Paul's EV conversion 2- 86 Toyota Corolla
 

Ok, so I felt like a total loser this weekend because I got nothing accomplished. So when it was starting to get too dark for anything, I decided to go ahead and start another electric car project! LOL! I haven't even finished the first one:p! It's an 86 Toyota Corolla 4 door sedan with.........an automatic! I once again used the "tow Geo" and got it in the carport. I thought about using it earlier on as it had a blown engine, but decided against it because of the transmission. Then, I saw n2confusion on YouTube do an automatic Geo Metro, as well as this thread:

The Reasons why Automatic Gearboxes WILL Work with EV's & how to do it.. - DIY Electric Car Forums

Also, TheSGC has done one, so it's not like this will be a first! Like E-Sandra, my little red wonder, I have similar goals:
*Keep the backseat (not as picky about the trunk this time)
*have a 5 mile range
*this time, I want it to really go about 40 mph safely:p
*I'd like to ACTUALLY keep it under $500, not going over this time
*I want to put a straw in MPaulHolmes' brain and suck out all his vast controller knowledge and build it myself.

The biggest problem will be the last one, as I cannot understand a single word being typed in the controller thread. But then again, not long ago I was saying the same thing about building an electric car! Let the games begin!!!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...roSpecs004.jpg

He's unstoppable!!!!!

You can get a 5 mile range on potatoes in water!

And you can grow the potatoes in your back yard!!!!

Yo, Paul! Check out the assembly directions. You can do it!
Directions!

I wouldn't buy the kit if I were you since the whole EV has to cost $500. I think you could do the controller for maybe $300-350 if you order the stuff yourself and can get that horrific heat spreader drilled yourself somehow.
Order directly from Digikey and mouser to save money. I can help you all you want for nothin!
Alvin from down south had a local machine shop drill his 3/4"x1.5"x8" aluminum heat spreader for free! You could have the first $500 freeway capable EV!

If you do, I can mail you a power pcb for free, since your name is Paul. And if I order extras of those control boards, you can have one of those free too. Soldering the control board is annoying, I'm not going to lie.

But I just found some replacement machine screws that would allow for you to make the base plate with just a regular drill I think. No milling whatsoever.

If you need to make a heat sink, there are two simple options:

Use an aluminum brick (sourced from a junkyard or an old engine block) and cut slots in it, or
Get hard copper tubing and hammer it flat, then make a "comb" of it, by folding it and stacking it on itself. You can then fasten it to the solid surface and it will act like a sort of heat sink.

They're both dirty, but they get the job done, at least temporarily.

OMG Paul! You so totally rock!!! With your help, there is no WAY this project won't succeed! I'm going to soak up as much knowledge as I can, and then come back with a bazillion questions!! Like, what's a power pcb?:p Nevermind, I'll find that out by myself somehow....:D
Wow, freeway capable....I was just grinning from ear to ear that I got my car up to 27 MPH today. :turtle:I even did it in a 25 zone!:p

IF I order extras of the control boards??!! I ordered extras yesterday! They will ship in 12 days... I'll have an extra power section available by then too. No pressure. I'm just saying it's there if you want it. hehe. Heck I can even send it to you, and it can sit there for all eternity never used, and I won't feel bad.

Pressure to what, learn?......succeed?:D If you don't mind explaining every little detail like I was a 5 year old, I'm game!! I already have a soldering iron or two, and a soldering gun. I LOVE the pics in your manual. Schematics I don't get, but pictures...monkey see monkey do! Also, I figured out that a PCB is the Pakistan Cricket Board! Thank God for Google, eh?
But seriously though, did you know that the inventor of the PCB was a Paul???!!! Man, Pauls are just awesome all 'round!:thumbup:

So I finished de-ICE-ing the Corolla, which consisted of emptying the trunk:D. But that wasn't quite as easy as it sounds. I didn't have a trunk key. So I had to pull out the backseat, then remove some plastic barrier sheet, then move around the engine parts in the trunk to be able to take out the clip holding in the trunk lock. Once that was done, I took all the parts out of the trunk. I then discovered that there is a water leak in the trunk, and the spare tire well was completely full of water. It must have been there for a while because everything in there was really slimy. That included: a spare tire (it started floating when I pulled off the parts on it!:p), a jack, a tire iron, some kind of tool for the jack that looked like a wrench, and a set of snow chains. I took out a rubber grommet to drain the water. It was a perfect, warm, sunny Halloween to do it!

