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 

OVER EVCCON.......BACK TO WORK!

My week in Cape Girardeau went so fast, it almost seems like a dream. It was good to see all of the acquaintances I have made over the last four years but now it is time to get back to work While at the convention, the copper sheet and trunk seal arrived, and the packages were waiting, unopened in my computer room, when I returned home.

Sunday evening, I started laying out the positive side emergency/maintenance shut off and contactor, in the electrical box again. Then Monday morning, I took out a sheet of aluminum foil and began making templates for all of the bus bar I would need. I used some Styrofoam and silicone adhesive under the manual switch to locate it in the box when the top was removed. After measuring and cutting aluminum foil templates, the copper plate was cut and bent into the proper shape to make all of the connections.

BUS BAR INSTALLED

BOX INSTALLED IN MOTOR COMPARTMENT

Then back to the negative contactor, shunt and fuse mounting. The aluminum plate was removed from the end of the battery module and an aluminum strip was bent to cover the space between the battery and plate so you won't see the mounting bolts. Then clips were fastened to the aluminum plate to bolt the strip to.

CLAMPING STRIP TO DRILL BOLT HOLES

COUNTER SUNK SCREWS TO FASTEN STRIP

The plate and cover strip will be painter black and a Plexiglas cover will be made over the end. As you can see from the pictures, I was running out of daylight but just 3 screws to go. I am going to install the connectors on the pack terminals so the module can be charges, so maybe by this weekend, I can test the Better Place module. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy