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

MSRP $269.99

FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING (Email for Intl Rates)

Bundle Pricing

AM22 LiFe Starter Battery $269.99 USD

Select Polarity:

Positive on Left   Positive on Right

 

You will need to request the voltage protection board but it is available.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

TOP BALANCING THE BOTTOM

When I started bottom balancing the second battery module, readings were taken on each 1/2 cell. There are two individual groups of pouch cells within each cell that are hooked in series, with each side reading around 3.85 volts to the center terminal or 7.7 volts across the entire cell.

POUCH CELL

ASSEMBLED CELL CUT AWAY

CELL SHOWING THE TERMINALS

SIXTEEN CELL MODULES

When initial readings were take across the entire 16 cell module, it measured 124.5 volts and each of the half cells were within a couple hundredths of a volt of each other, so I assume the Better Place Battery Management System (BMS) was top balancing the individual cells. After draining the entire module down until the lowest cell was 2.6 volts, I let the pack sit for a couple days and took readings on each half cell again, this time trying to identify the highest half cell. The lowest had come up to 2.85 volts and the highest was up to 2.95. By the end of the day the highest cell had come up to 3.04 volts, so I hooked the two 150 watt quartz lights up and drained the pack down until the highest cell was at 2.6 volts. The lowest cell had gone down to 2.45 volts. Then I hooked up the 40 watt bulb and let the voltage start climbing back up at a lower amp draw. Once the voltage climb stopped, I turned off the 40 watt bulb and turned on a 15 watt night light. I always put a note on my computer that the batteries are discharging so I will not forget to stop the drain before going to bed. 

I may need to repeat this process several times before the half cells finally stabilize below 3 volts. Once they have set for several days and are all under 3 volts, I will use the Powerlab6 to bring them all up to 3 volts. Kind of like top balancing the bottom, as the Powerlab6 will not automatically shut off at a voltage under 3 volts when charging and if you try and discharge them below 3 volts, they just keep drifting back up. It seems that charging to bring them all to the same level at the bottom works better and gets them all to a more uniform voltage.

The LiMn2O4 cells operate at a higher voltage range that the LiFePo4 cells at at around 3.9 resting voltage (give or take) as opposed the the 3.36 volts of the Lithium Iron Phosphate cells and there isn't a lot of information on bottom balancing LiMn204 cells yet. Jack Rickard of EVTV reported that they just did not want to stabilize below 3 volts and said that is now the voltage he is using, so that is where I came up with using 3 volts.

After an hour or so with the 15 watt night light hooked up the highest cell stabilized at 3.809 volts, so the light was shut off and I will wait until Wednesday night to check all of the individual cells again. By next weekend, if they are all below 3 volts, I will start bringing them all up to 3 volts with the Powerlab6, if not, I will drain the module down until the highest cell is 2.6 volts and wait another week to see if it stabilizes below 3 volts.

Until next time,

Randy

PS. Still searching for the lost connectors!

GUESS YOUR WEIGHT

Last week, in response to Jack Rickard's comment on the EVTV Blog that, 1 watt hour per mile per each 10 pounds of weigh was a rough estimate of how large of a pack you will need, I posted that my car was using 288 watt hours per mile, so the car must weigh 2880 pounds. I went on to post that I would really like to weigh the car, to see how heavy it actually is. A few days later, Brian Couchene  emailed and offered to let me use his scales. This Friday we made arrangements and I drove out to Brian's house to pick up the scales.

As always, I had a very informative visit, with a demonstration of the Lear Charger and the software that was operating it. Brian has a UI set up to change the voltages and turn off the charger. He is now working on trying to get the charger's 12 volt capabilities to work. The Coda, which these particular chargers were used on, did not use the 12 volt system in the charger but the EVTV team working on reverse engineering the CAN programming, is hoping it can be enabled. Brian has the engine and transmission out of the S10 he is converting and we went outside where it was parked,  to talk about how he was going to install the E-Drive transmission and Siemens Motor. As always, it is quite enjoyable getting to spend an evening with a fellow EV converter, talking about electric cars and in the case of Brian, hybrid and battery powered switch locomotives.

Late Saturday morning, the scales were hooked up and zeroed, then the car jacked up, and the scales placed under each wheel.

