[Thaniel]

Looking good!. Perhpas I missed it. Where are you getting the batteries from. I'll be shopping for some soon.

You may want to add up the weight of all the rear batteries and ensure you are not over loading the rear. A tail heavy car can be a handling nightmare.

[ARti]

Thaniel,
A friend of mine is a sales rep for a regional battery dealer, http://www.batteryoutfitters.com/ . I suspect that it may be handy to have a local dealer to drop off and pick up these bricks from time to time, so I didn't burn a lot of cycles looking for the absolute lowest internet price.

They weren't cheap, but were a smidge less than I see on eBay this morning.

Now I've got to start working on him to pick up a line of LiFePo4s.

Phillip

[ARti]

Big flurry of activity over the last week. The guys at VisionSteel have been busy with their day jobs, but put together the rest of the "bracketry" and the front battery box.

Here's the Big Picture

There are four batteries up front (in addition to the eight in the rear). My contribution to manufacturing so far has been to cut the plywood for the control board. It will reside over the motor. Clearance for contactors, fuses, and the controller should be a lot easier in this rear position. For the first pass, I'm using plywood. once the layout is proven out, I'll probably go with a plastic board, similar to a chopping block.

It's tricky to get the batteries in here, but we came up with a combo layout:

• two upright on the bottom, tall & narrow
• two sideways on top, flat and wide.

This picture shows how the front box fits in, just behind the AC evaporator. There's still good clearance between the batteries and the ODE shaft where the belt driving the AC Compressor will spin.


Here's where we put the aux pumps:


The 12V vacuum pump (replacing manifold vacuum) for the brakes is on the left toward the rear. The Power Steering pump, also 12V, on the right, just over the steering box. It was salvaged off a 2002ish Toyota MR2 and has the reservoir built right onto the pump unit. Additionally, this unit has a speed input so that the boost varies inversely to the speed.

I've finally ordered the cabling/lugs & connectors. I did pick up some 3/4" flex conduit to run from the rear battery box to the front. That was interesting. I stopped by the electrical section of the local Lowe's, priced the fancy purpose built UL conduit, and went on thinking that I'd wind up with normal clear vinyl tubing. On to the plumbing section to price the normal household tubing, and it was twice as much! So, I'll have the robust, UL listed stuff like I wanted. Schweet.

It's been great working with James, Dave, (and now William) at VisionSteel. They've really tried to make sure that the structural parts are robust, but haven't lost sight of the craftsmanship. Go back to the May 12th post, and check out the picture of the rear battery box. Even though these batteries aren't wet, I still wanted to minimize the chance of battery stuff coming forward in the event of a rear-ender. After all, that's where the cuties ride. We'd discussed putting a plate across the front of the box, just behind the rear seatbacks. Check out the picture below of the flashy cover they came up with to address the issue:

So, Progress Continues, if slowly.

ARti

[ARti]

Working on battery cables.

Does anyone have any thoughts or concerns about alternating the placement of batteries in the racks so I can minimize cable lengths? In other words, for my 8 in the back, I've got two rows of 4, sideways, alternating the posts, so that the + winds up next to the - on the battery next to it. This helps me keeps the cables short and eliminate bends and associated stress on the connections.

I can't think of any huge issues. I just don't want to mess up the "flux-capacitance" of my battery set.

Batteries are Odyssey AGMs, PC2050s.

Thanks,
Phillip

[ARti]

I've made a lot of progress over the last week or so. I got two or three good days of work in during the holidays. Last week I was able to take care of both power cables and control wiring on the control board.

I also placed all the batteries and finished the battery cables.

I fired up the vacuum pump today to see whether or not the switch was wired correctly. Apparently I've got some leaks; it wouldn't pull more than 5-Inches, and when shut off, didn't even hold that much. So I'll have to chase that down. I'm pretty sure I heard some hissing coming from my tank. Not surprising given that it's three pieces of PVC all glued together plus the fitting.

[ARti]

Here's the requisite shot of the charger cord in the fuel door. Nice work by the Vision Steel guys on the tread-plate backer. You can see the Elcon charger on the rack in the rear-battery box pic above.

[ARti]

...and here's the first picture of the fully loaded car. Well, all the batteries and major components. The seats are still out, and I'm not sitting in there with my 200+ libbies. According to my original calculations, it should still come in under the GVWR. Just pushing on the four corners, it's not down on the stops yet, but it's pretty soft. I had originally budgeted for sport springs for this and it looks like I'll need them. The good news is that I shouldn't have to look too far to find someone with stiffer springs for a BMW right?

[ARti]

One more thought this evening. As Thaniel mentioned in his post yesterday ( http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/and-so-begins-17727.html )

, this whole thing has taken longer than I'd hoped it would. I guess that's okay; at least I am moving forward. But now I REALLY need to get this thing done:

• We closed on a new house last week and will spend the spring working on an addition and rehab projects.
• My Dad bought a mid 90's Ranger for me to convert when I'm finished with the EMW.
• Too many people have a vague fuzzy recollection that I was doing this project and are asking me "whatever happened to that car project?" And when I say that I'm still working on it, they assume that's code for "I gave up".

The good news on the new place is that it's got a nice 40x40 workshop where I can work on the Ranger and a three car garage so the EMW can stay inside where it's warm.

[Thaniel]

Originally Posted by ARti

The good news is that I shouldn't have to look too far to find someone with stiffer springs for a BMW right?

Yes stiffer springs are very easy to come by. Be carful to not get TOO stiff. Seems many of the aftermarket springs have a really harsh ride. Perhaps with the added weight it won't be so bad?

Congrats on the nice work space at your new house. I'd love to have an out bulding.

Oh and the short test drive is great for those asking about my project. I say "want to see the video of it moving" . Their response is always

[ARti]

Here's a video of a quick test of the control wiring. I've got the house battery wired up so that the 12V circuits are live, and the donor circuits are live too. The video shows me getting in, turning the key [closing first contactor, firing up vacuum pump and drive cooling fan], testing the heat [fan on full then manual heat switch closed triggering contactor], then getting out and diddling the potbox to check the second contactor. Works like a dream. Now I'm only a few hours of work away from charging and testing the power side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVNG7vNXsao