Build History (6) April 1 to Date

Apart from the BMS module failure, there were a number of other areas that we progressed.

We found that two batteries in the front box had gone flat, so they had to be replaced.

The hand break is run by an actuator,  I used two micro switches to stop the actuator at the limit, (one a fail safe) but I have recently replaced the actuator with another from Motion Dynamics this has a potentiometer, allowing me to more precisely adjust it. I noticed that the 

The Tesla water pump was located very near to the suspension, so the hose was replaced with a flexible hose, and the pump moved about 10mm away from the wishbone.

 I fitted the rubber around the door frame but when I shut the door it was so firmly shut that I could not open it. I find the mechanism so complex but Rob, from Roaring Forties soon helped me. Apparently the previous owners of the company had a faulty component with a fine thread. A replacement was soon sent and fixed.  See arrow on photo above.

Just in case I have an Alan key strapped to the door so if things fail,  I can expose the mechanism and release myself from GT40 prison.

We had issues getting the 300v to charge the 12v pack. But with the help of my CanBus analyser we were able to find the missing messages and eventually have the charger module modified to do its job. This is not so easy as the charging has to be done from the 300v battery pack, when driving, or mains charger. In addition the system has to control the water pump for cooling the system as well.

I had an issue with one of the rear tires, in that it was going flat. I took the wheel back to the tyre supplier who found that there was a small seek in the forged wheel rim. So I ground back about 1mm on the inside of the rim, where the micro crack could be seen. Filled it with a thin epoxy, used it FRP work, sanded it back to match the wheel profile, refitted the tyre. No problems.

I took the  car to have the aircon gassed and the manager straight away started vacuuming the system and sent me off for a coffee for an hour. Because he did not do a visual he did not notice that two of the hoses had not been crimped. So another employee took on the job, crimped the hoses, checked the system, with a pressure test then gassed it. So much more competent. Whilst I was there he received news that he, and his family,  had been given their Australian visa, what Joy.

Next stop the weigh bridge. 1540 Kg. 620 front, 920 Back. 

One major issue was that we could not get the regeneration working on the Tesla. It was not giving enough breaking assistance to pass the Department of transport test. Johannes at Openinvertor gave us some advice, that did not work. However he did inform us that we needed to place a 10K Ohm resistor in the throttle supply. So I contacted him the following day and he promptly came back to say, "That is strange and I'm going away for two weeks to see my parents." May be he is running from our traumas, I had a giggle. No issues as both Tim and I were also going away for a week anyway. On our return Tim juggled with the settings and we had Regen working.

Next stop was Sam my engineer gave the breaking and it passed.

Next stop the pits.

After taking my the car to Pedders to have the suspension aligned, with no success. I went to my usually policy and ask those  who may know a capable supplier.  I was recommended to go to John Fouler in Malaga. After visiting and having a chat he appeared both enthusiastic and professional. I drove the car to Malaga, but halfway there it decided to have a breakdown, due to there being an air bubble in the water cooling pump line, making the pump cavitate. That fixed I got the car to John's. The alignment took longer than expected, and therefor was not completed. It is now booked in for a long session in August, after I get back home from a month in the UK.

In the mean time I lock tightened all the bolts, and put on Nylock nuts all those that would not need to be taken off for later adjustment. So that I knew those that I had done I marked them with a marker pen.

I had been told by my engineer that I needed a warning if any of the indicators failed. This is easy enough to detect if I was using incandescent lamps that run at between 1 and 1 1/2. So some code could be written (if indicator in on and Amps below 0.5 amps then Error). The problem was that LED lights use such a tiny ampage it is almost impossible to read. Nobody in the trade could help. I eventually made a system that I could force the error. But upon contacting DOT (Department of Transport) I was told that I did not need the error detection feature. A few days work waisted.

I have a BMS screen that is hidden away but can be lifted into view and switched on by the use of micro switches. Watch video. The problem that I had is that I used reed switches, and it appeared that although the lifting mechanism and screen, used very little power, the reed switches failed very soon. So both switches were replaced with mechanical switches.

I have a Spot asset tracker for the car. I have used Spot devices for years, particularly when I was gliding. Spot uses satellites to track, thus allowing the person or asset to be tracked anywhere in the world. The spot asset tracker even informs you as soon as it moves or the battery goes low. The only problem is that you can plug the charger cable in but it does not charge the internal AAA batteries, even if they are chargeable.  So I moved the Spot to a location that it was able to receive charge from the 12v battery, even if the car was not in use. If you want anything more sophisticated contact Dynamco.

I had been working with Cete who have supplied the sound booster that imitates the exhaust noise of an ICE, for electric cars. I had created a CanBus channel specifically for the Sound booster. These channels could then be manipulated to work with Sound Booster. See YouTube. I had very good help from  Nicole Ohm, and the team.

