June 4, 2009 by Rob.

Yes, the RAVolt is still going strong.  Sorry about the lack of updates.  I’ll explain all soon.I’ve been commuting 40 miles/day and the RAVolt is just not up for that.  The Fit is awesome (38+ MPG).I lost my auxiliary battery charger recently and ran down my “starter” battery.  After buying a new charger, the battery is slowly getting back to speed.  I know that there are some traction pack chargers & DC-DC supplies that also trickle charge the aux battery.   I would recommend this approach for EV conversions!

Posted in Daily Use, Improvements, Storyline | No Comments »

August 27, 2008 by Rob.

I got an email from Kurt B today asking about lessons learned.  I’ve been meaning to post this for a while so I thought it would be good to recap. The “improvements” category also flags posts with ideas.

1. get 110 VAC charger instead of 220
2. get a better DC-DC converter that can trickle charge the aux battery and has a choke voltage instead of just shutting off
3. upgrade the rear suspension
4. skip the power steering pump work - it’s not needed.
5. weld supports for the front battery box to the frame. My box rests on part of the engine mount and I’m not crazy about that.
6. learn to weld (buy a welder). I did not need much welding, but it would have been nice to be independent.

Added 8/31: I’d also put the volt meter higher on the dashboard so that I did not have to look away to read it.  The analog meter is fine - I’m very happy with that.

Posted in Improvements, Planning | 1 Comment »

July 30, 2008 by Rob.

Wow…quick response from the AustinEV team!  Thanks.

From Brian:

It’s Cupric Sulfate.  It’s formed by the reaction of Sulfuric Acid (in the air, bubbling off from the battery) with the exposed copper of the battery wire lugs. On the plus side… It’s no longer reactive after forming Cupric Sulfate, so it will not hurt anything.  And another positive, is that it’s the copper lugs that are corroding… and they can be replaced
much easier than the lead battery terminals.  

I do not think it’s a big problem.  If you were really concerned, you could re-tin the copper lugs, or put some waterproof paint over the lugs and terminals.  Waterproof paint would make it much more annoying
to change / remove your wiring at a later date though.   :-/

From Mike:

Try coating the exposed surfaces with vaseline.  It will keep the air and
moisture off and greatly reduce corrosion.  There are several brands of
spray on corrosion preventative, but from past experience vaseline works
just as well, cleanup is pretty easy, and it is cheap.

From Roy:

I get that a lot too, it does not effect conductivity for me.
I usually brusk off the powder with a stiff nylon brush and vacume it up.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Electric Vehicles, AustinEV | No Comments »

May 24, 2008 by Rob.

It took longer that I’d hoped to stop chasing the wrong problems before I finally found the real cause. After about 3 hours of hunting, I found two problems: one was a design issue and the other was a blown fuse caused by the design issue.

The design issue was the way I’d wired the charger “still plugged in” relay to the key safety interlock (KSI) on the controller. I need both charger relays (see older posts for detail) to turn on the vent fans. I’d been using the same relay to turn on the controller KSI relay. Unfortunately, that sent 12 volts to the relay even when the car was parked. This was effectively BY PASSING my contactor so that traction voltage (144 v) was still present for the controller, volt meter, and the DC-DC converter. That was not supposed to happen so I disabled it and hooked the KSI to the key on. Now the motor could go even if I’m plugged in (oops), but I always coast down my driveway to start so it was not really much of a safety benefit.

The second issue was a blown fuse (it should be clear not white) in the DC-DC converter. At least, that was easy to find and fix

Now the RAVolt and I are happy again.

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May 22, 2008 by Rob.

I must have gotten bad eKarma from bragging on the RAVolt today over lunch because now there’s a short somewhere.  Alex noticed that the DC-DC converter was not charging while we were driving today and then I noticed that the volt meter did not drop to zero when the key was off.  Both are bad signs

I popped the main breaker and the volt meter dropped to zero so it’s clear that there is some high-resistance ground fault.  It has to be high resistance because there would be smoke otherwise!

I inspected all the batteries and there are no *obvious* faults from there.  The most likely spot would be on the positive cable for battery #5.  That leaves A LOT of wire to check because the link between #5 & #6 is the long run between the front and back packs.  Then again, cutting the breaker stopped the short.   Hmmmm…..

Maybe it’s time for an AustinEV open garage to get more eyeballs on it.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Storyline | No Comments »

January 5, 2008 by Rob.

I found the keys to the RAVolt’s roof rack during house cleaning over the holiday and was able to give the RAVolt top trim.  Hopefully, that will reduce my drag and improve my range.

Posted in Improvements, Pictures | No Comments »

November 29, 2007 by Rob.

The RAVolt appeared sufficiently repentant to take a short drive so I played electric bus today by driving our middle school carpool. Considering the fragile cargo, I thoughtfully preheated the car. This handy box heater with thermostat was just what the electrician ordered! It’s amazing how warm the car stays if it’s been preheated and equally amazing how fast it cools off when the kids are unloading with the doors open.

Posted in Daily Use, Improvements, Pictures | 1 Comment »

November 29, 2007 by Rob.

I’m thinking through why my batteries died yesterday and my current theory is that cold batteries do not charge well. I already know that cold batteries produce less power, but I suspect that they may not charge as well too. I’m going to dig around a little and see if I can verify that.

BTW: recharging over-used batteries stinks, literally. The RAVolt got that strong sulfur battery stress smell during charging today. That means that tonight is the perfect night for double helpings of Laura’s famous 12 bean chili.

Posted in Improvements | 1 Comment »

November 26, 2007 by Rob.

I bought myself a little heater / defroster from Fry’s last week. It was just $10 and has already proven to be valuable. It’s not very powerful, but it does the trick to defrost the windshield or warm up my hands.

I especially liked that Fry’s sticker described the heater as “for heat w/o engine.” I’m certain that they did not mean it was a heater for cars without engines, but it describes my application perfectly! Fry’s can caulk up one sale due to poor English.

Note: That little heater is pretty minor so I’m considering putting an AC box heater in the car to warm it up on cold mornings. That would make it nice and toasty!

Posted in Daily Use, Parts, Improvements, Pictures | 1 Comment »

November 8, 2007 by Rob.

My super deluxe battery caps came last week.  Kate snapped pictures (and forced me to make hand gestures) while I installed the caps and watered the batteries.  I hope they reduce my water loss because I’m adding a lot more water than I expected.

Leaky, dangerous before and dry, clean after:

Note: the before picture clearly shows leaking from the old caps.

Posted in Improvements, Pictures | 1 Comment »