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Hello! TLDR, SKIP TO BOTTOM PARAGRAPH ๐๐
Just got myself a pile of crap with good intentions in the local classifieds. The story goes that the old guy (87 years old) did the conversion using a golf cart. It does look like he just hacked off the parts of the 98 Pontiac Firefly that he didn't need and added the parts from the golf cart to make it work. A lot of "farm-gineering" in this one but she moves as is. It's home was a small island community and it probably was fine as is there.
There are lots of things wrong that are obvious but I'm looking for some tips to at least optimize what i have our learn from what is there and improve. The motor is Advanced DC Motors at 48v, rated AU2500 2-20-04 Class H. No idea what that means... That's all that i can really read from the motor. The controller is a plastic box that I'm certain is straight off the cart. The batteries are 6 x 8v 170ah wired together in series with all different gages of wire and not one of them strapped down and not one terminal protected from accidental short then covered with a scrap of carpet.
Performance is weak. Some of the wires heat up way too much. I need to use all the gears in order to get it up to speed. On the few trips I've taken her on I've gotten up to 60km/h easily on flat, the hills are another story. I'd say the top speed could be about 80 on the flats given enough room to get there but it's going to be too dangerously slow on the highway where the speed limit is 90. I have BCAA so on the maiden voyage home after purchase, I ran it till the batteries were low enough to make me quit and then got a tow home, so the range is about 20km. The real win is that this car has already been re registered as electric so I won't need an inspection as i would if i was starting my own conversion.
I've read some bad news about this type of setup but it has already been done. so instead of telling me that it won't work, does anyone have some ideas to optimize? Ideal range would be around 40km a mix of highway speed (90 km/hr) and city driving.
THE REAL QUESTION:
Battery bank upgrade and safety improvement is simple and within my knowledge and ability. What i don't know is if i can overvolt the motor and by how much. Will the controller handle that? What are the risks and what should i watch out for? Can i just add one 12v battery in series one at a time and see what happens? If for only small experimental trips does this negatively effect the current battery bank?
Thanks for any tips. I've been dreaming of doing this for years now. Stoked to start tinkering.
Just got myself a pile of crap with good intentions in the local classifieds. The story goes that the old guy (87 years old) did the conversion using a golf cart. It does look like he just hacked off the parts of the 98 Pontiac Firefly that he didn't need and added the parts from the golf cart to make it work. A lot of "farm-gineering" in this one but she moves as is. It's home was a small island community and it probably was fine as is there.
There are lots of things wrong that are obvious but I'm looking for some tips to at least optimize what i have our learn from what is there and improve. The motor is Advanced DC Motors at 48v, rated AU2500 2-20-04 Class H. No idea what that means... That's all that i can really read from the motor. The controller is a plastic box that I'm certain is straight off the cart. The batteries are 6 x 8v 170ah wired together in series with all different gages of wire and not one of them strapped down and not one terminal protected from accidental short then covered with a scrap of carpet.
Performance is weak. Some of the wires heat up way too much. I need to use all the gears in order to get it up to speed. On the few trips I've taken her on I've gotten up to 60km/h easily on flat, the hills are another story. I'd say the top speed could be about 80 on the flats given enough room to get there but it's going to be too dangerously slow on the highway where the speed limit is 90. I have BCAA so on the maiden voyage home after purchase, I ran it till the batteries were low enough to make me quit and then got a tow home, so the range is about 20km. The real win is that this car has already been re registered as electric so I won't need an inspection as i would if i was starting my own conversion.
I've read some bad news about this type of setup but it has already been done. so instead of telling me that it won't work, does anyone have some ideas to optimize? Ideal range would be around 40km a mix of highway speed (90 km/hr) and city driving.
THE REAL QUESTION:
Battery bank upgrade and safety improvement is simple and within my knowledge and ability. What i don't know is if i can overvolt the motor and by how much. Will the controller handle that? What are the risks and what should i watch out for? Can i just add one 12v battery in series one at a time and see what happens? If for only small experimental trips does this negatively effect the current battery bank?
Thanks for any tips. I've been dreaming of doing this for years now. Stoked to start tinkering.