Fairly recently, I threw another 5 batteries in the back of the car.
I more or less rebuilt the "bedframe" battery rack. With some other material this time though, as the actual bedframe became the rack for the LP generator.
I just around in my pile of battery cables and had just enough to connect all the batteries, although not all the cables are the same length. They are all matching 2/0 thickness.
I talked with Paul Holmes a while back, and he was working on a 1000 Amp version of the Open Revolt. He sent it to me, and I got it in the mail a few days ago. Today, I connected it up to the car. Physically, it's the same 8" width as the original 500 Amp controller, but it's a bit longer and heavier, which you might expect of something capable of double the power.
Speaking of power.....
I now have 11 x 12V batteries in the Metro. That's 132V nominal. (Take THAT Forkenswift!
) Now if I have the ability to take 1000 amps from that, that's 1000A x 132V = 132KW = about 177 Horsepower.
According to
Wikipedia, the 3-cylinder Geo engine was 55HP/41KW
So, in theory, with the new controller and 11 batteries, I have a car with TRIPLE the power of a stock vehicle!
And no engine noise. So burning rubber instead of gasoline is quickly becoming, more of a reality, instead of just an expression!
So far, the new controller is just installed in sort of a test mode. I still need to finish the case, and build a real solid mount for it in the car. I also need to tweak the settings. As it is right now, barely touching the accelerator shoots the car down the road pretty quick.
"Hot-Rod mode" could be fun, but I don't think the motor mounts are going to like it. And it's not like I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in this car before..
Well, at least this time I could really earn it.
I had to dig around to find my old salvaged tablet PC running Windows XP and RTD Explorer. Once I found it, it connected up to the controller no problem. I had to remember how to do a couple of commands, but I was able to get the car and the computer to talk to each other. I even set battery amperage limiting to 300 amps. I only have a 300 amp fuse in the car right now, and don't want to get stuck on the side of the road just from pressing the accelerator too hard!