Monday, August 10, 2009

August Update

Time for an update: I've been working on lots of different things and making a little progress, the largest was the transmission. The guys at Commercial Machine Service finished up the transmission and I installed it where the rear differential used to be. Of course, I had to make the rear wheels go around using electricity so even though the batteries aren't fully mounted yet, the controller board isn't finalized and I don't have the pot box installed, I hooked everything and low and behold, I have electric motion!!! (I'll video if anyone is interested).

However, not everything worked like I hoped. I'm using a chain drive so the center distance between the input and output shaft must be such that the number of links in the chain is a multiple of two. In my case, the chain ended up needing a half link. Unfortunately, these aren't made for the motorcycle chain I'm using because the half-links are weaker. So, I had to add a full extra link to the chain, making it very loose. Since the center distance between the shafts is fixed, I'd always intended to put a tensioner in because the chain will stretch. Now, it is just going to have to take up more slack. So, I'm working on a design that will fit in the tight confines of the drive, be adjustable, and be able to reverse. More on this later.

Controllers - I laid out the controllers on a piece of Plexiglas and I've gone through a couple of iterations, but I'm still not satisfied. I figure that I will mount them above the motors but I don't want to take up too much room in the trunk, so I'm still adjusting. One thing that is coming together is the method to keep the controllers cool. Again, to keep the cable runs short, the controllers are going to be in the trunk and I was having a hard time coming up with a way of providing enough air flow. A couple of people have used water cooling but mine aren't designed for it. However, I found these: http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?SKU=6190228&MPN=416501U00000G . Secure them to the bottom of the controller with some heat sink compound in between then route the antifreeze to a radiator in the slip stream and Voila, cool controllers.

Battery Mount - I finished up a battery mount for the front batteries but I'm not super happy with it. I've said before, metal fabrication is NOT my strong suit and the mount looks like it. However, it is functional and I figure that since this project probably will never be totally finished, I'll add a professionally fabricated mount to the list of things to be redone.

Batteries - I was part of the group buy from EV Components. I was heading over to Seattle towards the end of July and I thought I would save myself some shipping cost by picking them up myself. Unfortunately, a customs snafu delayed the batteries and they weren't available for my trip. So now I'm having them shipped but that means that I still don't have my full pack. Soon.... hopefully soon. When they get here, I'll have all the components and then it will be time to get this thing driving!


Guess that's all for now. When I get something finalized, I'll post some pictures.

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