April 28, 2007 by Rob.

I forgot to post about 2 items: supporting the front box and Astrodyne.

I’d been worried about supporting the front box because there are no pre-existing load supports for the rear edge of the box.  I’d been planning to drill holes into the frame at the edges of the box, but that did not see secure enough and was a pain to figure out.  I finally realized that I could construct a support that rests on the engine mount and supports the box from the middle.  I’ll take pictures when I cut the support out tomorrow.

I’ve been emailing w/ Bob at EV America about DC-DC supplies.  He recommends the new Astrodyne SD-350D because it is smaller and cheaper ($150 vs $500) than the traditional Zivan.  However, he also said that they have had problems running the unit at 144 VDC.  He did not have a work-around so I’m going to have to call Astrodyne and see about it.  I also posted to the EVDL list, but have heard nothing back.

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April 28, 2007 by Rob.

I’m nearly finished laying out & cutting steel for the battery boxes! This has been a long process even though the sparks are literally flying as I work.  You can see them as orange specs in the photo - they look like a sparkler while I cut.

I’ve got the p/s pump support holes drilled in the mid box. I had to work on the box upside down so took the picture upside down to re-orient the box. I’m not sure if it helps, but the bottom of the picture is the part that will bolt to the axle mount.  The near side goes to toward the back of the car.

The rear box is the squarest and least constrained of my 3 boxes. The picture shows how the basic frame will work: the bottom box will have 12″ uprights. The front top (left side of photo) will actually come over the batteries to help restrain them in an accident. The sides will be horizontal when they are welded.  And for the icing on the cake, I’ll put a sheet of wood over the top of the box for cargo.

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