There is one final big hurdle that we have to cross, and it appears that we are just about over it. We have a CanBus driven charger that will charge the battery pack, with either 240v or DC high charge. It has taken some time to get the messages to the charging unit to perform, but Tim's persistent work has finally overcome these issues. The final problem was trying to figure out the Can code to send to the charger to make it charge the 12v battery from the 300v pack. After much persistence Tim managed to find the commands, using the Can analyser.  The car is now in Tim's workshop whilst I go on a holiday to the UK. So that he can automate the charger. Hopefully by the time I return.

Quite a few weeks since the last post, and not so much work done on the car, due to two weeks in the motor home and one week getting over a hernia operation, caused by doing physiotherapy.

The guard under the car, under the sill was finally installed. Designed to protect much of the wiring from being exposed to the weather. 

For regular viewers you may have noticed that my web page has a big change. I moved to GoDaddy, not totally recommended unless you are prepared to wait a very long time on the chat line.

The foam rubber was stuck around the edge of the windows and front lights. If you don't know how to locate and create the holes where the screws go my solution is as follows. Keep the backing tape on the rubber strip. Lay the rubber in place, a short length at a time, may be 250mm. Mark with a felt tip, non-permeant, where the hole is located. Punch the hole with leather punch, I have one but worth buying. remove the backing tape from the section, stick in place and then continue around the window or light cover.

Cete who supply the mock exhaust noise are still, requiring me to make some modifications to the Can outputs of: Throttle position, Motor Speed, Mode (So that I can change the sound output to Sports, cruise or whatever.), and On Off.

What we have done on the MoTeC is to make a specific channel for Cete that transmits only the channels for Cete but allows them to be manipulated. 

So for example, the throttle actually when at zero shows negative 31 so we have put in an adder of 31 to make it transmit to Cete Zero. 

The speed is not sensitive enough, so we have put in a multiplier of 160 to resolve that issue.

I recorded through the MoTeC Can Inspector the data outputs at various throttle settings and speeds so that they could be examined in Germany. I hope to have a noisy car soon.

I did have an issue with the rear wheel being very tight on the stud, this was resolved by turning the stud down a fraction on my lathe.

I purchased a temporary license to drive the car around the block and having done some modifications to the hand break, it held on a steep hill, although I think it is on the limit of the actuator. So a 1200 Newton, with potentiometer, to change electronically the limits, has been ordered to replace the 500 Newton one that I have now.

Openinvertor have a comprehensive setup sequence, for the Tesla. I went through this but found little change in the feel of the motor with the various changes in settings. I think this is an area I will go back to once I get the feel of the car.

Sam, my engineer came for a day, to check that all the car stood up to the regulations. Most things were ok other than:

A sticker had to be put on the break reservoir. Resolved.

Windscreen demister not working. Wired and Resolved.

Tyre placard needs to be made and attached. Thanks to Roaring Forties.

Passenger seat belt binding. Resolved, I hope.

And here comes the worst one. If the indicator light bulb fails I need to get a warning. I have tried to do this through the MoTeC but with no joy. At the moment it looks like I have to install flasher relays. This requires complete rewiring of the indicator circuit, that goes against the grain. So I am doing some research on this.

I had been told that my LED headlights were not to Australian standard, so I bought some incessant lamps and fitted them. You can guess what I will do once the car has passed.

There was an additional issue. We did a break test, where a pressure sensor was strapped to the break peddal. We drove to a reasonable speed then breaked hard. The aim to achieve a specific G force in breaking. This achieved the break pedal pressure was obtained. The issue is that too high a force was required! Robert at Roaring Forties believes that a bit of hard breaking will wear in the pad and the problem resolved.

The next job was to get the wheels perfectly aligned. So I booked the car to go to Pedders about 10 k away. I noted that there was a bit of play in the steering, and naturally told them. They were not prepared to continue with the tuning of the suspension until it was fixed. So the car came home and literally in one minute I found the location of the play and fixed it with the tightening of one bolt. I therefor decided not to go back and asked for a reference from Glen Autosport Electronics (MoTeC), he put me in touch with John Fowler Autosport who has a workshop full of boy racer cars. I was booked in last Friday, but it bucketed it down with rain, so I had to cancel. In the last 6 months we had had only 21mm of rain. I have booked for next Friday.

As I had a bit of a drive in the car to Pedders I noted that there were things on the display that were hidden by my hands, so a bit of moving about was required.

I also installed a small power board that is able to transmit up to 8 different mp3 sounds to a single small speaker. Previously I had 4 separate speakers. FN-BC08

Tim has still not got the charger working. I made the decision to make a third CanBus, that is just for the charging mechanism. Tim had long talks with contacts in China but still no joy.