After discharging the lowest cell down to 2.7, the module was rested for 2 weeks and today all of the cell voltages were read again. All of the voltages had drifted back up to around 3 volts with the highest being 3.096 and the lowest, 2.068 volts. The lowest half cell shifted from #5 to #9. The two flood lights were hooked up and the lowest half cell was taken down to 2.5 volts. Then the 40 watt bulb was connected and the voltage started increasing again. Once the voltage stabilizes, the 4 watt night light will be connected and the voltage drained until the lowest half cell is down to 2.5 again. Hopefully after a couple weeks rest, all of the half cells will be below 3 volts and I can start charging all of them up to 3 volts. This is kind of like top balancing the bottom and seems to work best to get them to all level out at the same voltage. Jack Rickard at EVTV reported that he was using 3 volts as his bottom balance voltage but this is before his module caught on fire, so I may check with him to find out what voltage he is using now.

Until next time,

Randy

THIRD TIMES A CHARM???

This is the third Better Place Module that I have had the privilege to bottom balance and must admit, after seeing the aftermath of the fire at EVTV, am being a bit more cautious. When bottom balancing the Better Place Modules, they are always on  a furniture dolly, so they can be quickly wheeled out into the driveway should anything go wrong.

As I described in my last post, the process is started by finding the lowest cell and then hooking up two 1000 watt halogen flood lights and bringing them down until the lowest cell is 2.9 volts. The lights are then disconnected and another voltage reading pass is taken to make sure that is still the lowest cell. The volt meter is then moved to the new lowest cell or left as is, if that is still the lowest cell. Then a 40 watt light bulb is used to draw the cell voltage down to 2.75 volts. Once the cell is down to 2.75 the light bulb is turned off and another voltage pass is taken to make sure that is still the lowest cell. Then a 5 watt light bulb is connected to the module and left on until the lowest cell comes back down to 2.75. This is the stage I am currently in, as once the 5 watt bulb is connected, the voltage starts coming  back up and often goes close  to 3 volts before it starts coming down again. I started this yesterday morning and after 25 hours of discharging, still do not have the low cell stabilized to 2.75 volts.

When the cells are drained, they seem to always drift back up but when they are charged seem to always drift back down in voltage, so once I get the low cell down stabilized at  2.75 volts, I start charging them all back up to 2.8 volts or what ever voltage the highest half cell is resting at. Remember, the Better Place cells are LiMn2O4,  not LiFePo4 cells and operate at a higher voltage range, so when they are down to 3 volts per half cell, are pretty much depleted. My controller is set to cut off at 90 volts or around 2.8 volts per cell, so the module should never discharge lower that that.

While the module is being discharged, a post it note is stuck to my laptop to remind me and I check the module every half hour or so. I have found that since the LiMn2O4 cells are so "bouncy," the best way to get them to stabilize below 3 volts is to discharge at a very low level when approaching the desired low voltage.

Also, measurements were taken in the nose of the Fiero and the module will fit, so am thinking about how to mount it. To get the module in from the top, the hood will need to be removed but this may be the best way to install it.

Until next post,

Randy

BOTTOM BALANCING THE LAST BETTER PLACE MODULE

We have had a few nice weekends in the last half of February, so decided to start bottom balancing the third Better Place battery module. 

The terminals and connectors were  all cleaned with scotch bright and a thin coat of Noalox anti-oxidant compound was applied to the them. The connectors were positioned on the terminals and a small drop of Loctite was applied to each of them before threading them into the terminal. A socket on a Dewalt drill with the torque setting on 3 was used to tighten all of the terminals.  

Then voltages were taken on each half cell and most of them were in the 3.85 volt range but one cell was only 3.65, so the volt meter was hooked on that half cell to monitor the drain down of the module.

Eye terminal connectors had been previously crimped onto the end of an extension cord and two 1000 watt flood lights are used to draw down the module. When the voltage reading on the lowest cell approached 3 volts, the individual half cell readings will be taken again and a different cell will be monitored if necessary. I will drain the module down to 88 volts or 2.75 volts/half cell and let the module set for awhile, as it will drift back up in voltage in a few hours. Then a 100 watt light bulb is hooked up to allow the voltage to be drawn down slowly. Finally a 5 watt night light is hooked up that allows the voltage to be drawn down even more slowly. This is the only way I have found that will cause the voltage to finally stabilize and not keep drifting back up. Even after that, over a couple of weeks, the cells will drift back up to around 3 volts. 