PROFORM LCD INTERFACE

SCALES UNDER WHEELS

Weight measurements were taken with the HighPower cells still in the front of the car, with them removed, and with them removed and me in the dirver's seat.

WEIGHT OF CAR

With the HighPower cells still in the front of the car and adding 199 pounds for my weight, the car would have been at 2825 pounds, so pretty close to the 1 watt hour per 10 pounds per mile.I will do some test drives with 274 pounds less than before and it will be interesting to see if I drop down close to 260 watt hours per mile.

By now, I was on a roll, so started taking the belly pan off the front underneath of the car. I was actually able to get all of the screws out without jacking up the car as the front of the car had come up several inches when the HiPower cells were removed. With the belly pan now out of the way, I started removing the heavy angle iron battery racks that were designed to hold lead acid batteries. I didn't have the car on jacks, so had to cut off one of the brackets to finally get the rack to drop out of the bottom of the car but finally it was out!

BATTERIES AND RACKS REMOVED

I was finished by 5 PM but was totally wiped out from crawling around on the driveway all day, so it was time for a little rest to get ready for the Buckeye game against Penn State tonight.

Thanks again to Brian Couchene  for the use of the scales!

Until Next Time,

Randy

CORDLESS STRING TRIMMER

Awhile back my Homelite 2 cycle trimmer bit the dust, and after taking it to a repair shop, only to be told that they do not work on small 2 cycle engines, ordered a Black and Decker LiFePo4 cordless string trimmer. Home Depot had these on sale and at the same price as the Roybi, that weighed only 7.8 pounds verses the Roybi's 15 pounds.

Model # LST136 TRIMMER

Between the time my old trimmer stopped working and when the new cordless trimmer arrived, the grass that needed trimmed was almost a foot tall, so the first use of the new trimmer should be a good indication of how is is going to work out for me. After assembling the trimmer and giving the battery a charge, I took it out to give it a try. The Black and Decker Model LST136 has a variable seed setting and I set it on low. The trimmer buzzed through the tall grass with no problem and I am not sure if it was the lower speed setting or the different placement of the string guard, but I did not have grass being thrown all over my legs like I did with the old Homelite trimmer. Since it had been several weeks since I had trimmed, it took about twice as long as normal and when finished, the trimmer had just as much power  as when I first started trimming.

 SPECIFICATIONS

Antivibration	No	Assembled Depth (in.)	9.623 in
Assembled Height (in.)	43.94 in	Assembled Width (in.)	4.44 in
Assembly Required	No	Attachment capable	No
Batteries Included	Yes	Battery Type Required	40 Volt Lithium-Ion
Charger Included	Yes	Commercial	No
Engine Cycles	Electric Motor	Extra Battery Included	No
Line Advance System	Automatic	Line style size	.065
Manufacturer Warranty	30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee 3 Year Full Warranty	Maximum cutting path diameter (in.)	13
Metal blade conversion kit	No	Multiple heads included	No
No-tool line replacement	Yes	Number of Trim Lines	1
Product Weight (lb.)	7.8 lb	Recommended line diameter (in.)	.065
Replaceable Head	Yes	Returnable	90-Day
Shaft length (in.)	52	Shaft type	Straight
Shoulder harness/strap	No	Start Type	Electric
Trimmer Line Type	String	Trimmer Type	Consumer Electric Cordless String
Voltage (volts)	40

As I have been converting the Fiero to electric for a couple years now, the LiFePo 4 trimmer seemed to be a natural decision. I can see an electric garden tractor conversion in the future!

Randy

FULL SPEED AHEAD.....DAM THE TORPEDOES!!!

My trimmer has a plastic hose to push gas into the carburetor when pumping the primer. The hose was old and had cracked in two, so I took it down the street to a repair shop to see if they had the hose. The guy came out and told me that they did not work on small engines and didn't know of any other shops that did either, so I brought it back home and went on the hunt for a tube that may work. I noticed a #10 cable with a thick jacket and proceeded to pull the wire out of it. I did some fitting and cutting to get the right length and after installed, the trimmer started right up and was able to accelerate again. Good thing because my yard really needs a good trimming. It is really hard to get things worked on anymore and it seems we pretty have a throw away mentality anymore.

