Ben's "Cougar" ReVolt Controller

[bennelson]

The other day, I had left the car in "hot rod mode".

That means I instantly spilled my coffee every where the next time I hopped in the car to drive, and forgot how sensitive the throttle was.

I turned the throttle back down to "smooth acceleration no matter how hard you smash the throttle" mode.

Also, I installed the tablet computer into the dashboard by making a mount out of plexiglass and jambing it in the air vent frame.






So, now I have a somewhat heads-up Real-Time-Display for the controller.
I can also play music and videos through Media Player. Videos don't play great, as it's not a real fast processor or tons of memory.

( There is a 1/8" stereo headphone jack on the computer, and the same input jack on the car radio to connect to.)

Go to:
MobileMe Gallery
to see more photos.

[MPaulHolmes]

It's starting to look like one of those $60,000 electric cars with that heads up display. Nice! How are you powering it?

[bennelson]

The tablet computer needs a 20VDC power supply. I have a 12 to 20v power adapter, which lets me use this in the car.

However, my car no longer has a cigarette lighter plug, (sacrificed to make room for gauges) so I ran a new dedicated 12V positive wire from under the hood, through the firewall to the front for the computer. That power comes off a secondary fuse panel I added in the front of the car, which comes off the main can battery. (Aux 12V system.)

Don't worry Paul, I promise not to fry the Cougar this time.

(Just so everyone else knows. Serial cables carry power though them. Or er, at least a ground or something. Anyways, if you are doing something like this, be careful where your power comes from! 12v power source should be the same for the controller and computer. Do I have that right Paul?!)

[bennelson]

You are right, the computer on that dash did suddenly make the car look a whole lot cooler.

The little plexiglass holder actually turned out really nice. Most of the time that I whip something up out of junk, that's exactly what it looks like. This was just a little last-minute idea I had because I am showing off the car at an "Earth Day Sermon" at a local church tomorrow!

I saw a car commercial on the televison that really made the car to be something SOOOOOO to be jealous of. And you know what? It really wasn't cool. If you want to spend 30-some thousand dollars to try to impress your friends, be my guest..

I like my car. It makes me smile when I think about it.
Uh oh. Must be that EV grin thing again.

[mrbigh]

EV grind thing is totaly fine ....

[MPaulHolmes]

Originally Posted by bennelson

(Just so everyone else knows. Serial cables carry power though them. Or er, at least a ground or something. Anyways, if you are doing something like this, be careful where your power comes from! 12v power source should be the same for the controller and computer. Do I have that right Paul?!)

Exactly Ben! Holy cow, earth day is coming up?

[bennelson]

I will be showing off the car at four different events this week!

I am SO hoping to get a photo of it next to a Tesla!

[bennelson]

I have had a little trouble with the controller lately.

For our local Earth Day Car Show, tradition says that it will be great weather before the event, and then rain that whole weekend... which it did.

When I went to use the car to move it up with the other vehicles near the tent, the controller wouldn't turn on. When I turn the key, the green power LED comes on, but the yellow Logic/Troubleshooting LED doesn't come on.

Two days later, the next time I needed to use the car, and the weather was better, the car ran fine.

Today, I used the car and it ran fine. Then it started raining real hard in the early evening, and my wife requested that I run out to the grocery store. I told her I would, if the car started.

Sure enough, the main contactor wouldn't click on. (Main contractor control is powered from the Cougar Revolt.) I checked under the hood. Green power LED was on and the Logic/Troubleshooting Yellow LED was off.

I think the damp is getting into my controller. The controller is under the hood, but it's near the front of the car. Also, the positive and negative power wires, as well as the 12V+ for the contactor are somewhat exposed. The main contactor is protected inside a weatherproof box.

Any ideas on what to do for weatherproofing the controller? I was considering re-building the case into something a little different. Otherwise, maybe just caulking all the seams, and where the wires go in and out?

[MPaulHolmes]

I've been wondering about that myself. Before you caulk it, you may want to make sure the inside has been heated and dried a little. Otherwise, it might get foggy inside each time it warms up. hahaha. That probably wouldn't be good. Maybe adding a little sealing layer on the sides where th enclosure bolts down too would probably be good.

[jackbauer]

The only times i've seen that problem is when i've screwed up the config bits programming the micro or not seated the micro fully in the socket. First thing i'd do is check the micro is fully home in its socket.