Man, I'm getting weary of the hours going into this car... will be very glad when we get our plates. I need a break. This weekend:
- made up several more cables/lugs (motor cables & other half of Anderson emergency disconnect pair)
- mounted the ammeter shunt on the underhood platform
- spent a long time thinking about the best way to mount, orient & wire the low pedal contactor
- cut & installed strips of rubber for under the battery hold-down angle iron, as requested by my mechanic
- spent most of my tinkering time Saturday adjusting the motor brush timing... again.
I was reading up on the pile of EVDL messages ripening in my inbox, and came across a message from motor guru Husted about low voltage systems & brush advance. Noted that he said "5 degrees for mild" voltages. Apparently the common "10 degrees for street use" applies to higher voltages (say 120+). So I went out and measured... and the brushes were advanced almost 17 degrees!!
Whoops. For 48v he suggested putting them to neutral.
I now have them near 2 or 3 degrees advanced. According to Jim, the closer to neutral timing = more low end torque and less top end RPM. The motor should run more efficiently too. After making the adjustment (drilled a new set of adjustment holes in the end cap ... with the motor still in the car), I can vouch for the first 2 statements. The car goes up hills better (relatively speaking), but I can no longer wind it out to 4000 rpm before shifting - it just runs out of steam.
And it still won't spin the tires on gravel, before or after the adjustment.
I tried.