After getting the weed eater squared away, I  started with putting the HiPower batteries back in the car and hooking all the connections back up. Wouldn't you know, I still have a ground fault but now it is only 65 volts. I followed it around the pack and it changes polarity at the last cell on the negative side of the pack. This is leading me to the front to back power leads, controller, motor, or possibly the DC-DC converter. Just before I started disconnecting leads, a small package arrived.

PACK BACK IN

Light Object is amazing on their shipping as I ordered the DC-DC converter on Wednesday and it was here Saturday, with just standard USPS first class shipping. Having wired up the first one incorrectly, I went to the Light Object website and found a more detailed description of how it is wired.

WIRING LAYOUT FOR DC-DC ISOLATOR

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE LEADS ATTACHED

Light Objects is a little lacking on the documentation sent with their products but usually has everything you need if you search their website and sure enough, after poking around was able to find a write up with a couple of pictures. As new meters were ordered that may have a different connector for the power side, I only soldered the 12 volt wires to the new DC-DC converter and will solder the measurement side after the new meters arrive. Most of the meters I have ordered are shipped via China Courier Service and it seems like the Slow Boat From China Syndrome! The meters are not scheduled to arrive until June 26.

Enough waiting around, I started looking around the garage for materials that could be made into the rear firewall bulkhead. Finally a dimmer switch was spotted with a housing that looked like it may just work. The rivets were drilled out and the dimmer electronics were removed. Then the search was on for a piece of  sheet metal to cover the hole in the firewall and mount the housing to. Finally I came across a small square (well almost) piece of metal that would work. One edge was cut a little rough so I got out my grinder and evened up all of the sides. Then a hole was put in the middle with a hole saw, a coat of black paint was applied,  and a weather proof  cable gland was installed. Then a hole was put in the housing with a hole saw and the housing was bolted to the plate. The assembly was mounted over the hole in the firewall with a couple of self taping screws. Ok, I am on a roll now so started feeding the network cable, 12 volt shunt cables, and 6 more wires to use for the speedometer.and anything else that may come up later.

BULKHEAD INSIDE VIEW

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

PACKING HEAT

Sunday, work started on the heater control. The original build had a separate switch to turn on the heating element, that was mounted on the side of the instrument pod. Over time, the switch started pulling out and the vinyl around the opening was starting to split. The hole was covered with electrical tape and some grained sheet was heated with an iron to melt the electrical tape into the original vinyl. Then the dash pod was painted, with charcoal interior paint. It isn't perfect but covers the hole and looks pretty good.

INSTRUMENT POD VINYL PATCH

There is a micro switch on the pot box that is no longer needed because the Synkromotive controller will not start if the accelerator is depressed, when turning on the ignition, so it was removed and will be used to turn on the heating element when the heater selector is slid to the hot position. After placing the micro switch in several different positions, while operating the heater selection slide, a good placement was found and holes were drilled to mount it.

HEATER TEMPERATURE SLIDE

MICRO SWITCH NOT ACTUATED

MICRO SWITCH ACTUATED

One of the pods that house the duct door actuators was in the way on the bottom of the surface where the micro switch was mounted so the hole was drilled a little smaller and the bolt was threaded into the housing plastic. You can also see the washer that had to be used to keep the bolt from pressing on the duct door actuator housing. When the micro switch is removed for final wiring, some contact cement will be applied to assure it will remain in place.

Then the heater fan schematic was used to figure out how to power the switch so the element would only energize if the fan was running. Diodes can be used to power the heater element control so no matter what speed the fan is set to, the element can be energized. After thinking about the system for awhile, a small led light will also be added so you can see when the element is energized. Also, a fuse will be added from the pack to the element.

HEATER ELEMENT CONTROL SCHEMATIC

Documentation is getting a little behind, so I am trying to catch up a little, as when the car is finished, it will have a service and operation manual.

When looking for the ground leak, the first row of cells had to be removed, so while they were sitting in the garage, the voltages were checked. They were all 3.34 volts and within thousandths of a volt of each other. If any of you follow John Hardy's battery work, he has documented this behavior in the LiFePo4 batteries. As they are cycled, the voltages seem to come closer to each other.

BATTERY VOLTAGE READING

This has been a very productive weekend and all the known bugs have either been fixed or components ordered to fix them. The Better Place battery module is about half way through the second bottom balance and with some of the cells out of the car, I can survey where it can be mounted. 

