[pdhsolar]

Great work - Great project! Enjoy your EV - Paul from Australia

[Bottomfeeder]

My '64 Spit was a positive ground as well. Don't pull out the wiring! It's much easier to just reverse the connections to the battery. The only part of my electrics that cared about the polarity was the voltage regulator, which was removed along with the fuel and temp gauges.

Good luck with the rest of the restoration. It will be worth it in the end, don't worry. I've been there. Just keep pressing onward!

[dimitri]

Originally Posted by petenyma

Last night I fully charged the batteries for the first time. The charger ended with a voltage of 136v (3.57v per cell) this morning the pack is reading 128v. It seems a little low but well within the safe reign of these batteries.

I do not have a BMS yet but I do plan on using the Volt Blochers for the balancing. Then just using the low voltage warning on the Zilla for low battery. I will probably set that for around 115v and just stay away from the empty side of my pack.

Did you check every cell at the end of first charge? Do they all have same voltage? Initial balancing is pretty important since cells could have various SOC levels at first. Having shunts on during initial charge is pretty important, you are taking a risk of overcharging a cell or two.

I'm surprised pack voltage dropped that much overnight, seems that something is draining the pack, try to measure if there is any current going thru the pack while the car is off. Is there a precharge circuit for Zilla? Maybe precharge is leaking current to DC-DC converter, I had this issue until I realized what was going on.

What is the big black box that looks like old starter battery? Are you planning to replace it with small 12V aux battery?

Cool car BTW, congrats!

[petenyma]

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback!

I have measured every battery in the pack a few times, when they first installed, after a full charge, and after running around the block a few times. They have all been within 100mv of each other every time.

I am going to have to look into why the pack lost so much voltage overnight. The DC converter is not connected yet, so I think the first thing I'm going to do is disconnect the positive lead from my pack and measure for any current with my DMM to see if there is a small amount of current leakage from something. How much should the pack voltage settle after a full charge?

I have already pulled all of the original wiring out of the car - it was in pretty sorry shape anyway. I ended up pulling the wiring harness and fuse box out of an older Honda and am reusing some of that to build the new harness. This way I have some modern fuses and plenty of them - also I now have relays in the fuse box to connect the headlights, they should be brighter and not require the heavy wire run into a heavy switch in the dash to run them.

The big black box is the starter battery from my boat (I have actually run the car around the block using only this and some jumper cables before i had my big pack) Just a temporary thing until I go and get a smaller and lighter battery to take it's place.


Pete

[Bottomfeeder]

If you've already pulled the wiring, then you're doing the right thing. Use real fuses! I'm amazed at how silly the British were with how they decided to fuse the wiring. And if you got it out, it's a a great idea to upgrade and use sound safety principles.

[dimitri]

I don't have experience with SE cells since they have different voltage levels from TS cells, but my TS cells only lose 0.05-0.1V of surface charge overnight, from 3.8V to 3.7-3.75V. Surface charge dissapears the moment you start driving, so its not that important in of itself, but only as possible indication of current leak, which might be a long term issue. Even if you are leaking few milliamps it's nice to know where its going

For example Paktrakr remotes are powered from first 3 cells in each group and after several hours those cells lose surface charge, even though they are still fully charged, its not a big deal as long as you know what's going on.

Its nice that all your cells came in so well balanced....

[electromet]

Originally Posted by Bottomfeeder

If you've already pulled the wiring, then you're doing the right thing. Use real fuses! I'm amazed at how silly the British were with how they decided to fuse the wiring. And if you got it out, it's a a great idea to upgrade and use sound safety principles.

I agree with Bottomfeeder. I just thought your harness might be serviceable. My harness is about ten years older than yours, and it's been fried in a couple places under the hood. The harness is really no more difficult than the Mk1 Sprite. I'll probably make mine from scratch as all I need are the lights, signals, wipers and maybe a stereo.

I once owned an MGB that would turn off the lights, wipers, and overdrive all at once, invariably at 70 mph with no street lights around. Had to pop the hood, yank hard on the front of the wiring loom, and we were good to go for another thousand miles. Makes one wonder how the Prince of Darkness got his reputation,huh?

Mike

[petenyma]

Hmm..

I just found out that the Volt Blocher is no longer available. Anyone know of any other affordable balancing products?

Thanks,
Pete

[gottdi]

Tiny little car but looks like a very nice little project. Good to see you could afford the lithium batteries and the Zilla. Good going.

Pete

[RE Farmer]

Originally Posted by petenyma

Here are a few pics of the Midget today.

As you can see I still have a lot of wiring clean up - this car was originally wired for positive earth so every bit of wiring has had to be torn out and redone.

Pete

I'm converting a 1972 Mk III. Like your's, my wiring is in terrible shape and will probably replace most of it. With lots of jiggling, I got the headlights to work and one tail light sometimes. Besides, the insulation has discolored so badly that I can't tell what color they are.

I also noticed you have different seats - what are they from? I need to rebuild mine since the mice have chewed up the seat foam (along with some wiring).

I'd definitely be interested in hearing about your final weight and performance.