October 19, 2008 by Rob.

We had a busy weekend out at the Austin Maker Faire!  As usual, it was a great event.  Better coordinated than last year and bigger too.  I liked the addition of the Robot Wars.

Alex had a great time showing people how to hack their Wii Motes and even got a blue ribbon!  We had some interesting generational challenges because saying “mod wii mote” sounds like “may we mate” to a segments of the population.  Technology brings so much new vocabulary that it’s easy to forget not everyone immediately parses “google blogs from blackberries.”

Since I was busy with Alex, the RAVolt was left with her EV friends in the other part of the barn.  It was nice to drop in and see so many of the AustinEV/SanAntonioEV crowd (Aaron, Chris, Brian, Gary, and Alphonso).  Since Aaron brought the charger we were able to drive electric both days to the Faire!

Posted in Pictures, Storyline, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

August 20, 2008 by Rob.

Sure it’s hot - that’s what fans are for.

Posted in Daily Use, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

August 14, 2008 by Rob.

Today I got to watch (and photograph - belated sorry to other drivers on Bee Caves) the RAVolt turning over four zeros!  That’s a huge milestone for the glider and over 3,400 electric miles.

An, yes, the old gas gauge is covered with a sticker that says “Outta Gas! Running on E-”  I simply can’t resist EV geek jokes (non-geek translation E- = electrons).

Almost…   Spinning…

There it is!

Posted in Daily Use, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

August 9, 2008 by Rob.

I decided to swing by today’s AustinEV meeting and it turned out to be a good thing… there was some confusion about the date and I was the only EV owner there for an hour.  We had a big crowd of EV curious (hopefuls?) and I love a stage!  Each meeting seems to bring out more and better informed enthusiasts. I hope some of them decide to take the plunge.

It looks like production EVs are about 3 years off so the urge for conversions will *probably* start to decrease.  If that happens, I suspect we’ll go from a conversion club to an driving experience focus.

Brian “Lasso” Lasseter rescued the meeting and we expanded the topics beyond just conversions to larger market trends.  I also got to see the excellent job he did with his Saturn SL conversion.  Very clean!  He chose 18 batteries (and gets 50 mile range) and also included an AC compressor.

Posted in EVents, Electric Vehicles, Pictures, AustinEV | 3 Comments »

July 29, 2008 by Rob.

I was watering the RAVolt’s batteries this weekend (as usual, 1 basterfull per cell) when I noticed that one of the battery terminals is corroded.  The powered is bluish and there is no acid splash around the terminal.  I’m not sure what to do yet, just reporting the problem.  I’ll ask AustinEV for help.

Corroded:

Clean:

Posted in Safety, Batteries, Daily Use, Parts, Pictures, AustinEV | 2 Comments »

July 19, 2008 by Rob.

It was nice to get a follow-up from the Picayune about the RAVolt and even nicer to see positive and accurate reporting!  Thanks Will Pafford and the Picayune!  Now, please get online so I don’t have to scan your copy anymore - hey, I did include your ads too.

Posted in RAV4, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

July 18, 2008 by Rob.

With all the other prep work to support our neighborhood July 4th celebration, the sun was not cooperating on decorating the RAVolt for the parade.  Luckily, I got some help.

Posted in Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

July 17, 2008 by Rob.

from imageshack.us

Posted in Pictures | 1 Comment »

May 24, 2008 by Rob.

It took longer that I’d hoped to stop chasing the wrong problems before I finally found the real cause. After about 3 hours of hunting, I found two problems: one was a design issue and the other was a blown fuse caused by the design issue.

The design issue was the way I’d wired the charger “still plugged in” relay to the key safety interlock (KSI) on the controller. I need both charger relays (see older posts for detail) to turn on the vent fans. I’d been using the same relay to turn on the controller KSI relay. Unfortunately, that sent 12 volts to the relay even when the car was parked. This was effectively BY PASSING my contactor so that traction voltage (144 v) was still present for the controller, volt meter, and the DC-DC converter. That was not supposed to happen so I disabled it and hooked the KSI to the key on. Now the motor could go even if I’m plugged in (oops), but I always coast down my driveway to start so it was not really much of a safety benefit.

The second issue was a blown fuse (it should be clear not white) in the DC-DC converter. At least, that was easy to find and fix

Now the RAVolt and I are happy again.

Posted in Safety, Parts, Improvements, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

January 5, 2008 by Rob.

I found the keys to the RAVolt’s roof rack during house cleaning over the holiday and was able to give the RAVolt top trim.  Hopefully, that will reduce my drag and improve my range.

Posted in Improvements, Pictures | 1 Comment »