Recently in Conversion Journals Category

Last week I said that this blog would be part journal, part guide to the conversion process but I've decided to separate those two categories by having a build thread for the bike with pretty pictures and having this blog as a sort of step by step guide. I'll still give you updates here but primarily the build thread will be about how I'm doing it and the blog will be about how you can do it. Step one in that process is making your plans, what do you need to know in advance before you start in order to make the process go smoothly? What parts do you need and how much will it cost?

I have been researching Electric Cars since September last year, in that time period I have gone through many plans and thrashed out many budgets as I worked out how a student could make a satisfactory EV. I have planned an RX7, CRX or Civic and pick-up conversion, even to the point of being outbid on eBay for a donor.  I started my own mini EV project as documented on this Blog, but since it was going to be just a toy, that I couldn’t fit in and didn’t feel comfortable giving away without testing, I decided it wasn’t worth putting money into and donated the peddle car to family friends. But recently I’ve been planning a project that was easier to do well, while on a budget but was useful enough to be worth investing in… An Electric motorcycle. And two weeks ago I became the proud owner of this 1984 Suzuki GSXR 400 off Ebay for the grand price of $495.

Today's project while I was waiting for the controller to come was this little baby from Oatley Electronics; its an 18 Super-bright LED (24V) kit, modified for use in the Eeeveedub. After mistakenly ordering one module instead of two I decided I would be brave and split the printed circuit board into 3 sections. The first was the part that controls everything, including the switches and indicator light, and it is going to sit up on the 'dashboard' (well sort of clip onto the body near the steering wheel but you get the idea) in a jiffy box. The other two sections are the LED's in two lots of nine. Without going into too much detail, the board was actually made up of three lots of six LED's in parallel so splitting them involved some creative wiring. This is the third kit that I have put together now and I perhaps was overconfident in my approach in moving away from standard but I thought that 1.8W worth of LED's is probably enough on a little kids car. So I took a deep breath, made sure I checked and rechecked where everything was going and prayed that after hours of soldering my patience would be rewarded with glowing bliss. And the result? Success!!!

It's been a while between posts, life's been busy and I've been waiting for parts, but here's where I'm up to now. I've bought a bunch of gear- Motor assemblies, batteries, charging kits, throttle, soldering station, fuses, an LED headlight kit and an Amp Meter, most of it came on Thursday and I bought some today. I built the first battery charger kit today, it testing my soldering skills, but it seems to charge the battery which is a good sign. I need to work out a more permanent plug system for between the charger and the batteries (any suggestions?). I also have a key ignition and 24V controller in the mail. I've revised the wiring diagram making it cleaner and with more features, take a look:

    Well I talked to the guys at Oatley Electronics today about some of the more technical decisions i needed to make and have worked out a stylised diagram for the electrical side of the scooter:

The big question I have been asking myself since getting this car is how am i going to get power from the motor(s) to the wheels. It sounds simple in theory, but is not as simple in practice.  Below is a view of the car from underneath. There is a reasonable amount of room around the back wheels to fit motors but not really a simply way to get power to the wheels. Note: You can also probably see the mechanism that allows the car to be steered from behind (the long diagonal rod). I will be removing that as one of the first jobs as it is just getting in the way

So how does someone with little knowledge of mechanics or electronics learn how to make an electric car? I've been getting more and more excited about doing an electric car conversion the more I learn about them. However i won't be in the position to do one for the next couple of years when i finish my degree and can get a decent job. So, inspired by http://bjblaster.homedns.org/projects/electric_drive/bigredcar_mk2/, I decided that a good place for me to start was on a smaller scale. My first conversion will not be an ICE car it is a kids push car. I bought this little veedub styled push car off ebay for $80 and will be installing electric scooter parts to make the electric drive train

I've been commuting for 2 weeks now and today my boss (who supports what I'm doing) pulled me aside to tell me he was in a recent meeting with top company execs.  At this meeting they informed him that they had heard (I work in a small field office, me and six other sales guy and my boss) that I have an electric car and are concerned about me plugging in.  Apparantly they think I am using a lot of electricity. Its only 12 miles to my work and its like a top off charge...about 2.5 hours.  Long story short ....my boss asked me to lay low for awhile (dont plug in).  I can make the trip and back without charging but I got some pretty severe hills and I like to be at full voltage when I tackle them.  I told him no problem, I got alot of things I still need to do so I'll work on it for a month or two. Its up in the air whether or not I can continue to charge at work though.  I work for a auto parts supplier so my company might feel strangely about supporting me....we sell gas car parts...everything.  If I worked at say, Apple computer or something..no problem.  Second thing was today I went back to the DMV (department of motor vehicles) in California for my inspection to get my stickers.  A stern lady there who inspected it told me I had to put the passenger seat in and also cover up my batteries inside...so I got to go back...very disappointing.  I've seen guys with less tidy conversions that got their stickers no problem but this lady was very uptight..I felt there could be a problem as soon as I started talking to her. 

I am driving mine back and forth to work and am wondering how the upcoming cold mornings will cut the performance.
This morning it was a little chilly and the windows were fogged up inside and out.
I installed an electric oil heater, in the rear seat area and had it on a timer to come on and warm the car about an hour before I leave for work.
Problems arose, when said timer failed to preheat the car!!
I wiped the windows down and started the heater while I did my horse chores.
The heater did a fine job and continued to give off some heat for the 10 minute drive. Cost of the heater was $ 2.00, at a household sale.
Tomorrow will tell...

11/13/07

I have been using the heater now, for some time and it is great.

I also have found out just how bad of an effect, one low battery can have on the performance of the car.

I tried to go to town on a 35 F degree morning and didn't look as though I was going to make it.

I checked the batteries and found out that one 3 years old battery had a bad cell.  Not only was it not helping much, it also was restricting the rest of the pack.

A new replacement, after 4 chargings, has shown quite an inprovement.

I left to go to town this morning and it had dropped to 25 F.  I had expected only 40 F.  I ran in 2nd gear for the first 1/2 mile and then used 3rd as usual.  As I neared town, I could use 4th and got over 40 mph.

When I got to the shop I still had 74.2 volts showing.  It looks as though I will be running it longer toward cold weather that I had planned.

With gas hitting $ 3.35 around here, the more miles I can put on it, the better.