Until next post,

Randy

TESLA TO OPEN FIRST OHIO STORE

Easton to get Ohio's first Tesla store

By The Columbus Dispatch Dan Gearino 

Tesla Motors has chosen Easton for its first store in Ohio, opening on Dec. 6. A week later, the company will open its second Ohio store at Kenwood Towne Centre in Cincinnati. 

The California-based automaker will sell its all-electric Model S, which has a base price of $62,400 after a federal tax credit. “We put stores in locations where people are educated and interested about technology, and where there is already a strong market for Model S.” said Alexis Georgeson, a Tesla spokeswoman. The Easton store will be 2,600 square feet and have seven employees. “It’s more like an Apple Store than a traditional dealership,” Georgeson said. It will be located at Gramercy Street and the Strand, with a public grand opening scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Dec. 6. Last year, the automaker opened its first service center in the state at 4140 Tuller Rd. in Dublin. That center will remain open. The company is adding stores in the Midwest and preparing to release a less-expensive model, all part of an attempt to reach more of a mainstream audience, said Michelle Krebs, an auto analyst for Edmunds.com. Most of the initial stores were clustered on the coasts. “They’re trying to change the game by being a Silicon Valley company instead of a Detroit or Japan company,” she said. Tesla has about 40 stores in 19 states and the District of Columbia, plus several stores in Canada. The Model S recently got 99 out of 100 points in a Consumer Reports owner-satisfaction survey, which was the highest score in years. It was also the Motor Trend 2013 Car of the Year, Time’s Best Invention of the Year for 2012, and Automobile magazine’s 2013 Automobile of the Year. At the same time, Tesla has faced several reports of car fires and concerns about the lack of an infrastructure to charge the vehicles. The Model S is designed to go 265 miles on a single charge.

CONTACT

The bottom balancing continues with 20 of the cells rebalanced to 2.6 volts. News came on Friday that my Powerlab 8 would not be covered under warranty and in fact, was so fired, they would not even repair it for the standard service fee. I asked them if they had a program for replacing a damaged charger at a reduced rate and their only offer was a 10% Black Friday discount, so I will wait and try to pick up another refurbished one. I am going to have the old one shipped back so I can take a look at the inside.

BOTTOM BALANCING WITH JLD404

The DC-DC converter and battery was reinstalled but I had to flip a couple wires as the controller came to life as soon as the battery was connected. With the wires connected correctly, the controller now comes to life when the key is switched. on.

 

DC-DC CONVERTER & BATTERY INSTALLED

  The cooling fan relay wires were pulled through the division and the grommet was reinstalled on the front lighting wires. Then the cooling fan relay wires connected to a Bosh relay, the vacuum pump and main battery pack contactor. When the ignition switch was turned to run, the vacuum pump roared to life, and the contactor showed continuity when checked with an ohm meter.

GROMMET INSTALLED

BOSCH RELAY

All that is left to do is make up the leads from the batteries to the contactor and shunt, then when the battery balance is done, it should be ready to test drive.

I was on 300mpg.org a couple weeks ago and read Ben Nelson's review of the book INGENIOUS, by Jason Fagone, so purchased the electronic version on Amazon. The book is about four of the XPrize entrants, and one of them was Kevin Smith. If any of you have ever met Kevin, he is quite a character and kept me laughing during EVCCON. For those of you converting cars, you can really relate to what the teams went through to get their entries ready. It is a bit sad that no vehicle from the XPrize has ever gone into  production but with a couple of the teams, the dream is still alive.

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy

ODDS AND ENDS - BOTTOM BALANCING AGAIN

This week I continued working on getting ignition power for the vacuum pump and main contactor. The cooling fan was removed during the original conversion but the relay is still in the left front corner of the car, so that looks like the best place to get power.

MODIFIED COOLING FAN RELAY CIRCUIT

The left headlamp assembly was removed and the wiring to the cooling fan relay was exposed. It would be nice to run fan wires back through the division into the the area where the vacuum pump and contactor are but the lighting wires need to stay in the front, so separating them could be a little tricky. I may just use one of the extra Bosh relays I have since the circuit is going to need to be rewired anyway.

