So, I got a good lead on an enclosure. A guy at the Tacoma Electric Vehicle Association makes them. Sabrina and I did a sort of show and tell at their meeting. I didn't even know there was an electric car group up there. The head of it saw us at the Lacey alternative energy fair (in the pouring rain! man, that was messed up). Another professional solderer up there wants to have a soldering workshop for people to help them in self assembly. Isn't that cool?
I fixed the controller. Now it drives really smooth. I'm averaging 64 current reads, and using that as a part of the throttle control. It has a ramp up time of like 3 seconds or something. The Curtis throttle ramp up is selectable from 3.5 seconds to 15 seconds, so I figure 3 seconds isn't too bad.
I've added the USART code to the software, and now the current is sent in ascii form out of the controller. We could use that information for all sorts of stuff, like sending to an energy usage meter, to accurately predict state of charge.
Fran sort of explained a bit of how he did his BMS this morning. Oh ya! His latest venture was a BMS for a thundersky battery pack and motor controllers for this little bugger (it get's rid of mines). He's from some eastern bloc country, but I forgot which one:
So, maybe we can also do an open source cheap simplish BMS for lithium batteries down the road? Maybe one already exists? I don't know.
Also, I think I have a superior power section (certainly simpler) now. It came to me as an "inspiration", and by inspiration, I mean from an awesome person that is way smarter than me! haha! I might try that new layout for Ben's controller. It even allows for some through hole soldering, MazdaMatt! haha!