After the initial draw down and couple of weeks sitting, individual half cell balancing is done with a JLD404 and a 4 volt flashlight bulb. The JLD404 is set so it drains the half cell down to 2.75 volts and does not turn back on until the cell drifts back up to 2.95 or so. These are just hooked up and allowed to cycle until the half cell stabilizes under  2.95 volts.

BOTTOM BALANCING MODULE

With spring just around the corner, I want to get a running start to get the Fiero back on the road with all three modules installed.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

IT COULD BE WORSE!

The other day when the meter leads shorted between the pack battery pins on the d-sub connector, I thought it just damaged the connector but when I went out to work on it today, found that there was no voltage on the wires. After taking part of the center console apart, I could see a wire had come off of the console connector. The easiest way to repair it is to just pull some new wires through the center console and reconnect them to the wires going to the meters.

Sometimes I think I have all the bad luck but this morning when checking the EVTV Page for a new show, found that Jack had a battery fire on Saturday in a Better Place Pack. Seems it ran down too low and when he charged it back up, went ballistic! So when things are not going good on my Fiero build, it is always good to reflect and realize it could be worse. I do have Better Place cells, so will need to make sure they do not run down or overcharge.

EVTV FIRE

Until next week,

Randy

MATCHING MODULES

Today was pretty eventful, as the 1998 Mercedes Benz SLK Class 2 door convertible hardtop with 0nly 34000 miles was being delivered. A half day off work was taken but really was not needed, as the car did not arrive until 7:30 pm.

MERCEDES BENZ SLK CLASS

Since I was off and just waiting for the car to be delivered, I decided to start hooking up the front battery module. The cables in the front had to be trimmed and the connectors needed to be drilled so they would go over a 3/8 in stud. Once they were drilled, the cable was prepared and they were crimped onto the cable. Heat shrink covered the connection and insulating boots were pushed over the cable. Voltage readings were taken on the front and rear modules and they were very close to the same voltage.

FRONT MODULE CONNECTION

FRONT MODULE IS 123.0 VOLTS

FRONT MODULE IS 123.1 VOLTS

Since the modules were only .1 volt apart, I took a pair of needle nose and placed the last cell connector on the battery terminals and started the bolts. When I tightened up the bolts there was a slight spark and the modules were connected. 

LAST CONNECTION MADE

Then, just to make sure both the modules were working properly, a drive was taken to the Marathon Convenience Store to pick up a 6 pack of Big Vic Imperial IPA. I felt a little celebration was in order, as this had been a busy day. The car ran fine and it will be interesting to do the first charge with both modules connected and then to do a little range testing.

Until next post,

Randy

BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE!

This has been a busy weekend, as I am getting ready to paint the bathroom and re-grout the tiles, so I needed to make as much progress as possible on getting the second module connected. July is almost history and EVCCON is only 8 weeks away. It seems like there is so much to do and so little time.

The module connections were installed, then the next project was to drill holes in the deck plate for the cables to be run through. There wasn't much room in front of the module but I was finally able to get into a position to center punch the locations and drill the holes with a hole saw.

BATTERY CONNECTIONS INSTALLED

HOLES DRILLED FOR CABLES

Earlier in the day a trip was made to ACE Hardware to pick up some flexible conduit and Liquid Tight Connectors to run the cable in.

3/4in x 25ft Ultratite Flexible Conduit

3/4 IN LIQUID TIGHT CONNECTOR

So the end to a busy weekend, that started with mowing the lawn on Friday, finishing some touch up painting around the new patio door and purchasing a car on EBAY, then working on the battery module. My work cloths still need dried and hung up but tomorrow back to work, so maybe I can get a little break and rest up a little!