COOLING FAN RELAY WIRING

 As the batteries are all in the front of the car, I decided to move the charger until the rear battery boxes are installed. The connections to the motor were made up and loom was installed over the wiring. Orange shrink tubing was put on all of the high voltage cable, and all that is left to do back there is to anchor the loom and install the battery and DC-DC converter..

CONTROLLER AND MOTOR CONNTECTIONS COMPLETED

 During the original second bottom balance, a couple of the batteries that initially tested bad, seemed to come back to life. During my first two full charges of the pack, I had been spot checking the pack as it approached full discharge and when the pack reached 2.9 volts/cell on the second discharge, took readings on all of the batteries. To my surprise, they were varying mostly from 2.7 to 2.9 volts per cell, with one at 2.0 and one that had reversed polarity. Actually it was the one that had originally tested bad then checked good after I cycled it a couple time and since it was on the end, I just eliminated it from the pack. Because of this, I decided to give the cells another bottom balance with the JLD404 and a small flashlight bulb.

BOTTOM BALANCING WITH JLD404

The bottom balance is going to take awhile, as it would be quicker to put a little charge in a few cells but my Powerlab8 is still back at the factory for repair, so my only option is to discharge all of them until they settle at 2.6 volts. It takes a couple hours for each cell to finally settle out where it does not drift back up to 2.7.

It has been a good week, as I have been able to finish the little odd and ends and find there are fewer and fewer things that need finished before testing the motor and controller. The interior, gauges, and heater still need finished but that can be done after I test the motor and controller. There will also be brake and possibly clutch adjustments after the car is rolling.

Until next week,

Randy

INITIAL PACK CHARGE

My charger is back (Thanks Mark) and functioning as it was programed to by Zivan. It permits me to adjust the voltage for the end of the CC part of the curve, but on the CV part of the curve, seems to hold the voltage for a brief period, then allows the voltage to start creeping up. The charger seems to be shutting down, based on a predetermined time, that was programmed for 225 ah flooded cell batteries originally used. Turning the current down effects the CC stage of the original charge, as well as the CV phase. The batteries are being drained back down so I can check the bottom balance, then will be charged again and the pots adjusted to charge at 18 amps CC and go into the CV phase around 3.25 volts/cell. This will give me some room when the voltage starts drifting up and should allow me to stay in the CV stage until the charger shuts down.

CHARGING THE PACK

The second option is the programmable chip I purchased awhile back, that will allow me to set the CC and CV levels in the software. This is my last resort as I don't want to smoke the charger again.

Currently I am using 2 flood lights to drain the pack at 2.5 amps, so it is taking a long time to get back down to where I am approaching 2.6 volts. A couple cells were shorted for a couple seconds when I was connecting the pack back up, so I hope I didn't take enough out to effect the balance. Those cells are reading a little less than the ones around them.

The 12 volt system needs hooked up this weekend so I can hook up the heater. That should give me a much better way to drain the pack if I need to do it again. Then all that will need done is to hook up the contactor and motor leads before testing the controller. 

WEEKEND OFF

I have been working on the Fiero several nights a week and almost every weekend since March, so I kind of slacked this weekend.

We took my wife's sister to the airport for her return flight to Florida after a weeks visit, then I picked up my son and his girl friend and we went to National Plug In Day Columbus.

They had the Tesla Model S, and Roadster, Nissan Leaf, and Chevy Volt well represented but none of the local converters brought their builds. They also were not giving any rides when we were there but I guess they did give rides later in the day. As you can see in the picture below, there were quite a few people showing interest in electric cars.

 TESLA MODEL S

 NISSAN LEAF

TESLA MODEL S

TESLA ROADSTER

CHEVY VOLT

After about an hour at the car show, we decided to get something to eat. I work in Columbus every day but never just walk around the city, so my son suggested we to to Dirty Franks on 4th St. Our plan was to get something to eat and go back to the car show but when we got there, we ended up having to wait almost 45 minutes to be seated, had to walk a block to where the car was parked to feed the meter, and by the time we were done eating, the show was over.