I concur... this Halloween was definitely warm. I was outside working today in a T-shirt, cutting down trees that are in the way (Father burns them for heat anyway) for my house plot.

tHIS HALLOWEEN WAS RAINY AND FREEZING!!!

Doesn't it always rain in Washington?:p

It rains so dang much here that one time I was walking to the store... Or so I thought... I was actually walking at the bottom of the ocean! I just thought it was really rainy and salty that day!

You sure you hadn't fallen into Oprah's navel?

OK, now you are going to make me puke.

Hey! vpoppy! I'm going to do a basic charger. At least I'm going to try. Do you have a 144v charger yet?

144v?? Wow! I thought you were still at 72v like me?? I have 6 Duracell 12 amp chargers to do my charging. But then, if the controller can do 144v, and I happen to have 12 batteries....Oh the temptation. You know I'm not allowed to build anything over 80v in my state, right?:D

How Jimmy Inhofe keeps those pesky EVs out of Oklahoma: - Democratic Underground

But officer, it wasn't me!! It's this guy in Washington, HE designed the controller, HE designed the charger! What was I SUPPOSED to do??:p

So Paul, what's next for you: an open source 18" electric motor?:) You're the electric crack dealer on the street corner. Hey buddy, ya got anything stronger than a Curtis? I'm feelin' a little low.....;)

I just want someone to do an efficient alternator/motor conversion so I can use 4 Chrysler alternators as hub motors :)

I wish I had some hub motors. :( I have one on my bike and I love it!

vpoppy... That's horrible. No, I'm still at 72v too. boohoo, but one of these days I'm going to go to Costco and get a few more batteries so I can go on the freeway.

Paul, you've made me re-think my direction on this car. I had originally planned on a 75 lb motor and 72v. Your comment about the first freeway capable vehicle under $500 has been rolling around in the back of my head for a while, so I have decided to get a little beefier motor. Nothing like this 200 lb monster of course, because that would be overkill:D:

http://cgi.ebay.com/GE-DC-Motor-2809...QQcmdZViewItem

I measured the engine bay and I have a lot of room. I'm not picky about the trunk either, and it is a very big trunk:eek:.....

dang... I want that... haha.

LOL! Is that the new EV catch phrase? I showed my wife the video and she thought it was hilarious. Never saw Napolean Dynamite though......

pvoppy: Do you have to pay registration and insurance in OK? How can you afford to have so many cars on the road? What is your secret?

It has already cost more for 2 years of basic insurance and registration than it cost (net) to make the ForkenSwift. Thinking about it kind of makes me woozy.

In my ideal world, there would be something like transferrable insurance (since I CAN ONLY DRIVE ONE CAR AT A TIME). Then I'd probably have about eleven cars too.

regarding insurance - I think this is policy dependent, because I can change vehicles on my insurance as many times as I like, and don't need to keep them insured all the time.

Problem is that if I drop insurance on one, legally, it's not registered, either, so I lose the license plate (technically. If I maintain insurance on at least one vehicle, I don't get the notice to turn in the plates for any uninsured vehicle)

It costs $6 to transfer a registration here, and it's good the same day. Many insurance companies will pick up insurance on a car the day you call and add it to the policy, as well. If you wanted a summer and winter car, that would be the way to do it. Costs an extra $12 per year in registration, but saves you the $36 to register it all year when you only use it for part of the year, and saves insurance premiums, too.

