AC Dodge Neon Electric Conversion Videos

[Christ]

Where might a lowly persona resembling a "me" get hold of one of these "magic box" dealies? Maybe some specs on the motor too? In written form... I'd hate to carry my laptop to the e-motor dealer so he could listen to the video explaining what motor and how many windings it needs, etc.

[Intrigued]

I may have been misunderstood...

That looks like a 3-phase electric motor. What I want to know is where the DC from all of those batteries is changed into AC for the motor. Is there an inverter within the controller, or is that a separate box? If so, there would be more expense to the system. Also, does an AC controller vary the voltage, or the pulse width like a DC controller, or cycles per second???

Where can I go to learn more about all this???

If a simple inverter could be designed, and someone like MPaul come up with a controller that wasn't too expensive, then I'm thinking that instead of going with a small car to convert, I might do an S-10 and have the batteries to get the voltage up to where it would be able to run at highway speeds - whether I use AC or DC. By looking at Wayland's Datsun stuff, either way can be great fun!

[bennelson]

Yep, it's an AC motor, and I believe it's a three-phase, although I have to double-check that. It does have 4 power cables going to it, so I think that means it's three-phase.

I believe DC to AC inversion is done internal to the AC drive. I'll have to check with Tom on that one.

Looks like there's lots of interest in AC electric conversions here!

[bennelson]

Here's everything you want to know about building battery boxes.

That's right! Actual boxes! From now on, we will reserve the bed frames for cheap-o Metro conversions!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uagMA1ACxbA

PS: YouTube now supports HD on some videos. If you are in the States, and have a fast internet connection - click the video here to go to YouTube, and then hit the WATCH IN HD link in the lower right corner.

[bennelson]

Here's the latest update from Tom about his car:

"January 4th meeting:

We spent the day working on battery trays. Ben brought his video equipment and shot another "how to" video on making battery trays.
The rest of the crew worked on building the trays and installing them in the car. Its coming together nicely, it looks like there will be room for 23 batteries in the back of the car and another 4 under the hood."


27 batts times 12V! That's 324 volts people!!!!

[MPaulHolmes]

I can't believe I've missed this thread! This is awesome. Holy cow! Very professional videos, too. 324v. That's amazing. I bet a budget AC conversion could use small older 12v batteries because the current draw would be so low. You would get great range. This is really exciting. Keep up the great filming, Ben! Did I miss where he got his motor? Is it a budget industrial AC motor, or something designed for AC electric cars?

For that voltage, you would want to go with IGBTs instead of mosfets in the controller. You know, there are lots of 1200v 600amp surplus IGBTs sold on Ebay all the time. I bought 4 last year for $50 on Ebay, but got greedy and sold them one at a time for like $30 each. They are harder to parallel than mosfets, because of thermal runaway, but maybe if they were kept cool. Oh, man, this would be fun!

I can't wait to see how it drives, and what sort of range he gets, and Amp*hr/mi, etc..., etc..., etc...!!! Yahoo!

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Here's the latest update from Tom about his car:

"January 4th meeting: ... it looks like there will be room for 23 batteries in the back of the car and another 4 under the hood."

27 batts times 12V! That's 324 volts people!!!!

Wow! Is he going to have to adapt his suspension to handle the weight of the batteries???

[bennelson]

The motor for this project is a standard, industrial, 3-phase, motor. Tom is pretty good at locating good deals on salvage and industrial items. The AC Drive (controller) that matches the motor has some neat features built in to it, including making regenerative braking very simple.

Part of why this particular Dodge Neon was chosen is that it was the "sport" model. It already came with extra beefy brakes and suspension!

[Christ]

Do you still have more videos being edited for this, or are we caught up at this point? I saw the battery box/tray video on YouTube already.

[bennelson]

I still have some footage of the ICE removal.

That happened one time while I wasn't there, so it was shot with somebody else's digital still camera.

The quality wont be as good on that, but there is lots of good information.

You will also notice that video 006 is missing from the order of videos - that's because I want them to be chronological, but I still need to do the ICE removal video.