Wednesday 15 December 2010

Electric Hilux Ute for sale by reverse auction.

With much reluctance the time has come that I would like to move on to my next conversion. To do this I need to make space and sell the Electrolux, my electric Toyota Hilux.

I am holding a reverse auction on the AEVA site if you are interested.

See this site for the auction. Starting price is $5000, reducing by $200 per week.

It is the first road legal industrial AC conversion in Australia.

50 x 20Ah batteries
ASEA 15kw 4 pole aluminium frame motor
Danfoss 5042 VFD
Peak power is 48kw, Peak torque is 360Nm
Seats 4
rego till March (need to check)
located in Sydney Northern Beaches

It has been on the road for 18 months.
The batteries are good for only about 9 km on a warm day. The inverter sometimes takes a while to start in damp weather, but it always starts after about 5 mins to warm up.

This would be an excellent EV for someone to build on and develop as it is already registered as an EV. Or use as a technology test platform for a company.

There is plenty of room under the bonnet and in the tray to easily experiment with different configurations without having to shoehorn in components.

With a 100v motor rewind, a tritium controller and a 320v pack of 40-60Ah Lithium this would be a great vehicle.

Check the old posts in my blog http://a4x4kiwi.blogspot.com for the build details or check the June 2009 edition of Silicon Chip magazine.

0409 601 747.

Monday 13 December 2010

Navy's electromagnetic railgun hits targets from 100 miles away | Electric Vehicle News

Navy's electromagnetic railgun hits targets from 100 miles away | Electric Vehicle News

Monday 29 November 2010

Energy storage in capacitors

Energy storage in capacitors

A nice mathematical and practical comparison of Battery and Capacitor stored energy.


Super and ultra capacitors have a way to go.

A 3000F 2.7v from Electronic Goldmine can hold 10.94k Joules of energy: (1/2)*C*V^2

This is only equivalent to the energy stored in a .95Ah 3.2v Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFeo4) Battery: V*Ah*3600.

Lets hope that Eestor are not vapor -ware.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Optus Cable upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Wahoo.

Before:



Using Free Download Manager that downloads files in multiple parts, I can get about 960kB/s or 7.68Mb/s

After the upgrade, I get the following. 7 x as fast!

Using parallel downloads I now get about 5MB/s Thats about 5 times what I had before. All for the same price I was paying. Thank you Optus.

Think I will just back up the internet.

This is what I get from the Optus site.


Thursday 14 October 2010

i-MiEV Mitsubishi electric vehicle Frequently Asked Questions

We had a show-and-tell of the i-MiEV this morning to the staff. These are the most frequently asked questions.

Q: How far can it go.
A: About 100 km

Q: How fast can it go
A: 130km/hr

Q: How long does it take to charge?
A: About 1 hour per 15km driven. 8 hours from flat.

Q: Where can I charge it?
A: from a 15A power point. These can be identified as they have a larger earth pin than the other 2 pins (normal household power points are 10A)
Q: Where are the batteries?
A: Under the floor.

Q: Where is the motor?
A: In the back under the luggage compartment.

Q: How do I know how far I can drive?
A: The is a 16 pint ‘fuel’ gauge and a trip computer that estimates range left in km.

Q: How much does it weigh?
A: 1080kg

Q: How is B different to D?
A: B provides more aggressive regenerative braking when you lift you foot of the accelerator?

Q: Does it put power back in the batteries when you let your foot of the accelerator or you press the brake?
A: Yes. AC motors in electric vehicles provide regenerative braking.

Q: What if the battery goes flat?
A: Call a tow truck or plug it in.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: We don’t know, they are not for sale yet in Australia. Roche is privileged to be on a special lease program from Mitsubishi for 3 years. As an indication they should be less than USD 30,000 before rebates in the USA.

Q: How much pollution does it cause charging?
A: 1/4 of CO2 compared to ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) equivalent

Q: how much does it cost to run?
A: 1/3 of the cost of an equivalent ICE. 1/9th if charged off peak.

Q: Is it quite?
A: Yes, 5dB lower than ICE. About 1/3.

Q: Is it safe?
A: Yes, it has a 4 star NCAP rating with dual airbags. If fitted with Side and curtain bags, will be 5 star.

Q: Where can I find more information?
A: From Mitsubishi. http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/microsites/i-miev and for more technical details from this presentation http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/microsites/i-miev

Photo essay of the Mitsubishi iMiEV elecrtric vehicle.

Below are photos of our newly delivered Mitsubishi iMiev.

Starting from the front, The headlights are HID.



