Paul's how NOT to convert a Metro - Page 18 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Christ · 10-20-2009, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vpoppv

Another day of happy commuting. I definitely have two dead batteries. Not surprisingly, they were the only two that didn't take a full charge overnight. I've had one sitting on the float charger for a couple days that I took out earlier because it was the worst one in the pack(at the time

). The float charger finally had the little "charged" light come on this morning so I unplugged it. When I got back home, I turned the float charger back on it for kicks, and it no longer registered as "charged"

. At times like this, I wish I had a digital voltmeter (Harbor Freight says they're comin'

) I might just be better off running 48v for a while, but then again I am hoping that I can kick some life back into my worst batteries. Hey, they BETTER work for $7!!!!!

I told my mom about my batteries over dinner and I explained to her that, of the eight I bought, one was dead right off the bat, and that I had 3 more that were very borderline and she said "can't you give them back?"

"Mom - When you buy a bag of potatoes from the grocery store, do you dig through them when you get home and take back the ones with bad spots?"

vpoppv · 10-21-2009, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christ

"Mom - When you buy a bag of potatoes from the grocery store, do you dig through them when you get home and take back the ones with bad spots?"

Excellent comparison!
Someone from the Geo Metro board suggested I put the weakest batteries in parallel. I had not even thought of that! That'll be tomorrow's project!!

TheSGC · 10-21-2009, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vpoppv

Excellent comparison!
Someone from the Geo Metro board suggested I put the weakest batteries in parallel. I had not even thought of that! That'll be tomorrow's project!!

In a normal EV that would be a bad idea, but since all your batteries are mismatched and each one has it's own charger, I see no problem. Try it!

vpoppv · 10-21-2009, 06:22 PM

Another successful commute day! And I was worried today too because it was raining! The funny thing is that I have been getting fryer oil from a bowling alley and they changed managers yet again so I had to talk to him to make sure they keep supplying me with it! Anyhow, some day I'll have to actually buy a diesel vehicle, or generator so I can start on converting it to use WVO. So I got 2 more 35 pound jugs of it, and took them home in my EV. Boy do I feel ecological today! Taking waste vegetable oil home in my electric car! LOL!

On another note, every day is like Christmas here!

This should cool my poor overworked motor! Not that it has gotten very warm yet, but why not?

The "dead" battery that was on the float charger for a couple days DID hold a pretty good charge after today's commute, so I am happy as a clam about that! So I still had 1 bad battery in the pack, and, as predicted, it was dead when I got home. So I have decided that I will try to go to school tomorrow on just 5 batteries, or 60v, so I can give the 2 dead batteries a good chance to charge, and then maybe try to do those 2 in parallel. Who knows, I might be pleasantly surprised at what 5 good batteries can do by themselves without a dead battery in the pack.....

MPaulHolmes · 10-21-2009, 07:06 PM

I did something sort of like that to keep my motor cool. It works really well. You collect vegetable oil for the future? hehe.

Christ · 10-21-2009, 07:09 PM

I"m going to start collecting WVO soon, when I can clean up a place to store it, and hopefully, I can get it in carboys from the Chinese restaurant down the street.

Leaving it sit for years just means that it will settle out as good as anything else would do, and then I can have a fairly easy time of converting it to BD without filtering and such.

Still got to get around and build that reactor, though... something on the to-do list that comes in with building the house.

vpoppv · 10-21-2009, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

I did something sort of like that to keep my motor cool. It works really well.

Oh yeah? Well guess who I got the idea from?

Quote:

You collect vegetable oil for the future? hehe

Pretty weird, huh? I have a couple of 55 gallon drums for it....

vpoppv · 10-21-2009, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christ

I"m going to start collecting WVO soon, when I can clean up a place to store it, and hopefully, I can get it in carboys from the Chinese restaurant down the street.

Leaving it sit for years just means that it will settle out as good as anything else would do, and then I can have a fairly easy time of converting it to BD without filtering and such.

Still got to get around and build that reactor, though... something on the to-do list that comes in with building the house.

That's the plus of WVO, it's not like it can "go bad".

Christ · 10-21-2009, 10:06 PM

Exactly. While it can become rancid, and stink like the dickens, as long as it's capped, it doesn't matter. The idea is to settle it out, saving the energy required to filter it.

Since I'll be converting it to BD, that saves the energy required to heat it up and keep it warm, even though after the rig warms up, most of that energy can be gotten through heat transfer of the exhaust, and water pipes from the coolant. Still, I'd rather keep my installation as simple as possible, and be able to run on 100% of the same fuel, so BD is the way for me. Plus, if Methanol goes up too much, I can also make it with Ethanol, and there are farms all over out here with silos that I can get that stuff from.

vpoppv · 10-22-2009, 08:02 PM

Commute day 4!!!! I hit double digits: I have gone 10 electric miles!!!!!!! This was the first drive at 60v, eliminating the dead battery. This had unexpected (to me) results. I was guessing that the performance would be similar, and the pack would suffer a little more discharge. As it turns out, the exact opposite resulted! The car was a little slower, but when I got back, all batteries showed a higher than ever charge. How odd. I guess I can understand the idea that the other batteries were doing their best to recharge the "dead" battery, and in doing so would discharge themselves. But I'm surprised that performance dropped. I look forward to trying the "two dead batteries in parallel" idea! Learn something new every day! Oh, and my precharge resistors (620 Ohm, 10 watt) and coil suppresion diodes (100v 3 amp) both came in today! So if anyone wants one of each, I'll send them to you for $5 shipping included. And I think I picked out the motor for EV2!!