August 29, 2011 by Rob.

Alex and I spent the pre-100 morning checking the circuits in the RAVolt to isolate the drive system failure.  We confirmed it was not the traction voltage, aux voltage, motor continuity, key lockout or pot box.  Sadly, that only left the Curtis 1231C controller.  We removed it and I’ll send it out to be remanufactured.

In the process, I did manage to fry one of my contactors.  Note to self: do not create a short between the battery and the motor - the contactors cannot handle the arc.  On the positive side, I’m certain Alex will never forget today’s efforts together.

Posted in Safety, Parts, Storyline | 5 Comments »

March 27, 2011 by Rob.

Last month I was able to repair the brake line.  Some acid had leaded onto the steel lines and eaten a hole in one.  Alex and I had to remove the batteries from the front and disassemble the brake line junction.  It was easy and cheap to buy a replacement line.  The replacement lines can be hand bent to route them past the leaking area.  The bigger challenge was the double flair needed to connect the cut line into the replacement section.Once I’d mastered the flair, we just had to bleed the brake lines (surprisingly easy) and replace the batteries.After that, the brakes held pressure and we were able to take a short 2 mile cruise to prove out the system.   Now that Alex has his learner’s permit, he can actually take the RAVolt out around the block.That’s about as far as we can go until I order some new batteries.  I’m planning to do that THIS WEEK.The RAVolt has been idle for over 18 months.  With $4 gas around the corner, my timing is looking very good.

Posted in Brakes, Safety, Parts, Storyline | 3 Comments »

September 22, 2010 by Rob.

The RAVolt’s been offline for an embarassingly long time - I finally too it to the shop (Broddus Chevron in Rollingwood) to get the master cylinder replaced, new pads, and lines.  I had to restring the batteries and remove corrosion before the car could move on it’s own power - that’s the subject for another post.

Props to the mechanics at the Chevron!  They were more than glad to work on a frankencar.  Frankly, I was afraid that no shop would be willing to take on a repair for such a heavily modified vehicle.

I’m looking forward to getting to drive the RAVolt around town again.  It’s been way too long.

Posted in Safety, Storyline | 2 Comments »

July 30, 2008 by Rob.

Wow…quick response from the AustinEV team!  Thanks.

From Brian:

It’s Cupric Sulfate.  It’s formed by the reaction of Sulfuric Acid (in the air, bubbling off from the battery) with the exposed copper of the battery wire lugs. On the plus side… It’s no longer reactive after forming Cupric Sulfate, so it will not hurt anything.  And another positive, is that it’s the copper lugs that are corroding… and they can be replaced
much easier than the lead battery terminals.  

I do not think it’s a big problem.  If you were really concerned, you could re-tin the copper lugs, or put some waterproof paint over the lugs and terminals.  Waterproof paint would make it much more annoying
to change / remove your wiring at a later date though.   :-/

From Mike:

Try coating the exposed surfaces with vaseline.  It will keep the air and
moisture off and greatly reduce corrosion.  There are several brands of
spray on corrosion preventative, but from past experience vaseline works
just as well, cleanup is pretty easy, and it is cheap.

From Roy:

I get that a lot too, it does not effect conductivity for me.
I usually brusk off the powder with a stiff nylon brush and vacume it up.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Electric Vehicles, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

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 »

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 »

May 22, 2008 by Rob.

I must have gotten bad eKarma from bragging on the RAVolt today over lunch because now there’s a short somewhere.  Alex noticed that the DC-DC converter was not charging while we were driving today and then I noticed that the volt meter did not drop to zero when the key was off.  Both are bad signs

I popped the main breaker and the volt meter dropped to zero so it’s clear that there is some high-resistance ground fault.  It has to be high resistance because there would be smoke otherwise!

I inspected all the batteries and there are no *obvious* faults from there.  The most likely spot would be on the positive cable for battery #5.  That leaves A LOT of wire to check because the link between #5 & #6 is the long run between the front and back packs.  Then again, cutting the breaker stopped the short.   Hmmmm…..

Maybe it’s time for an AustinEV open garage to get more eyeballs on it.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Storyline | 1 Comment »

April 13, 2008 by Rob.

My friend send me an update with a subject of “Good for the environment, bad for society” and I’ve been tracking the debate on making electric cars (& hybrids) noisier for a while.

I’m neutral on this issue: it think is a shame to create noise pollution, but agree that there is a real safety issue to be addressed. By design, my Curtis controller already makes that whine at low throttle, so don’t expect to hear anything more from the RAVolt.

I’m not sure why the hearing EVs poster choose to show off the cool Subaru R1e, but I’m including it too.

Update 4/14: Upon reflection, I question the accuracy of the video showing blind people tripping over a Prius after walking past an SUV.   The issue is not the Prius’ lack of sound, but the immense amount of distracting noise created by the ICE in the other car.  I’m frequently amazed at other cars’ sonic volume when I’m driving the RAVolt.  <dream>In an all EV city t the noise level be at safe levels and the roar of ICEs would not drown out all other sound.</dream>

Posted in Safety, Electric Vehicles | 1 Comment »

December 19, 2007 by Rob.

I took advantage of the warm weather to spend some quality time with the RAVolt.  Clearly the RAVolt was feeling neglected because we had a bit of a Christine moment.

On the way home from getting my trilunar haircut, the brakes turned to bricks.  That’s normal when the vacuum pump is not working: normal maybe, but definitely unwelcome.  The brakes still “work” as long as there is no one in front of you and you’re going up hill.  I pulled over quickly and discovered a loose wire.  Luckily, I was just cruising the neighborhood.

Lessons learned:

1. Avoid force the wrong age wire into a screw terminal
2. Include routine “pull test” for wire fitting.

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

November 26, 2007 by Rob.

I had a scary ride home in the rain, cold, and dark over the weekend.  My auxiliary battery was so weak that my DC-DC charger cut out.  That left me with very dim headlights, minimal wipers, and no defroster.  I jumper cabled in one of the traction batteries and recovered, but it was not very fun to be playing with the cables in the rain.

It turns out that the 10 amp fuse between my auxiliary charger and the auxiliary battery blew out a while back.  When the fuse is blown, the battery vent fans run off the auxiliary battery instead of the charger and eventually drain it during charging.  Unfortunately, I discovered it was the fuse only after replacing the charger.  What a waste of 2 hours on a Sunday!

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