Bradley GT II EV Conversion » High Voltage System

The Heater Continues

Administrator — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:38:51 +0000

Yesterday I met with Chad and we bench tested the heater for my car. It was a hack job in that we twisted wires together and set the elements in front of the blower assembly and powered the blower with a battery charger. We powered the elements from the 144VDC main pack. The results were pretty impressive we took measurements and calculated the amperage draw. When Chad left I started building my heater assembly. I had to cut, grind, and fit the elements into place but the result is worth the effort. The accompanying photos show what I mean.

Weekly Journal

Administrator — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:09:44 +0000

I have decided to keep my blog going and write something at least once per week. EV1E is still on blocks but I am getting closer to a solution for my distance problem with each passing day. I am researching the “Bedini” circuit in conjunction with a generator/motor to extend my range. Today I purchased a Chevy Luv conversion and solar panel array to charge it. I will be picking it up in Mar and will post pictures. It’s “frickin cold” in my shop so I will have to wait until it thaws out a little to do any wrench turning but the research continues. EV1E needs another coat of paint and I have to block sand her. I have chanc\ged my mind on the heater design. I am still going to use the ceramic elements but I am going to use 144V DC to power them.
I will be replacing the wood battery boxes with Aluminum ones and I am still looking for the passenger side window. Does anyone out there know where I can get one? I have an extra windshield I can trade.
Keep On Pluggin

Mission Accomplished! (for real)

Administrator — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:59:29 +0000

I drove my EV1E to work in daylight conditions and, back at night. A total of 56 miles, 26 of which was freeway driving. I didn’t push the pedal all the way to the floor but I still got 60mph on the freeway….A great day

Gauges and More Wires

Administrator — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:51:47 +0000

Hi all! Today was spent trying to figure out why my ammeter wasn’t working properly. After consulting with the folks at Electro Automotive (Gary Snyder, Bill Lentfer) we determined that I may have the wrong type of shunt for my system. A shunt is a device which when hooked up to the main pack allows a small amount of voltage to be used for the “calibrated”gauge. This allows me to use small wires to the gauge instead of big battery cables. Since I have regenerative braking I have to have a shunt that allows current to flow in both directions. I am not real sure of the structure of the shunt but I think it runs by Thermal Dynamics, metallurgy and some kind of magic incantation. So once I realized that i was not going to fix that one today, I moved on.
My next task was to hook up the “State of Charge” gauge. This went flawlessly since, I already ran the wires when I made the loom which runs from my relay board to the front of the car. lastly I hooked up the DC/DC converter. This device acts like an alternator on a car, When the key is on it pulls juice uniformly from the main pack and uses it to charge the auxiliary 12V battery. After I got it all hooked up I put my volt meter leads on the aux batt and it read 12.42V, then I activated the DC/DC by turning on the key. When I measured this time it read 13.55V. This told me the DC/DC converter was charging the aux batt. The only pics I took today were of the State of Charge gauge.

Evie Update

Administrator — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:56:36 +0000

Here are more pictures of Evie. These were taken on the 17th after I readjusted the top and doors. The doors fit much better now. What you can’t see from the pictures, I had to shave off just a sliver of the inside fender well to allow better clearance for the wheels and tires. I have decided to mount the 12 Volt fuse block/wire harness on the center tunnel behind the emergency brake. This will give me easy access. This car has a center console and all I will have to do to check or change a fuse is lift the door on the console. The console also has channels built into it which I can run my harnesses through.
The push is to get her street legal so that I can start driving her to work. Some of the members of Team Evie are coming this weekend to help. There are many rivers to cross before we get there.

Windshield and Back Glass

Administrator — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:30:28 +0000

On Aug 9th 2009 (yours truly’s birthday) I had a few friends over for a bar-b-que. Each one got to ride in Evie down the block and back again, for a total of 6 trips. The batteries are still ready for another run. I sent my battery charger to Sacramento for re-calibration. It was set up for 18 8V batteries, and I am using 12 12V batteries. When I get it back I will fully charge the batteries and see what this baby will do. I am wearing a large smile these days just knowing I am so close to seeing a dream become a reality. In case you are wondering what ever became of the two Bradley’s I was using for parts, here is the answer. I gave the rust bucket gray beast to Greg at Bugformance of Stockton as a core for the brand new transmission Evie is sporting now. I asked him at the time if he would let me have parts as needed and he could keep the rest. Well the darn thing sat in his yard for about 1 year I had taken the top and one of the doors off of it and then he finally he sold it or gave it away to a guy named Jon Connolly. He also told Jon about me and that I might have some “spare parts” for a Bradley. I had a whole car (remember the white one I bought for parts?) so I gave him the other Bradley… Actually that is not quite right, we bartered. He is going to paint my car. He has won awards for his paint jobs. I have decided to paint her Wimbledon White with a Blue GT 40 racing stripe. The pictures below were taken on the day I put Evie’s windshield in.

Today We Ride!!!

Administrator — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:43:44 +0000

Today August 4th 2009 at 1435 PDT Evie moved on her own power. I threw a seat in her (didn’t even bolt it in and a steering wheel on her (again, no bolt) and started her up and drove her down the driveway and down the street and back. Then I backed her up the driveway and into her stall. I did this a total of two times. It has been a long road to get to this point but we are here. Here are some photos of Evie on her Maiden Voyage Day.

OK, Here is the Scoop

Administrator — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:44:12 +0000

There I was… Alright, Here is what happened. Way back when, when I received my DMOC in the mail, I simultaneously received an email with attachments. One of the attachments was a backup copy of the .par file which was loaded into my DMOC prior to delivery.
When the motor did not operate properly I was asked to send to Electro Automotive the .par file I received from Azure. So I sent them the backup copy that azure sent me. After analyzing the .par file, the team at Electro Automotive determined that the parameters on the .par file were correct. Back to the drawing board…
What we still hadn’t determined (and just assumed) was that the backup copy which Azure sent me was in fact, what was actually loaded in my DMOC. This was not the case. What was actually loaded in my DMOC was a .par file for a 336V system. As Gary (Gary Snyder) said “it’s a wonder the motor worked at all” Once this discovery was made it was just a simple matter of loading the “backup” .par file I was sent into the DMOC. After that I only had to save the file to the non-volatile memory. The process took about 9min.

Yip, Yip, Yipeeee!

Administrator — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:14:23 +0000

The motor runs and it sounds like a fu#kin jet engine! Awsome

Gary Called…

Administrator — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:18:34 +0000

Gary from Electro Automotive e-mailed me today and said he was going to send a follow up email to Azure. There is one person ahead of me apparently. I am going to go out on a limb here and give my theory.

This setup was originally designed to be run off of 18 8V Flooded Batteries.

I changed the battery configuration to 12 12V Gel filled batteries because of weight constraints and maintenance considerations.

The 18 8V Batteries have more current

The DMOC is programmed for the amperage provided by the 18 8V batteries and therefore expecting that amount of current

It just seems to make sense…to me…somehow.