EVTV Friday Show - October 25, 2013

- Karmann Ghia Electric Air Conditioning and Heating.

- GEVCU3 Motor Spin. 

- Failed to invent perpetual motion again this week.

EV drag

 Tesla hires a brilliant guy from Apple


Jack tells us about the GEVCU open source code writing problems with some developers ...





DMOC 645 Pre Charge circuit shown here again



Shift rod adventure


 


Heating / Air Conditioning system installed






 Some New LED Bulbs in the Store, along with the Flexible Solar Panel shown last week

Vectrix Encoder cover removal for re-inforcement

As many Vectrix owners know, the only maintenance required, once a year or so, aside tires change, is to clean the Encoder's area with some pressurized air to avoid the Encoder Warning signal on the dashboard, indicating the Encoder has had problems reading clearly the status of the Motor shaft position while riding

I got this error many times, started cleaning too, like explained on V is for Voltage website forums: visforvoltage.org

Once, I rode the Vectrix for a long time with the 'Encodr' warning coming on several times during my commute, but since there was no problem for riding the bike, I kept ignoring it and postponing the cleaning... After few weeks I got a real problem, not bad, but a little scary: at the red light, as I accelerated the torque was suddenly very reduced like I never experienced it before. I stopped to the side, turn the ignition key OFF, then back ON, accelerated, and there was no problem anymore ...
I experienced this several times during the week and decided to take it to the Vectrix dealer in Paris: he inspected it, and kept it for few days ... After a 3 days with no Vectrix period - difficult - and a 250 EUR invoice, I got it back from him and he said he changed the Encoder !
Bottom line: I should have cleaned it myself in the first place, my problem was coming from this dirty Encoder, which he replaced instead of simply cleaning it !

After a year and a half with no problem, the Encoder message came back on once, twice, and I decided to look at it again and clean it ASAP; This is when I discovered that, when my dealer replaced it, he forced on the plastic cover which had now cracks in it ... nice, and a washer was missing ...
I did the cleaning and thought I would have to do something about this before it gets worse ...

Which I did just two days ago while on vacation, not using the Vectrix, and with plenty of time to perform this task

Below are the steps I went through:

Removing the main cover

Now you can see the cracks in the Encoder plastic cover I was mentioning above ... not very nice

Once the cover is removed carefully, we have access to the Encoder, this tiny drilled disk attached to the AC Motor shaft, and the black dust coming from the black seal, damaging over time

Encoder closeup

Back at home, I cleaned the cover

Then got epoxy from RC model stuff I still have - from boat models for waterproofing -

I poured half resin and half hardener directly onto the cover, mixed really good and fast

Then tried to spread it on the critical parts, over the cracks and even decided to epoxy the washers to reinforce this fragile holes

Faster drying using the ESS fan, blowing warm air onto the epoxy

After two days it is pretty rigid

Cracks are all covered and filled with epoxy

The washers epoxied to the holes will help preventing more cracks or break

Ready to go to the parking with all the tools and stuff

Here it is, screwed back in place after the black dust has been removed with an air spray can - keyboard cleaner -



I then went for a ride and everything is fine now :-)

German " Going Electric " Forum talks about my LiFePO4 DIY ESS :-)

German " Going Electric " Forum talks about my LiFePO4 DIY ESS :

http://www.goingelectric.de/forum/ladeequipment/ladestrom-abhaengig-von-pv-anlagen-leistung-t78-190.html

...

I think it is actually the person who left sevreal commentaries on the DIY ESS blog (at the end), a certain Nico who apparently had the same kind of project going on but left it on the side until he stumbled on my blog"

Here is a the German to English translation:

Re: Charging current depends on PV systems performance

of smarted »Sun 12 , 2013, 08:41

Hello, the idea of the project is not mine and mine also still waiting on completion, which until next winter which is probably because I'm still on charge KEBA project off the adaptive PV. Here the foundations are also equal mitgelegt for the ESS. A central service then regulates the PV charge control of the car and the ESS. while ago I stumbled by chance on the Christophe Hubert and his ESS page. http://myelifenow.blogspot .fr / search / label / DIY% 20ESS Before that, I expected a lot and tested and it was then more expensive. So I have all rejected. But Christophe has then directed me on the right track. I know its a very good project and if anyone has any questions, I will answer gladly. My project but I have a little modified to be more powerful and efficient loading and also not use the Wattson to detect the excess power or the necessary reference power. I refer of ZRZ via IR adapter. Ultimately, the operation of the memory can be explained as follows: An Arduino Borad queries the TST and then controls via relay outputs (there are ready-16x boards) a certain number of inverters or chargers.These are always on or off the network side only. All inverter and charger add up Parallelbetreib. The battery is disconnected via a safety relay (normally). With a Four Range Digital Control voltmeter is limited and controls the charge and discharge.So no more BMS is necessary. before I had a BMS in use, but sold again. On page I have Charger with 90W 2x instead of 8x chargers charging devices with adjustable max. 900W each. The scheme takes the Arduino board before. afford the WR about 220W. Christophe was the first WR converted to 70W to the 0 to get close to and even set a current controller before (rc model sport). But I will refrain. 220W requirement under my system runs at all. before I used the cascading WR, was the smallest in SMA inverters are in the experimental setup. The left is also good control via RS485, but totally uneconomical.The small SUN GT250 are optimally utilized and have an efficiency of about 90%. exactly We is the total efficiency, I can not say no idea. Losses are in each case. The project is economically despite its low price in any case. From the Save comercial I do not want to talk. components and costs:

Re: Charging current depends on PV systems performance

of MoLab »Sun 12 , 2013, 12:49

This is a very ingenious concept! The stage adaptation of the feed power completely enough. Likewise, the single-phase design;. ZRZ the net so all phases 
Do you know how long it takes the GTI to be aufzusynchronisieren after switching? Must See times ... my 
Such a system would also be interested to know real, the 1700W rich indeed to a time delay to load the Smart at night from solar power, and in winter, the CHP still helps. And the facility is nice scalable.

....... And it goes on and on .....

Well, I am happy that some people find my project of interest and will learn that LiFePO4 is READY to be use for Energy Storage and is NOT THAT EXPENSIVE: My LiFePO4 5kWh pack is 1,700 EUR and are GREAT Cells (CALB CA180FI)