Jehu Garcia, his Samba Bus and his Chargers

Jehu Garcia goes into all the details of his adventures with high power chargers for his Electric VW Samba Bus and will build a liquid cooled version kit of EV Motor Verks  DIY 10 kW one - like Damien Maguire did in Ireland BTW -

In the previews episode of the Electric Samba Series, we headed down to Solvang, California and we were happy to report that the range of the eSamba is now about 150 miles. It reach it's destination with no issues, however, it didn't make it back home on it's own power. Again, we had to town it back home. In this weeks episode, we delve in the history of our high-powered chargers and what we think went wrong. Also, we'll get into what the plans are for a new charger for our Electric Car. Electric Car. Electric Car Charger. How to convert to electric.




This video was produced by http://misagarcia.com
Camera by
::::::::: Misa Garcia (http://twitter.com/misagarcia)
::::::::: Jehu Garcia (http://electricsamba.com)
::::::::: Gwinn Stacy (http://youtube.com/gwinnstacygames)
::::::::: Christal Garcia

ESS - Kilovac mounted on Control Board & first test

Now the EV200A1ANA is screwed on the Control Board and wired to the charger side command relay

First test on video

The resistor and capacitor are not soldered yet because I am not sure of the best location

I positionned them next to the other Kilovac EV200AAANA, because there is a hole on top of it - toscreww battery cables - and the heat generated by the 10W resistor will be able to get out of the enclosure  through it

The 6 chargers leads will be connected this week end

New charger side Tyco Kilovac Contactor positionned on the ESS Control Board

Work in progress ...

Last night, I removed the automotive 24V relay on the charger side and looked in to mounting the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA contactor on the Control Board of the ESS

Also a one inch M6 bolt to hook all the negative leads of the 6 chargers to the negative of the battery pack 

The two contactors will be side by side, almost touching each other

The resistor and capacitor will be mounted on the side, vertically  

Electronic Parts Store : 2 Capacitors, 2 Resistors & more

Saturday, I finally went to an electronics dealer in the southern close suburb of Paris and found some resistors and capacitors of different values to test in my search of a decent Economizer for my Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA Contactor

As I was there I also got some wide Heat Shrink, and a Solder sucker

82 and 68 Ohms 10W resistors

3300uF and 2200uF 35V capacitors

And back home, I tried every combination of resistor and capacitor and finally found out that the 82Ohms resistor along with the 4700uF capacitor was OK, especially at - low - 25V starting voltage - when the pack is empty -

and comsumption is quite low, around 0,3A at 25V, which should be around 8W

So these are the components I will mount on the ESS Control Board along with / next to the EV200A1ANA contactor, as soon as I find time for this  

Economizer test under 24V for Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

Last night I continued my resistor value testing this time with 2 12V AGM batteries wired in series to get a voltage similar to what I have on my ESS battery pack: more or less 26V (open circuit)



Trying different lengths of resistive wire, I test oif the contactor closes and stay closed, if it does not, I simply put less resistive length, meaning less resistance
Here I got a good result and the current going through the circuit is only 0.3A => power used = 0.3 x 26 = 7.8W

I then measure with an ohm meter the resistance value and will try find one approching this figure, here 86 Ohm
Of course, as the resistor uses current, the voltage drops, and the relay / contactor will eventually open, so I have to lower this value; Finally I decided to get a resistor of 75 Ohm after several tests

Low Cost Coil Economyzer Test for Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

I am still in search of an economizer for my new Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

Last night, I tested different resistor values along with this 4700uF capacitor - I got for my Grid Tie Inverter repair previously - and found that the simple economizer described in this DIY Electric Car thread


seems to work . I could not find a resistor that works so I used this air dryer resistive wire again - alreday used on my mini bottom balancer - and cut a piece that was 10Ohms;

Closing the circuit bypassing the economizer, the relay closes and is using 3,5A

With the economizer, the contactor is closing and only 1A is going through the circuit - instead of 3,5A with no economizer -   

1A at 12V = 12W

I will have to try with 20Ohms and see if what it does ... The idea is to leave the relay closed using minimum current, thus minimum power

Testing Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA coil with 12V Battery

So this new Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA contactor requires an economizer to avoid coil overheating and getting damaged

Talking a lot on the phone and by mail about it with my dad, he told me to see if the coil was realy overheating and that is what I did using a small 12V AGM battery as a 12V source and also wired an ampmeter - in series - to see the current going in 

3,5A showing here and 3A after few minutes

Not showing on this picture but the temperature went up to 30°C when I left the power - 12V @ 3,5A - on the coil leads for more than 5 minutes, so it is getting warm and consuming some power - 36W or more -

I am still reading einteresting stuff online to make a simple economizer with a simple resistor and a capacitor ,in parallel, wired in series with the coil : http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/evdl-coil-economizer-13711.html