY MODULE

Over the last several days, progress has been made in hooking up the positive side of the battery module. A contactor and emergency/maintenance disconnect have been mounted in a box with terminals and now I am looking for a way to parallel the front battery to the rear pack.

PLATFORM FOR BOX

COMPONENTS MOUNTED IN BOX

BOX WITH TOP INSTALLED

The shop at EVTV is starting to bustle with activity and I should be in Cape Girardeau, MO by the time the EVCCON Welcome Reception starts, this Tuesday evening.

THE BEGINNING OF EVCCON

In the meantime, I still want to keep moving forward on the Fiero project so I can get it on the road before fall. Once the new battery pack in hooked up and powering the car, it will be back to the interior and instrumentation.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

A NEW DIRECTION

The box for the contactor, shunt, and fuse was a good idea but just did not seem to fit anywhere, so the mounting of these components was taken in a new direction. First a pattern of the battery was laid out on a piece of aluminum plate, holes drilled for the through rods, and cut to shape. The plate was bolted to the through rods on the battery module in the car and the components were laid out. Then the plate was removed and all of the components were laid out on a flat surface so the bolt holes could be marked. After drilling the holes, the components were all bolted to the plate and it was test installed on the end of the module.

COMPONENT MOUNTING TOP VIEW

COMPONENT MOUNTING BOTTOM VIEW

The shunt has two terminals  on each side so when the front battery module is installed, I will use one of these terminals to parallel the negative sides. A piece of sheet aluminum will be made to cover the gap between the battery and the mounting plate and a piece of plexiglass will be bolted to stand offs to cover the contactor, shunt, and fuse. It will be compact, out of the way and will allow the components to be viewed with out any danger of someone touching a conductor.

It is good to have found a place to mount these contactors and to have figured out where to bring in the power cable from the front of the car, at least to the negative side.Once the covers are made, the plate is mounted and all of the connections are made, I will start looking for a place to mount the positive side contactor, emergency/maintenance switch and tie in for the front module cable.

Thanks for visiting,

BUSTED

Monday evening a plate was made for the electrical box to mount the contactor, shunt, and fuse and all of the components were mounted. 

COMPONENTS MOUNTED IN BOX

Then the box was moved around the motor compartment to try and find a good place to mount it. There is going to need to be a bus bar to connect the cables coming from the front pack to the back pack and the controller, so instead of mounting the box close to the module, it may be best to mount a small box with the bus bar inside, close to the rear battery module and mount the component box on the back motor compartment wall. 

I am a buyer for a large utility company and Tuesday there was a convention that required me to have dinner with some of our suppliers, so did not get back home until late evening. My son and his fiance stayed all night so I could take them to the airport on the work the next day but they had to be at the airport at 4:30 am, so  I ended up having to get up at 3:30 am to get them there, so needless to say, not much work got done on Wednesday evening. I am going to keep working on the car but it became obvious tonight, I will not get the car done in time to take to EVCCON this year, so Busted! 

I am probably within 3 weeks of getting the Fiero good enough to take to Missouri but after the box with the shunt, fuse, and contactor is mounted, the interior still needs finished up and the tablet and amp hour meter still need to be finished.

M8 connector bolts were ordered to use as standoffs on the battery module to mount a plexiglass cover over the terminals and I am going to cut a piece of a sheet left over from another project and use a heat gun to bend 90% angles on the edges. It should protect anyone from getting into the connections while still allowing them to be seen. Anyway, the hopes of taking the car to EVCCON has given me a real boost over the last several weeks, as I was able to get the battery module mounted. 

Until next time,

Randy

WORKING ON THE GROUND!

Today, the tabs were finally bolted down to the battery rack rails and the module support rods were all tightened up. I had to go to Ace Hardware and get some button head bolts to have enough clearance to get the rod nuts to turn but all is good now. Also, before taking the Fiero off of the jacks, gave the underneath side of the rack a good coat of bed liner.

HOLD DOWN CLIPS MOUNTED

ANGLE CLIPS IN PLACE

BED LINER BEING APPLIED TO RACK

INBOARD HOLD DOWN CLIPS FROM TOP

CLEARANCE BETWEEN MODULE AND CONTROLLER

An electrical box was purchased from Home Depot to mount the conatctor, shunt, and fuse. The box will be bolted to the inboard end of the battery module on the negative terminal. I will probably put another contactor and an emergency/maintenance switch on the positive side also, so work began on laying all the components out and mounting them in the box.

Only a week to go until EVCCON and it is looking like the Fiero will not be done in time to take it this year but I am still going to keep trying, until it is time to leave next week.

Thanks for visiting, 

Randy

BATTERY MODULE (CONTINUED)

Work on the battery module installation continued every night last week and it is finally in. The first cells that were installed kept wanting to separate, so I had to use zip ties and battery connectors to keep them in place, while the last cells were installed. The very last cell was a bit of a challenge getting in because the pack is somewhat like an accordion, as it compresses when the rods are tightened. I had to work from the outboard end toward the inboard end, installing the zip ties around the center battery terminal and putting in the terminal connectors, to be able to get the pack to compress enough to get the last cell to fit. With the pack not compressed, the last battery was running into interference from the taper on the motor adapter, where it attached to the transmission. The end plate that I made had to be trimmed on the side to be able to clear this taper and I was not able to put in the spacers that go in the holes where the rods threads through. After compressing the top of the pack, crawling under the car and compressing the bottom of the pack, prying, shaking and probably cussing a little, I was able to get the pack compressed enough to get the the rods to come through and nuts started on them. The tabs on the outboard end plate worked out great and are catching the ends of the angle iron very well but I may run into problems drilling and tapping the holes on the inboard clips and may have to drill the holes from the bottom to bolt the them to the angle iron rack, from the bottom. I finished working on the module after dark on Friday night with hopes of getting up early on Saturday morning to continue.

BATTERY MODULE INSTALLED

INBOARD END PLATE

When I woke up on Saturday, around 7 am,  it was still dark out and upon looking out, it was apparent a rain storm was approaching but by 8:30 am the storm had just passed. I had to pick up a trimmer and chainsaw that I am had repaired, so started working on putting the braces on the top and bottom of the module. After putting a spacer on the rods so I could tighten them up a little more, I was able to bet all of the support braces in place. Then the bottom rod nuts were loosened, so the holes can be drilled to mount the bottom tabs to the rack angle to hold down the module. Tomorrow the holes will be drilled and the connectors will be connected to the pack so it can be charged. I will hook up the JLD404, so the pack capacity can be measured.

Until Tomorrow,

Randy