Until next time,

Randy

LETS DANCE - CANCON

EVTV had the group that is reverse engineering the CAN communication in OEM electric cars, to get the TESLA motors spinning, so I was keeping an eye on the EVTV webcam. There was a post on the EVTV blog, commenting how it would have been nice to have had a web cam showing the TESLA motor bench, where the team was working. I had saved a couple of pictures from the shop cam and when I was looking at them on my picture viewer, noticed that the two in sequence made it look like the group was dancing, so I just had to do a gif and post it. 

EVTV CANCON 2015 - PRACTICING DANCE MOVES

On the bright side, it seems that in between all the dancing, the team was able to spin up the TESLA motors, so congratulations to all involved for another job well done! This really opens the door for some pretty cool conversions with plenty of power.

I made a trip to Ace Hardware to pick up some angle iron and aluminum plate to start boxing in the front of the Fiero to hold the batteries. After getting the material home, I was not satisfied with it and decided to order some aluminum angle from Alro Steel. I plan to screw the aluminum angle to the side frame and then fasten the flat aluminum plate to the angle. To get the battery module into the space in the front of the Fiero, I am going to have to break the pack in half and put 8 cells end to end. I am not sure if the module will be standing up or if I will put it on the side like it was in the original Better Place module. I am not much of an artist but below is the general arrangement of the batteries.

BATTERY MODULE CONFIGURATION

It has been hard finding time to work on the car with the kitchen remodeling we are doing but I have been trying to divide my time between the two.

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We have had a great year at CZ-EV and wish you and yours a Merry Christmas!

A special thanks to the builders in Ohio who have always been there to lend a helping hand when called upon!

The bottom balancing of the Better Place modules has been going well and the second module is all most done. The trick seems to be ending the bottom balance with a charge instead of a discharge. I had two cells that were still at 3 volts and discharged them to 2.91 volts before charging them back up to 2.95 volts. I have noticed that when discharging, the cells always come back up to close to 3 volts but after a charge at low amperage, will stat at 2.95 volts or drop a volt or so after charging. I am going to try to do a video of my second module bottom balancing and hope it will be useful for any of you still working on bottom balancing a Better Place battery module.

Hoping for a great 2015,

Randy

I NEED A TRACTOR

Over the last several weeks, I have been tearing the garage apart in search of the battery connectors for the third Better Place Module and it finally dawned on me, did I ever remove the connectors from the plastic holder that was used to hold the connectors and the BMS connections on the module. I opened the carrier case that the Better Place Module was shipped in and sure enough, they were still in the plastic holder. I had taken the connectors off of a module when I first disassembled the pack but bottom balanced a different module to put in the rear of the car and used the connectors that were already removed. I am not sure why I thought I had a bag of connectors.

BATTERY CONNECTION HOLDER

BATTERY CONNECTORS

I had a friend once ask me if I wanted to buy a tractor. With a puzzled look, I asked him, why would I need a tractor and he replied; "To pull your head out of your Ass." Guess this isn't the first time I have found myself feeling a little stupid.

Last week the half cells were all drained down to 2.6 volts again and I have been watching the voltage come back up each day since then. This morning, the highest cell was back up to 2.911 so if it stays under 3 volts, I may try to charge each half cell back up to 3 volts. After a charge, the batteries stop drifting up and will drop in voltage if anything.

CURRENT HALF CELL VOLTAGE

The weather has turned cold in Ohio, so my next project will be getting the table in the front of the garage cleared off , broken down and stored out of the way. I really need to get the instrumentation and tablet connections completed, the center console back in and complete the interior. Then I can focus mounting the other two battery modules.

Until next time,

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!

IF MY HEAD WASN'T ATTACHED..........

Over the last several weeks I have been rearranging the garage to get the Fiero back in, so work can continue when the weather gets cold again. It was time to start bottom balancing the other two Better Place modules, so I made some jumper wires and needed another connector to connect the center two cells that originally had external connections going to them. I remember the bag of connectors being in the trunk of the Fiero when I made up the connections on the first module and remember moving it around, all the time thinking, I need to put these somewhere I can find them again when needed. I finally found the bolts in the shipping crate but the connectors were no where to be found. So all of the work I did rearranging the garage will need to be moved back out until the connectors are found.

