Firefly Electric Conversion

[Stubby79]

It moves under it's own power!

bombed up and down the cul-de-sac a few times. What fun!

[spdfrk]

Originally Posted by thingstodo

What quartz heater setup have you done? I don't see it in the pics ... or am I just not paying attention?

I'm looking into options for my Mazda build, in Saskatchewan

This is the one I have...
12v, 24v, 36v, 48v & 72 Volt Auxiliary Cab Heaters & Blankets
Doesn't seem to do much.

Looking at ways to keep the battery warm. Having issues with cold batteries. Might just try a 110v ceramic heater (got on clearance) in the cabin in the back before going out. I have room to stand it up in the back where the spare was and there's only metal around it. More testing to come later...
Soleus Air HGW-308BL Wall Mounted Micathermic Heater - Newegg.ca

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Stubby79

It moves under it's own power!

bombed up and down the cul-de-sac a few times. What fun!

Congrats!!

I remember the first time I drove the ForkenSwift under battery power on a 36(!) volt test drive ... very big EV grin. Despite being overtaken by old ladies on mobility scooters.

[spdfrk]

I remember the first time I powered mine up. It was with the 36v power pack from the wife's lawnmower. It was super cool. First run with 48v down the alley was shocking when I realized downshifting did absolutely nothing to slow down the vehicle... BRAKES!

[MetroMPG]

That's hilarious!

Lithium lawnmower at least?

[spdfrk]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

That's hilarious!

Lithium lawnmower at least?

Old school lead acid ups-style batteries from a black and decker...

[Stubby79]

I would have (probably) been more impressed/thrilled if I didn't drive battery powered lift trucks every day at work, and if the throttle had been more responsive.

I've just fixed the latter...pot box was not changing resistance until the arm was at least 1/4" off the stop...leading to a very un-metro-like feel to the throttle. I've now got it lined up so just as the microswitch closes, the resistance is just starting. It's much better for my feather foot. And now it will actually hit full resistance (thus full power) at the end of the pedal's stroke.

Kind of silly how such a little thing can almost ruin a good moment.

Anyway...driving it was weird, in spite of being used to battery powered equipment. Why? Becuase I was expecting it to be a car, since I was sitting down and behind a wheel. The LPG forklifts we use still behave like cars, mostly. This was...confusing! Eyes/body were seeing one thing, brain was going another direction. Getting them both to clue in took a couple of minutes.

Brakes totally sucked, adding to the confusion. As did the silence(Except for the low frequency hum on gentle throttle). Heck, I had hot-wired it, and forgot to put the key in, so I couldn't steer for the first few feet. Oops! Brakes got better as I got used to them and wore the rust sheen off of them (but they're still weak without vacuum).

The throttle confused and annoyed me most, though. I did adapt, but still didn't appreciate that i had to push it quarter the way down just to get the slightest response. After driving it up and down the street a bit, deciding that everything was feeling fine, I just mashed the accelerator to see how responsive it really was. While I didn't have to hold on to the steering wheel for dear life, it was still surprising after the lack of response at less throttle. It took off faster than my 3 cylinder gas firefly ever has! That, at least, was a pleasant surprise.

Not sure how much more I'll get done today, but I couldn't just leave it alone now that it can actually do something. I'll update later if I get anything accomplished.

[spdfrk]

Try spraying tungsten disulfide spray into the brushes of the motor and add some of the raw powder into the manual transmission. That will make it much more sensitive to pedal if you like a really sensitive pedal. Try lowerfriction.com. I also put 3 oz of NMF from gonmf.com in my transmission and the lowest viscosity Dexron VI I could find.

Brakes can still be decent if you upgrade to some ceramic pads that dig aggressively. I got Brembo street high carbon rotors from Import Replacement Parts except UPS gouged me. Went with Akebono ProAct pads. Not noisy and don't dust that much.

[Daox]

Woohoo, congrats!

[Stubby79]

Cheap entertainment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy88YeNV6C0

(I recommend turning on closed captioning)