Engine Mount and Driveshaft installed.

This is the view looking up from under the vehicle.
The aluminium block holds the inductive pick-up. (Thanks Geoff)
The drive flange is the grey part.
The Universal and sliding spline are bolted to the drive flange.

I spent ages looking for 10mm x 1mm pitch bolts. I should have gone to Toyota first. They were just a couple of dollars each!



This is the rear mount that attaches to where the gearbox used to attach.

Cyclic test result for 20Ah Greensavers

I have cycle tested the Greensavers and plotted the capacity. The results were disappointing HOWEVER please see the explanation from Greensaver. It seems I over discharged them. I probably incorrectly assumed the 100% discharge point was indicated by the "Discharge Characteristic Curve" in the data sheet. (see previous post for data sheet)

Director of R&D, Greensaver: "Two comments on the cycle life test result: (a) The cutoff voltage was too low. Overdischarge will cause low cycle life. It is suggested that the depth of discharge is limited to 80%, and the cutoff voltage is set at 11.4 ~ 11.5V.

(b) The average discharge currents were relatively high. In this case, the recharge current is suggested to choose the same rate of high current to improve the cycle life of batteries."

Point 2 would be difficult to implement due to the cost, size and primary current of chargers.


The capacity is normalised to 1Ah discharge as varying discharge currents were used. This eliminates the effect of the Peukert factor at different discharge rates. The 'waves' are caused by slightly different end point volatages at different currents.

The Driveshaft

Here is the assembled driveshaft.

The shaft is a 2 piece unit. The forward section (closest to camera) has been extended and a sliding yoke fitted.

The near end attaches by 4 bolts to the drive flange on the motor.

Motor installed

The motor is installed on the mounting plate.

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Batteries Ordered

Last week I ordered 55 x Greensaver SP20-12 batteries. 50 to install and 5 spares.

I need to design and build the battery box next!

Cost per battery should be a little under $60 each including landing taxes.

Drive Flange and speed sensor

Thanks to Geoff O'Toole for your fantastic machine work.

Here is a photo of the drive flange assembled with the inductive pickup (AE1-AP-4A) from AutomationDirect.com.au.

The speed sensor is used to provide feedback to the controller for closed loop operation.

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The Drive Flange has been machined, drilled and tapped to accept a Hilux universal joint.

Greensaver battery inter cell balance - After Discharge

To satisfy Tuarns (and my) curiosity, I discharged the battery to 11.5v at 20A, let the battery rest, then measured the individual cell voltages. Following are the results.

+
2.0919
2.0966
2.0994
2.0985
2.1004
2.0957
-

Average = 2.097083
Standard Deviation = 0.003079
Range is from 2.0919 to 2.1004 difference = .0085 volts (0.406%)

Again the battery seems to be well balanced.

Thanks Dom

Actually I am waiting to get the engine mount back from the sand blasters and painters, bit it looks good hanging there. :)

Greensaver inter cell balance

Greensaver have been very helpful in providing technical details regarding their batteries.
They provided the following diagram of the top of the cell including the interconnecting links.



I drilled 5 holes in the top of the battery according to their diagram and measured the voltage of the 6 individual cells. The battery is measured at full charge. This battery has been (unfortunately) over discharged about 35 times and is only about 1/2 new capacity. A battery that has been cycled like this should exhibit significant imbalance between cells if the cells are not almost identical.



The results below are measured with a meter (not pictured) with 4 decimal places:

Cell : Voltage

+
1: 2.2402v
2: 2.2456v
3: 2.2452v
4: 2.2541v
5: 2.2490v
6: 2.2458v
-

Average cell voltage is 2.2466 volts. This is 100% charged including some surface change.

The standard deviation is .004616

The range is from 2.2402 to 2.2541. A difference of 0.0139v (13.9mv) or 0.6205%

I am not an expert in battery chemistry but this seems to be quite good.

Comments welcome.

Brake Vacuum Pump and Manifold complete

The brake vacuum pump and associated fittings are installed.

The pump is quite quiet. At higher vacuum the vibration is less.

From left to right:

1. T goes to brake booster and to the vacuum tank. (Aluminium drink bottle from Katmandu)
2. T and vacuum cutoff swithch
3. T and vacuum gauge
4. One way valve
5. Vacuum pump.

I bought the brass fittings (5/16") from ENZED