Not to worry, the show must go on and I can still look for the connectors while the second module is being bottom balanced. I am using two 150 watt quartz lights for the initial drain and just putting a volt meter on the lowest half cell to monitor the voltage.

QUARTZ LIGHT FOR RESISTERS

After the voltage on the lowest half cell gets down to 2.8 volts or so, a smaller light is hooked up to keep a constant drain at a lower amp draw.

40 WATT LIGHT FOR RESISTER

Finally, after the lowest cell settles below 3 volts, I hook up a small night light to try and drain the battery at close to the same rate as it is trying to recover at.

SMALL NIGHT LIGHT FOR RESISTER

Once the small night light is connected, I take readings on all of the half cells and keep draining until the highest cell will settle at under 3 volts.

The final step is to use the Powerlab and charge all of the cells back to 3 volts. The LiMn2O4 cells seem to work at a higher voltage that the LiFePO4 cells and are charged to 4.2 volts before settling back to around 2.9 volts and at 3 volts are pretty much done when pulling higher amps when driving, so 3 volts as the bottom balance voltage should be fine.

The shifting is still not correct so I pulled the shifter so I could give it a good inspection for wear.

SHIFTER

After an inspection of the shifter, I could not find anything wrong, so put it back in the car and and attempted to readjust the shift cables. It seems that the select arm keeps changing when the adjustments are done, almost like something is not returning to the same position inside the transaxle so my next step is to try and remove the pin holding the select pivot to put now bushings in it. If that doesn't work, I am afraid the transaxle is goint to need to be pulled and sent to a transmission shop to be gone over. 

So as the batteries are draining, the search continues for the lost connectors. As I said in the title; If my head wasn't attached, well you know the rest of the story.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

RUDE AWAKENING...BUILD RECAP

It is currently 45 degrees in Central Ohio and the realization sunk in that it is time to start getting the garage ready to put the Fiero inside, so it can be worked on as the temperatures keep dropping. It's time to put away the shorts and t-shirts and get out the long sleeves and jackets to continue work when cold weather gets here.

STORM CLOUDS

TIME TO MOVE INTO THE GARAGE

Last year at this time, the HighPower cells had been installed and the car could be driven, although because of the voltage sag, the contactors kept tripping out when the 12 volt system voltage dropped below 10 volts. Work on the interior and the addition of meters was also started. By spring, a new headliner, the dash , all of the interior trim panels, and the sun visors, had all been refinished, then put back in the car. Work was progressing on adding meters, and the Dell Venue tablet, so it looked like the interior would be wrapped up by early summer. 

Enter the Better Place battery pack sale. When the modules were offered by EVTV and I found out that one of the builders from Central Ohio was going to go out to Missouri to pick them up, the deal just could not be passed up. Once the pack arrived, work stopped on the interior and focused on dissembling, bottom balancing, and building a mounting platform for the modules to be put in the Fiero. After I missed getting the Fiero ready to take to EVCCON, work still continued and got to the point of test driving with the new Better Place module. 

Then the shift cable broke and so far, as hard as I try, does not want to come back into adjustment. I am a little worried that there is something wrong with the shift forks inside the transaxle. The shifter does not seem to want to go over far enough to properly engage 3rd and 4th gears but seems to work ok for first, second, and reverse. If it quits raining and warms up a little I am going to take another stab at adjusting it and found a diagram that shows the positions of the leavers for each gear, so maybe this will help. I had to make a new end for the selector cable, so I may need to figure out how to lengthen it a little

SHIFT POSITION DIAGRAM

It is a little discouraging, as now that the module is mounted, it will be a real chore to put in a new shift cable or have to pull the transaxle so a shift fork can be replaced and now that the car in insured, I was really looking forward to being able to drive it a little before winter sets in.

So I guess that while some work will continue on the car, the next big chore will be to get the garage set up to get the Fiero back inside. Where did summer go!

