Sunday, November 9, 2008

Lesson's Learned

So I found out quite a few things this weekend. First, my little 6.7 inch ADC K99-4007 does not like hills at all. There are a few hills around that I purposefully avoid, but today my dad wanted me to try one. The motor cried the whole way up and barely maintained 10 MPH. It didn't help that I had no running start, and the transmission computer decided to shift down to first, essentially making me lose what power I had. It did go up the hill, but the motor got quite warm, so I half to avoid these hills and make a forced air cooling system. I was probably pulling over 250 AMPs at the motor, which it did not like.

Here's a summary of changes I need to make and what I need to do before Thanksgiving:
- Bolt down all the batteries
- Make better cables and get lugs for the controller and motor
- Create a forced air cooling system for the motor
- Beef up the motor mount and bolt it down
- Complete control box
- Mount breaker into cabin
- Finish Vacuum Brakes and PVC tank

One of my chargers also died today, I think one of the internal relays gave out. It makes thing ticking sound and then displays "Check Error" and shuts off. So I will buy another bunch of chargers on eBay.

I have this Tuesday off from classes so I am going to make my small part shopping list and get as many things down as possible.

I would like to be able to drive this to my cousins house for Thanksgiving, which is 12 miles away, and then plug it into charge when I arrive.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,
This was one we learned the hard way too.
You would be well advised to use at least a 9 inch motor even for a small car like your Civic.
We did a conversion with our Toyota Corolla and used a 9 inch motor,works great.
More information to save you time>>
http://www.electric-car-conversions.com

All the best,
Les and Jane

David Harrington said...

I really should have worn in the brushes before I did hill trials. If an 9" or 8" motor ever lands in my lap I will go for it, but I will make do with the 6.7" for the time being. I'll just have to take the flat routes, which was my original plan anyways for optimal range.