The small exposed condenser is for the air conditioning.
The heater uses an electric water heater rather than reverse cycle air conditioning.



Due to the the windscreen geometry, there is a single wiper to clear the entire windscreen.



What little electric vehicle maintenance there is consists of checking 3 fluids.
Left: Windscreen washer fluid
Center: Brake fluid
Right: Interior heater fluid



On to the interior. There is plenty of room for these lads. Obviouisly no center console but this is made up for a lot of headroom for a small car.


The dash cluster is quite sparse.
Left: Energy gauge (16 bars, currently full) and drive mode (P for Park)
Center: Digital speedometer surrounded by economy gauge. Blue means regeneration. Green to white indicates more energy usage.
Right: Odometer/ Range left / A & B trip meter/Service / and dash illumination. This is controlled by a button extending from the dash cluster



There is a bunch of warning lights to the left and right on th elower edge of the dash cluster. On the left there is Battery (presumable dc-dc converter), limp home, traction control, 'engine' fail. These appear momentarily when turning the key on.


On the right the warning lights are door open, seat belt, air bag, brake / park brake, ABS and EPS (Electric power steering)


The stereo system has a nice touch screen, but unlike the Prius, does not proved any vehicle integration. It would be good to have nerd mode to show battery volts, current, power, torque, trip computer. It does have bluetooth hands free for your phone and also a navigation system.


In the glove box there are RCA connections for an ipod of DVD / game console (Left Right and Composite video). There is also a USB socket for a memory stick or hard drive. I havnt tried it yet, but the stereo seems to have a Divx decoder built in.



the pedal box is compact and seems comfortable enough. I have to wonder why there is a block of polystyrene to the right of the accelerator.



To the right of the steering column are a TCL disable (Traction control). not traction control is required on all new cars from 1 Jan 2011.
Next there is the read demist, and the electric mirror control.



The gear selector has 6 positions.

P: Park
R: Reverse
N: Neural
D: Drive
E: Economy. Same as drive with lower power limit.
B: Same as Drive but provides more regenerative braking.



Next we have the charge socket cover release lever.
To the right of the drivers knees is a pull leaver that opens the 15A charge socket.



15A charge socket on Right rear of vehicle.



Under the drivers seat is the fast charge socket cover release.



the fast charge socket is located on the right rear guard of the vehicle



The rear seats fold down to increase luggage space.
the floor behind the rear seats is quite high in order to accommodate the inverter and charger.



To be continued: The next write up will be the test drive.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Our Mitsubishi iMiEV arrived today.

The Mitsubishi iMiEV arrived today at work. I had a chance to take a couple of photos and will post updates as I get to borrow it.

My employer, Roche, has won one of the bids to lease the iMiEV. It will be used as a pool car and for staff to borrow to begin to understand the concepts of driving and electric vehicle. Glen and Simone from Mitsubishi gave us the demo of how it works and how to 'start' it.

For now, here are some photos. I will take more photos with a better camera over the next few days. For now, here is an excellent presentation from a technology perspective by Ashley Sanders, i-MiEV Project Manager.













































240V 15A power socket

The Smoke Theory of Electric Circuits

The Smoke Theory of Electric Circuits:

The Smoke Theory of Electric Circuits

Electrical Theory by Joseph Lucas

Positive ground depends upon proper circuit functioning, the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work; we know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing.

When, for example, the smoke escapes from an electrical component (i.e., say, a Lucas voltage regulator), it will be observed that the component stops working. The function of the wire harness is to carry the smoke from one device to another; when the wire harness "springs a leak", and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterwards. Starter motors were frowned upon in British Automobiles for some time, largely because they consume large quantities of smoke, requiring very large wires.

It has been noted that Lucas components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than Bosch or generic Japanese electrics. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, shock absorbers, hydraulic forks and disk brakes leak fluid, British tyres leak air and the British defence establishment leaks secrets...so, naturally, British electrics leak smoke.

Subject: SMOKE

When wires smoke, how come the smoke is not the same colour as the wire?

This is not completely true. When the smoke is in the wire, it is under pressure (called voltage). The pressure difference causes the colour to change from the normal colour we are used to. Not unlike the blood in our veins and arteries changing colour due to the oxygen content. When the smoke escapes the wire and is exposed to air, the pressure is released, and the colour reverts back to what we commonly recognise as smoke. The wire then changes to the colour of the smoke that escaped.

I hope this helps you understand.

I would only question the last sentence of that description. It has been my experience that the wire turns a color directly opposite of the smoke.

