105: Saturday 16th January 2010

It is actually Sunday morning that I am writing this blog because I wanted to show that we do have sunshine sometimes.... I shall write another later at the end of the day.
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Back to Saturday, I finally got round to removing the fuel tank (Hurrah!). It was hard work as all the bolts were awkward to get to and tightened by Arnie's big brother. I did manage to get just over a gallon of fuel out of the tank, so that will keep the Jeep going a bit longer. The pile below is what came off including the fuel tank, exhaust heat shields and the last of the exhaust pipe.

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This shows how tight the bolts were. I bent the end of my socket extension, so that is now consigned to the scrap heap. Next job to fit the power inlet plug and put the interior back together in the rear of the car.

104: Thursday 14th January 2010

Today I borrowed a vacuum gauge and found that the pump is only pulling down to 8 inches of mercury (0.027MPa). It needs to be pulling nearly 3 times this to reach the turn-off limit of the vacuum switch. I tried taking the pipes off and connecting the gauge directly to the pump, but it was the same reading. I have emailed my supplier in China and now I shall wait for a reply. I also managed to secure a couple of free sample pressure switches that are adjustable from a UK firm. So now I feel like its 3 steps backwards. I am getting frustrated from this. I need to focus on another snag to hopefully solve something.

103: Wednesday 13th January 2010

I picked up my replacement vacuum switch from the post depot today. Came home and fitted it, but it does not cut the vacuum pump? Either the switch is no good or the pipes have a small leak. I had a little drive and the brakes are pulling well with the vacuum pump running, so I am not sure there is anything wrong with the vacuum switch. I think I need to get hold of a vacuum gauge so I can see just how much it is pulling. I disconnected one of the pipes after the pump had been running and there was a big whoosh as the vacuum was released. Also the brakes work fine. So I must be getting a good vacuum. One step forward 2 steps back. I am going to get a replacement battery on Friday, so I will be back up to 120v and the indicator and motor controller can work correctly again. I have also been notified that the replacement DC-DC converter is on its way to me. I expect this will arrive next week.

102: Sunday 10th January 2010

I tried out some different configurations today. I programmed the controller to 96v and moved over to just 8 batteries. The controller was still complaining of low battery voltage. I put my tester across the batteries and found 99v? So then I ran the tester on the programmer and that was only registering 83.7v, weird. So I hooked the 9th battery back in and tested at 111v and the programmer showed 97v and stopped complaining. This would do for a test run. I shall call the people at Zapi tomorrow and find out why there is a big difference with the battery voltage that the controller is registering. The next problem was that my 12v battery was flat, so the 120v line contactor would not operate. I bypassed the control with a short loop of wire and it clicked in, but as soon as I removed the wire link, it dropped out again. I rigged up a bypass switch so I could do a test run. I changed some settings on the controller and now the motor runs up to a proper speed. Quick run up and down the drive and all is well with the drive system again (I did a wheelspin in the snow - cool). At the moment I cannot charge the main battery bank as the charger only charges at 120v and I have a duff battery. I shall call the battery yard tomorrow to confirm a date to swap over the duff one for a good one. So now I am in limbo again. I am waiting for a new battery, a replacement DC-DC converter (that will stop the 12v system going flat) and the vacuum switch for the brakes. Once I have all these bits then I can have everything running as I expected. I shall keep the bypass switch as this will kick in the DC-DC converter when it arrives if the 12v battery is flat, then it should maintain the 12v, so I can switch out the bypass again. I shall also install a 12v charger to keep the auxiliary battery topped up when I am charging the car. Now if the weather improves I can remove the fuel tank and install the mains inlet plug in the fuel flap. So still a few jobs I can do. I didn't fancy laying under the car in the snow though! Flu seems to have died down a bit now, so it's back to work tomorrow.

101: Saturday 9th January 2010

There's one thing you can rely on with British weather, and that is that if you make plans that depend on good weather then it will be bad. As you can see from the photo, there is still snow and there is still more coming. I received an email from the alternative energy store to say that they are waiting to receive a replacement DLS 55 DC-DC converter from Iota and will email me again when they have it to arrange for the shipping. I am now looking into AC drives to see how much I can get a system up and running for. The big advantages with AC is the motors can run a lot faster with a constant torque across the range, there are no brushes on the motor and they lend themselves to regen braking. All this can improve the range of the batteries and allow a fixed ratio transmission like a simple differential for a single motor system so no transmission losses through a gearbox. This also simplifies the mechanical system and allows more space for batteries. There are some neat compact AC motors out there too. The disadvantages are that to get the high speed requires higher voltages and hence more batteries, although the current does not need to be so high with a higher voltage. Much higher power rated motors are available. The cost of AC system seems to be a lot higher, but I thought the same about DC until I started shopping around.

100: Friday 8th January 2010

Unfortunately I have not been able to do anything for the last few days for two reasons; I am off work sick with flu and just starting to get better, and the car is covered in snow. However I could not really do a test drive with the snow on the roads as it is extremely slippery. I had confirmation from Iota that they are shipping a replacement DLS 55 DC-DC converter to the alternative energy store who will forward it to me. That should then bolster up the 12v so the PAS pump can run and all the other 12v equipment. The guy at Iota did suggest that I could try replacing the internal fuse as there was a remote possibility that the back emf from the 120v line contactor was the reason it blew, but he could not be sure. There is a resistor inside that has the wire cut, but this is deliberate as the same circuit board is used for more than one type of converter. I hope the snow can go away tomorrow so I can have some time to do some testing.

