Conversion Process - Electrical - It works!
Yes, the big day has come.....
All control and essential dash wiring is now complete
And it turns these little wheels a treat....
(All tests to-date are done with the car on safety stands driving the transaxles in fourth gear)
Keep in mind that you are playing with a series DC motor - If unfamiliar with these motors take care in running them with no load and full battery pack voltages
READ THE SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS THAT APPLY TO YOUR MOTOR
Notable things:;
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No vibration detectable anywhere
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No temperature rise - 10 min test with motor @ 1600rpm - 12 amps
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No controller whine (Wow not like my old Curtis!!)
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No RFI (the old AM Radio test)
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Half speed reverse seems good
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All warning lights functioning 100%
Un-notable things:
Really only one..... Should have bench tested the damm 72 volt Ceramic Heater!!! I used all segments (paralleled for maximum heat out - seemed logical at the time) and the cold resistance ended up being much lower then I estimated. Hence upon first cold switch on the 30 Amp fuse blow big time and damaged the 40 Amp Mosfet SSR (now a piece of wire). So that has just cost me about $120.
Test conditions.....
I found that simply using the Ceramic heater segments in series provided a reasonable demister temperature of 42 degrees which is a constant with fan speed.
Just under 6 amps is drawn @ maximum fan speed (about 450 watts) to maintain 42 degrees.
Even with the fan not running (ie fault condition) the heater self limits (about 600ma) to a safe temperature.
If needed later, the next configuration is approximately 900 watts.....
(Keep in mind the Mightyboy has a fairly small volume to heat and the heater unit is tiny in comparison to a larger compacts
Larger vehicles would require in the order of 1800 watts to achieve a suitable heat output)