David's Solectria Force Rebuild

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Regen is working? I envy that feature the most.

+1 on that one. Every time I touch my brakes I get slightly angry at all the electrons that have just decided to heat the city of Surrey instead of moving me forward.

I often wonder if I should have replaced my controller (from two series/PM controllers to sepex) instead of my motor (from sepex to series wound). Oh, well, maybe that will be my next adventure!

Congrats on another successful EV! Three EV builds....that's impressive!

[TheSGC]

Last night I upgraded the AMC320 inverter to a more powerful UMOC440F. It took a few hours to add some new +12v wiring and route some wiring. I drove it around the block and it was definitely a smoother ride. I do need to reprogram the UMOC for some more power and slightly more REGEN.

I also confirmed that the FWD/REV switch needs to be replaced, it takes some flipping of the switch to get FWD to work.

This weekend I plan on cleaning up the controller mounts and also mount the charger in the trunk. Then more range testing needs to be done, I want to know if it can go 20+ miles on this NiMH pack.

[TheSGC]

Here is what the UMOC440F looks like in the Force:


It's a tight fit, but it works. Now I just need to keep cycling the batteries. I had the controller up to max settings and it had better performance but the batteries didn't really like it because they haven't truly been used in a decade.

For the next few weeks I'm going to slowly increase my driving distance until I end up using 30-40+ AH from the batteries before I try more high-power driving.

[Daox]

Sounds like a good idea. Keep us updated.

[TheSGC]

I've done some more testing and have been experiencing even worse hill climbing performance, jerking with acceleration and my top speed has decreased.

I've done some poking and in the manual is state that if I have those symptoms I need to adjust my Encoder board in the motor. The instructions are actually in the maintenance manual for the Force on how to access the encoder and then adjust it. So this weekend I am going get that fixed, then I should be able to continue my test drives.

[TheSGC]

I adjusted the encoder this weekend and it made a big difference.

I'm working on my battery testing and so far I can pull about 12 AH before I start getting into Low Voltage limp mode. I'm now cycling the pack, I did about 17 AH on my last drive, doing 20 MPH at the end, then I left the heater running full blast to pull 19 AH total from the pack.

I have a feeling it will take me a while to bring the NiMH back up the snuff, but at least for now it's making a nice around town EV. I just need to fix the FWD/REV switch to make it more reliable.

[Daox]

19Ah doesn't seem like much at all. What does that give you for range?

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by Daox

19Ah doesn't seem like much at all. What does that give you for range?

It's like 10 miles w/heat running, or 13 miles w/o heat. It's not much at all, but I think it has to do with the fact that I've never truly cycled them while in the Force. All the driving I've been doing has been 5-8 miles, or no more than 10-11 AH. I know NiMH need loads of cycling before they achieve any decent performance so this might take a while because they can have some memory affects. Even so, currently it's working out great for around town errands, which is where most of the gas these days is being wasted.

My next drive I am going draw 25-30 AH by driving until the voltage gets low, then let the heat, fans and lights run for an hour or so. I can still draw power past 19 AH, its just not at driving speeds.

[TheSGC]

I'm working on cycling the batteries now. Today I left the heater running on full blast for 2.5 hours to use about 27 AH, then recharged. I didn't drive it today as I was swamped, but tomorrow I am going for a spin after work.

Right now the batteries are OK for around town errands, but not even close for commuting yet. I'm really hoping by Christmas to get them good enough for 20 miles w/heat, or I will have to think about replacing the batteries.

[TheSGC]

I'm now looking into upgrading the Force to lithium batteries. The NiMH are just too much work to revive so I've been looking into getting 60AH or 100 AH cells from people who didn't finish their conversions or upgraded for a good low price.

I got a lead now on 45 60AH Thundersky cells with 1 being possibly an issue, but the price is right and I can run the Force on 44 cells if needed. If that doesn't come through I'm hoping a nice tax refund will help with getting a brand new set.