Parts are ordered

I got my parts ordered as well as the batteries. I ended up going with 38 Thundersky 160ah batteries for  approx. 120 volts. This will give me enough range to get to work and back if for some reason I can't charge at work. Also, my car should have pretty decent power with my controller running at 500 amps. If I got some bigger fuses, I could run up to 700 amps, but that would drain the batteries pretty quick. I ordered everything from Justin at www.evolveelectrics.com. He was very helpful and quick to respond to emails and changes in the order.

Here is a list of the parts:

DRIVE SYSTEM
Netgain Impulse 9 Motor - Double shaft- Set up for clockwise rotation for the Honda
Netgain Warp Speed Sensor - for the Tachometer and speedometer
Curtis PB-6 Potentiometer - connects to the gas peddle to tell the controller how much battery juice to feed the motor
2 Albright SW-200 Contactors - wired to the ignition to close the circuit from the batteries to the controller
Clutchless Transmission adapter plate - I decided to go clutchless - a little tougher to change gears but I think it will work out fine
BATTERY SYSTEM
Elcon PFC-2000+ Charger - Battery charger - 115VAC at about 12amps - I think about 5.5 hours to charge 40% of the pack which is more than I will use at one time.
6 feet of 6AWG Welding cable - power from the plug to the charger
30 feet of 2/0 Welding cable - running between the battery packs, motor, controller and safety devices
Various Heat shrink and Lugs - for power cable
500Amp Ammeter - This measures amps going from the batteries to the motor
60-160V Voltmeter - This measures the battery pack voltage
500Amp Shunt - this lowers the power going to the above meters so they don't blow up
40 Thundersky 160 Ah batteries and connectors - I will be running 38 and have 2 spares
SAFETY SYSTEM
VBS braking kit - This is a vacuum pump which creates the vaccum needed for the power brakes to work
IOTA DLS-55 DC to DC converter - This changes the voltage from 120Volts to 12 volts to charge the accessory battery
Ferraz 500amp 300VDC Fuse - Going over 500 amps will shut the car down - I will set my controller to limit the amps to 480amps
20amp Fast acting Fuse and holder - for 12volt accessory system
First Inertia switch - If I get in an accident, the inertia switch cuts power to the system
2 Anderson SB-350 2/0 connectors - for the battery system - manual disconnect to service the car
2 Anderson SB-50 6AWG - for the charger system - manual disconnect to service the car
12Volt 40 amp relay - for the ignition system

So, it is alot of parts, but nowhere near what a gas powered vehicle needs, and not nearly as many moving parts which is what causes failures in gas powered vehicles.

I will be eagerly anticipating receiving them and also continuing work on the DIY controller.  Depending on how long the batteries take to get here from China, I could be up and running in a couple months. This also depends on the schedule of  MECHEN the mechanical god (James) who will be helping me figure out how to put this all together and attach it to my car.

Exciting News

So I finally finished the control board section of the controller. I took it out to the garage and wired it up to a 12V car battery and just like that, the green light lit up and the yellow light was flashing just as it should. A great sense of relief  and excitement hit me. I really did not want to have to figure out what component might be faulty or I burned up, or have to order another control board and start the soldering all over again. I will also try to hook it up to my PC tomorrow and run a little diagnostic program on it to make sure the chips are working properly. Then, I will move on to the power section of the controller. I have been putting off ordering the rest of the parts for the car because I can not seem to make up my mind about the battery pack. I want to go with the lower cost of the 4 packs, but am afraid I won't get the cycle life or the power out of them that I want. The difference is about 10-30% more between the 3 larger packs, so maybe I go with one in the middle.

Will this project ever move forward?

So, my work got very busy at the end of April and beginning of May and I have just started to recover. Not much has happened with the ERX except that I have once again bounced around the idea of what type of batteries I should use, and in the end again I came to the same conclusion as before. I will still be going with LiFePo4 batteries. One exciting thing I did do was I started to solder my DIY controller. The controller is called Open ReVolt and was developed by Paul Holmes and sold at www.paulandsabrinasevstuff.com. His development thread is on ecomodder.com. When I started soldering, it was a little nerve racking, but after I did a few components I managed to feel more confident about my skills and just about finished off the control board portion of the kit. I need to buy one more piece at Fry's and solder a couple connectors and wires . I am not sure if there is a way to test it out, but there is PC software you hook it up to so you can check to see if the main chip is running properly. There are also a couple LEDs that come on when it is powered up, so hopefully I get some nice lights and not smoke when I apply the voltage.

