McMichael High School EV Conversion: 04/20/09

Modification of the gauge cluster...

Since a lot of the gauges and lights are not needed in the gauge cluster for the operation of the EV, I took the liberty to disassemble the whole component and make modifications. I stared by removing the face shield so that I could take off the useless gauge hands. As I started to remove the hands I noticed that the whole electronic component itself could be removed. This allowed me to lighten up the gauge cluster. After taking out the unneeded pieces, I proceeded in painting over the unneeded lights and gauge faces to clean up the look of the gauge cluster. After the paint was dry, I reassembled the cluster and placed it in a safe area until it is to be installed.

This is the cluster before modification.

After removing the face shield.

Each part of the gauge cluster had its own section that could be disassembled. Here in this pic I removed the gas gauge and battery voltage gauge.

Here I removed the oil pressure and water temperature gauge.

The mid section was the most complicated to remove, but after carefully removing a few screws I gently popped it out of place.

Here are the remaining pieces.

After I painted over the gauge faces and useless warning lights.

Mike helping me to re-assemble the gauge cluster.

Clean and simple.

Placing the cover back on.

Finished.

A new car deserves its true mileage.

always in the red... thanks to a little super glue.

Surprisingly enough, this is what a gauge looks like on the inside.

Now it's ready for install.

Sweet Saturdays...

My Saturday morning started off on the right foot with catching up on some maintenance around the house. After completing my chores, it was off to the school to catch up with the guys and work on the low voltage wiring. Prior to my arrival, Mr. Butler had already started on the low voltage wiring and was nearly half way to completion. His head start made it easier for us to check the connections and leads to make sure that they were properly installed and ran. It didn’t take long to finish the wiring and move on to the rear of the car where Mike and I made connectors to link the rear batteries. Making the rear connections without the use of the hydraulic press was long and complicated. We had to use a sledge hammer in the press’s place, making safety an even bigger priority. Never the less, we completed the job and are now waiting for the completion of the rear battery rack.

No Need To Explain...

This is a pic of the back of the control panel. Computer fans are excellent cooling fans and should provide enough of a air current to keep the controller nice and chill. Also pictured is one of the relays for our low voltage wiring.

The other relay.

This is the driver's side of the car under the fender. The two wires you see (green and blue) are running from the inertia switch to the auxiliary battery. The other wire (red) is the ground wire for the battery that connects to the sub frame.

The controller and new contactor mounted on the panel.

The DC Converter mounted back in the engine compartment.

A shot of the battery tie downs that Mike fabricated.

After reconnecting the high voltage wiring. In the back you can barely notice the looms of wire that snake from behind the panel. These looms house the various wires that connect components to the relays and ground point.

This is the loom that houses the wiring for the voltage gauges and amp meter.

A pic of the installed gauges and gauge pod after connecting the wires.

This is the pot box. The pot box, much like a dimmer switch, controls the amount of voltage that passes through the controller. Instead of mounting it under the hood and running a regular throttle cable, we decided to mount it directly under the dash and connect it directly to the pedal with a short piece of cable. This will give us better throttle response and eliminate the ugliness of the cable and pot box.

The giant spring connected from the pedal to the pot box is to give the pedal some resistance to ease the touchiness of the throttle. Without the spring, it is really hard to control the amount of pressure that is needed to compress the pedal.

In order to get the correct lengths of the cables, Mike and I placed the batteries in the car where they will be positioned in the rack. From there we made our connections and decided on where to mount the Littel Fuse. The Littel Fuse is placed in the circuit in case of an emergency, much like a fuse in an older home's fuse box.

Back to school...

After unloading the car this afternoon at the school, Mike and I sat down with Mr. Butler and began mapping out the low-voltage wiring system. Mike and I expressed our ideas to Mr. Butler and he easily mapped out a diagram that closely resembled Michael Brown’s diagram. Since we are short of a few supplies, Mike and I decided to hold off on beginning the wiring. Instead we unbolted all of the components off of our OSB control panel and removed it to paint. After smothering the board in sealer, Mike and I coated the panel with flat black paint. Tomorrow we should be able to place it back into the car.

Good to have our baby back home.

This is a pic of the metal plate that goes under the controller and the wood plate that goes under the DC to DC converter.

Black Beauty.

To the right is Mike's tie down bracket that holds in the auxiliary battery.
Using threaded rod, we are going to strap down all of our batteries with the same type of angle iron strap.

Spring Break comes to a close...

Meeting at the shop on Saturday morning was a great way to end a productive week. Our morning started with finishing up the high voltage wiring. After making a couple more cables to link the circuit, I was left with the responsibility to make a mounting bracket out of steel that the Main connector will sit on. The Anderson connector is the main breaking point in the whole circuit. It has a lever that can be tripped in case of an accident or emergency. Using a large piece of angle iron, I fabricated a mount that bolts onto the motor mount and holds the quick release. Now all we have to do is bolt the quick release onto the bracket. After I completed the bracket, Mike and I ran the wire under the car to connect the rear batteries to the front. We used a special kind of conduit hook to attach the cables to the floor pan.

Having a press comes in handy if you're going to crimp a lot of heavy duty cable.

After the crimp.

Heat shrink

Connector caps are a must when dealing with a lot of high voltage.

Using the heat gun.

Professionalism.

Mike and I placing a connection in the engine compartment.

Notice how the high voltage cable coming from the rear of the car sweeps up from underneath. It closely follows the frame the whole way back for protection.

The black object with the red cap off to the right is called an inertia switch. If the car is to jostle really hard, such as in a wreck, the inertia switch shoots out a ball and disconnects all power.

Done!

To the left and right are the cable going to the rear rack. We fastened them to the bottom of the car with automotive fasteners and conduit hooks.

In this picture you can see how the cables go up into the cab of the car through two grommets on each side.

Left

Right

It just isn't a good day until a knuckle gets busted. Ain't nothin' a little tape can't fix, right Mike.

During the closing moments of spring break, Mr. Butler had a visit from an old friend who was in need of a helping hand in working on his personal car. Mike and Mr. Butler were there to his aid through the whole process. I wasn't able to assist much due to my absence through a majority of the work on his car, but gave my help near the end when I was able to be present. Here's some pics from his journey.