Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread

[esoneson]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Yes, the whole thing is held together by black duct tape, but so what! It actually doesn't look that bad.

Ah......Ben......yes, it does look bad. You can do better,
a lot better, with just a little bit of imagination.

Lose the tape. Everything else looks just great!

Eric

[Christ]

some small tin tabs painted black and screwed to the console would look better... not to criticize, but when you've got such a nice job done on everything else, it's just bad form to punk out on a small detail like that.

Everything else is looking great though... for those gauges in the bottom, you can make them more angled just by re-mounting the plate they're in to the top rather than the bottom, and then pull it out a bit, so they angle upward more. Then, you can glass it in there and paint it so it looks like it's supposed to be there, if you want to go that far with it.

Great job on the car, Ben... hope my project ends up half as good!

[bennelson]

Yes, I can do better on the guages - just not right now...
(No, I can't flip up the bottom ones, they barely fit in there square, they won't fit on an angle.)

I seriously have about another half hour total of time I can spend on the car before the energy fair. A custom enclosure for guages will have to come later.

I cleaned up the wiring under the hood a bit.


Keep in mind that it once looked like this:

At that point, the car was held together by items including 2 blocks of wood, a tow rope, and a clothes pin!

[Christ]

Wow... the first pic looks pimp compared to the second one... LOL.

Great job on the wiring cleanup too!

[nubie]

Is that your clutch cable being used as the emergency disconnect?

If so, where are the wires that it disconnects? I suppose it could be grounded, but what good would that do?

Very clean, I like the bar with everything mounted to it.

Any word on range or performance with the 6 good batteries?

[vince]

Hi Ben;I too am curious to know the specs on how with the 6 remaining batts your car is doing and the differences once you get your Revolt controller-which sounds to be soon-have fun!

[bennelson]

Hey guys.

I am just using the best 6 of the used batteries that I have.

It looks like 20 miles is about the best I can expect from them.

Going to a larger number of batteries in series should improve my speed and range. However, adding more batteries that AREN'T as good is like making a chain longer with your weakest links.

The charger I am using in the Metro right now is a K&W something or another. It can charge a range of 72 to 108 volts. (You just put in a different resistor to tell it what to output)

Because I don't own a 144V charger, I will most likely go to no more than a 108v system. If I get the original Cougar back in, I think I will play with it at 96V for a while.

The clutch is NOT hooked up as a power disconnect yet. I did a mock-up with a spare Anderson connector, but the actual power isn't running through it yet. I do plan to eventually run it that way. It is the one feature I plan to steal directly from Project Forkenswift. Everything else that is the same between the Electro-Metro and the Forkenswift are merely coincidence.


PS:
I also think that maybe I can make a custom guage panel using "Great Stuff" expanding foam insulation. It is a really dimensional material which is easy to cut and form. I could easily make a custom shape to fit in the cig-lighter/cup-holder area.
Alternatively, a robot arm that would hold all the guages would be cool too. Maybe Tom has a spare one in his basement....

[my first gmc]

Don't mess with that expanding foam crap. I tried making different things with it and it just didn't work out. Use card stock then fiberglass it, way easier. Oh, and if you want it to take a curtain space that's already there, put a ton of painters tape down and lay fiberglass down. Then you can build off your formed base.

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Hey guys.

I am just using the best 6 of the used batteries that I have.

It looks like 20 miles is about the best I can expect from them.

Going to a larger number of batteries in series should improve my speed and range. However, adding more batteries that AREN'T as good is like making a chain longer with your weakest links.

The charger I am using in the Metro right now is a K&W something or another. It can charge a range of 72 to 108 volts. (You just put in a different resistor to tell it what to output)

I have a K&W BC-20 in my EV set for 96 volts. You can actually add a Boost Transformer to increase it to a 120-144 volt charger. I had a boost transformer on mine, but removed it until I get myself a 144 volt system. I'll find the part number if your interested in getting one for your BC-20.

[bennelson]

For a while, I have wanted a battery monitoring system for the Electro-Metro.

I have been especially jealous of the fancy LED system in the Forkenswift.

My friend Tom (of the 300V AC Neon project) is planning on making some sort of a similar LED monitoring system, but he is busy with plenty of other parts of his project as well.

In the mean time, I like things that are cheap, and just plain work.

The last time I was at the Harbor Freight tool store, I saw that plain multimeters were on sale for $3 each - so I bought 6!

At the Milwaukee Electric Car Club EV Build Day today, I got some banana plugs and cable from Tom. Once home, I spliced the banana plugs together into an 8-conductor cable that ran back to the battery box. I have 5 of the meters hooked up so far. The sixth battery is in the front, so that has to be on another cable.

For now, I still have to turn on each meter individually, and just have them set on some plywood. Mostly, I am just going to use this to see what exactly my batteries are doing under load, and figure out how far I can drive before the first battery takes a dive.