engine bay, almost done.battery layout
OwnerPeter Campbell
LocationCanberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia map
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Vehicle1991 Daihatsu Charade
5 door hatch
MotorAdvanced DC 8 Series Wound DC
dual shaft version
DrivetrainADC8" DC motor direct coupled to gearbox,
no clutch.
ControllerKelly KDH14100D
For 2 years I had a Curtis 1231C. It
went fine for most of that time but it
developed a problem where it would not
deliver full current to the motor when
at low revs so it because sluggish to
take off. Remained good at speed.
Problem fixed with a replacement
controller-now much more torque to take
off-not hard to spin wheels
accidentally in 3rd gear. The Kelly is
programmed to limit motor current to
800A, battery current to 270A (3C) and
the motor voltage to 120V, the rated
maxima for the motor and battery.
Batteries45 Thunder Sky LFP90AHA, 3.20 Volt, Lithium-Ion
with EV Power (West Australia) Battery
Management
System.
On occasional more lead-footed
acceleration get the BMS
low voltage alarm (less than 2.5V on at
least one cell) to
go off at about 3C (270Amp). I can get
a bit more current
than this without the alarm when things
are warmer.
Through winter when it has been been
freezing or a few
degrees less over night in an open
carport the car only
does a bit over 2C or about 200Amp
before the BMS alarm
sounds. This is still adequate but a
bit more pedestrian
performance. In these conditions the
battery compartment
is in the 0-10oC range. In warmer
weather with the cells
at 20oC or more I get noticably zippier
performance.
System Voltage144 Volts
Charger EV Power's custom Chinese charger
HeaterI have two heating elements. Each
element is controlled
with a switch. The fan
comes on automatically if heater is on.
The flaps in the
dash are fixed so air always goes past
the elements.
Two very big 0.4 ohm
power resistors are the heating
elements.
With 13.6V these
should be almost 500W each.
The air con is the most effective
defogging and 900W of electric element
is barely adequate.
Also, 2x45W seat heaters-cheap ebay
chinese kit. Much more effective for
10% of the energy drain.
DC/DC ConverterIota DLS90
90amp version-more 12V current than
usually needed
because I have a 12V heater.
InstrumentationTBS battery gauge. Original tacho works
with a
signal from a Hall sensor and a metal
disk with two
notches on the second motor shaft. A
signal boost circuit
was required to get the original tacho
to respond-thanks evric
(evric.kestar.com.au). The
overheating switch on the ADC motor is
wired to the
original'engine' warning light. I have
a set of LEDs in the
dash showing 13/12/11/10V from a
battery testing
gadget. The LEDs come on as a system
ready indicator with
the key is ON. Also, if the
LEDs start going out the DC/DC
converter must have
failed and the car is
running down the backup 12V battery.
Top Speed80 MPH (128 KPH)
110kmph is the speed limit on the
fastest road I have driven on so far
and it maintained that easily. I briefly
took it to 135kph
because people ask.
AccelerationBrisk, entirely adequate, but not a
racing car. I sometimes used 2nd
gear for quicker standing takeoffs
facing up hill or if I wanted
to get across an intersection quickly
but mostly leaving it in
3rd all the time. That was with the Curtis 500A controller.
Now with higher current Kelly I never use 2nd and have to
be careful not to spin the wheels in 3rd.
Range45 Miles (72 Kilometers)
about 70km. Regularly doing
up to 55km I only once run it way down
to 3% on a day
when I did 135km with opportunity
charging. That is a mix
of suburban and
80km/h
roads.
Watt Hours/Mile250 watthours/km measured at the meter on
the wall over the first 10,000km of
driving. IE including any losses in
charging. 185Wh/km from the battery.
EV Miles
Start:130,000 Miles (209,170 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity5 adults
Curb Weight2,070 Pounds (940 Kilograms)
940Kg, 150kg over the original mass of
790kg (according to the book)- I suspect
it was heavier.
Tiresordinary originally. Then I got some
low rolling
resistance Michelin Energy tyres.
Handling and wet braking
much better but did not notice a range
increase.
Conversion Time11 months
Completed in May 2009, Still going fine
in Jan 2011, about 10,000km/year
Conversion CostAU$20K-could do it cheaper now. I bought almost everything
at the very worst time for exchange rates. Cost
included engineer's certification and car
with dead motor.
Additional FeaturesThe previous owner put in remote locking. I added an
electric windows-kit from ebay.
The air-conditioning is original but now driven by a pulley
on the second motor shaft.
The air con controls required some rewiring by an
autoelectrician to get it to work
without the motor and ECU present.
I have wired the air con to optionally come on with the
brake light so the drag only
occurs when I want to slow down anyway. IE free but
intermittent cooling.
Gear changes without the clutch work just fine but you
need to push a bit more
slowly into gear to avoid a crunch, not that I have
needed to change much, mostly
stay in 3rd. 2nd for optional quicker take off. I have
used 4th gear when going over
90kph.
I had to have beefier springs and new shocks in the rear.
The rear was ~40mm lower
than at the start and the original shock absorber were
worn out. The replacements
were standard length but heavier duty and restored most
of the original ride height.
The front ended up ~25mm higher than at the start and
still have the original springs
and shocks. Eventually these should be replaced with
slightly shorter springs and
new shocks but the originals are OK for now.
Charging is from accredited 'GreenPower'.
Brake booster vacuum pump is MESdea. After initial pump
down comes on for a few
seconds every 10-15 mins without any vacuum reservoir. It
is quieter than others I
have heard. I have a extra vacuum switch in the line. It
is closed without vacuum and
connected across the brake fluid float switch. At turn
on the brake warning lamp is
tested because the vacuum is absent and the float switch
shorted. The light goes out
as the line is pumped down. The lamp would only comes on
while driving if the
brake fluid were lost or the vacuum had failed; either
would be worth knowing
about!
Now on U-tube:
WebPage />
Don't underestimate how huge motor current can be for
modest battery current. The Curtis 500A limit (and later
only 400A when something was going wrong) was more of a
performance limit than the motor or battery.

code by jerry