[ElectriCar]

The 3000 watt motor calculates to 4HP. Wow, that's not very much power!

I don't mean to rain on anyones parade but I WOULD NOT ADVISE ANYONE TO CHANGE THE BREAKER TO A LARGER ONE.

I'm an electrical contractor and have been doing industrial electrical for over 25 years. The breaker is sized specifically for the device or wiring it is protecting. Simply increasing the size say to a 125 creates the possibility of overheating wiring or destroying other equipment, depending on it's purpose.

If it is only protecting the wire you could increase the wire size but how will you know if everything is in chinese? If it is protecting the controller and you increase the size you will likely let the smoke out of the controller when you hit that hill next time. Whenever you see that smoke it is often a bad sign! And sometime after the smoke comes the fire and there goes your EV!

[ElectriCar]

Dr, after seeing your detailed video on youtube, I think I can explain why your breaker went bad.

IF you look at one end where the wire is inserted it is still like new. ON the top side it is burned and blistered. This is a classic sign of a loose connection.

Loose connections create heat. Heat melts things. That is what happened to your breaker it appears.

If you're not under warranty I would replace the breaker with one from the dealer. I would also try to check every connection I could get to before driving it again.

Best of luck.

[drolsinatas]

yeah, the breaker I changed it to is of the same specs. And I've been checking my connections all the time. I'm learning so much owning this car.
The funny smell has gone away also. I''ve decided to just leave the car the way it is and deal with the slow climb. If I can deal with paying income tax, I can deal with driving 25mph uphill for a 1/4 mile everyday. It's not the end of the world for me.

I think the cost of modifying the car would go against why I bought it in the first place. Save Money

[solarcruz]

well, i do not have any of the electrical expertise of other posters. however, i have spent quite a bit of time searching for an ev that would work for me. and what you have experienced IS the problem with the low voltage dc ev's. the smart/flybo lookalikes have quite a few names on ebay, yet seem to be the same car although maybe smarts are different--i don't know. but the point is, the low voltage dc's do just poop out on hills, including the miles & zenn. the '09 wildfire, wf-120 and all the other names they have for this lookalike have an ac motor this coming year, as well as 120v, so they are supposed to maintain speed going uphill, which i need for where i live as well. i have not been able to test drive any because the ones i've seen on ebay are all back east. zenn & miles are coming out with ac's as well. don't know how fast the zenn ac will be, but the miles will be highway speed, 80 mph, and cost around $38k, available in '09 or 2010. they've spent the $$ for the crashtesting that allow it to go highway speed. i don't think zenn will be crashtesting so they may have to remain an NEV with people tweaking them to higher speeds, usually up to 40 mph, after purchase. these lookalikes are NEV's with after sale computer adjustments for higher speed because obviously they are not crash tested. are the smarts crash tested? what speed can they get up to?
if you continue doing hills, from what i've been learning, you will definitely greatly reduce the life of the batteries, and possibly repeat frying components, hence losing the money saving benefit. that's why i've been putting off buying but am quite anxious to buy.
any inexpensive suggestions out there?
good luck!

[lottos]

Originally Posted by solarcruz

are the smarts crash tested? what speed can they get up to?

I think the Smart being referred to is the Smart car from Mercedes Benz
http://www.smartusa.com/
http://www.thesmart.ca/
http://www.smartaustralia.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_(automobile)

The Smart has never been a factory EV but it appears another company may have done an EV version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_EV