You have to have insurance to register. Insurance for my wife and I is about $40/month. Registration is $24.50/car. Here's how it has worked: I buy a car. I transfer insurance to it. I fix it up to where I feel comfortable driving it. I register it. Tags come up on another car, I transfer insurance, register it, and drive it. I have a garage I can store two cars in, which helps. I haven't insured or registered the Toyota in a while, since the engine blew. One Geo is strictly a parts car. One Geo is only to sell (if only this electric car hobby didn't get in the way:D). No insurance or tags on the van or Buick since they are gas guzzlers. I really shouldn't keep them around, but I have this irrational fear that the moment I sell them, a need will arise. Oklahoma is so leanient on tags, it's great (just $15 late fee for tags). As much as I like to feel like a rebel and bandito, I'm too OCD to drive a car that doesn't have up-to-date tags and insurance....

I have been reading a lot in the yahoo groups about trailers. I've decided that I have a new goal for my Toyota: 60 miles on a single charge!!
Here's the new plan: I will get a small trailer that will hold a second battery pack. When the first one gets to about 50% DOD, plug in pack #2. I'll only need the second pack if I ever need to leave town (which I do once a week). That would effectively cover all of my driving needs....

Do you have to license trailers that are only used to move generators in your area? Some places, you do not.. that EV add-on pack might qualify... not that it's at all expensive to register one, but if you're not starting from a pre-made trailer with a title, it can be difficult to obtain one at times.

Nope, not here! Oil and ice storm country!:thumbup:

Around here, we don't buy trailers, we buy titles.

1) That means your in-town pack could potentially be much smaller & lighter than it would otherwise need to be. 12v in-town & 6v highway packs?

2) I hope there are no hills where you're going :)

It was Christmas for the Toyota today! I received the diodes for Paul's controller, and I also received the Kilovac contactor.....

Do you always talk about yourself in the 3rd person? hehe.

No, Paul doesn't unless the situation requires it:p
I WAS going to call it the Toyota's controller, but.....
Maybe the S.T.I.N.K.Y. D.I.A.P.E.R.'s controller....
Or maybe the ReVolt 'in' D.I.A.P.E.R......

8" motor on its way. Capacitors on their way. Mouser order on its way. DigiKey order on its way. Let's get this party started! Now all I need is 10 mosfets, one current sensor, and a partridge in a pear tree, uhhhm, I mean a "transient voltage suppressor, 19v". Seems DigiKey and Mouser don't carry it any more?? Mouser called it "obsolete" and I couldn't get it put on backorder with DigiKey like the mosfets for some reason (all I got was a screen saying "wrong quantity ordered":confused:). Anyway, I'll probably have to order more parts as I burn up the ones I get so I'm not worried about it.......:p

Digi-Key - P6KE20ALFCT-ND (Manufacturer - P6KE20A)

That will work. hehe.

Cool! Thanks Paul! I'll order that when I get the current sensor!:D

8 inch motor: is that the eBay 200 lb monster referred to in Nov.?

Oh do tell us about this 8" motor! I want specs, size and anything sweet about it.

I can't believe you are on EV2 already. I just received my new suspension and ordered a water heating system for my EV.

I wish that was the monster motor, but alas, it is but a spec of a motor in the EV world! It is easily twice the motor of E-Sandra though. I took a bunch of pictures but none turned out. The armature looks nice though. It's rated at 103 amps, so we'll see how long it will take for me to melt it. Honestly, I wouldn't have gotten it if I had known this little tidbit: it is F class insulation. Made for up to 155 degrees rather than H class which is 180 degrees (celsius). Oh well, it's only money, time, effort, durability.....
36v
79 lbs
3 KW
It would make a good bike motor I bet......
I got some DigiKey stuff too......

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...roSpecs063.jpg

At least the cat approves of the motor.....

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...roSpecs059.jpg

Kitty looks kind of indifferent to me. :)