Not always true, I think it must depend on the composition of the smoke in question.

I should have made it a little clearer; the colour the wire becomes, is directly proportional to the escape velocity of the smoke. Higher velocities generate higher heat. This heat tends to burn the wire and affect the colouring. The statement was meant to be a generalisation, indicating the fact that the colour of the wire does in fact change. Sorry for the miscommunication.

I was speaking of electrical smoke which is generally white. The spent smoke casing generally assumes a colour somewhat near black after the smoke leaves.

I can't stand it any more! If, as you say, light bulbs suck up darkness and convert it to smoke which is transmitted (via wire) to a power source for recycling...why do car batteries go dead when lights are left on? Do car batteries (and flashlight batteries for that matter) have a limited amount of storage capability? Is it like a hard drive that gets so full that you have to double-space and then lose all data?

Now you're getting it.......

I thought you guys were smarter than this. Of course the battery stores the smoke. In fact it can store so much smoke that if you open the top and light a match, the resulting explosion can do serious damage. I'm sure you are aware that usually where there's smoke there's fire. If you connect the battery to a charger, the smoke is then returned to the wire (Remember, a light bulb wont work unless it is connected to a wire system) for the utility companies to use. Your hard drive analogy is a very good example.

Our hardware guys might be onto something in their quest for superior wiring. I have noticed the unique method of of series/parallel wiring the power strips on our systems seems to prevent the smoke from getting out of the wires. A "Smoke Loop" of sorts. In the case of the "smoked" workstation recently, you should notice that this was a conventional single power strip installation.

Since colour is perceived by the cone shaped receptors in our eyes, and cones require more light that their rod shaped counterparts. Is the sky blue at night?

At night the process including contraction of the pupil is visual purple by which the eye adapts to conditions of increased illumination when facing 300 candle power redeflecting devices.

Since there is a spectrum of light that we as humans cannot see, I support the theory that everything is going up in smoke, we just can't see it. This may explain why the neighbours dog barks for no apparent reason.

I think your basic understanding of smoke systems is remarkable. However I find a flaw with your theory. The battery is a reusable storage device for smoke. therefore, one would assume that some sort of one way valve (we can call it a diode) should be needed to prevent pressure flooding back into the system while at rest. Unlike the A/C system, the smoke system is collecting darkness at the headlights and converting it to smoke. This causes the system to fill up. The battery can contain much higher pressures and volumes than the wires. If this pressure exceeds the capacity of the wire, it will cause a rupture as you described. The rupture can be controlled by a sacrificial device known as a fuse. But this still doesn't eliminate the problem. Perhaps a two way valve (zener diode) is used to allow a small amount of pressure to return to the system, and partially equalise. I find this theory unlikely though, due to the increase in the force required to start the pump (which is now under pressure) working again...

The smoke continues circulating through the system, due to the pressure differential in the battery (smoke pressure/vacuum reservoir). When the reservoir becomes depleted, the pressure simply equalises everywhere in the system (similar to an A/C system when it's turned off) and stuff just wont work. Notice the relations: Work (W) = Force (F) x Distance (D); Force (F) = total difference in pressure (Dp) x Area (A). Therefore, the work done in a pressure system is: Dp x A x D. If the pressure differential (Dp) is reduced to zero then W = 0 x A x D = 0.

The smoke only escapes the wires when a path is created between the pressure differential areas (@ either the reservoir or the pump) that has too little restriction. When this happens, the smoke travels through the wires so fast that the friction between the smoke and the outer walls of the wiring heats the wires until they rupture. The smoke continues to escape until its pressure is equalised with the atmosphere, or until the conduit that provides the path between pressure areas is severed. When this happens, the sudden drop in pressure allows the wires to "collapse" slightly and, being so hot, as the edges of the ruptures and severed ends touch, the material becomes fused, sealing the system and retaining the remaining smoke.

Don't forget, when the system is at rest, all the valves, (switches and relays) are closed, keeping the pressure areas separated. When restarting the pump, as long as everything is OK, the smoke pressure is equal on both sides of the pump and there is no net force on the pump when it begins operating again. Also, within the pump there are pressure/volume actuated one-way valves with restrictors built in, arranged in such a way that they keep excess smoke volume recirculating through an integral smoke loop, which maintains the pressure within manageable limits.

