[EKit]

Hello to one and all. Anyone out there building/running a diy ev in Lancashire in the UK ? Would be good to say hello and talk the talk. My Smart 450 project is 80% complete now so would be good to exchange thoughts on whatever you wish thats diy ev related. Cheers. Peter

 

[tom3141]

Nice to hear from someone else up North! I’m over on the North Yorkshire coast.

I noticed from one of your other posts that you have an Enova motor. Are you putting this in your Smart? I also have an Enova that I’m putting in a Suzuki Cappuccino. Are you using Damien’s PCB?

It sounds like you are further ahead than I am. I have all the ICE stuff removed and I’m just starting to fit EV components.

It would be great to see some photos of your build.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Hope we will see you both at Fully Charged Live (here)

 

[EKit]

Hi Tom. Dont forget your passport if you are heading Lancashire way, we dont accept everyone here you know ! Only kidding.
Yes I am using the Damien/Johannes driver pcb (pic attached, hopefully). Thankfully my inverter is nearly finished (again pic attached) and close to tentative power up testing soon, Damien suggest 40v DC and limit supply to 4 Amps or so just to make sure all is well. Then as the underwear dries increase supply power until happy all is working as it should. I have oodles of pics of the build, mainly rear sub frame as it was a real pig to make, sadly my original idea of using the stock sub frame was not to be as the Enova motor was too BIG. Initially I coupled the motor to the Smart gearbox, and all seemed well. BUT... forgot to check the driveshafts.... you guessed it, they hit the motor. Scrap that idea and search the breakers for a suitable gearbox. Hello to my Proton Gen2 box, £100 and fingers crossed. Thats now in and the back end is built up ready for first test under power soon. Hope that wets your appetite. TTFN. Peter

 

[tom3141]

That rear subframe looks really neat, you’ve made a nice job of it. It’s going to really fly when it’s finished. I reckon that you will do a wheelie in first gear - if you have enough traction 🙂! My car is probably a similar weight but I’m connecting the motor directly to the propshaft so I won’t have quite as much torque at the wheels as you.

I’ve had the motor and inverter spinning on the bench using a 30V DC power supply so let me know if you have any issues. I’m interested to see that you have made the inverter smaller with a new heat sink. Are you just going to be relying on air cooling?

 

[EKit]

Hi Tom. Thanks for the 'neat' comment. All done in stainless steel, I hate rust and painting too ! Would be good if it does pull wheelies, the battery pack is mounted under the car and weighs around 130Kg so that will keep it down, probably corner like a kart. I have removed all the heater and blower parts etc etc from the front of the car, which takes up a huge amount of space but only a few Kg weight. Glad you have your motor spinning, I need to sort the parameters on the driver micro before I power up so that will be an interesting time. Heatsink air cooling should be ok, probably need fan assist but will keep an eye on temp, reminds me I need to get the correct thermistor for it. Send some pics of your setup please. TTFN. Peter

 

[tom3141]

I've got a build thread here - http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/suzuki-cappuccino-conversion-190378.html.

I'm hoping to get the motor mounted at the weekend so hopefully there will be some more photos soon.