January 2011 – Peter's E-914

Looking into BMS

January 22, 2011January 22, 2011 peter

Well, for my system, there aren’t a lot of choices. Do a google search for “Lithium Battery Monitor” and you’ll find about 3 vendors. Since I can’t seem to get Elithion to work, I’m going with the MiniBMS from CleanPowerAuto. While it doesn’t give me all the stats that Elithion does, I very rarely look at them. I note that Electric Blue also has a system now that will give that sort of info, but at $15/battery, that is very pricey for me.

I’m still looking into how to display the SOC (State Of Charge) of the system, and so far, I’m quite impressed with Electric Blue’s system – especially so since I can alter the programming. Will keep you posted on what I choose for the display.

Cheers!

BMS still mis-behaving

January 16, 2011January 16, 2011 peter

I am really annoyed at the BMS (Battery Monitoring System to non-EV people). I have followed ALL of the directions from Elithion, and it STILL has communication faults and STILL cannot keep the SOC (state of charge) figured out.

Time for a different system. I can no longer recommend Elithion as a BMS. It could be because my car is running at 370v, or it could be because of the huge pack of batteries in the back (around 50). Whatever the reason, it won’t work with my car. I’m not going to waste any more money on shielding or wire for this.

Argh.

Showing off

January 15, 2011January 15, 2011 peter

I took the car to the local Porsche club autocross, and met up with a fellow EV enthusiast there (Hi Richard!). Oh and there was also some other car company with a booth, too. 😉

Crimper and Ammeters

January 2, 2011January 2, 2011 peter

As promised, a picture of the crimper (got it from KTA). WONDERFUL tool. I wish I had it when I started.

I also installed two ammeters – one for the battery and one for the DC-DC converter. This shows me that both are working as promised, so my right-turn indicator problem is due to the older car wiring.

I’ve been busy – this is a circuit that will drive the porsche 914 gas gauge from a 0-5v signal (from the BMS). I spent a few hours getting the resistors dialed in, but it works on the breadboard – now I just need to solder up a circuit board to do the same thing.