The excess smoke, created by the light/smoke converters (headlights and other darkness absorbing devices), is changed back to darkness and dissipated in small unit concentrations so its dark effect is not locally observed. The smoke pump impeller (stator), converts smoke into magnetic flux which does work on the engine. Some of the excess work energy is dissipated through the cooling system and exhaust in the form of heat, while the remaining work energy is converted back to smoke and distributed evenly in small concentrations as you drive. This maintains the total quantity of smoke in the system at an average that does not change over time.

Author Unknown

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Electrolux for sale.

With much reluctance the time has come that I would like to move on to my next conversion. To do this I need to make space and sell the Electrolux.

The first road legal industrial AC conversion in Australia.

50 x 20Ah batteries
ASEA 15kw 4 pole aluminium frame motor
Danfoss 5042 VFD
Peak power is 48kw, Peak torque is 360Nm
Seats 4
rego till about March (need to check)
located in Sydney Northern Beaches

It has been on the road for 18 months.
The batteries are good for 15-20km on a warm day. Less when cold.

The other reason for selling apart from space is that I don't want to invest any more into this vehicle, and move on to my next project.

I am looking for offers at this point because it is difficult to know what it is worth. The total project was about 14k including the vehicle, certification and on road costs

This would be an excellent EV for someone to build on and develop as it is already registered as an EV. Or use as a technology test platform for a company.

There is plenty of room under the bonnet and in the tray to easily experiment with different configurations without having to shoehorn in components.

With a 100v motor rewind, a tritium controller and a 320v pack of 40-60Ah Lithium this would be a great vehicle.

Check the old posts in my blog http://a4x4kiwi.blogspot.com for the build details or check the June 2009 edition of Silicon Chip magazine.

I can be contacted by PM or on 0409 601 747.

Saturday 7 August 2010

The Ghosts of World War II's Past (20 photos) - My Modern Metropolis

The Ghosts of World War II's Past (20 photos) - My Modern Metropolis:

Brilliant super-imposing of war images over modern images of the same location taken from the same perspective.

These images bring closer the realities of war.

"Taking old World War II photos, Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov carefully photoshops them over more recent shots to make the past come alive. Not only do we get to experience places like Berlin, Prague, and Vienna in ways we could have never imagined, more importantly, we are able to appreciate our shared history in a whole new and unbelievably meaningful way."

Friday 6 August 2010

EV WORLD: White Zombie Electric Drag Car - Cracking the 10s

He lovingly calls his 1972 Datsun 1200 coupe ' White Zombie'. "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" may have been a more appropriate moniker, for this little spam can from Japan transforms itself from a nondescript econo-box indistinguishable from the millions of other cheap imports daily shuttling commuters into a veritable monster… on the drag strip, one that grows more aggressive, more powerful with each passing year.

This year was no exception. For the first time since he began drag racing competitively, John "Plasma Boy" Wayland's little car not only 'cracked the 10's', it smashed straight through them. Here, in his words -- with some deft editing -- is how he and his team did it last Friday night (30 July 2010) at Portland International Raceway in Oregon.

0-100km/hr in 2 Seconds!

EV WORLD: Cracking the 10s

See URL for full details.

Thursday 5 August 2010

Central NSW - Recharging the Region expo

Last weekend I dragged my family to the Centroc EV and sustainability expo


I had some good discussions and met some interesting people.

Kearon and co were there with the Formula V and Capri. http://evcapri.com/Kearons_EV_Capri_-_100_electric_car_conversion/Blog/Entries/2010/6/28_Odyssey_Batteries_sponsors_ourFormula_Green_prototype_racecar.html


The electric Triton 4 door ute that Les (from Sydney) converted was there also.

A uni solar car and a group of students were showing the vehicle. It is a shame it was raining all day.

I met Michael from Deep green with the EV Honda. It has the Tritium controller and a very special motor and gearbox from ultramotive. It was very elegant and right at the forefrount of EV development. Keep an eye out for an all wheel drive Evo Lancier in the future!

Image under the bonnet http://www.tritium.com.au/solutions/ev/index.html

I also had a good discussion with one of the BEV team and also a brief chat with Ross himself. They had Bernie Hobs' Getz there. It was also a very nice conversion.

There was the first road registered Tesla there and I had a talk with the local GM Rudi Tuisk who is setting up shop in Sydney. A very smart guy. He had driven from Sydney to Bathurst on about 80% of the charge. The highlight was a ride in the Tesla around the track. at the ahem... speed limit.


There were 2 sellers of bikes, mopeds, recumbants and electric assist bikes. The electric assist bikes, even at 200W were a lot of fun to ride. I also hadn't ridden a recumbant trike before which was an experiance. (even getting in/on it was an a learning experience)

The other area had more domestic products such as native trees to give away, insulation ideas, Wind generator ( 5KW from memory), eco building products etc. See http://centroc.com.au/expo for more details.