 Closeup of Control board for the Open ReVolt controller about half finished

 I can't believe I have done this - Hope it works

Since these photos were taken, I have put in all but one of the IC chips and one transistor. Maybe this weekend I will spend some time with ERX. I am also ready to purchase the motor and other needed components. I will be doing that research this week and maybe order by weeks end. I may order the batteries as well. Now, that would be very exciting since they are the largest cost and the biggest thing I've wrestled with in this process.

Gas tank and tranny removal

I know, I know, it has been a few weeks, but I was busy, and then easter, and then.... Well, James came over yesterday and we started on the removal of the gas tank. I should say HE removed the gas tank while I watched and learned. I did help pull the muffler and cat out and I was a good flashlight holder. The gas tank filler pipe was the most troublesome part to remove, but he got it outta there. He also removed the transmission and clutch from the engine block. The flywheel bolts were tough but he figured out how to get the proper leverage on one side to keep it from turning while he torqued the bolts the other way. If we had an air wrench then this would have been a non-event. If you are ever thinking about doing this, having a buddy who knows what he is doing is pretty much necessary. I might have been able to do some of this on my own, but it would take 5 times as long and I would be questioning myself the whole time about whether I am doing it right or not. When we get to the electric motor installation part I will have to elevate my game, kinda like the Lakers will have to do if they want to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Zing!! OK, back to the task at hand. Here are some new photos of the pieces that were removed.

 Clutch and Starter

 Dirty Transmission

 Gas tank, Exhaust pipe with muffler and Cat along with various other unwanted parts

 I am cleaning up the transmission now and oh yeah I forgot, I am getting the parts for the controller in the mail this week. Super excited about this! Props to Paul and Sabrina for the incredible open source DIY controller saving me $1000 if I can build it without screwing it up.  I still need to go to Fry's and get some cheap components so I can practice soldering before I attempt to build my controller.

EV Tribute Video

Here is a video I made as a tribute to EVs. Enjoy!

All of the cars in this video are or will soon be 100% electric. Except of course the Maserati and others which are getting smoked by the "White Zombie" at the end of the video.

Clean up

I haven't posted in a bit, so I thought I would update today. I have had a couple busy weekends, so no progress made on the car yet. On Saturday March 27th I cleaned the garage quite a bit and also put the car up on jack stands. For anyone who is used to working on cars this may have taken 20-30 minutes, but since I had never done it before I was a bit nervous. I checked the internet and put a couple jacks in place, but then checked the internet again for my specific car and got some better instructions. All in all it took me about three hours. I could not get the back end up as high as I wanted so I found a couple 2x4s that were nailed together and put that between my jack and the jack point. It helped a bit but it is still not as high as I want. That is all that has happened. My work is getting very busy right now, so research on the net during work is limited. I still haven't called to get price quotes on package systems. Need to find some time.

Removing the ICE Pt. 2 - James is the Man

Mechen and a simple human

James came over on Saturday and brought a hoist, so we jacked up the car and he figured out how to remove the drive axles. I guess we could have read the manual, but as I have stated before, he can figure out anything. Me, on the other hand, can't figure out how to move multiple pictures around this blog, so I only have one up right now. I have three more pictures and a small video to add later tonight. Anyways, back on topic, James brought a heavy duty strap and wrapped it around the engine since it was missing a hook. This worked great. I don't know how I would have done this on my own. James is incredible and he loves to do it. He should be called Mechen, as he controls the mechanical universe. So now that I have propped James up and made him a god, I'll get on with my post. With the engine all strapped in and the exhaust and drive axles removed, it was just a matter of pulling the chain and hoisting it up out of the engine bay. We lowered the car back down and I pushed  it back while James lifted the engine a bit to get over the front crossbar. Success!!

Next we will need to remove the fuel tank, fuel lines, and any wiring, or tubing related to the engine. After that I will need to clean the engine bay up a bit. I also need to clean the garage some more in order to create enough space to permanently roll the car in and jack it up. Sometime in the next week or so I may call up a few EV parts suppliers and get some quotes on a package deal. That's it for now.