Keep Building,

Randy

THE PROBLEM WITH PARADISE

Just when you think you are over the hump, it seems there is always something that crops up to bite you in the ass! When I took the car for a drive on Saturday, the voltage was reading 119 and upon starting out on the road in front of my house, the car kept popping out of third gear. No problem, just use second and fourth. This worked for a couple of miles until the car started loosing power and would just creep down the road. I turned around and headed back for home until the car came to a stop and would not go any further. The resting voltage was down around 91 volts and the controller voltage cut-out voltage is set at 90 volts, so the pack voltage was dropping below that level and the controller would not engage. I called my wife and had her push me the couple of miles back to the house. I had taken a couple of drives and with only 40 amp hours in the pack had expended the pack, so it was time for another charge. 

Before charging I measured all of the cells and found them to be between 2.85 and 2.9 volts, so decided to use the Powerlab 6 to bring them all to 3 volts. These cells are different than LiFePo4 cells and when you get below 3.5 volts or so, drop very quickly.Later that evening, I started setting up the charger and about 9:30 pm, started charging. There is a pot on the Zivan NG3 charger that will raise and lower the cut-out voltage, so I gave it a couple of turns to try and get the voltage raise to around 134.4 volts or 4.2 volts per cell. On the first charge I stopped at 4 volts per cell. The charge went smoothly and raising the cut-off voltage got me pretty close to where I need to be.

The JLD404 was hooked up and the car was taken for a test drive on the interstate. It accelerated to 80 mph with plenty of room left on the accelerator but still would not stay in third gear. I am going to need to check all of the settings on the JLD404 but it said I used 21 amp hours to go 9.1 miles or 2.31 amp hours per mile. At 120 volts that would be around 276 watt hours per mile. I did have the car up to 80 mph for a moment on the interstate and had about 3 more miles at 70 mph. At 276 watt hours per mile I could go around 28 miles per module, so with the other 2 modules installed, I should be able to go to work and back, 22 miles one way. I still have 37 of the 100 amp hour LiFePo4 cells in the front of the car so the weight of the additional 2 modules should be the same or a little less. Half of the dash lights and the 12 volt meter I installed in the dash were not working, so it seems like it is always one step forward and 2 steps back.

Work was also started on the center console cover and a piece of vinyl was cut and put on with adhesive to cover a rip in the console. After a new coat of charcoal paint, it looked very good. The storage box door and speaker covers were painted flat black and gives the console cover a very good contrast.

Work continues but at least the car is insured now and can be driven on the highway. Hopefully in a couple of weeks the interior will be done and work can begin on mounting the other 2 modules.

Until next time,

Randy

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

BATTERY PACK CONNECTED

An early start this morning and some real progress was made on connecting the battery pack. All of the connections have been made and once the 12 volt battery cut-out arrives from South Africa, everything can be tested.

NEGATIVE PACK CONNECTION

POSITIVE PACK CONNECTION

The Better Place cell terminals are a bit flimsy so I had to try to support them as good as possible. The positive side bus bar has a nylon bumper added so the force of the lead going to the electrical box that contains the contactor and emergency/maintenance cut out, will be pulling strait down and not pulling at an angle. Once the cables are tightened down, the whole connection should be stiff enough that it will not flex.

Additional spacers were added to the Plexiglas top cover and this morning when I opened the motor cover, it kept the water from the dew that had collected over night from getting to the battery terminals. 

Also the shunt and positive pack voltage wires were run into the cabin of the car, so soon I will be back inside the car getting the wiring ready so the center console can be re-installed and the JLD404 mounted.

NYLON SPACERS ADDED TO PLEXIGLAS

RED AND GREEN TWISTED PAIR FOR SHUNT AND YELLOW POSITIVE  WIRE

The Fiero will be insured soon, hopefully about the same time the car is ready for a test drive with the Better Place Module. The way I set up the connections to the module will make it easy to connect the cables going to the front of the car and I will be able to drive the car while installing the front modules.

Now that I have bottom balanced one of the modules the other two will be easy. I will hook the two 1500 watt halogen lamps and start draining the pack, while checking the voltage on all of the cells. Once the lowest cell is identified, I will set up the JLD404 with a contactor that will shut off the lights when the lowest cell reached 2.5 volts and will turn back on then the lowest cell comes back to 2.7 volts. I will leave this set up for a week, then let the pack set for a week to settle out. Finally,  I will find the highest voltage cell and use the Powerlab 6 to charge all of the cells up to that value. This seems to be the quickest way to bottom balance these cells.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

ENOUGH CLEANING...BACK TO WORK!

