Testing the electric components

Not long ago, we purchased the equipment to run and control our car. These pieces consisted of things such as the motor, controller, contactor, potbox, fuses... etc. Since our purchase was equipment previously used by another high school, we needed to make sure the equipment was working properly.

Our testing of the motor was low voltage. Not because we were lacking the batteries, but because the motor requires a load and can't be ran without some form of resistance such as the tires on the ground.To substitute the voltage resistance of the motor, we used a light strip with the equivalant voltage rating. We then, in turn, assembled all of the controller parts to a battery series. This set-up was provided to us by the "Curtis Controller Manual."

After all the components were connected to the batteries, we flipped a switch that allowed power to flow through all the components and all the lights came on showing that the circuit was complete. We then turned a potentiometer to see if it would dim the lights as it was supposed to do. This mimmicks our throttle control system, kind of like a dimmer switch on your headlights. This was a success and made all of us glow with enthusiasm!