99: Wednesday 6th January 2010

I've been off sick for the last couple of days. I did try a couple of drives back and forward up and down my drive. First attempt and I heard a crackling noise from the rear batteries and some horrible gurgling noises from the PAS pump. I checked the batteries and found one to be just 10v. Closer inspection found a split in the case, so this battery was dead. I changed the connections so only 9 batteries were in circuit and the driving was much better, but because the voltage was now much lower, the controller started complaining about low battery level and was cutting out, this was to be expected. I spent some time on-line chasing up the parts I needed. I can get a replacement battery as the recyclers still had some, cool. I need to call them again to arrange delivery etc. The DC-DC converter; I contacted the on-line store where I got it from and they suggested I contact the manufacturers tech support. I did this and they have agreed to replace the unit, but can only ship to a USA address. I contacted the on-line store again and gave them the contact name at the manufacturer and they will get it and ship it to me. I got some power steering fluid for the PAS pump and it took nearly a whole litre to top it up. I checked underneath the car and found a leak in the cooler pipe at the front of the car. That's another job to fix. I was wrong about the heater control and it works exactly as expected, but where the fan was not running and I was switching it on and off, I misread what was happening. I checked the controls and found them to be o.k., but there is no heat coming from this or it is such a small amount that it is not enough to de-mist the screen. It is possible that the overheat has tripped, but it won't go back. I will need to strip the interior out again at some point and fix this. I contacted the Zapi controller supplier and asked if I can run the controller at a lower voltage to do some proper test drives. They explained how to do this with the programmer. I need to get a good charge in the 12v battery to run the PAS pump and I should be able to have proper test drive. hopefully more than just a few yards. I got confirmation from China that they had the money for my new vacuum switch for the brakes and this has been dispatched. Two of the gearbox bolts were too long and I had ordered some new ones and they have now arrived, so now all the bolts can be fitted. So there is the basic snag list. Nothing impossible or too expensive to fix. I am going to try some spring assisters in the rear springs as it is sitting really low. These are cheap, so if this does not work then it is no big loss and I will go for new heavy duty springs. So I have not achieved anything in particular in the last couple of days, but a number of actions in place so I can progress as the parts arrive.

98: Sunday 3rd January 2010

Got an early start with painting the rest of the rear battery tray. I still need to make the hold down bar to go across the top of the batteries. The photo shows the tray all painted, but I had to wait about 3 hours before I could touch it. So I went shopping for a few bits with my wife and then I went and got some gear oil and put it in the gearbox. Still had to wait for the paint, so I fixed the head lamp that had a broken screw on the top plate. I drilled this out and put a nut and bolt in. Now it sits nice and flush with the body when the headlamps are down.
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Once the paint was dry my wife and I loaded the batteries in the trunk then I connected them together with copper straps. I made the two ends for the cables and connected these too. With the Anderson connector separated I checked the voltage on the terminals and checked that there was only a trace voltage and high resistance to the body of the car. All o.k. there. I connected the Anderson connector and checked the system voltage again, it was about 124v. So the batteries were only about half charged. I tried the key to bring the controller on and the discharge indicator lit up, but when I click the key round to the third position to bring in the 120v line contactor, the controller ancillary fuse blew. It was a 10A fuse, so I replaced this with a 13A one and it did not blow this time. With the wheels still off the ground, I moved the throttle lever and the motor then ran. I then put the gearbox into first gear and watched the wheels turn backwards. I isolated the supply and swapped the armature connections to the motor, then it went forward. As all the voltages were low, the PAS pump was not running and I still need a vacuum switch for the brakes. I took it down onto the wheels and gave it a little run, but it was almost impossible to drive without power steering. Also The heater wasn't working so the screen was misting up and I couldn't see where I was going. Fortunately I had only gone a few yards on my driveway, so I just took it back and parked up. I am pleased that it drives, but I have some snagging to do. I found the DC-DC converter was not working and the heater switch works opposite, so off is on and on is off. After tracing this there was a funny smell, but this was just some dust on the heater and when I put the blower on the this cleared through the vents into the car, lovely! Still quite a bit to do, but I have had a quick test drive.

97: Saturday 2nd January 2010

Today's distraction was a pub lunch and measure for a suit for my friends wedding in August. Before I went off I managed to get the angle iron cut for the rear battery trays and one piece welded. I came back bloated and measured (about 3 sizes too big by my reckoning) and got stuck in again. I got the frame finished off, put riv nuts in the car to take the frame and added the hold down straps. I will have to raise the frame slightly with spacers so I can get the spare wheel out of the trunk (it's one of those silly "get you home" ones). My wife is painting the bottom of the frame as I am typing, so tomorrow I can paint the top first thing in the morning. When that is dry I can mount the batteries, connect them and then give it all a quick try. Still need to take out the fuel tank and mount the incoming power plug for the charger. So not much left to do now. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

96: Friday 1st January 2010

Today's distraction was a family visit to the in-laws. When we got back I set about routing the power cables through the car. I managed to lift up the existing looms and poke the cables down below them inside the carpet by the doors. I haven't got any photos today as it would just show the cables not showing. However that suggests I did a good job. It all took a lot of squeezing and heaving to persuade the panels to fit back on. There may be some slight bulges that weren't there before, but they don't notice. The seat belts were tricky to get past, so I tied the cables to the seat belt brackets to make sure they would never snag or restrict them in any way. It took me a good few hours to get everything in and through to the trunk area. Now it is all trimmed and the cables are where they need to be. I came in for dinner and had a visit from a neighbour for a new year drink. By this time everything was freezing up outside and my cold is still quite bad, so I called it a night. Happy new year to all....