DIRTY FRANKS

 When we got back to the car, we had over an hour left on the meter and noticed Uncle Sam Pawn Shop across the street from where we were parked, so decided to go in. (Been watching too much Pawn Stars on the History Channel)

 

One of my coworkers, Tony,  moved to Columbus from a small Ohio town and the first year he was here, his friends in his hometown put on a surprise "Martini Party" in his front yard, to commemorate his move to the big city. It became an annual party and the second year Tony decided to burn down a pine tree that he no longer wanted in his front yard. The tree is gone but burning something is his front yard has become a Tradition of the Martini Party. Tony even had a projector and large screen for all the Buckeye fans to watch the football game.

MARTINI PARTY

Sunday morning I got my weekly fix of EVTV and it was a pretty interesting show. They are fixing rust an a Karmann Ghia that sold for a premium price on EBAY because it was supposed to be in great condition, only to find out the under body was very rusted. Then Jack introduced a new golf car project, and a new concept of bottom balancing and not worrying about how low the batteries are discharged. There has been many documented cases of the batteries going to nearly zero and coming back to full capacity when charged. All of the OEM charging equipment will be used and the battery pack will be adjusted to keep the pack from going too high. This is a neat concept, as when I sold the lead acid batteries out of the original Fiero build, I had a bunch of interest from golf cart owners and I believe that the HiPower batteries I have now would be of great interest to them when I am ready to put in the CALB pack. I have always thought that it would be fork lifts and golf carts that will help increase volumes battery sales to the point the prices will start to come down for EV converters. I don't think there is much motivation for traditional battery companies to change to a lithium chemistry because they like the business model of a battery going bad in a few years, so they can sell new ones. It will take a shift in consumer demand to change that.

Hope to have more EV stuff next week.

Regards,

Randy  

SYNKROMOTIVE

Last week ended with problems getting my old laptop to connect to the Synkromotive Controller. I kept getting errors telling me the program could not launch. I went to the event viewer and there was a message that .net framework 2 was not starting, so I tried to remove it from the program menu so I could reinstall it. Both the uninstall and Repair would not work so I decided to just load it again. The Synkromotive control panel still would not work. I tried several procedures from the Microsoft site with no luck. I even tried to restore the computer back to an earlier date and just managed to wipe out the drivers for my wireless internet connection and the link to the Synkromotive Control panel, so I restored it back to the most recent restore point and got everything back, including the inability to open the controller control pane. When I got home from work on Tuesday, the updates ready icon was there and sure enough, it was a .net update. I ran the update and to my surprise, the control panel came up. I had other things to do and was not able to try and connect to the controller, but when I got home Wednesday, 12 volts was hooked up to the controller, control panel was opened, but I still was not able to connect.. After reading the manual and adjusting the port and baud rate, it finally did connect. Still no word on my connectors from CALIB but one menu shows 24 volts as the minimum voltage for the controller, so I may hook up two 12 volt batteries just to test the set-up and make sure everything works when connected to the motor.

SYNKROMOTIVE CONTROL PANEL

 Saturday a new platform was fabricated to mount the controller on top of the Warp9 motor. Two of the three stator bolt holes were used  Two counter sunk bolts were drilled out to 11/32 and the threads cut off to make a counter sunk washer, then a 1/4 inch spacer was made. A plate was made to go on top of the spacers that the controller will bolt to. Button head 5/16 inch stainless steel bolts were used to fasten it all together and hold the stator windings in place. The fan on the Synkromotive Controller was turned to the cabin side of the engine bay, so the wires will be visible from the rear of the car making them a little easier to get to.

 

CONTROLLER RE-MOUNTED 

My wife went with her sister to a class reunion, so after getting the controller mounted, it was off to J.Gumbo's in Baltimore, OH for a bowl of gumbo and a glass of Southern Tier Pumking 2013. Both were very tasty and it was nice talking to Fred and Heather Baughman, the owners.

 

J GUMBO'S BALTIMORE, OH

Sunday, I kind of took a break from the Fiero and went to get a hair cut, them watched the NASCAR NAPCAR, race. I saw the beginning and end but felt pretty refreshed after it was over, so I went out and spliced in the speedometer connector I purchased on EBAY. The old one got tangled when I dropped the cradle and ripped off. The wires on the new connector were a different color so I had to find the diagram to make sure I hooked it up correctly.

 

SPEED SENSOR DIAGRAM 

SPEED SENSOR CONNECTOR 

MOTOR COMPARTMENT 

Until next post,

Randy