Sunday 27 June 2010

Very nice motor and gearbox from Fuel Cell Honda

Here is a cut away of an excellent motor and gearbox combo from Honda.

The image was grabbed from a weekly EV video from Robert Llewellyn called 'Fully Charged' on youtube.

Sunday 16 May 2010

Just saw a water spout (twister over water) at Collaroy Beach

My family were at the beach this afternoon and spotted a water spout out to sea.
Quite an awesome site.

Looks undramatic in the pictures though.







Saturday 8 May 2010

Dead charger in my electric hilux ute. aka Electro-Lux.

Looks like the voltage sag was because one of my chargers died, and a set of 4 batteries wasn't charging.

Hopefully I can revive the 4 batteries that were not getting charged. They read 44 volts before charging so there might be hope.

I just ordered 2 more chargers from my favourite eBay seller e-crazyman.

The small cooling fan failed, causing one of the capacitors to die in a spectacular fashion blowing the top off and spreading it guts all over the inside of the charger.

Parts on the primary and secondary side of the switched mode charger were chard and one of the output fuses blew.

Thursday 6 May 2010

2.4G Wireless LAN antennas for sale.

I am selling some wi-fi antennas on eBay at the moment. Fixed price, free postage.


Wireless Lan 2.4GHz 802.11b/g Patch Antenna - Linear.New

Wireless Lan 2.4GHz 802.11b/g Patch Antenna - Linear.Used

Wireless Lan 2.4GHz Patch Antenna - Circular Polarised.

Lead Acid batteries realy dont like the cold

The weather hear in Sydney has really cooled down in the last week or so. The night temperature dropped to about 11 last night and the daytime high was 16.

I am only getting about 25km before the battery pack stars sagging to 500V under load. The battery pack is 600v nominal and fully charged is 665 volts.

On a warm day (25+) I can get nearer 35-40km.

Temps are in C.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Repeal Ontario's Ban on Licensing Electric Vehicles!

Repeal Ontario's Ban on Licensing Electric Vehicles!

2010.05.02

Ontario's Ban on Electric Cars

The Issue

In early February 2010, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) began a secret campaign to refuse new registrations of electric cars in the province. As a result, Ontarians cannot qualify for the only incentive Ontario offers individuals for putting an electric car on the road today - a rebate of the Retail Sales Tax (but only up to $1,000.00). That incentive expires on June 30, 2010, with the introduction of the HST. We have looked for new rules, regulations or written policy to justify recent actions, and have found none.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Selling some EV related stuff

I have had a clean out and have an emergency disconnect switch and DC bus dynamic braking resistor for sale on ebay.

I am also selling some PA gear if you check my other listings.

Sunday 21 February 2010

More progress on the encoder

the small wire and crimp lug (soldered) is to prevent the encoder spinning.
The wire is coat hanger wire so is quite firm.

Next thing to do is to draw the cable through the conduit and connect to the VFD. That will be on Tuesday all going well.



Rotor Machining

Here is a photo of the rotor in the lathe.

The shaft end was turned down to just under 12mm. I had to keep the dead centre well oiled during the process. Also had to stop a couple of times to stop it getting too hot and affecting the bearing on the shaft.

As there was significant weight on the centre, it would be best to support the bearing.

Saturday 20 February 2010

Motor disassembly

The Electrolux, (my electric Hilux / Tacoma pickup) has been on the road for almost a year. It has had a couple of problems but overall very successful in showing that industrial equipment is suitable for an electric conversion.

I removed and disassembled the motor this morning for 2 reasons.

1. I will fit a shaft encoder. This will give me better starting torque which has always been a problem. Hopefully it will also prevent exceeding pull-out torque as well. The encoder I used is the from PCA. It has 800 pulses per revolution . The part number is INHG-12HS-33AM / 0800

The reason I chose this one is because it is IP65, can be fitted on the fan end of the shaft after turning the shaft down to 12mm and will not be in the way of the electric fan.

2. To see if I can rewire the phases in parallel in order to convert the motor to 415v star configuration. Unfortunately the wiring is all gooped up with a hard substance making it imposable to locate and hack into the wires. Perhaps it will be rewound sometime.

Here are some pictures of the phase configuration.
There are 36 slots






Sunday 24 January 2010

Youtube Disco

http://www.youtube.com/disco Create music video playlists within Youtube.

Disco Turns YouTube Into Your Own Personal Music Library