When I went back to work on Tuesday, after the holiday weekend, surprisingly it was kind of slow, so left work at noon and took Wednesday off also. My cleaning effort had cleared off the table enough that the Plexiglas could be laid out and cut. My original idea was to bend the edges down so any water would roll off but after trying a hair dryer, then a propane torch, I did get it to bend but when it was test fitted, was too wide to fit.

  

BENDING THE PLEXIGLAS

On to plan B, just cut a flat Plexiglas cover, make a slot for the trans axle cables, cut 4 bolts to make studs for the coupling nuts, drill 4 holes, and bolt the cover over the battery.

PLEXIGLAS COVER INSTALLED

END VIEW

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy

FINISHING THE NEGATIVE CONTACTOR, SHUNT, AND FUSE

Saturday morning, work continued on the negative side contactor, shunt, and fuse mounting, and the bus bars were added. Then the plate was mounted on the end of the battery. Plexiglas covers will be added to the top of the battery module and to the contactor, shunt, and fuse once the battery connections are made up.

COMPONENTS MOUNTED

The battery module has set for over a month now, so reading were taken to see where the voltages settled to. The lowest wa 2.691 volts and the highest was 2.897. Jack Rickard of EVTV has stated that he is not bottom balancing them to 3 volts but from the looks of the graph below, I should be able to charge all of the cells to 2.897 and get them to stay pretty close to that voltage.

Anyway, it's off to a pet event with my wife, son, and his fiance,  not by choice but to keep the wife happy. Our Yorkie will be happy also.

Thanks for stopping by,

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

METERS, METERS.....AND MORE METERS!

The 12 volt system Volt/Amp Meter was hooked up and was reading current and voltage just fine, so I decided to hook up the traction pack meter. The 12 volt system meter was hooked up to the isolated side of the 12 volt dc-dc isolation converter, so it was disconnected and hooked up to the un-isolated side. The meter came on and read voltage just fine but read zero amps. It seems that both meters will need to run off of an isolation 12 volt dc-dc converter, so another one was ordered from Light Object. I am afraid if I try to run both meters off of just 1 isolation converter, the high voltage will get back to 12 volts on the isolated side and blow the dc-dc converter. I know the traction pack side will work because that was the first meter that was hooked up before I found out that they were not isolated meters and smoked them when hooking up the low voltage side originally.

On to fastening down the loom in the engine compartment. The wiring runs were straightened out and fastened to the brackets and firewall. I will need to disconnect an inline fuse wire and the tachometer lead to reroute them but other that that, the wiring harness is done. 

WIRING RUNS COMPLETED

Then measurements were taken again and some figuring was done to determine if the battery pack will fit in the space between the motor/transaxle and front firewall. If the pack is placed to the passenger side of the engine compartment, it will fit. the rear passenger side of the car is sitting higher, so it appears that I need some additional weight on that side anyway. I am considering adding cells to both modules to increase the voltage anyway, so will make a smaller module that can go on the driver's side to balance the weight in the rear of the car. A cardboard template was made and it appears it is going to be quite a challenge to get the pack in that space without dissembling it.

I am still working on getting all of the Better Place module cells to hold  under 2.7 volts so I can try charging up to get them all to the same voltage level. The module had been discharged until the lowest cell is 2.5 volts several times but some of the cells have still drifted back to above 2.7 volts.

The speedometer wires from the VSS were connected to the wiring harness in the cabin so once the USB cable is finished, the center console can be installed.

SPEEDOMETER WIRES CONNECTED

To finish the interior, the door panels need removed to be painted and to install new outside window seals, so this was as good of a day as any to start.

DOOR PANEL AND ARM REST REMOVED

The temperature in Ohio has been getting close to 90 deg by afternoon, so it has been quite miserable working on the car, even though a lot of little things have been getting finished. We are going to dinner with my Son and his Fiance, so had to knock off a little early but will continue tomorrow.

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